Author Topic: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??  (Read 12208 times)

gn2

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #15 on: June 02, 2016, 10:20:53 AM »
Well I'll be darned.....
D'nut is in the Royal Mail..... (if this is the Forza owner I think it is?)....
Stig

Yes, its me.
How about I pop down the local shops get me a donut and send you a PayPal invoice?
Just say no.
More donuts is the last thing I'm needing!

Am currently considering replacement options and popped in here to see if there was any new info/stories about the Xciting 400.
This has only been offered in black in the UK till now, but I am informed by a representative of the importer that white will become available soon.

Stig / Major Tom

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #16 on: June 02, 2016, 04:00:36 PM »
Yes, its me.
How about I pop down the local shops get me a donut and send you a PayPal invoice?
Just say no.
More donuts is the last thing I'm needing!

Am currently considering replacement options and popped in here to see if there was any new info/stories about the Xciting 400.
This has only been offered in black in the UK till now, but I am informed by a representative of the importer that white will become available soon.
You and me both - have sworn off donuts - just go for the coffee and excuse to ride.

I know you're not inclined to buy from early production models....but has the 400 been around for awhile in Asia and Europe? Bugs all out?
The Kymco 300's are the big sellers here in the States - sadly without ABS....and can be found well below list price as left-overs. Fairly bullet-proof - the 300's
I am most impressed with Kymco quality & price & serviceability ( the actual sell prices are much better than list - most places)
and would have loved to test any Kymco 400ABS before buying the Burgman 400ABS. I needed more capacity than the NSS300 and was not going to settle for anything without ABS.
No point fussing about KYMCO distribution policies - they've been around a long time. They make their best guess - and send us only those models. But, they make so many mid-size scooters we could be choosing from!
This is the USA - we're lucky anybody sells scooters in this market.
A 400i question - why are they marketing with a video of a guy riding in sport bike behavior? People who want to ride a sport bike would pay less, and not buy a scooter.
http://www.kymco.com/product/category/Scooter/Xciting400i/video.asp
Ride safe up there in Scotland (isn't it?),
"Hello, my name is Stig and I used to eat donuts."
"Hello Stig!"
Boston Strong
Rural Ohio

And, I'm feeling a little peculiar.

ScooterWolf

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #17 on: June 03, 2016, 10:32:06 PM »
Guess I’m the outsider. Always used the Kill Switch. After nearly six years of riding, never had any electrical problems related to it -- only your typical battery and spark plug ones. It was stressed in the BRC course, and when I was rear ended at a toll plaza, the first thing I did was to hit the kill switch when me and my bike were pressed into the side of the toll booth. Did the same thing when I had my wipe out on an icy manhole cover. First thing I did and think when I went to pick up my bike was to hit the Kill Switch.

It’s part of my muscle memory.

- Wolf

Forbes1964

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #18 on: June 03, 2016, 11:19:10 PM »
Guess I’m the outsider. Always used the Kill Switch. After nearly six years of riding, never had any electrical problems related to it -- only your typical battery and spark plug ones. It was stressed in the BRC course, and when I was rear ended at a toll plaza, the first thing I did was to hit the kill switch when me and my bike were pressed into the side of the toll booth. Did the same thing when I had my wipe out on an icy manhole cover. First thing I did and think when I went to pick up my bike was to hit the Kill Switch.

It’s part of my muscle memory.

- Wolf
It seems that you and I are the only ones who ALWAYS use the kill switch. As I stated earlier, my BRC instructor told us the same thing. He stated that by ALWAYS using the kill switch, we would AUTOMATICALLY reach for it in case of an emergency. It makes perfect sense to me.

The switch is robust. And it's no different as far as the engine computer is concerned than using the key.


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Forbes1964

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #19 on: June 03, 2016, 11:19:45 PM »
I honestly can't understand the resistance to using that switch.


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Ernestt

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #20 on: June 04, 2016, 03:27:27 AM »
Disabling side stand switch sounds like a good idea
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AMAC1680

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #21 on: June 04, 2016, 09:48:13 AM »
Disabling side stand switch sounds like a good idea

For me it was a necessity.
After its been euthanized be very careful. Unlike a cycle it's always in gear so any roll of the throttle and to scoots on the ground .

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ScooterWolf

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2016, 11:52:57 AM »
The side stand kill switch makes sense to me. There have been times I’ve tried to start up my bike with it down, and the first motorcycle accident I ever read about in a newspaper as a kid -- sometime in the 70’s -- was of a MC rider who started his bike at night, took off and a few blocks away he wiped out when taking a left turn and was killed. His side stand was still down.

The idea that a vehicle could kill you because you forgot something was pretty freaky as a kid. For me the side stand kill switch is a good safety feature.

- Wolf

ScooterLar

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2016, 12:07:55 PM »
My Kymco Dealer, Burger's in Flemington, NJ, advised me not to use it. I only use the key to turn off the ignition.
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AMAC1680

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2016, 03:02:38 PM »
The side stand kill switch makes sense to me. There have been times I’ve tried to start up my bike with it down, and the first motorcycle accident I ever read about in a newspaper as a kid -- sometime in the 70’s -- was of a MC rider who started his bike at night, took off and a few blocks away he wiped out when taking a left turn and was killed. His side stand was still down.

The idea that a vehicle could kill you because you forgot something was pretty freaky as a kid. For me the side stand kill switch is a good safety feature.

- Wolf

The guy that drives off with the side stand down has attention issues.
45 years and 100s of thousand of miles and I never pulled out with the stand down. Of course vintage Harley's don't have stand kills anyway. It's only there because the legal depts thought it was a good idea to protect idiots.

I've done plenty of other idiotic stuff back in the day but that newbie move isn't one of them.

I use my scooter every day as transportation and there are many times that I'm off it for a very short time and as soon as the stand goes down it shuts down. Thirty seconds later I'm back on and it's starter time again.

It's only purpose is to help thoses that shouldn't be on two wheels anyway.

AMAC

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MassScoot

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #25 on: June 05, 2016, 04:39:12 PM »
The only time I turn off the kill switch, is when I accidently hit it when washing the scooter.

I did the same thing a couple of years back. I couldn't understand why my GT300i wouldn't start! Goes to show you how often I use it (never)
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Forbes1964

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #26 on: June 05, 2016, 07:03:56 PM »
I just bought a Yamaha Majesty. And the kill switch is MUCH easier to reach than the key. So shutting it down with that is only natural. You have to reach down somewhat to reach the key. My shutdown order is 1. kill switch . 2. Side stand. 3. Key.


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LidoCA

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #27 on: June 05, 2016, 10:44:39 PM »
When I took my motorcycle safety course, we were encouraged to ALWAYS use the kill switch so that if an emergency happened, we would automatically be in the habit of using it. And we would use it without having to think about it. It makes sense to me. Someone implied that the kill switch is more robust . And using it will prevent (relatively) heavy current from passing through the ignition switch before its fully in position. -- Makes sense in theory. But in practicality, I doubt it matters since the switch was designed with this in mind. But using it all the time so I will  automatically reaching for it in an emergency does seem like a good thing. It can't be a bad thing.
This is something to consider. It makes sense to be familiar with all of your safety equipment.
Steve
I have ridden well over 17 miles on my scooters.

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Petey4

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #28 on: July 31, 2017, 07:52:05 PM »
When I recently called the dealer-mechanic to say I had a question about my new-ish Like 200i, he immediately said, "Lemme guess, you want to know why it's so hard to start after using the kill switch?"

We didn't talk more about it, since that wasn't my question, but it reinforced my feeling that the switch was a problem. I've only used it accidentally three times at intersections -- and each time I had to push the bike to the side of the road because I couldn't get it started right away. Seemed flooded or something. The last time it happened I didn't panic, but carefully turned the key all the way off, then tried to start it normally, but still had issues.

So I was surprised to read here that some people swear by it. I was googling around to see if I should completely disable it (since my hand nearly caught it again at an intersection this morning).

Wondering if those who say there's no difference between using the key and kill switch have tried starting it right after killing it?

ScooterLar

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Re: Do you turn off scooter w/kill switch??
« Reply #29 on: July 31, 2017, 08:05:08 PM »
Kymco has known about this problem since at least 2014. My wife's 2013 Like 200 experienced this issue back in 2014. We brought it back to our Kymco dealer, Burger's in Flemington, NJ, under warranty. They tried replacing the switch but that didn't fix it. They ended up consulting with their technical folks in SC and still could not come up with a fix. They advised us not to use the kill switch and we never have since that time. I've never had a problem with any of my other Kymcos' kill switches, but since that time, I stopped using it on all of my scooters.

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