Almost hit the damn thing once while at highway speed, so I started wondering what happens. Anyone ever accidentally hit it while riding? Is there ever a good reason to do this? If not, why wouldn't the brains of the bike override the kill switch at x-mph (15?) knowing that you really don't want to kill the engine. Maybe it already does but I don't really want to experiment.

 

I accidentally did this while trying to set the cruise on my Street Glide awhile back. Flipped it back to run right away and as far as I can tell no harm no foul... I wouldn't think it would be wise to do all the time, but nothing catastrophic happened to me..

 

Pull in the clutch, flip the switch to start, crank it back up, and continue on your way while making a mental note to not do that again.

 

I've done it by accident with heavy gloves on. Nothing happened, the bike just started smoothly slowing down. In top gear the rear wheel will keep spinning the motor. It feels like you just shut down the throttle (okay, a bit more engine braking maybe). I just flipped the switch back to "on", and the engine fired right back up.

 

Never use mine but some of the early 2014 clutch issues where the clutch would not disengage coming to intersections made me think I needed to be sure my thumb can find it quickly in an emergency. Heard old stories of buddies riding up beside someone and reaching over and turning bike off as a joke.

 

I pulled the cover off my battery yesterday, while doing about 80MPH in rush hour traffic, and was going to pull the battery cables out for fun when I suddenly realized that it might prevent the bike from running properly. So I stopped. The cover flew out from between my teeth and was run over by a dually, so I'll need to replace that. I had already unscrewed the negative terminal and dropped the screw, so I had to hold the terminal up against my frame for grounding. I want to check first if the bike will run abnormally first before I do it. Does anyone know? Thanks.

 

Sure it will kill the motor at any speed, that's exactly why its there.
And yes, there are good reasons to use it even at high speed for things other than emergencies, one of which is tuning the bike using what's called the "chop method".

 

On a not-so-related note...

I never use the stop/run switch. After collecting myself after tagging a deer and low-siding, I couldn't figure out why my bike wouldn't start. Took me a full minute or so to realize the switch somehow flipped when I wrecked. Felt like a true genius.

 

Well shoot, that's not the same thing at all. But I get the point. Touché.

 

I've done it before, like others said, flip it back on, and it fires right up again, no need to use the starter.

Did a similar thing in my Dad's New Yorker back in HS, flipped the key off by accident,
and when I turned it back on it backfired so bad that it blew the muffler right off!! OOOPS!