The pedal is moving. The crank may not be. On this 1976 CB500T a friend pushed the kickstarter. The pedal went down and there was no compression thump under it. The description at the time was a lawnmower cord that is not catching. Which part failed to catch was not found. The bike was later started on that same kickstarter once ignition work was underway, so this is the symptom as it showed up, not a teardown.
A kick with nothing behind it
| Try | If the pedal then thumps | If it still swings free |
|---|---|---|
| Clutch lever fully released, transmission in neutral | The lever was the disconnect | The kick gear is the suspect |
| A short kick, not a stamp | You can feel the engine | Stamping a free pedal only rounds the gear |
| The electric starter, separately | The crank can be turned that way | A whirr with no cam movement is the sprag clutch |
Release the clutch lever all the way. On these Hondas a lever pulled in opens the drive between the kickstarter and the crank, and the pedal goes down like a decoy. Neutral, kill switch on Run, and a deliberate kick. Compression is a rising resistance and a thump, not a whistle of gears.
If the lever is out and the pedal is still empty, stop kicking it. A ratchet that is skipping gets worse every time it skips. That mechanism is a parts-fiche job, the kick gear and its spring, from a Honda twin supplier. There is no Amazon gear on this page. A kit that lists every SOHC Honda of the decade is the wrong basket.
The electric starter that spins without the engine is written up separately, because it is the sprag clutch. Once a kick does turn the engine and it still will not fire, the pedal is innocent. Spark and fuel are the coil and the condenser connector.