Jumpstarting a bike downhill?
 

I haven't been riding my bike for a while and the battery may have been dead already. Lucky for me, there's a hill outside my parking spot.

I am just curious about the proper step of starting my bike down hill:

1) Ignition to "On"
2) Kill switch to "Run" (I have no choke on my bike)
3) Pick up speed on the hill
4) Pop the clutch
5) ?

Ok, by this point the bike should be starting?

Thanks in advance! :)

pop clutch - At this point, you will hear the engine turning

5) Hit the starter and clutch in
6) once the bike is on and running, clutch in pull over when it's safe. let it run for a few minutes.

7) then proceed to wheelie off to your destination.

if you can get some speed about as fast as a quick jog, try doing it in 2nd gear instead of 1st. quite often the huge amount of compression will simply cause your wheel to skid in 1st gear.

i had my regulator/rectifier go and had to jump start my bike a bunch of times.

ignition on, kill switch on
clutch in
5-10% throttle
pop clutch
let it turn over 2-3 times and it should start to try to fire
quickly pull clutch back in
throttle back to idle.
pull over.

maybe give it 2500rpm revs while its idling because your stator actually doesnt provide very much charge to your battery below 4000rpm.


then proceed to wheelie off to your destination.

i've done this before on my bike, although the 'hill' was only a very slight decline so i had to be pushed by my friend. make sure you put it into gear as well. Since I did not have much of a hill, I had to try it several times, and push the bike back up. My mistake was that I wasn't wearing a helmet or any gear at all when it suddenly worked after a few tries. Even though I wasnt going very fast obviously, but I sure felt naked without my helmet and jacket!

Don't give to much throttle!!!!! When it starts if your giving to much throttle you will pull the wheel up and you won't be expecting it. I made that mistake on my dirt bike haha.

Berz out.

Thanks all! :D

may I suggest buying a battery tender? Leave it on over night and you will be good to go. You can leave it on til riding season if you want.

i tired doing that once when i left the headlights on. i was unsuccessful at getting it to work........ and i had to push my bike back to my house.

from there i just jumped it with my car battery. seems like a pretty unsafe way to start up a bike imo...

Which way do you feel is the unsafe way? Bump starting the bike or hooking up your car battery to jump the bike? Bump starting is very normal and doesn't do any damage but using the car battery, which actually isn't recommended, can cause damage. Of course using a donor motorcycle battery/motorcycle battery jumper is the best bet.

Here's some nice info taken from some sites

Jump Start The Battery From Another Motorcycle

1. Position the two motorcycles so the batteries are close enough together to facilitate the length of the jumper cable. Ensure the motorcycle with the good battery is NOT running.
2. Connect the RED clamp of the jumper cable to the positive (+) terminal on the dead battery.
3. Connect the BLACK clamp of the jumper cable to the negative (-) terminal on the dead battery, or to a grounded item on the motorcycle, such as the frame.
4. Connect the BLACK clamp of the jumper cable to the negative (-) terminal on the good battery, or to a grounded item on the motorcycle, such as the frame.
5. Connect the RED clamp of the jumper cable to the positive (+) terminal on the good battery.
6. Start the motorcycle with the good battery and wait a few minutes.
7. Start the motorcycle with the dead battery
8. Remove the RED cables first from the good battery, then from the bad battery.
9. Remove the BLACK cables from both batteries.
10. Leave the motorcycle with the bad battery running until you reach your destination and/or find a suitable place to re-charge the battery with a battery charger.

Jump Start The Battery From A Car

The procedure to jump start a motorcycle from a car is the same as it is for jump starting it from another motorcycle except for item (6). A car battery has more amperage, and the charging system for a car is much more powerful than that of a motorcycle. When jump starting a motorcycle from a car, DO NOT START THE CAR'S MOTOR because the extra power from the charging system will possibly destroy the motorcycle's charging system and could cause a fire. The car battery should have enough power to start the motorcycle without the car's motor running.


youtube video on bump starting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXl3RnBWbE0

so did your jumpstart work?
How long was your bike sitting around?

Cuz batteries do get to the point where they are completely dead and you cant jump start it no matter what no?

I used one of those portable car batteries from canadian tire my dad had, and just jumped it

headlights were left on overnight. i don't see how that would harm the battery because they're the same voltage.

in any case if you jump the battery from a car, remember to turn the car off so its just drawing power from the battery and not the alternator as well

battery has been doing fine every since so i don't see any harm done. i now have a battery tender for off season

6) PROFIT!

bumped!

Bump started the bike today, worked like a charm. The parking lot was too small though so I needed a push to get up to speed.

If you don't have one, cough up for the $40 or so Battery Tender. You can only get away with this so many times before your battery dies, then you're looking at a lot more coin.

Jump-starting a bike in theory should be no different than starting a car? The hill method *should* work.

*Note*

get a trickle charger that turns off when the battery is fully charged. i was given a Canadian tire trickle charger for my bike. Charged my battery during the winter and left it without realizing the trickle charger constantly chargers my battery; which results in battery cells dying.

IF YOU'RE READING THIS: F U JOHNSON YOU CONFOUNDED SOB! :3

^ Sounds like you got a cheapo one. The ones you get at bike shops (90% are Battery Tender brand) automatically switch off once your battery reaches a certain voltage, and restarts at at another (lower) preset.

Cheapo ones are a dime a dozen. Hell, any 12V power source (such as a computer power supply) will do the job.

You get what you pay for.

With that said, if anyone wants a cheapo one, I'm giving one away for free. PM me if interested. Someone gave it to me but I have no plans to use it.

^ Canadian Tire DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

it works fine but it's just inconvenient. you just have to be extra meticulous and attend to the battery more often.

^ I dunno, many people out there think Motomaster is the shiz ;) Their tools aren't bad though.