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Re: [ST] Kill switches



On Fri, 2 Jun 2006, John Ulizzi wrote:

> Um, OK. IMHO, the bar mounted "kill" switch is for
> exactly that purpose, emergencies. ( I am now not sure
> what it does and does not shut down, and will of
> course have to investigate and do a comparison on all
> my bikes.) However, to me, it shouldn't matter since
> it is only used for emergencies. Now enter the MSF,
> who teaches new riders to always use the kill switch.
> This is totally moronic. Consequentally, on our group
> rides, once we shut down at a rest stop, I find my
> self walking from bike to bike turning off all my
> friends ignitions so they dont have dead batteries
> when it is time to get back on the road. I have missed
> one more than once, and then we have a dead battery in
> the group. And these damn guys never learn...and all
> of this because of MSF training. The funny thing is
> that this particular crowd I ride with arent
> newbies...they're instructors !!!

I guess it works differently for different people. I continue to use the 
kill switch to stop my bike all the time but I have never had a crash 
where the bike failed to stall anyway (so the kill switch wasn't needed. 
I assume that using it all the time _would_ help me remember to do it 
during/after a crash though.

_But_ additionally the thought of leaving the key in the ignition at all 
bothers me. I just don't leave the key in the ignition unless I'm sitting 
on the bike which I certainly don't do for long with the engine off. This 
isn't so much to keep from killing the battery, but just basic security!

If you want to give your friends a slightly less than totally polite 
reminder of the issue.. take their key in addition to turning off the 
ignition. And then make them listen to a short security lecture to get 
their key back.

Sure, it is unlikely that someone is going to hop on your bike and ride it 
away at a gas station in Bupkiss, North Dakota but just like hitting the 
kill switch, (and locking your car door, putting on your seat belt) I 
believe removing the key should be an automatic lizard brain activity.

The real battery-killing issue with our bike in particular (back to the 
original complaint) that bothers me is the "park" setting just beyond 
"lock" where the lights can be on, but the key removed from the ignition. 
It isn't visually or physically separated from "lock" by much so it is 
easy to leave it in that position and I find myself making a note to check 
for it every time.

Is "park" really such a useful feature? And if it is, couldn't Triumph 
have made it a _firm_ click and 10-20 more degrees away from "lock"?


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