Originally Posted by
ps2fixer
I never knew kick starting a machine sitting down was a common thing. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that before. Michigan is the home of the big auto manufacturers, so the general population can maintain and understands mechanical things pretty well, so maybe that's a factor. We have a bit of a different culture up here, atleast for those that are 30+ (the younger population seems to be slower like down south, but it seems more of a laziness thing). We work to get stuff done, time is money etc type of thinking. I've noticed down south in Kentucky and Indiana people are a lot more laid back and take their time doing stuff.
My stuff is ugly, but mechanically it's sound, or it's stuff I'm not too worried about like front wheel bearings being a little sloppy. I know the bearings don't just wear out in a day of riding and there's no dragging, or grumbling, just a bit of slack in the ball bearings. I do plan to over haul my machines a bit like my ugly 350x that's my go to rider, but I grew up not caring about looks so much and most of the focus on maintenance and mechanical things. I guess that stems from growing up during a period that my family we pretty poor and the fact everything in Michigan rusts away, so anything pretty won't be pretty with 5 years of use. Of course my dad was a mechanic, grandpa was tool and die for GM, so DIY fixing etc was a common thread. Not down playing the looks of machines or anything, my problem is if I get something that looks nice, I don't want to use it so it doesn't get damaged and such lol. I guess it's the same logic as buying a new truck and not wanting to scratch the bed, even though it's made for work.
Anyway, yea that big horn 350 engine has a good sound to them too. I'm not much into 2 strokes, but that's one engine I think I'd make an exception on lol. I'm boarder line on keeping the 250r's or fixing one and selling it off and parting the other out. My dad's gotten into 2 stroke porting a lot lately mainly for chain saws and I showed him a spare 250r cylinder and he right away he noticed things to touch up to make better air flow. Might have him do a mild port on one of those engines and keep it otherwise stock.
Anyway, back on the kick starting thing, depending on the compression level, you might have to push it over slow till you hit that wall of compression, push it just past that where it has kind of a double hump feeling, then kick it hard. That's the trick with the 350x with no decompression system working. Also when you kick, you can kind of drop your whole body and then kick with your leg to put all of your weight into it. When I was a teen I weighed nothing, so kick starting stuff was a challenge, so little tricks like that kept me riding. Also worth saying, a good quality boot/shoe that has a thick soul and good ankle support helps from hurting your foot from kick starting a machine. Also be thankful the 200x and 350x are well designed, some kick start bikes tend to backfire, and when they do they slam the kick starter either back into your foot, or if you slip off it can slam into your leg.
Reminds me, my dad had a Suzuki 370 bike that the rear end was all worn out on. He bought me some pile of crap American made 3 wheeler with a 5hp brigs that couldn't make it up the smallest incline, so he hacked the front end off, welded the bike front half with the engine on it, and drilled/bolted the bike rear sprocket to the 3 wheeler one. I didn't ride it much since I was only like 8, but I remember give it just a tiny bit of gas in 1st and wheeling really easy. My dad beat the shot out of it though lol. Don't remember what happened, but it sat for a while and he pulled the engine and sold the roller frame to the guy next door and never seen it again (probably got scrapped, he's always hard up for money). Anyway I looked up a vid on youtube and it sounds like it's from around 78 as well, the vid I found runs very similar to what I remember, and it's labeled as a 1978 Suzuki 370 SP. Vid just showed the gauges, and yea it looks exactly like the one my dad had.
If I had a spare 3 wheeler frame, I wonder if that Kawasaki engine would fit in it fairly easily. Like a 250r or 200x frame with it would be a blast I'm sure. Anyway, if you dig up one of those bikes, be sure to post what you end up doing with it, I'd follow the build. The bikes were called F5 and F9 depending on the year, I think there was a F7 too, but can't remember for sure. They were from around 1970-1975. Also the 350 wasn't the only one with the rotary valve, I just think it's the most popular machine with it, maybe it's the biggest one.
Not sure why, but I really do like the 70's engine sounds lol, maybe it's because of the points engines or something. The 1973 TX500 road bike engine I have on a blaster sounds great too. I really like the 350x too, so that's a "newer" engine.