About two days ago, I was riding my bike in my neighborhood. I had just installed a twist grip throttle off my friend's bike on to my bike. After installing it, I went riding. I was going down a hill doing about 45(I knew I was dead wrong for going that fast), and at the bottom of the hill was a turn. So I got off the throttle and hit the brakes. But something was wrong. I was on the brakes but the bike was still accelerating in the turn, the bike was doing about 25. And in the midst of me turning, the bike threw me off the bike and slammed me to the ground. When I hit the ground I was sliding and my left foot had hit the ground, but the side of my foot gripped the pavement and foot went under my left leg and twisted. So after laying on the ground and cursing for five minutes, I got up on my severely swollen and sprained ankle, grabbed my bike and limped home. After I got home I took the throttle off and inspected the throttle internals. What my friend failed to tell me was that the throttle was almost shattered inside(don't ask me how.) This explained why the throttle hung open some. Later that night, my ankle swelled up to the size of a softball and it was hurting, I didn't tell my mom. But my brother snitched on me and both of us ended up in the hospital(he's sick). Now with my ankle still about the size of softball im living just fine. But take this from me: INSPECT UR THROTTLES
taking a turn with a broken throttle, how bad could it be?
- Thread starter jazz2561
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I use the kill switch to use the compression of the engine to slow me down if I find my brakes aren't adequate. It's not super effective but it does help, worst that would happen is you flood your motor, pulling the spark plug and letting it chug a couple revs fixes that easily. Any time I'm on the brakes I instinctively pull the clutch (and I'm always ready for the day she gives out on me I can pull the clutch quick).
Learning can be painful
Don't waste the lessons learned as they usually cost much more the second time...
Don't waste the lessons learned as they usually cost much more the second time...
At high speed the motor will be spinning that clutch so hitting the kill switch should work just as well until it disengages. But true, once it loses a little speed you're essentially done, however hitting the kill switch would have prevented it from accelerating more by the motor, and slowed you down slightly (and made your brakes exponentially more effective). No clutching needed. But admittedly in the heat of the moment, when you start to think of how screwed you are, it's hard to think of what would be the best course of action.
Before motor bikes, I was on a coaster brake bike going down a hill and my chain fell off. No hand brakes so, I got low over the top bar to get a lower center of gravity. The hill went down and curved slightly next to a fence. The traffic coming up the hill was to my right and I was on the side walk. No one on the path so I just kept gaining speed. When I noticed the fence stopped on my left and the lawn all soft from previous rain was an escape I grabbed tighter the handle bars. I made wide concentric circles on the muddy grass till I came to a stop. Dumb luck, but I know what a run away ramp in disguise looks like from that event some 40 years ago and won't forget!
MT
MT
I had the gas ending and it leaned out. the motor just revved up really high when I pulled in the clutch and the kill switch wouldn't work. thanks god I was in a less crowed area.
lesson learned: make sure you have enough gas!
forget about the kill switch, pull the choke on ! lol
lesson learned: make sure you have enough gas!
forget about the kill switch, pull the choke on ! lol
Sorry to disagree with you but a working kill switch is an essential safety feature that should be used. Relying on the choke, or the clutch won't help you much in an emergency situation.
A kill switch (button) located where it can be used quickly and without reaching with one hand and searching for the choke lever will assure that the engine is no longer propelling you toward disaster.
Relying on the clutch to stop the engine certainly won't do you any good at speed.
Yes, the kit supplied kill switches have a bad reputation but I've found they can be repaired to work flawlessly. If you don't feel comfortable fixing the switch at the very least install one that does work. All you'll need is a push button, normally open, single pole switch. Mount it so you don't need to take your hands off the grips to activate it.
There are other reason why killing the engine with the clutch or choke isn't a good idea but safety is the biggest reason.
Tom
I agree with you that a kill switch is a very important safety feature but if your engine is running at a very high rpm, and when you pull in the clutch to stop and your afraid of your engine being blown up because its revving so high, and you press and hold on the kill switch with no response , your last resort would be to pull the choke up
this was the first bike that I built that I sold during the beginning of 2013 summer. it was a kit so the kill switch was built into the throttle
this was the first bike that I built that I sold during the beginning of 2013 summer. it was a kit so the kill switch was built into the throttle
Yep. A throttle stuck wide open is one of the more dangerous malfunctions.
I've had a couple of close calls, but nothing as bad as yours.
Glad it wasn't anything worse than a sprained ankle.
I've had a couple of close calls, but nothing as bad as yours.
Glad it wasn't anything worse than a sprained ankle.
