Extended kickstart

[Brian]

My son has a A10 and he has crook knees from multiple bike accidents over the years. He is finding it difficult to kick the bike over so asked me if lengthening the kickstart would help. Something I have never done so I'm not sure just what if any difference it would make. We are thinking about a 3" or maybe 4" longer kickstart. So my question is has anyone done this and if so did it make any difference ? Electric start is not a consideration, selling the bike and buying something with a electric start is a possibility.

[muskrat]

G'day Brian.
Naturally a longer lever will give you better mechanical advantage. Say if you increase a 12' lever by 4" it should reduce the effort by 1/3 
I added 1" to my front brake lever, works a lot better with the extra leverage. Down side is more travel is needed.
Cheers

[Brian]

I still have to work with him a bit yet and get his "technique" a bit better. He is trying to stand astride the bike and kick it like a modern trailbike or similar. Once I teach him to put the bike on the centre stand and use his body weight I think he will get on a bit better. If I can scrounge up an old kickstart lever I will extend it and see if it does help.

[Superflash]

Let me know if you can't find anything. I may have a kickstart laying around you can have

[BSA_54A10]

Get him to try left foot kicking
Since I ripped my right hoof off back in 82 I had to left foot because there was no ankle left when they reconstructed the foot
It is actuall easier once you get used to it
If you go extended becareful with the ground clearance
If you kick on the centre stand generally your toes are pointing down at quite an angle so the pedal that has only 2" clearance ends up crashing your toes into the ground.
A 65 shafts are longer as are unit single ones but I am unsure of the diameter .
The B40MX & B50 MX are longer as well plus some are hinged which is good because it will also sit higher when not in use and mak foul on his legs .

[Angus]

Yes I was thinking left footed kicking. For some reason my eldest son who has the A10 naturally kicks left footed and keeps telling me it is easier. I just can not do it and it looks so awkward. But it appears to work for him

[JulianS]

A65 type levers are a bit longer and do fit. The one in the photo was on my A10. It has a slightly different bend which reduces clearance with the silencer. The extra length reduces the effort needed but the engine does not spin as fast.