Question: Can factory teams add an electric start to a bike?

I assume we're talking about Suzuki. It would require changes to the cases so i don't think they could (you aren't allowed to make major case changes except adding material?). Or somehow use the RMX engine, which has the e-start.

Yes, they could add it.

Yeah, starts right up 

Can you elaborate on how and would the rules support it? I thought the cases needed to be stock except you could add material?

Man, does anyone else feel like there is way too much emphasis on the Suzuki not having an electric start? People chirping about when he crashes it's going to be the end of the world, it's not. I'd be more concerned about the time lost because of the actual crash itself vs starting the bike back up.

Someone had made an intelligent comment that perhaps running a Rekluse clutch may solve any potential handicap. That may be a viable option.

Anyway, I think Kenny is going to be just fine and I wish him the best.

Suzuki has probably been working on adding a whole new design with a E start for years so there could be a 2023 RMZ 250/450 factory edition to liven things up.

The OP also said “laying on its side for 30 seconds” guy, 30 seconds on the ground, race over 

Don't the cases have to be stock?

They have to start with stock cases but there's quite a few modifications certain teams do to their cases. Oil pickup lines for oil coolers, re-machining the insides for different bearings, adding in certain sensor areas if they aren't there in stock form.

Makes you wonder how it was even possible for Tomac to win a national championship in 2018 and then Cianciarulo in 2019, both on kickstart bikes against nearly all electric-start competition. You would think it is a complete non-starter (pun fully intended).

I remember seeing a while back redneck Hubert build an E-Start RMZ 450 for Pastrana utilizing the RMX 450 set up.

THIS!! Excellent 'point'

Your question was totally valid, and I've wondered about it myself during the past couple of weeks with all the Suzuki talk. I hope I didn't come off like I was dumping on you (that was not my intent).

How about star wining all those titles on Kickstart 250fs in 16-18. I've had more people including myself ha e to push a bike back due to starter issues then Kickstart issues an that ruins a ride more often then Kickstart issues. This isn't the early 00's where 4 strokes were finicky to start when hot. Every single fully built 4 stroke I've had in the last 12 years still starts in 2-3 kicks when hot. I've crashed and gotten up and going just as fast as my electric start competition on quite a few occasions. In 2019 at monster mountain watched a guy from Michigan on a Honda crash hard due to the bike cutting out. It was a e start issue took 2 days to get parts. To lost days of riding. An another guy from Iowa on a ktm. Bike cut out due to a issue with the connections behind the front plate. Bike cut out over the back step up into ruts. That was a nasty crash. Electric start the most overhyped thing in our sport. 

first, all of the competition worthy of a title will have ES. So Roczen is at a disadvantage before the first gate drop of the year. When the title comes down to one or two points, it matters. All it takes is one tip over during the season when the bike does not fire up quickly and all the other guys go by you. Points go out the window and ya, it matters.

What kind of sensors?

Do hot start kits work on FI fourstrokes like we used to put on our old air cooled 4 strokes?  I had an XR400 and 280 that would never start after a tip over. Hot start kit solved those issues, I have no idea how they work though I was pretty young at the time. 

Bikes sometimes don’t fire over quickly with electric start as well. You’re talking a matter of a couple seconds to restart the bike. We’ve seen people DNF races because of E start and that would be a much greater detriment to a championship run than a couple of lost seconds IF you crash and IF the bike stalls. 

ML, could they rob the cases from a RMX450 off road bike to make it work on the RMZ if they wanted to?

Yeah when you lay a bike over all the fuel drains out of the carb and... wait a minute.

Sexton's bike took a while to fire up after he and Eli came together and  both bikes stalled.  I remember wondering why Chase was just sitting there at the time. Then in an interview he said he was hitting the button and it was not starting.  Had Chase's bike fired right away he would have gotten past Eli before Eli got his bike going again.  I'm sure there have been some other times where electric starters  did not help get the bike started  much faster than a kickstart. But It also makes me wonder how much harder the bike might have been to start in a case like  when Chase and Eli came together .  I feel like these days the electric start is an advantage in a lot of cases and is proven enough that there are not a lot failing at the highest level of racing. Just the right kind of crash  and the electric start would be a big advantage and just the right electrical gremlin and the kickstart will have an advantage. I guess we will have to wait and see which types of issues Kenny runs into .  I am a fan of his, and I hope the best for him this year and that he is able to get  a  SX title.  I do not see the lack of electric start being as big of a disadvantage for a rider like Kenny as  it might be for others. When Kenny has a crash , it tends to throw him off for most of the day or night anyway. So those few seconds lost are not as likely to make a big  of an impact on his race  if he finds himself in a crash . A slight bobble in a corner that results in a stall , yes that could hurt him.  I could be forgetting examples of him charging through the pack after a big crash recently, but I feel like he tends to back it down after a crash. I totally understand ,after all he has been through why he's that way. I think if he can get a bike he is comfortable , being uncomfortable on he could win a lot. And i hope the lack of electric start is not  an issue for him. And who knows , maybe we will see a Kenny Edition RMZ, how cool would that be. I think its too late for that to happen but who knows.

The video of the vital user starting his RMZ-450 with his hand recently should be a video posted in every thread when people start talking about the kickstarter. 

Well, as a guy that’s got pllllenty of hours on this very motorcycle…and some real success on the track form Day in the Dirt to Mammoth MX and even a few marathons and poker runs (off-road)…

I never had a race result affected by what type of starter it had.

Seldom, if ever, stalled it. 

COULD NOT understand the way many riders “wrote the RMZ off” during tests and shootouts. 

Was constantly surprised at it's amazing dependability and low operating cost(s) including EXTREMELY in-expensive mods…like…Running a Yosh pipe and VP fuel REALLY woke it up (white plug). Factory Connection Suspension made it a track-master. 

This bike, in the same form it’s been in since 2018, has proven to be competitive and I’m quite sure KR will prove that it will STILL be competitive in 2023. 

Most of you guys have never kick started a bike in the air and it shows … 

Chad reed had it on his Yamaha before it came on them. His bike had hydraulic clutch on it then too as have the Hondas since 09. You can mod the cases. Also I think the rmz450x had the starter on the ignition cover so that wouldn’t be hard to do at all. 

I raced an RMZ450 in 2019-2020 and after a position costly stall, I installed a Rekluse auto clutch (go ahead Flame me). I never worried about having to restart the bike again. 

Wasn't HEP sponsored by Rekluse at one point?

Only problem I ever had with the kickstart is when everyone was all jammed up tight to head out for practice and I didn't have room to swing out the 'ol dino-lever.

Brayton used a kick starter on the Honda even when the e-start was stock.

So did Roczen.