Will it hurt to hit the kill switch while coasting?

[Tsbrunell]

I got pulled over the other night :/ so just to be cautious from now on I was hoping that if I see someone drive by I could just turn the engine off...

Would it harm the engine to hit the killswitch while moving at a decent speed?

 

[Venice Motor Bikes]

I've found that sometimes the kill button can short out the magneto in the engine.
So yes... it's not guaranteed to harm it, but it can happen.

 

[2door]

Whenever I ride bike trails and encounter walkers or pedal bike riders I use the kill switch to shut down and pedal past them. I've never had a problem.
I do not agree with wiring the kill switch to the white wire and ground however. I wire mine to short between the blue and black wire from the magneto to the CDI. All of my bikes have hundreds of miles on them and I've never experienced an issue with using the kill switch.
Tom

 

[Mike B]

The kill switch does short out the magneto, that's how it works.

 

[Al.Fisherman]

Quite often I'll kill the engine with the kill switch (hilly terrain) with the clutch engaged. So I'm not just breaking with the brake pads. I have never had a problem in the 5 engines I've bought. I had one magneto go bad, and that was 3 days after I installed the engine.

 

[bairdco]

there's basically two ways to do it, and both have been explained. i do it the simple way, using the white wire and the ground, and have never had a problem.

i've also never burned out a magneto from cutting it and coasting. not saying it can't happen, just never happened to me.

 

[adrian fromspain]

try putting a bulb or other resistance in series with the white wire to do a short circuit total
E