Trouble Kick Starting My New USED Bike...HD 63'

[jimmythacop]

I am having no luck getting my bike to start. I have never had a kick start bike before so I do not know what I am doing wrong. Its gased, fuel on, battery is dead now, but I have been getting a little oil blowing out of the oil relief hose that comes out of the engine... Great compression and good spark... Ant tips? It was shipped to me but was run the day they crated it and I trust the guy that sold it to me, so I know I am the one making the errors in starting it...

Thanks,
Jimmy

[old-n-slow]

The problem with kickstarting an old bike is that you have to learn what the bike requires. If it were me, I would choke it (full choke) till it fired. If it didn't fire after a few kicks (say 20?) I'd likely pull a spark plug to see if I had flooded it. If the plug is/was dry then I might even squirt some gas into the cylinder before replacing the plug to see if it would fire then. If the plug is wet you can presume that it has gotten too much fuel and switch off the choke. When you choke it, don't touch the throttle as a rule.

It can be a bit painful in the beginning till you learn the excentricities of the thing. Once you learn what is needed, it likely won't be difficult to get the hang of starting it.

Some of those old bikes need a real good kick, you have to rare up and boot the thing. Could be that is yer problem.

My first bike had no electric but would start first or second kick after sitting all winter, if you knew how to do it and first kick every morning when you were using it on a regular basis. You do need a good battery though. If the juice ain't there then some don't fire the plug and you never get anywhere.