Points Question

[tazzmann]

On the points driven bikes, if your battery is low, will you still be able to start it with a kick starter? It seems to me, that you would still need power to the coils through the points unless I am missing something.

Thanks!

[Wolfman1972]

Hi Tazzmann....Yep...you should have no problems starting the bike. The alternator (stator) will generate enough juice to power up the ignition coils. You actually would even be able to start the bike with no battery installed, but you may run the risk of damaging some electrical components, namely light bulbs. Without a battery in the loop, the current generated by the charging system is unregulated, and you'll be feeding all the electrical bits significantly more than 12V at any RPM greater than idle. I made that mistake while servicing my mom's Honda. I fired it up and gave it a little gas and thought......"man that neutral indicator is bright!" Needless to say, a second or two later it went black, along with all the other instrument cluster lights, tailight bulb, and low beam on the headlight. Expensive lesson learned. Good luck.

[tazzmann]

Yeah, I had a battery lead break off this bike and killed all the lights. THAT was fun. Anyway, I guess I can't get enough kick cause I tried starting it without a battery last night and couldn't get it to go. I 'borrowed' the battery from my 440 and it started right up with both the kick and the electric start. Don't know...guess I am too old to kick without a battery assist.

[rstnick]

How much power is that Generator/Alternator gonna produce when you kick start her and it spins 10 times? (if you lucky). Unless your bike is tuned real well, you'll want some battery juice to get her going.