How To Start a Motorcycle: A 1930s Guide
Riding an early motorcycle entailed a
certain preparation that went like this:
Before taking that first kick, it is traditional to light a cigarette and set it dangling at an angle that suggests nonchalance. While you're at it, send up a little prayer for fuel atomization. You woudln't be riding a motorocycle if you weren't an optimist.
Ten or twelve kicks later, sweat dripping form your brow, you might get to ride the motorcyle.
This is a rewrite from Matthew B. Crawford's Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
It really makes you appreciate the level of sophistication we've achieved since then...or did we lose something in the process?
I've had the privilage (or misfortune -I guess it depends on one's point of view) of riding motorcycles that seemed like they came from 1930s. There is a certain sense of accomplishment in mastering an unwieldy stallion who is unwilling to submit to most.
What do you think?
- Set the throttle at a very small opening (there would likely be no spring returning the throttle to idle position)
-
Set the choke at a position judged
the appropriate one for the ambient temperature, and retard the
spark timing manually by several degrees.
-
Then approach the kick-starter
with due apprehension, bracing yourself for yet another blow to
your chronically bruised shin.
The thing about kick-starters is, they tend to kick back. This is especially likely if you don't retard the timing far enough, as then the motor backfires mechanically, as it were, through the kick-starter, sending your shin to its fated meeting with the foot peg.
-
With the bike balanced on the
center stand, and you on one foot, use your whole weight on the
kick-starter to ease the motor slowly through its power stroke
and well into its exhaust stroke, judged by listening for air
escaping from the open exhaust valve.
- Having positioned the piston at the start of its intake stroke, you are ready to kick-start the bike. But first check to make sure there are not attractive women present to witness your display, nor any of your rivals, for it is likely to be a drama of strenuous impotence.
Before taking that first kick, it is traditional to light a cigarette and set it dangling at an angle that suggests nonchalance. While you're at it, send up a little prayer for fuel atomization. You woudln't be riding a motorocycle if you weren't an optimist.
Ten or twelve kicks later, sweat dripping form your brow, you might get to ride the motorcyle.
This is a rewrite from Matthew B. Crawford's Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
It really makes you appreciate the level of sophistication we've achieved since then...or did we lose something in the process?
I've had the privilage (or misfortune -I guess it depends on one's point of view) of riding motorcycles that seemed like they came from 1930s. There is a certain sense of accomplishment in mastering an unwieldy stallion who is unwilling to submit to most.
What do you think?
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