Bendix-starter clutch issue

[cbtop]

Anybody ever have this happen............when starter lever engages shifter collar and pushes it to engage ring gear on clutch hub it pulls drive gear away from starter.

[tmack-1]

I hate seeing ZERO replies......

1972..... is that kicker or the electric start?

[Blow-by]

yes this is a known problem with 1200 and other bored/stroked/cammed/hot bikes.

I have this problem every once in a while, i think others around here call it the compression clunk (and it will destroy your starter), when i start the bike the starter coughs/kicks and lets out a loud grind then the bike kicks over because of alot of unreleased compression in the cylinder.

i also had a starter/battery that was "slow" to start kicking over, after i trickle charged the battery the slow starter issue went away but im sure the compression clunk is still there.

its a known issue on big displacement twins, even inline twins such as 1900+ CC triumphs have compression release in their cylinders. Some 1200CC + V-twins have after market compression release valves drilled into the cylinder.

My personal opinion (and this is not known to work yet) but im going to try rolling the bike backwards/forwards in 5th to release compression and start the bike whenever i notice a pattern of this beginning to happen.

Also if there is that much damn compression in the bike, i may just opt to push start the beast if she's that ready for combustion might as well remove the starter (weakest link) from the whole equation at that point =)~

EDIT: Sorry i didnt realize that your bike was a 72, i believe kick starts are still available on that bike, you may be dealing with an entirely different issue but i know on the EVO's that our 1200CC and even modified 883's suffer from the compression build up issues in the cylinder causing these issues.