Apropos to the DT400 kickback medical mayhem thread.  I came across this fairly recent vid on the tube of you and thought some may find it helpful.




 

Hey, that's good!! Thanks for sharing.
I dragged it on but "he's onto it". Should be very helpful.

Mirrors my experience that timing is the culprit with consistent kickback issues. Noticed that someone has retarded the stator plate as far as it can go... with modern fuel I find the big bores start easier and run great slightly retarded from stock timing spec so that should not be an issue even though the timing is almost certainly not at factory spec.

The taper didn't look great so hopefully won't shear another key.

Thats a great video. My kick back is every now and then. I did fit a new woodruff key when I did the rex speed shop conversion to the bike.

Last week I went back to hospital and had 3 plates fitted in the foot and the heel re positioned back in place. 
I never want to attempt to start the bike again, I am now scarred of it and I will be selling the bike when I can get ito the garage to take some pics, I will look out for a T 175 or similar as a replacement. Pity because I have fully sorted the machine and it runs like a swiss watch, and is awsome to ride.
Pitty it cannot be converted to electric start then I would keep it for sure

Gosh you 'did' make a mess of your foot & sorry to hear that. Always best to wear a heavy boot or mx boot for kicking--not that I always do, but my turn will come I guess.

Ohh my ,Kinda reading horror stories.
Prayers for your fast recovery mate.

I remmember , watching a small Japanese guy got eject across his dirt bike when trying to start his bike on instagrame .

Perhaps you should just adjust the timing a bit, like what hv been said.

With 400s little less power may still have loads of them ,i believe. Or
The only safe way i could see for you to start it, by bump start on 2nd or 3rd gear.





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the timing is fixed, unless the backplate was alongated to allow this.
As for bunp starting!!! I would never get enough speed up, im only a small guy

I bought myself one of these a few years ago.  Makes it easy to get a flooded or difficult bike started...  Not cheap to buy

(but I guess a lot cheaper than medical bills if you own a "devil bike"? ) 

I've seen several home built versions of roller starters including a nice one made primarily from hardwood. I had more money than time when I decided to get mine so I bought one.  Several designs use boat trailer rollers or similar and don't look too hard to make.

Here's a video of one I decided to buy that shows assembly and use...  fast forward to about 14 to 16 minutes to see it in use if vid doesn't start there.

On the recommendation of a fellow forum member, I have had my mechanic fit one of these to my RT2 and DT360A.

Parts (bultacoeast.com)

Whilst he has finished working on the bikes, they haven't been returned to me yet. However, he said that the RT2 is much easier to start and needs about 50% opening, and the DT360A starts fine without the aftermarket compression release (no idea if it makes any difference or not, but a previous owner has replaced the CDI with the points system from a DT250).

I had looked into getting one of the paddock starters that Mark has referenced, but they are very expensive here in the UK.

I've read positive reports of people converting to 12 volt cdi and they noted easier starting and no more kick back. Vape seems to make a nice kit, bit it's not cheap.