Info Sort on Electric Start Conversion Kits

Can any help with info & feedback on an electric start conversion for the BRP. I have seen a couple on the net a couple of years ago and I an having trouble find them again.
Has anybody here installed the system on their ride? How does it work?

Cheers
Muzza

Joe Racer Products is the only place I know that still offers a kit.

Baja Designs used to offer a kit, but is only selling replacement parts for it now. They may put one together for you or have one laying around if you ask, they're pretty helpful. Whatever the case the kits do occasionally show up in board classifieds and eBay from time to time.

In any event, they're both going to put a big dent in your wallet, and add 20+ lbs to you bike, but such is life if you're lazy

muzza wrote:Can any help with info & feedback on an electric start conversion for the BRP. I have seen a couple on the net a couple of years ago and I an having trouble find them again.
Has anybody here installed the system on their ride? How does it work?

Cheers
Muzza

I have an electric start on my XR650R and it works awesome. I am working with my carb to set it correctly for uncorking. I changed the slow jet to a 68s and the bike starts with just a bump of the start button. Before I changed that jet it was hard starting and I had to crank the motor for a long time before it would start. I would have hated to do that with the kick start. As far as the weight is concerned I never rode this bike without it so I don't know the difference. I know I don't want to take it off. It might not be the best choice if you are going to have a race bike but for a woods bike the electric start is the $#!+.
Mario
LDComfort.com

There are four estarters I'm aware of:
Baja Designs - They only have a partial spare parts list available now - must get used or 2nd hand.
This one from Honda Italy: http://dallarahonda.com/xr650sm_new.htm
This one: http://gokimfg.com/cgi-bin/web_store.cgi
And http://www.boechat.ch/catalogueXR650.html

If your bike is jetted properly you won't need an estart or an aftermarket carb. Get with the Team Honda shop for proper jetting if necessary.
The BD estart is the ticket and there are unused ones around for great prices.
The BD estarter kit is not complete, and I did some mods to mine.
The JoeRacer one is available directly from Europe. Sweden I think. There's a long thread about it on the Yahoo XR650R forum from just a couple of months ago with web sites and all.
You'll feel the extra weight.
The BD eStarter is really more of a restarter than a starter. That is important to know. It won't be starting your bike when the bike is cold.
Parts for the JoeRacer kit are an issue. And you should look into the the reputation of JoeRacer before you buy. The shop recently changed hands but I live here in the Bay Area and the shop is what I'd describe as notorious.

muzza wrote:Can any help with info & feedback on an electric start conversion for the BRP. I have seen a couple on the net a couple of years ago and I an having trouble find them again.
Has anybody here installed the system on their ride? How does it work?

Cheers
Muzza

Thank you to all for the great responses, I have been thinking about since I saw it in a magazine sometime ago. My bike is easy to start and after riding a CRFX recently borrowed by a very generous individal I feel a bit ripped off the CRFX owners get electric and we didn't. My main idea with it is to use when the big is flooded such as when it has been laid down and being a bit lazy at that time I figured if it was a easy, reliable and not extremely costly is may be worth while.
Sounds like the kit is very expensive and depending on supplier a bit unreliable and being in Australia any back up or after sales would be not there so it maybe best to keep exercising that right leg on the kick start only problem is the right leg will get bigger than the left.

Thanks again for the response.
Cheers Muzza (Glenn)

I put the BD estarter on my pig when I had nothing but problems starting the bike as I received it from the original owner. I tried fixing it myself. And had a couple of shops up here look at it. Then I got a smokin deal on a brand new BD estarter off eBay for about $350 - but then I still had to get the BD stator and a battery. And I did some mods to the BD system and components. Mainly to the battery tray. I welded the corners as it was just rolled edges on a brake. And I turned it 180 degrees to expose the terminals for charging. That meant longer cables. Plus I had a friend who gets BD at cost get me a couple of extra ring gears (according to BD it's the part that fails most) and a couple of shifter levers. Some part of the starter motor was discontinued by BD's source and that is why the kit was dropped by BD. Or so they told me. You'll feel the extra weight and everything in that area is a little more difficult to work on. I had to heat and bend my Motion Pro float bowl wrench to still get at the float bowl bolt.

The bike still balked at starting. So in a last move before selling the bike and moving on, I took it to Team Honda, then at Precision Concepts, in the last year they raced the XR650R. They made some recommendations. I spend a LOT more than I planned. I got the full suspension setup, plus the HRC cam, and some works parts they weren't going to be using on the 450. And most important the jetting. The PC folks are nice and Eric Siraton had an extra sticker kit leftover from the last season with the XR650R and he surprised me by putting the whole kit on my bike. I'm not really a sticker guy but it was such a nice gesture I kept it all on and tell you about it to illustrate the overall good nature of the Team Honda and Precision Concepts people. That said, I basically doubled the investment in the bike!

Since then I've added the Team Honda ported head. It has made as much difference as the HRC cam. And I plan to add the milled for pump gas HRC piston next year or so. I already have the piston as I bought it from Team Honda at the end of their season becasuse they had one left in the works box (not a works piston). I have a long post about it all on here somewhere.

Sooo, I'd recomend just getting the Team Honda setup, T-4 pipe, HRC cam, intake mods, and so forth, and then getting the Team Honda jetting specs and parts for your elevation.

There's also a good DVD for beginners (like me) on Keihin carb basics on Amazon.com

I hope that helps!
bump

muzza wrote:Thank you to all for the great responses, I have been thinking about since I saw it in a magazine sometime ago. My bike is easy to start and after riding a CRFX recently borrowed by a very generous individal I feel a bit ripped off the CRFX owners get electric and we didn't. My main idea with it is to use when the big is flooded such as when it has been laid down and being a bit lazy at that time I figured if it was a easy, reliable and not extremely costly is may be worth while.
Sounds like the kit is very expensive and depending on supplier a bit unreliable and being in Australia any back up or after sales would be not there so it maybe best to keep exercising that right leg on the kick start only problem is the right leg will get bigger than the left.

Thanks again for the response.
Cheers Muzza (Glenn)

so does anyone know where an electric start / kit can be found? i am still interested in an e-start for my 01 xr650r.

I had one for 3 years and I worked on it more than it worked , the solenoid kept blowing out .

The guys at BD kept sending a few and selling me a few replacements ...

They stopped selling them for this reason it seems ?!?

They didn't know how to help me , two batteries later I sold it .

It's a whole new bike w.o. it , lighter , faster , quieter ...

Save yourself money , time , weight , kik it !

if you need a starter then you need jetting first.

dr dave wrote:so does anyone know where an electric start / kit can be found? i am still interested in an e-start for my 01 xr650r.