fumed , but still ended up leaving without that kickstarter half . I couldn ’ t afford to replace it right away , either . Even then , Penton / KTM parts were expensive . I ended up fashioning a non-folding piece of pipe that I would carry in my tool bag , slip onto the bottom half of the kicker to fire the bike , then re-stow it before departure . To this day , I still cannot believe that kickstarter section could have disappeared the way it did .
The kickstarter on my ’ 84 KTM 250 was interesting as well , in this case because of its size . It was tiny . Hardly bigger than a shift lever . Starting the bike was not a problem with this stub of a kicker , except that there was very little to it . As a result , it was quite easy for your foot to slip off the end . Not that big a
deal with boots on , but oh the times a sneaker-shod foot lost traction and WHACK , that little aluminum rod would snap up and catch me right in the shin . I actually maintained a perpetual little dent in that spot on my right leg the entire time I owned the bike .
My ’ 87 KTM 350 ’ s kickstarter , on the other hand , was just the opposite . It was very long , in order to assure plenty of leverage to spin the Katoom ’ s big piston . Fine , except I am , well , stubby . I had enough trouble just getting into the saddle . In order to get my foot onto the kicker , at the very top of the stroke , I had to draw my knee up to about even with my ear .
To gain an advantage over the situation , I learned to find things
Yamaha DT1 - photo credit : Bike EXIF
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 172