Sherpa Fold Out Kick Start Lever for <£20

[JonnyWobbles]

A couple of people have asked about the fold out lever I have fitted to my Sherpa 198A that was for sale (now sold!) and I promised to post some photos and quick description of how I made it.

Its not an original or expensive remanufactured one, but a right hand pivot lever with 13mm diameter splines (the Bultaco shaft size) that I found on eBay for £13 - allegedly Honda derivative but I can't confirm as it seems a pretty cheap copy.

Basically I removed the lever from the splined boss (circlip) and simply filed away the metal to form a curved profile matching the opposite side allowing the lever to pivot both ways. Not being manufactured quite symmetrical the lever pivoted past the 90 deg. point to the left. So I drilled a small hole and bonded a screw and filed off the top so that it acts as an end stop (shown in the 3rd photo below).

The splines are not a perfect fit (seemed to be cast rather than machined) and the lever needed a tap with a soft mallet to fit; however, as quality of the lever metal is pretty poor and soft compared to the hardened Bultaco shaft the lever splines will wear before the shaft and its a good tight fit when the pinch bolt is fastened.

The result works very well and provides loads of clearance to the left mounted brake lever, frame (already chipped!) and foot peg which makes the kicking far easier than with the standard lever.

I know of one forum member who has already tried this on an alloy lever made for a pit/trials bike he bought cheaply on eBay again with good results. 

 

I guess most 13mm splined levers should work and wondered if the better quality lever made for the Bultaco Astro had the correct spline size?

Trust this is of interest and for less than £20 and an hours fiddling definitely worth a go!

Cheers

Johnny

 

[feetupfun]

Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting.