Sidestand engine kill switch disconnect

[wakers3]

I seem to have the urge to mod my '01 R1100R by removing the engine kill switch from the sidestand. Should I and could I do this pretty easily? I basically wanted to get some advantages/disadvantages and steps in the process if anyone has done it.

I have gotten in the habit of putting the bike up on the centerstand when I park it so that the next time I come out to ride, I can start it and let it warm up on the centerstand. But this habit seems to be a hard one to keep for me and I would prefer to have the sidestand warmup option.

Thanks

[Godfather]

Is warmup needed?:nono I believe the owners manual states start and go...but I may be mistaken.

[Stuff2C]

pull the plug apart just up from the switch and then insert a tiny wire from one lead to the other and then plug it back together.



DISCLAIMER!!! NEVER RIDE YOU BIKE WITH THIS MODIFICATION YOU COULD DIE!!!:D

[Bfish]

why the warmup? start and go.

[Patteng]

My 04RT runs fine with the side stand down in neutral. Even look at the gear shifter and is will kill the engine. If you want to warm the bike up while you go inside, park it away from your house, there have been reports of fires with bikes left alone too long while warming up
:nono

[bikerfish1100]

My 04RT runs fine with the side stand down in neutral. Even look at the gear shifter and is will kill the engine. If you want to warm the bike up while you go inside, DON'T!!!!! Just start it, put your gloves on now (if not already on), and go. Any more time than that at warmup is unnecessary, and potentially ahrmful to your bike and the environment (for those that care about such things).
:nono

fixed it to match reality. :nono

[breyfogle]

I seem to have the urge to mod my '01 R1100R by removing the engine kill switch from the sidestand. Should I and could I do this pretty easily? I basically wanted to get some advantages/disadvantages and steps in the process if anyone has done it.


It's trivially easy to do. Snip the wires anywhere above the switch and twist the two leads together. (Closed circuit means RUN, open circuit = NORUN)

Only you can answer as to whether you should do it however. The bike won't care.

[Wallowa]

"potentially ahrmful to your bike and the environment (for those that care about such things"....

Sorry but that is "rich" worrying about the environmental damage done...I wake up screaming in terror about the carnage my '07 GSA causes to the planet! :bow

Hey, can I trade "carbon credit units" with someone riding a scooter?:brad

[jaherbst]

Leave it connected. More than one rider has died due to kickstand down after departure. I have been riding for more years than I care to admit but recall three of these fatal accidents. Do'nt forget Murphys Law. To hell with warming up your bike. I wish my Harleys had this kickstand cut out.

[bikerfish1100]

"potentially ahrmful to your bike and the environment (for those that care about such things"....

Sorry but that is "rich" worrying about the environmental damage done...I wake up screaming in terror about the carnage my '07 GSA causes to the planet! :bow

Hey, can I trade "carbon credit units" with someone riding a scooter?:brad

i've always looked at what we can do for/against the environment as an incremental thing. if we all take steps in the right direction, things get better (or, at least don't get worse quite so fast). if we were all to maintain the "why bother" attitude, things would spiral down even more rapidly than they already are. think globally, act locally.
It's a shame if you can't/won't see it that way.

(sorry for the temporary hijack.)

[Wallowa]

It's trivially easy to do. Snip the wires anywhere above the switch and twist the two leads together. (Closed circuit means RUN, open circuit = NORUN)

Only you can answer as to whether you should do it however. The bike won't care.

Thanks for clear.."Go/No Go" image....I think even I will remember that for the time when I flop it in the dirt and she will not start..Hey, when did this 'life saving switch' first appear on BMWs?


Thanks..

[PGlaves]

Thanks for clear.."Go/No Go" image....I think even I will remember that for the time when I flop it in the dirt and she will not start..Hey, when did this 'life saving switch' first appear on BMWs?


Thanks..

The "life saving" feature with different technology appeared in 1969 - maybe earlier. On the /5 and later bikes the stand was spring loaded. Take the pressure off the stand and Wham! it slammed up.

In 1983 (Europe) and 1985 in the US, along came the K bikes - similar feature, different technology. The lower end of the clutch cable linkage was linked to the side stand. With pressure off the side stand, pull the clutch. Up came the stand - usually. It needed to be greased occasionally.

With the F bikes and Oilheads (and later K bikes) BMW went high tech. No more springs or mechanical linkages. Bikes would not start with the sidestand down. Other models would start in neutral but would die if put in gear with the sidestand down.

So: Out of the factory BMW motorcycles have been designed so you could not ride off with the stand down unless the rider defeated the system since at the latest, 1969.

As an aside, and noting the law of unintended consequences, my K1100LT would not start with the sidestand down. And due to the miracles of modern circuitry, neither would the brake light work. After the second time I had the tail light loose and a meter in my hand trying to figure out what was wrong with the brake light I put a label on the cover under the seat that opened into the tail cone where the knobs to loosen the tail light were located. It said in big letters "Sidestand You Dummy."

[DarrylRi]

The "life saving" feature with different technology appeared in 1969 - maybe earlier. On the /5 and later bikes the stand was spring loaded. Take the pressure off the stand and Wham! it slammed up.

Earlier. Sidestands were optional on the "slash 2" bikes (purists will forgive me for using this slanderous shortcut name, I hope), but if present, were also spring loaded.

I think few people bothered to defeat this feature on these bikes as the sidestand was nearly worthless. Instead, they bought the ungainly, ugly and very practical Flanders sidestand.

So, this takes us back to 1955.

BMW never offered sidestands before that time, though there were a couple aftermarket stands available. Perhaps the most interesting one was the AKIP stand, which mounted on the rider's left footpeg. It was an A-frame afair that folded under the peg and then could be flipped down to support the bike. This stand had a bad reputation for getting loose in its mount and then flipping down while riding...

[flash412]

The "life saving" feature with different technology appeared in 1969 - maybe earlier. On the /5 and later bikes the stand was spring loaded. Take the pressure off the stand and Wham! it slammed up./5 stayed down. It was when the /6 series came out that they started that foolishness^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H safety improvement.

[PGlaves]

/5 stayed down. It was when the /6 series came out that they started that foolishness^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H safety improvement.

The one on Voni's R60/5 popped up quite nicely. I think it was OEM - she bought it with 11,000 miles on it 3 years old. It was a 73 - maybe they made a change in the /5 midstream. I'm not sure.

Anybody have a '69 date of manufacture - '70 model who would know for sure?

[cjack]

The one on Voni's R60/5 popped up quite nicely. I think it was OEM - she bought it with 11,000 miles on it 3 years old. It was a 73 - maybe they made a change in the /5 midstream. I'm not sure.

Anybody have a '69 date of manufacture - '70 model who would know for sure?

My '71 stayed down. I bought it new. The spring was changed in 09/71 (parts fiche), so maybe from '72 on it may have popped up.

[flash412]

My '71 stayed down. I bought it new. The spring was changed in 09/71 (parts fiche), so maybe from '72 on it may have popped up.In mid-'73 BMW changed the /5 series to the Long Wheelbase (LWB) model by welding a 1.5" tube into the swingarm and lengthening various related components. This was essentially the beginning of the /6 series, which started a few months later, and had changes in lighting, ignition key lock & location and other minor stuff.

IIRC, you could move the place where the early /6 (& LWB /5) spring mounted at the frame end about a half inch one way or the other to make your stand auto-retract or not.

[osbornk]

My old R80RT has an aftermarket sidestand and does not have a kill switch on it. After riding almost 40 years with most of my bikes not having a kill switch, I almost crashed a couple of years ago when I forgot to put my side stand up. I almost ran through my fence and into my pond. I don't plan on disconnecting the kill switch on my oilhead and I think about my almost accident every time I get on the airhead.

[rinty]

Wakers:

When I got my R 1150 RS I had planned to bypass the switch, as I thought it was a frivolity. That first summer, I did a two day rain ride to the Beartooth Rendezvous. North of Red Lodge, it turned into a real gully washer and when I stopped in Abseroke to get gas, my brain was frozen (if that's possible for a Canadian). After refuelling, I stalled the bike twice before I figured out that the sidestand was down, and the switch may have saved my can.

At the Rally, my buddy from South Dakota told me how he ended up in a Colorado hospital for two weeks when one of the springs on his airhead aftermarket sidestand fell off or let go, and he pirouetted through a corner.

So I decided to put up with it, and it's not so hard to diagnose if it malfunctions. The legendary Dave Swisher even carries a little wire thingie that he can plug in to bypass the switch on his LT if it misbehaves.

Aircraft pilots have the Gear Up Club and motorcycle riders could form a Gear Down Club.:laugh

As they say: "There are those who have, and those who will."

Rinty

[Greenwald]

Darwin.

[osbornk]

Darwin.

I keep mine connected in an attempt to prove him wrong.

[Greenwald]

I keep mine connected in an attempt to prove him wrong.

You represent positive evolution.

[GSfornow]

..Hey, when did this 'life saving switch' first appear on BMWs?


And when did it disappear? Seems the newer ones or at least some of the newer ones don't have them. Did BMW decide to subscribe to the Darwin theory? :dunno

[johnnyjs1]

Keep it connected!! I'm a bit embarassed to tell this story but here goes:

I have a 99 Triumph (along with a Rockster), one night I went for a long ride with some friends. We decided to stop in a Wal-Mart parking lot for a cig. We figured out where we were going next and began to pull out of the lot. Turn right onto a pretty busy 4 lane street. Riding for about 2 miles in the right lane, I needed to switch over to the left lane, my buddy was riding about 3 seconds behind me. I turn on my left blinker and start changing lanes. My friend starts honking his horn repeatedly, I'm thinking he's just being an @ss. Next thing I hear is a horrific grinding and scraping sound, about a second later I'm sliding down the road on my back at about 45mph(thank god I didnt highside!!". The bike and me come to a stop, I check myself for injuries...None, and get the bike off the road ASAP cuz I wasnt about to get run over or hit by the cages behind me. Pull the bike onto the sidewalk thinking I threw out the chain, since the bike just seemed to "lock up". My friend comes over to check on me. I'm ok except for a bit of soreness. He says to me "Didnt you hear me honking?" I say "Yes, I thought you were messing around". He says "I saw sparks flying up from the side of your bike". I say "I think I threw out the chain". He states "Ummmm.....no, your kickstand was down!!!". Turns out, the plunger was stuck, and allowed the bike to run while the stand was down, so when I went to change lanes, the kickstand dug itself into the road. Needless to say, it was fixed the very next morning. The good news is that I barely had a scratch on me(thanks to leather), the bike didnt have a scratch on it(except the highway peg, which the bike was sliding across the pavement on). It could of been a lot worse, at a higher speed or on the super slab in heavy traffic :eek .