ALT-1 How to Jump Start a Motorcycle
Although jump starting a motorcycle isn't usually recommended by motorcycle manufacturers it can be a useful skill to learn and it has personally been proved to be vital in my many years of owning and riding motorcycles. Motorcycles, like cars, can throw up their own plethora of problems if they 'decide' not to start for you when miles away from home and any help coupled with motorcycles being easily stolen are examples enough to support learning to jump start a motorcycle.
There are two different ways to jump start a motorcycle. You can jump start a motorcycle the regular way which is with a set of jump leads. Another way is to jump start with a method called bump starting which simply requires you to have a slight incline on a road, someone to give you a quick push or strength and skill yourself to push, building a little speed, and then jump onto the bike.
JUMP LEADS - Regular car jump leads can be very awkward to connect to a motorcycle because the clips tend to be bulky as there is no issue with clearance to the terminals on a car battery. To attempt the jump start you need a power source, either the battery on another vehicle, a good battery or a jump lead power unit. Begin with the motorcycle ignition switched off and connect the jump leads to the flat battery then connect the other ends of the leads to the working battery/power source, making sure the connections are negative to negative and positive to positive. If you are using another vehicle battery start the engine once the leads are correctly connected, as not to drain the good battery. Next attempt to start the motorcycle and if the battery was the problem it should start.
BUMP START - With the motorcycle ignition switched on, select second gear and with the clutch pulled in. Next, build a little speed on the motorcycle, either on an incline in the road or with a push. Release the clutch giving a little bit of throttle an the motorcycle will start.
Electricity can be very dangerous so you must take great care when connecting and disconnecting jump leads.
