Hi. Am looking for a bit of advice on my Seeley kickstart. I have just rebuilt the bike over the last 10 months having bought it from the dreaded ebay. The motor was supposed to have been rebuilt before I got it and this seems to be correct as it runs well and ticks over like a sewing machine. I am pleased with the end result apart from the the kickstart ratchet seems not to be engaging correctly and most times when you kick it will not turn the engine over. No decompressor cable setup is fitted.

I have read on other postings here that sadly I will need to pull the motor apart to check / repair the problem. Can anyone tell me what to look out for and is the kickstart shaft assembly the same part as used on the XL185?

My engine No is RS200TE - xxxx.

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks, Bill

Bill, i have the workshop manual/parts list for the Seeley motor let me check for you.

Hi Honda Pants. That would be great. Thanks Bill

Does it act the same if the motor is warmed up?

Hi Brian. Dont know as Ive not really had the motor warmed up well enough yet. Bought the bike in a tatty state and motor came separate. Most of the work I have done was to the cycle parts. Motor has been started a few times in the frame before wheels were fitted. Last Wednesday was first time i had ridden the bike and it was only a few loops in the street in between snow shower. Regards Bill

Hi Brian. Took the Seeley out for a play today and it does seem that the kickstart slips a little less once the bike is warmed up. Bike outperforms the rider and I am very pleased with it apart from the kickstart problem. Noticed that it takes a little while to restart when dropped on its side too! Bill

You may want to flush out the motor with a thinner oil than normally recommended to see if there's

some "gunk" built up around the kick starter mechanism. Maybe some 5-30 or so.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will give that a try. Certainly a lot easier to do than stripping and rebuilding the motor at least for a start. Bill

hi does anybody know what carb works best on a honda seeley that is available to obtain today.i have not got the original.thanks

I had something similar on my TLR 250. It would catch most of the time but just slip round like it just missed the ratchet teeth. Sounded terrible. 

Sorry to say that I cured it by splitting the engine. I ended up replacing the bushes and bearings related to the kickstart shaft. I also did all the other bushes and bearings while I had the engine apart. Everything in the engine looked absolutely fine, not like it was over 30 years old. 

Must have been just enough wear in the bearings and bushes to give it just enough movement to slip because it's been fine since the work. 

With the part numbers all the bits were available from Dave Silver or  CMS in Holand. 

Unfortunately the only way is a full crankcase split and replacement of the kickstart pinion and ratchet, these are the 2 items that will be causing the slippage I would also replace the spring. All these parts are XL185 items.

                                                                 Hello

               Pour eviter le glissement du rochet de kick,a la place du ressort qui compresse le rochet,je mets "une tranche "de ressort de crepine d'huile  coupee un peu plus long que" l'impuissant d'origine." Comme le fil est plus gros,le ressort est plus puissant

               et comprime mieux le rochet sur le pignon de kick.De cette maniere le systeme echappe moins.Un decompresseur {leve soupape}manuel soulage bien le systeme egalement et est plus facile a adapter que le lourd decompresseur automatique des

               200 TLR qui ne passe pas ,non plus dans le carter de RTL.

                                                                   Claude