Bike won't crank
 

Hi I've got a problem here. I have an 08 cbr 1000 fireblade which has been an awesome bike for the past 2 years since I bought it. I went to start my bike today and it would not crank. When I try and start it I put the engine kill switch to the on position and push the button. When I do this the front lights go completely out when the start button is pressed but no crank. Fuel pump comes no when I press the kill switch to the start position. But pressing the start button causes the headlights to go out and no cranking/ noise at all. Battery is a week old and fully charged. All fuses are good and voltage is getting to the engine stop relay. If anyone has a suggestion of what I could try before putting my baby on a trailer and hauling it to the shop for repairs I would greatly appreciate it.

Chris

Ok so I fixed it. It was the kickstand switch. I'm guessing that the cold has affected it somehow and after fiddling with it for some time it suddenly started. Definitely solved the problem and in the process found a bad relay which is purely coincidence. SWEEEEEEEET!

Hmm...I didn't know that the sidestand switch would prevent it from even cranking. As long as it was in neutral it shouldn't matter if the sidestand is up or down.

Thanks for posting the fix. Hopefully, it can help someone else with a similar problem someday.

Don't lie... you forgot the bike was in gear didn't you lol

Lol! Nope. Because if that was the case I would have been to embarrassed to follow up with my first post and not been so desperate as to start my first thread on a forum I have never been to being that very issue. Not only that, this is a good diagnostic tool for people like me who don't like taking their baby in for work so I would like to think this post will help someone else out there who might have the same problem, so I would never misguide someone here. I feel bad saying that because I have had 2 hondas in the past 10 years and never used this site. :(

Luckily because of this forum I was able to solve my problem as there was someone else who posted with a similar problem had a similar solution.

When I pulled the bike into the garage I had it in gear put the kickstand down and then kicked it into neutral after I turned the bike off. I will not be doing that again since it seemed to be the problem. It didn't just start up either, I had to fiddle with the kickstand a few times and kick it into gear and out again before it fired up.

I am still thinking it was the kickstand and not a loose wire that was the problem.


Chris

Yea it's possible I had a problem like that on my old f4 the spring was loose on the kickstand so if I hit a decent bump in the road the kickstand would drop enough to hit the switch and kill the bike then it would pop loud like a backfire and light back up, freaked me out till I figured out it was a simple fix

I'm not sure that any of this explains why the lights went out when you hit the starter. That doesn't really tally with a bad connection on the side stand switch. In theory that would just mean that the starter doesn't engage. Lights dimming suggests a large power drain somewhere. I'd be trying to get to the bottom of that if I were you. Any thoughts?

I think a lot of motorcycles are set up to turn off the light while you crank the starter. that way you don't drain the battery as much as if the light stays on.

Yes, of course, what am I thinking...... clearly not clearly. We are spoilt in the UK having a light switch. It seems to unfair to a battery not to be able to turn them off when you want to.