I’m at about 3000km on the odometer, and my TBR7 kickstarter finally works.
Like Many Dirt Bikes, The TaoTao TBR7 Has A Kickstarter.
Regardless of being labeled as a cheap Chinese motorcycle, the TBR7 is still a dual-sport with its roots in dirt bikes. Dirt bikes are simple machines designed for maximum speed/torque with small engines and can be manually kick started rather than carrying a heavy battery and starter motor. So with dirt bike roots, the TBR7 looks natural with a kickstarter.
A TBR7 You Can Kick Start, Is This Needed?
The TBR7 has a reputation of having an inferior stock battery.
Some years, the TBR7 came with an empty battery that you poured acid(included) into to make the battery ready. I’m not sure if there was a need for a charger to finish getting this type of battery ready, but I’m glad I never found out. Just this some-assembly-required procedure makes the battery sound questionable to many owners.
I received a sealed-acid battery with my TBR7. Even with a low maintenance battery, I noticed at times, it cranks very slow even after riding the motorcycle for a long while. Why, at long stop lights, I am fearful of stopping the engine (prevent overheating) and trusting the battery will restart the engine.
I do not trust the battery.
I am glad my TBR7 came with a Kickstarter. However, up till now, I’ve had difficulty kick-starting my engine in the past.
Wasn’t Using The Kickstarter, So I Moved It.
Due to not kick start my TBR7 and the Kickstarter poking my right leg as I rode, I repositioned it. I removed the bolt under the kickstarter and removed the Kickstarter. Rotated the Kickstarter slightly counterclockwise and replaced it. I then reinstalled the bolt with a blue-thread-locker. Now it doesn’t poke my leg, but I noticed I had less of an arch when trying to kick start my TBR7.
Remember, I wasn’t successful before the modification, so I didn’t feel I was losing anything by moving the kick start into a more comfortable position.
Some TBR7 owners stated they completely removed the kickstarter and carry it wire tied to the motorcycle’s body for emergency use only.
My TBR7 Kick Start Procedure.
Now these are my 10 steps to kick starting my motorcycle. Please feel free to leave comments if this is done right, or you can give me advice still. I am a new motorcyclist, remember?
- Turn key “on”
- Turn kill-switch to “run”
- Ensure the motorcycle is in ‘neutral
- Fuel petcock open.
- .’Use choke as needed for engine temp.
- TBR7 on stable ground, and motorcycle sitting on kickstand properly.
- Fold-out the kickstarter
- Stabilize motorcycle with hands; I use my left hand on the seat and right hand on the throttle. Note, I kick start the TBR7 standing to the right side of the motorcycle.
- With solid, downward, complete motion, kick start the engine. The goal is to turn over the engine and have it running. I used my right foot.
- Once running, be sure kickstarter returns to upward position, and nurse the throttle/choke to keep the engine running.
I Know Kick Starting A Motorcycle Should Be Easy…
My TBR7 seems to act up. I was disappointed that after about 500 miles(800km), several oil changes, the shifting of the motorcycle was ‘clunky.’ It has smoothed out, but up till now, I was lucky if I got the kickstarter to kick start my TBR7. Small victories and maybe 1800miles(3000km) out of the box(TBR7 Unboxing Post) is the actual break-in period.
Leave a comment, I want your feedback. Thank You and Ride Safe!
I was lucky if my tbr7 would kick start I put a mikuni vm26 on it it kick starts every time to my surprise but it only will fun on choke and both carbs run great until 5 – 10 minutes later my tbr7 shuts off I’m stumped
Glad to hear your TBR7 will now start with the kickstand, but weird the bike will only run on ‘choke.’
I didn’t run across this, but from my research planning on doing my carb upgrades, running only on choke indicates the bike is running too lean(too much air verse the amount of fuel it’s getting). I would look at starting at the idle range, adjusting the air/fuel screw, and increasing the pilot jet until it idles without choking after warming up.
Not an expert on this condition. Just using common sense to imagine is messing with the ideal engine fuel/air ratio it needs.
Keep me up to date; check out these other sites for suggestions in this post: Need TBR7 help? Upgrade Guides? User Support? We Got You!
Hope this helped, and congrats again on the kickstart progress!
Tom
I have a Tbr7 and I’m having ignition problems when I turn my key to on no light in instrument cluster. Any suggestions please.