Modern Vespa

Is something causing kick start gear to sit slightly engaged/ proud?

Ghetto bird!

Fingers crossed it's that simple! Did the spring get installed correctly? Christmas tree teeth in good enough shape?

That's strange, I get glitter just from kicking the kickstarter with normal use.

Fingers crossed that the Kickstarter is the cause though

Maybe you installed a small clock in it by accident.

Stretching a little here, but have you considered the possibility that it's not inside the motor and is related to the flywheel or wheels rubbing on something?

Try to recreate it with the shroud and fan cover off, see if it goes away then.

And if you can't reproduce it in the garage, are you sure it's not coming from the wheels? No correlation of speed to click rate?

I moved out of Ghetto Bird Landia 20 years ago. Now I'm in the hills, but under the flight path of the Children's Hospital heliport for emergency cases. Fine with that! Nothing at all like helicopter lights looking for felons in your backyard.

Spring is good. Teeth are good.

Opened it up today. Was really hoping I'd just put an incorrect kickstart gear, since they changed the gear around 1980, and before lusso. I have the correct one. The post 80 version's ID is actually smaller, so no dancing kickstart gear

Couldn't figure why it didn't click on the bench with the drill. I think I figured it out. With the weight of the drivehaft and gears it wasn't fully seated into that 1st gear cog of the Christmas tree.

Taped the clutch pulled, selector rod in 2nd and rolled the bike. Sure enough, the same tooth on that cluster that bumped as I rotaded upside down on a vice bumps against the 1st driveahaft gear. Teeth look in perfect shape, so a bit lost here.

I've got the Indian cush and spindle arriving Wed. I'll give it a shot.

Is it possible the Christmas tree could "twist" with that bigass impact? Seems like issues would present themselves most at that gear if so. Can't think of another possibility now.


On the bench off the wheel. If I lift the driveshaft by hand that cush gear tooth bumps.

Marked the location on the spindle. Same damn tooth!

Christmas tree outermost teeth always look iffy cause the kickstart cog wears on it.

Do you have another second gear? You could swap that before the new Christmas tree arrives to eliminate any variables.

When I was doing my tests, I didn't bother installing the shift cross, gear shim or circlip. I just put pressure on the face of the gear with my gloved fingertips and supported it so it meshed with the Christmas tree. The gears naturally have a smooth spot in the middle of the face so no cut fingers! No clutch installed either so the drill would spin it easily.

Did first gear, yes noise. Removed first to second, yes noise. Went to third and just humming. Bingo!

It sucks you have this problem, Ray, but I'm enjoying the heck out of the creativity and diligence you're exhibiting as you track it down.

You'll get it. I like MJ's approach to isolating the issue, too.

You'll get there!

Funny, the sound reminded me of when we used to stick playing cards in bicycle spokes. Wasn't much louder than that.

Kept picturing Safi's post pics, though. Not fun to ride with those on your mind.

Got the Indian cush drive. It's VERY Indian!
Was fairly warned. David offered to look for a used pre-lusso cluster, but I thought I'd give it a shot, if only to confirm the issue.

Issue confirmed, I think(?).
Tooth bent from the hit. Hit was 3rd to 2nd, but the weakest toothing is 1st on the cluster.

Got a lusso conversion setup, meant for another bike. Might shelve the Indian cush if it keeps rattling, as it does with the drill spin so far. The whole family is a rattle -- just not any bumps.


The culprit(?).

Ray,

Are you positive that's where it's coming from? Kickstarter cog and Christmas tree making noise NOT the gears?

Is it possible that the primary or output shaft is bent? That's what happened to mine when I had a hard gearbox lockup. It was noisy after repair.

Yeah, I'm sure. On the bench I lifted the driveshaft by hand to support the gear weight so the teeth match up as they should. 1st gear bumped that same tooth(red arrow) on the Christmas tree, as it did rolling the bike. No bump with the new cush.

Indian cush is just not a smooth guy. Had to de-burr it for the kickstart gear to even fit/spin.

Unfortunately, the only 12-16-20-25 trees I could find are Indian or used. All three P engines in the garage are pre engine #146313

It either makes the noise or it doesn't. Problem solved!