Hi.

I'm building a chopper with stock early shovelhead engine (-66). It has the stock generator/points setup and I'm planning to run it without battery. I was under the influence that a magneto ignition was needed for this (joe hunt, morris etc) but a friend told me it'd work without it. Can anyone please shed some light on this? I'm having a hard time believing the generator will generate enough juice from a single kick?

Thanks,
Rob

 

a gen wont power the ignition alone.. you still need a small battery. that is a good idea anyway because the lights will look like a candle with out it. the early bikes have a distributor, you can put a mag in place of it. sorry,i don't know what you need to make it fit..

 

You need a magneto to start without a battery. At least this has been my experience.

 

I had a BSA chopper back in the 70's that had no battery. Kicked it once to charge up the magneto then swtiched it on a kicked again to start the bike,

 

I've got a 67 ironhead in my garage that I'm working on for a friend (has been quite the learning experience). It has the magneto, no battery, and a BIATCH to kick-start. you need the magneto to provide spark to your plugs