Kill Switch
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,191
Likes: 233
From: North East, MD
We have a guy in our group that's been nicknamed "Killswitch" from the day we tried for 1/2 an hour to help him start his bike with the killswitch off. Yes, we were all riding metrics.....
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 361
Likes: 32
From: Ridgecrest, CA
We have a guy in our group with the same nickname, for the same reason! He actually had the dealer come pick up his bike and trailer it in. Imagine his embarrassment when the dealer called him and said... "Sir, you're kill switch was off." He still turns red in the face when we bring it up... 4 years later! Lol
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Road Master
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 1,143
Likes: 433
From: Menifee, CA
I've never used a kill switch to stop a motorcycle engine. The kill switch seems like a weird holdover from another age or another type of motorcycle use, like, say, racing. If a bike tipped over while running, the rider could kill the engine quickly with the kill switch and perhaps save a leg from a spinning wheel and chain. This eventuality seems very unlikely in a modern tourer like my Ultra Classic.
I got pranked once on a Goldwing by a riding friend who thought it was funny watching me crank the bike fruitlessly after he flipped my kill switch. On my 2000 Kawasaki Voyager, the kill switch was very easy to hit while riding, and I did this very embarrassingly several times during the 55k miles I owned that excellent bike.
In the past, on other bikes, I have gone into the switch gear and disabled the kill switch completely, making it a dummy switch with no function. I suspect the reason HD recommends hitting the kill switch first is because the kill switch is activated by thumb with hands on bars. They'd rather we not take our hands off the bars to do much of anything while the motor is running. This may be good advice for a novice or weekend-only rider.
I got pranked once on a Goldwing by a riding friend who thought it was funny watching me crank the bike fruitlessly after he flipped my kill switch. On my 2000 Kawasaki Voyager, the kill switch was very easy to hit while riding, and I did this very embarrassingly several times during the 55k miles I owned that excellent bike.
In the past, on other bikes, I have gone into the switch gear and disabled the kill switch completely, making it a dummy switch with no function. I suspect the reason HD recommends hitting the kill switch first is because the kill switch is activated by thumb with hands on bars. They'd rather we not take our hands off the bars to do much of anything while the motor is running. This may be good advice for a novice or weekend-only rider.
