removing battery, kickstart only

[pfo186]

hello all,
I wanted to get some opinions on the process of not running a battery and doing kickstart only. my battery is no longer charging while riding, and my electric start has never worked since i bought the bike.
I was curious on what the process is like, or if there even is one to make the bike not run with a battery (what part is needed to do this and cost).

also gives the bike a cool naked look with nothing under the seat and no side panels if your running pods.

i'd appreciate some insight.

cheers

Patrick
77 xs400

 

[HoughMade]

As the ignition system is, it requires a battery. I think most people who run a kicker only go with a very small battery (maybe 1.4ah) that will run the ignition and fit some other location.

 

[dO-bOy]

Hey buddy, lots of people in your boat including myself have gone through this. My best advice is to go slow and before modifying anything, find out where the charging problem is because it will still come back to that problem later on. I lost Alot of riding time due to getting rid of stuff before even knowing the problem.

Do a thorough search about charging issues here, there are ton of threads to learn from.

 

[pfo186]

thanks guys

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

If you really want to go without a battery you will have to swap to a permanent magnet charging system. Search for the thread about the Banshee swap: takes a little more effort than the kit was designed for, but looks like it'll work for ya.

 

[pfo186]

thanks psuedomonkey, the banshee swap thread was very informative. i might look into trying that out later this summer. have to get these crappy carbs running good first.

 

[Campbell45]

I thought that even with the batt-less banshee setup the ignition initially still needed a battery for spark?

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

I think it'll be just like on a dirt bike (or lawnmower), where the ignition is powered straight from the alternator. Which reminds me: grab a regulator for a permanent magnet system, since the excited fields ones won't do you diddly. A switch for the lights would be good too, since they would probably eat up all your power at low RPM. These ignition systems were designed to be run off a battery, so maybe I should be quiet and let someone who knows iron this out. If your ignition is just points, you might be able to just throw in the ignition system from a dirt bike up to that and call it good from that perspective.