I have been on the hunt for a used TW for the last three months.
Now I have decided it best to own two TWs. In this way I will be able to offer the second bike to others without one and thus have more frequent joint rides in the mountains. Plus not riding alone = happier wife-unit.
I am fortunate that Placerlode is on the case and is scouring the retirement parks and estate sales of Arizona and Caifornia looking for underpriced, never-taken-off-road gems (well, maybe that’s how he does it. His business model Is as much a mystery to me as the Lost Dutchman Mine).
My question is, would there be a valid reason to own two differnt starting configurations?
Yes but you may be able to have it both ways. It looks like you could get low mile newer units and add the kickers like I did. Maddogi was just able to order all the parts from boats.net.
Is not having kick-start really that big of a deal? How hard is push starting? ...This is a serious question - I've never had to push start any of TW200's yet.
You'll realize how big of a deal it is the first time you need one and don't have one. The've saved my butt many a time.
Conditions don't always apply where you can push start a bike. What if you're stuck going up a hill? What if you're too old, broken and winded to push a bike... like me?
You might want to practice push starting yours so you will have it perfected before you have no choice but to try for the first time. Believe me, you want a starter...
For $250 total, a quart of oil and a couple hours you can add a kickstarter to a TW so don’t let having it or not affect your decision too much. Batteries fail and die, that’s a fact of life and physics. Kickstarters don’t.
I love the peace of mind a kicker brings. From my experience motorcycle batteries are not known for long life. If I didn't have a kicker, I would put a switch on the headlight so it wouldn't draw on the battery when not running.
From the sounds of it Cascade you plan to do some backwoods riding so the kick starter is perhaps the best single safety feature you can add to any TW in my opinion and it's easy to do. If you ever sell the bike TW-er's tend to appreciate a kicker and will pay a bit extra for bikes that already have it installed so it's not lost money. You can always remove the kicker (sell it) and put the TW back to stock when you sell it.
A good lithium Ion battery combined with a kicker and a headlamp kill switch (or have somebody show you which yellow wire to unplug behind the headlamp) and you won't have any problems
Push starting is never something to rely on in wilderness riding. My luck has been it usually dies at the bottom of the gulch or if I'm lucky enough to be up a hill or to be able to push it back up a hill then it either skids the rear tire all the way to the bottom or if you get it to turn over its never enough to get it lit
TW's "flotation" tires have a lot of benefits but traction for bump starting doesn't seem to be one of them
With a kicker they will usually start very easily even with a dead battery or even no battery at all!
A good lithium Ion battery combined with a kicker and a headlamp kill switch (or have somebody show you which yellow wire to unplug behind the headlamp) and you won't have any problems
This summer, I tested bump starting mine on our street, which has a slight downhill grade. It took me two blocks. Third gear was the sweet spot for me. The bike was warmed up from a short ride. I decided not to test with a cold motor and I wouldn’t want to be miles from nowhere and that be my only option. My neighbors thought I was losing my mind.
Not a big deal for us city guys, but before I start trail riding, I’ll add a kicker.
Batteries tend to just crap out at the most inopportune times. TWs actually are quite easy to bump start as long as they are easy to start with the electric. If your TW is finicky on starting like many tend to be then a kicker is a must. I have owned both drum and disc brake TWs and honestly don't feel much difference between them. IMO braking on all TWs is inadequate to say the least. With the 2001 and newer models you get no kicker, get the front disc brake but you also get a different carb. I am Old School and know the older carb pretty well but am not all that familiar with the new carbs. Based only on the performance standards I don't find the newer carb any better than the old one so for me it is a wash and since I like the reliability of the kicker and know the old carb and rate the drum/disc brake about equal I would always go for a real nice, low mile pre 2001 TW or immediately add a kicker to a newer model one. Eye candy is what I would go for. Pick a model year that has the color scheme that trips your trigger. The '88 black widow and '91 black onyx are sharp and so are the 94 & 95 Rainbow warriors. I really do like the Yamaha dark blues of the 2006 and 2014 models. Go look through the thread TWs by the years and decide which year really jumps out at you.
Wait until you find them and then come back looking for 2 rear racks, 4 hand guards, 4 tires, 2 seat concept seat covers, a dozen 4 hole oil filters and a case of Mobil 1 4T racing full synthetic oil. WE ARE HERE TO HELP!!!!!!
Would I rather have a bike newer than 17 years old and add a kick starter than have an older bike that had one. Well, I'll add a kicker.
Roll starting is not hard, . . . on my driveway which has a slight negative incline. On sand, gravel, etc. not so good, but second would work better than third when you pop the clutch.
Everyone wants a new kicker kit, but dead TWs in boneyards are good sources. I literally was given a donor bike that looked like hell on all counts but it came with a good kicker.
One bike with a kicker and a set of jumper cables will work as well. There are many options, but the most important is to buy the bike that is available if you can afford it.
Don’t worry once she rides “hers” she’ll be pushing for the next add on for it.
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