The largest gathering of Vincent motorcycles that I have been fortunate enough to be part of was the 1999 International Rally at the Isle of Man, I wouldn’t mind betting that most of those bikes were still using their original kickstart cranks, I think most of the failures are due to poor maintenance at sometime in the past, I do not consider it a flawed design.
ET: Engine (Twin) Stripped Splines on Kickstart Shaft and Lever (Weep)
- Thread starter AndyBee
- Start date
Poor maintenance would apply to the push bike taper pin idea the same. You certainly assemble the lot with some good grease, maybe a bit of MoS2 powder or paste on anything that is stainless. So then corrosion is no factor in this joint. Imagine how many kickstarts this would be seeing years of use with push bike pedals with this design. Yes, pedals can work loose when owners ignorant enough cannot be bothered to tighten the taper pin once they notice any play. So yes, maintenance in this respect is a factor of failure.
Anyway, I still think the best repair of Vincent kickstart levers is the conical square hole , no pinch bolt required here at all. With wire EDM simple to do at reasonable costs and the shaft is equally simple to mill for nice light press fit, no more worries ever. Fine setting of kickstart lever is in the real world not an argument , a few here got BMWs , some of them are classics with no electrics for starting. My guess, nobody had ever a need for adjustable kickstart levers on them. Same goes for most other brands with no fine splines as standard. So why bother about splines at all . . . .
Vic
Anyway, I still think the best repair of Vincent kickstart levers is the conical square hole , no pinch bolt required here at all. With wire EDM simple to do at reasonable costs and the shaft is equally simple to mill for nice light press fit, no more worries ever. Fine setting of kickstart lever is in the real world not an argument , a few here got BMWs , some of them are classics with no electrics for starting. My guess, nobody had ever a need for adjustable kickstart levers on them. Same goes for most other brands with no fine splines as standard. So why bother about splines at all . . . .
Vic
I think we should also be mindful when these motorcycles were designed, and the post war cost restraints.
My experienc is that with the splines kickstarter on my Norton Commando I had no problems in 36 years of use.But withe bycicle style kickstarter on my Triumph Bonneville I had to replace the bolt some times.Maybe the bolt is not hard enough there?Erik
I'm just looking at the parts to replace the kickstart lever and shaft. I notice that there is a standard kickstart shart (G83) and a longer version (G83/L). Is the longer one to help with issues where the exhaust is being fouled? Mine doesn't (or rather didn't) hit the exhaust but I wonder if anyone has a perspective on whether it's good to fit the longer shaft anyway? Also, I plan to probably replace the return spring while I'm in there. Anything else than should be changed as a routine matter while the kickstart cover is off?
Your old lever might not touch,
But the new one might ?,
It's a problem we have had for years,
Some of us, OK me !, Have had to not put the lever fully on, To miss the exhaust,
Which in turn can make the splines slip because of not all the spline being used,
So as I said earlier, I would put the longer one on.
But the new one might ?,
It's a problem we have had for years,
Some of us, OK me !, Have had to not put the lever fully on, To miss the exhaust,
Which in turn can make the splines slip because of not all the spline being used,
So as I said earlier, I would put the longer one on.
Thanks Bill - the longer one it is
Maybe check the kickstart bush in the cover and renew if worn.