KICKSTAND engine kill switch

Hello!

I have a 1991 Honda nighthawk 250 that has the kickstand safety
feature. whenever the kickstand is down and u go into gear the engine
turns off. However, my kickstand sometimes goes down on its own while
im riding around (usually while im in 3rd gear, which is odd..maybe
more vibrations?) and the engine has died a couple times when i havent
gotten my foot back there in time to kick it back up. I was wondering
if there was any way to tighten the kickstand so it stays upright, even
with movement...or if i need to buy a new spring for the kickstand
completely. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks,
Carrie

 

If the spring is visibly bent, or there is a larger space between any
two coils than there is between the rest of the coils, you need a new
spring.

 

What he said.

 

Heard of a neat trick once to get those springs off. Haven't tried it but
sounds brilliant....

Put the stand down far enough so that you can get some coins in between the
spring coils and put the stand back up. The coins stuck in there make the
spring long enough that you can just unhook it.

When done, put the spring back on and put the stand all the way down, the
coins fall out.

To put a new one on, bend it 1st one way and shove in some coins, the bend
it other way and add more coins.

I figure this beats the vice grips ect theories.

P.

 

There's a novel idea.

I always used a # 3 Phillips screwdriver to install sidestand springs.

The side stand would usually have a robust section of steel rod welded
to it, and I would just put middle of the screwdriver into the spring
hook and the screwdriver tip against the against the end of rod and pry
the spring into place.

The spring can easily be removed by unbolting the stand.

 

Tried it. It works. Simple and, as you say, brilliant. Some unsung
genius posted it on ukrm a few years ago.

 

Use a loop of strong cord or wire over the end with a large driver or
spanner (wrench ) through the other end of the loop

 

Bypass the switch so that the ignition is on whenever. Then use the
switch to control a backup beeper that you can get from JCWhitney for
less than twenty bux. That's what I did with my R1100S, and it works
great -- the obnoxious beeping means that I inadvertently left the
kickstand down, or that I intentionally put it down to beep at
whomever was blocking the space I was trying to back into!!

-Don

 

Thanks for all your help. I ended up cleaning all the dirt from the
pivot and checking the spring (which was still in good condition) and
greasing it up. Now it works perfectly! thanks!

Carrie

 

What if it happens again? Only this time when you're in the middle of
three lanes of high-speed traffic?

I still think the best solution is to bypass the dang switch -- one
more thing to go wrong and shut off your motorcycle at a BAD time --
and put in a beeper to remind you to put up your kickstand.

Actually, I liked the setup on my K75 the best. It had a lever that
would put the kickstand up whenever I squeezed the clutch lever. Neat
and easy, and I never left the kickstand down.

-Don

 

I think Carrie said it's working perfectly. Leave well enough alone.

why bother. Millions of people ride around on bikes with shut-off switches
on the kickstands, maybe 100 have a beeper attached. Majority rules.
Besides, the beeper intoduces an additional potenitial for failure, battery
discharge etc.

Now that's a really bad idea. Almost as bad an idea as the Duc's with
self-retracting kickstands a few years back. It's only a matter of time
before they end up on their side.

 

Kawasaki trie the same system. After a year or two and some slack in the
cable, it was crap.

Oh yes. Oh yes indeed. I had mine modified by the dealer before I even
took delivery of it.

Honda had the simplest and most elegant system - the rubber tongue that
hit the ground before the stand did, and flicked it up.