I'll admit I started to watch this for amusement but as the video went on, I found myself becoming invested in the heroic struggle and cheered with her at the end ~ :)
I have been kicking for many years too. The best way I have found is to put you left knee on the seat, keep the bars turned towards the kick stand (a longer kickstand would have probably helped her), and once you're on compression stroke you can put weight on the knee to raise your body up high and then get a full body kick with all the ass you got! I had a pan shovel that was printed, balanced, ported, polished and a big cam kit. It ended up being around 82 cubic in (I could be off. I can't remember for some stupid reason...oh, age!) straight piper and 4 speed with baker/timpken inerds. She was a very high compression and was a bitch...she literally had her time of the month and would severely piss me off! After the 472nd kick on a cold morning she would light up and throw flames! She had a taller 4th gear and could run about 80 without being rapped out but first gear...I was never beat, even by ricers, never beat from the line to about 40mph! Once I banged second gear that was it...my buddies would love to get me in races at the bar. Guys on their $50k baggers would laugh at my police special/ special construction, It looked like a crodd between Dennis Hopper and Henry Fonda's bikes. Very mechanical and you see all the working parts, wires, mouse trap, lines, etc. They liked the bike and would be blown away (literally) of how quick the bike was...I got many of beers from that old girl. I miss her too... Fucking wahhhhh...long ass story, My bad! I started typing and brought out some cool memories...just like this good looking woman will have for the rest of her life. cheers🍻
4 years later I'm reading this! Hell yeah man, wishing you good health and hopefully I brought you back to some cool memories 4 years later :) cheers boss
My '72 XLCH was one of the hardest bikes to kick that I have ever owned. It even threw me up about over the bars a couple of times. Bless her determination.
I can relate brother, I had a 72 CH myself. It took a stout leg to start it, but provided it was in tune, never had problems kickn her over, of course lighter oil was required during the winter.
I love a girl that can ride, and not just any girl can kick over a Harley. Girl you've got all my respect and nothing but wishing you bright sunny days to ride for the rest of your days! Way to go girl!🤘
I thought she was going to give up. Glad she didn't. Back before electric starters, we used to straddle the bike (well, not every bike), jump up and then we could put our full weight into the downstroke. Of course if you didn't time it right, you could get sent for a ride.
Its not a dirt bike, These are high compression V twin short stroke motors! They don't just kick over, you have to put your ass into it and mean it! It looks awkward but its the most effective way...there is a better way that I found but its close to this
Josh, I agree, so many people have tis fascination of standing at the side of the bike, I always stand astride the bike, if you stand at the side the bike tends to want to lean with you, I did stand on the left when my Morini had a kickstart on the left, I couldn't co-ordinate my left leg to work being astride the bike, it's just so easy if your astride.
taxed to death, this is definitely not the most effective way, if you stand at the side when you put your weight on the kicker the bike comes off the stand and leans towards you, this doesn't happen if you straddle the bike.
I’m crying happy tears 😭😭😭😭😭 I tried and tried to start our lawn mower..... never been able to do it. I feel like such a failure. I’m so happy for this young woman. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ that is the true spirit of an unfailing warrior😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
the problem is the jeans were too tight, I see this happen a lot, she needs to be wearing a thong to get the full stroke and be able to follow through with the kick. please have her try it again in the appropriate starting gear and post. thanks
I don't think you mean creating her own gravity. Gravity is gravity. I think you mean; she sould learn how make her body into a whip with her leg as the end of the whip and using the power of the bikes compression ratio to assist in the countering force!!!! I agree with you though that she is a little on the light side and those stupid motocross boots weren't helping either. My hat is off too for her!!! If I ever run into her I will buy her a beer. Great video, Never Gave Up!!! Never Quit, Never Die, Kick Ass American Spirit!!!! God Bless and Semper Fidelis
WHEW HEW! Way to go girl! Im a girl about your size and Im thinking of buying an old 73 Iron head with a kick start..Pain in the ass but damn makes you feel good when you get it started!( I love a challenge!) I just hope I have the endurance to keep going! lol
In my younger days..all my buds and I seemed to have just kick starts...I (Army)had a cantankerous 1974 Norton 850, one bud (Navy)a 900 Kaw and the other..an old Jarhead a 1969 Iron head with Magneto...all 3 Nam Vets. We would take rides out to a lake qwe liked and sat on a Bar Deck for a sandwich and beer. The Youngsters came in with bikes that had rear tires a foot and a half wide and dragging the ground. When we got ready to leave, they would stand on the deck and watch us start our bikes. All they could do was to shake their heads as they had NO kick start on their garage beauties so no Motorcycle ZEN. The last to start was almost always the Iron Head...He worked the beer off but the sweet sound when it light... I have all the respect for this Lady...No ass to her yet she flogged it to submission. He still has the Iron Head and I still have the Norton...though we both ride other Harleys most of the time, When he feels friskie..he kick up the IH and I end up ripping the inside right leg of a pair of well worn jeans kicking the Norton.
That was cool.. She never gave up.. Most guys woulda been too whooped to ride after all that.. Old School..Nothing sounds better.. When ya can get them to start..
TheChainzzzz nothing sounds better ? When it finally started it sounded like EVERY OTHER OBNOXIOUS STRAIGHT PIPED PIECE OF SHIT. I have ever been subjected to. Only a self centered asshole would ride this wreck around .
She was using the typical rookie cross-legged kick which robs you of downward force and momentum, that's the worse way to try and kick a bike. Someone didn't tell her she had bad form. Bike sounds like shit too. Work smarter not harder. She gets no sympathy points from me. lol
I have an old Beemer with a kick start only. It's low compression, and always starts by the third or fourth time when it's cold, and by the second, but usually the first, when it warms up. Her Harley needs tuning, or she needs to modify her procedure, slightly . I salute her. I think she is probably at the lower weight limit of what's necessary for that bike. Manual starting engines have a "routine" they seem to prefer. It's different with each engine, lawnmowers are the same way. If you learn it, it gets easier .Pay close attention to what " works" .
That sad part is that nobody took the time to show her how to properly kick it. They just video taped... Probably would have started in a couple kicks if she had been taught the correct procedure.
Don't give up.....never give up! That young lady is awesome. She absolutely wore me out....I was so tired I had to pause the video half way through so I could catch my breath. You are something.... doesn't even take a break.....just keeps kickin. I would like to meet you!!
I felt her pain. Happened a lot to me on my pan. Once at a gas station a girl asked if I needed help. amused I said sure and backed away to give the little thing a try. She had it fired in two kicks. She Dryly looked at me and said put more ass into next time.
Hey, I know grown men, mechanics at shops even, that quiver in fear at the thought of trying to kick over an old ironhead. And with good reason: they're a total bitch, which is why I finally sold my '59. People used to deride Sportsters as a "girl's bike." Well, not unless the girl is a 250 pound lady wrestler. I had one, I've dealt with others, and I'm cured. All hail the god of electric starters.
Gaetan Giroux I was waiting for her to take a ride on the end of that kicker lol. Hey, she kept after it. Gotta send her out two beers short of leaving, by the time she's got it fired up, you can shoot a game of pool and knock em back.
It's not the kickback, but the worn out kicker gear that makes the kicker go to the floor that leaves your knee feeling like a french fry bent over Hillary Clintons leg getting the paddle for meddling in the 2016 election.
Awesome, she never gave in and eventually fired it up...however, when kicking a big old Iron like this, stand on the left hand peg while kicking over, that helps balance out the weight and prevents the bike pulling over to the right.
Cant someone show her to quit wrenchin' on the throttle. If thats a pumper carb its way flooded.It's a lowered bike and the sidestand is too long . She needs it leaned over more as a counterweight to her kicking.
My first bike was a '60 XLCH, and in the intervening 44 years that I've been riding Harleys I have never seen a single person come anywhere close to getting thrown over the handle bars kick starting one. That said, I can sympathize with the young lady.
I am a old dude who rode kick start twins all my life....I always straddled the bike and would push until I felt the compression build up then I come down with my weight.....if it was cold I used the choke.
I do know how you felt when it finally fired up! All my buddies ride electric start bikes and don't understand what it takes to get one of these old girls running.
Jeeze girl, stop twisting the throttle so much, you're pumping a shot of gas in every time! Might want to consider thicker head gaskets to lighten the compression a tad, and a good tuneup of the ignition. It should start easier than that!
She is showing the proper way to kick start so you don't have your knee tore up if it backfires. It is the safe way to start and also allows you to put more into it if you don't have a lot of weight.
Fiiinally someone with experience to describe the predicament and concern. Many a burly guy limping around since the eighties due to XLCH-knee. From southern California ~ Ride Forever! 🦅
I think the only time I've seen a human work harder to start an internal combustion engines was the video of two guys starting Flying Heritage Collections FW-190 with the hand cranked inertia starter. After five or six failed attempts it finally fired as well.
Imagine zombie apocalypse "honey, go and get our harley, i will keep them busy". 3 mins later you are propably one of zombies, already eating your girlfriend :D
My dad kicked a 74 iron head so much one day- every time he kicked, the kickstand would put about a half inch scuff on the shop floor. By the time it started there was a circle about the size of a basketball on the floor. Good ole stomp start...
It's an old iron head not a dirt bike sportser knee is a real thing your knee doesn't bend that way trust me when you jump up to kick like hell the two gears come enmeshed fucking full power to the bottom. You will know what sportser knee is like.
