The frustrations of the 200S pullstarter

[WaimakRydah]

About 3 times in about 4 rides my bike has snapped its pullstart rope. This is getting extremely frustrating I took the pullstarter into the local mower shop and got them to try and find out what was wrong with it but they couldnt find anything. The round thing behind the pullstarter which has several curved holes in it had afew sharp bits sticking up out of it so I went to my mates and used his ankle grinder and grinded them off. Then it still broke while i was riding. The round thing looks like its had something rubbing across the inside of it really fast. I will post pictures off it soon.

[threewheelin-feelin]

go to a cycle shop and get the correct rope for it...im betting yours is old...also greese the moving parts inside very well...and that should help it alot

[WaimakRydah]

the past few ropes have been from a mower shop and is apparantly strong but i beg to differ. The previous owner said that that it had a new mechanism recently before i purchased it. Would i need to take the hole starter apart to be able to put enough grease on it to make a difference. I have never taken one of these apart before and dont know if i would be able to get it back together.

[ATC-Eric]

Those assemblys arent bad, once you've done it once.

Does yours still have the compression cable?

If you do go inside, whatever you do dont touch the spring!

[Hoosier_Daddy]

When i was in my teens I had a 200s. One day i was riding and half way up a hill it died on me. I got off and since i was in an awkward position i had to pull it straight toward me to start it. Needless to say the rope broke and i ended up punching myself in the face. Hard. It might be funny to think about now but it wasn't funny on that day when i was sitting there with a bloody nose, fat lip and coasting slowly backward down a hill.

[firehart]

I replaced the rope on my 185s. Its not too bad if you watch what you are doing and don't let the springs fly out. Maybe you should get a rebuild kit. Sounds like something might be bent or broken.

[DeePa]

get cable instead of rope

[McDerry]

If your going to use cable, get a junk housing as it will rub wear holes in it everywhere.

make sure theres a still a cam on the decompression lever and start using it.


Rebuilding them in the field witha lighter, pocket knife and some clothesline rope is pretty easy. Msot you need is either a 8mm or 10mm socket tog e tthe housing off.

[Jonpin]

When i was in my teens I had a 200s. One day i was riding and half way up a hill it died on me. I got off and since i was in an awkward position i had to pull it straight toward me to start it. Needless to say the rope broke and i ended up punching myself in the face. Hard. It might be funny to think about now but it wasn't funny on that day when i was sitting there with a bloody nose, fat lip and coasting slowly backward down a hill.

Man that has got to be one of the funniest things iv ever herd I can imagine the frustration and rage at that point could have won millions if it was on camera

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Man that has got to be one of the funniest things iv ever herd I can imagine the frustration and rage at that point could have won millions if it was on camera
It was hilarious to my cousin and friends who were all riding that day. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to laugh about it for a while. lol

[Frankencelery]

It seems like everybody I hear who talks about their rope breaking has a missing or non-working decompression cable. However, you said that it broke while you were riding. Did you mean when you were out on the trail and you had to start it, or did it just break while it was running? If it broke while it was running, you'll need to rebuild the pullstarter. Dratv.com has a rebuild kit for this. It doesn't include the decompression parts though.

[WaimakRydah]

Well me and dad were just mucking around by the tracks at my local riding area and i stopped for a while and when i pulled it again it snapped. I have a decompression lever and i probably use it for about 40% of the pulls. Would my local Honda dealer supply a rebuild kit and would it cost much? I cant really afford to pay an awful lot more on this bike Ive probably almost paid more then its worth.

[Frankencelery]

I think I just figured out what the sharp parts your friend ground off were. The openings in the cage where the dogs grab the cage get sort of "peeled" from the force. If it's really bad you can also replace that cage. Dratv.com, just like I said on the rebuild kit.

If you're "using" the decompression 40% of the time, that means it's not connected by the cable like it was from the factory. I think the parts are still availalbe for these, but not cheaply. I have a 200s engine I'm threatening to put into a 200x someday, and I looked up and found the needed parts on bikebandit.com. That was several months ago. Anyway, you either have to remember to use the lever by hand every time, or fix the decompression system. I'll bet the whole decompression insert in the pullstarter is missing, isn't it? People always take them out and throw them away. My 200s still has it, and it's never broken a pullstarter rope.

[WaimakRydah]

alot of the time u have to pull the rope till it starts to turn over the engine before or it just flicks back down when i flick it over and alot of the time i cant be bothered doing that when I could just not use the decompression lever start it quicker.

Here is a pic of what my friend grinded off http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk220/WaimakRydah/100_0629.jpg

heres a picture of what the cage looks like he didnt grind them off from the inside only from the outside but it looks like something has been rubbing against the inside of it at a very high speed
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk220/WaimakRydah/100_0626.jpg

[HuntingFor1]

Looks like you are missing one or more of the three springs that hold the dogs in place. Go to a parts diagram somewhere like bikebndit.com or servicehonda where you can see a diagram of the recoil starter and it should all make sence to you how everything goes together.

[Frankencelery]

I agree. At least one of your dogs is not retracting properly, or not coming out in the first place. I'll bet one of the springs is broken. It's easy to find out....take the pullstarter off and look into it as you pull the cord. You should see the 3 dogs flick out as it spins, and then snap back in when you release.

[bonkers_200s]

I used a dog spring from a junk chainsaw I had laying around, and I started using a longer piece of rope, and I reduced it to a rope breaking every 3-5 months instead of once a month.


And although you do need a small amount of lube, don't grease the hell out of it, you'll be pissed when your hands are black everytime you touch it.

[ATC-Eric]

ON a side note, I ended up eliminating my decompresison cable because the rope did not stop breaking on me, and its a lot easier to rebuild the unit without the decompression mechanism there. Its only a LITTLE harder to pullstart, nothing bad.

[WaimakRydah]

I agree. At least one of your dogs is not retracting properly, or not coming out in the first place. I'll bet one of the springs is broken. It's easy to find out....take the pullstarter off and look into it as you pull the cord. You should see the 3 dogs flick out as it spins, and then snap back in when you release.

Im pretty sure of what the 3 dogs are theyre connected to this round thing and they flick up and down when i spin the round thing. I think one is not coming out as much as the other 2. Would that be my problem?

[Frankencelery]

Sorry, I missed your post. The dogs should all flick out and back in about the same. If one doesn't, then the spring for that dog is missing or broken. You can get these cheap at dratv.com, but recently their shipping has gotten outrageous. I guess that's not their fault, since UPS prices are way up. Anyway, the dog springs are .93 ea. The bad news is you have to partially disassemble the assembly to get those out. I can't remember if you have to take the whole guts out or not. I don't think so. I think you take the E clip out and then there's a round plate that comes off, exposing the dogs. If you hold the main rope pully down when you do this, you won't have to rewind your spring! Of course, it just occurred to me that if you've broken that many ropes, you probably already know how it all goes together!

[Frankencelery]

Oh, and ATC-Eric, you must be a brute. I find it WAY harder without the decompression cable! Maybe the one's I've been exposed to had really good compression. I also haven't ruled out the possibility that I'm just a wimp! My buddy had a 185s with no decomp and if you didn't pull it just right the first time, you'd dislocate your shoulder. That was the one I always got to ride before I had my own. I broke the rope twice in a week. Then I got a 200s motor for my Auto-X project (that will be done by 2015, I'm sure) and it's also missing the decomp, and I can hardly pull it. So in my somewhat limited experience, I want it on there!

[WaimakRydah]

They all seem to look pretty similar when they come out and i cant look at it at the moment as i brought it into the honda shop and they rekon its got nothing to do with the cage as the rope makes no contact with them so I dont know if it would be the dogs. But the 1st time it snapped they replaced a spring in it and that rope lasted for a month or 2.

And if it was my choice i wouldnt use decompression at all because its annoying having to flick the lever over when i can pull it fine anyway. When i first got the bike I didnt really know how to pull it properly and stood outside for half an hour trying to start it but after that I got the hang of it. I pull it up a little bit til i overcome the first bit of compression then i give it a huge yank and it fires up.

[WaimakRydah]

The starter was returned to me today it feels different to pull now. Kinda like it felt before it kept breaking. Perhaps the other places didnt install it correctly and it started 2nd pull.

[y2kane]

When replacing rope all should remember to use enough rope. If you are pulling to the stop point,(where the rope stops coming out and your at the end of the rope no pun intended) then you are putting to much stress on the rope and it will break. I have done this many times and the only time I have had problems is with a rotten rope or a rope that is to short. Put a rope that is longer than your pull and it won't stress the rope with sudden stops when trying to start it. :)

Just my 2 cents.