Press the thumb button. The key is not the starter. On this 1976 CB500T the first start looked like a bike that would not crank at all. The lights worked with the key on, which is all the key does. The starter is the button directly under the headlight switch on the right switch housing. That was a first motorcycle, and the button is easy to miss if you arrived from cars.
The owner's manual order is short:
- Fuel valve on.
- Key on. The green neutral indicator should light.
- Kill switch on Run, not Off.
- Choke lever fully closed if the engine is cold. On this bike that lever is an enrichener, and it is happier at half once the engine has caught. The running symptom is the enrichener guide.
- Open the throttle a little and press the starter button.
Lights on, engine still
| What is true | What is wrong | What is not wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Lamps on, button never pressed | The key was treated as the starter | The battery, yet |
| Neutral light dark, transmission in gear, clutch out | The safety circuit is open | The starter motor |
| Button pressed, a whirr, engine still | The sprag clutch is not locking | The button |
In gear, with the clutch out, the button is supposed to do nothing. Neutral, or the lever pulled in, gives the solenoid its ground. Bypassing that switch so the bike will lunge is not a repair. If the green light is on, the kill switch is on Run, and the button still only clicks, the solenoid and its ground are the circuit to trace, with the meter and the shop diagram. If the button produces a free whirr, the motor is already running and the starter clutch is the part that is not.
A cold engine that catches and then screams to 8,000 rpm is not the button either. That was the throttle cable holding the butterflies open.