Hawk 250 DLX Wires on clutch perch?!?!

[JayWalk00]

Hello everyone. On Friday, a buddy and I both went and purchased hawk 250 DLX's. We plan on putting around town and down a few trails and doing some vlogging while we do so.

We are already looking into upgrades and noticed something when inspecting our bikes for aftermarket parts. on the clutch perch, there are two wires with spade connectors. I have circled them in the picture. Does anyone know what these wires go to? I unplugged them both and everything on that side still works fine. (blinkers, lights, horn. any help would be greatly appreciated,

[JayWalk00]

Found out! I should of searched a little longer before asking. Somehow, these wires prevent you from starting the bike unless you are in neutral.

[Bruces]

Those are the clutch safety switch wires so you don’t start it in gear without the clutch pulled in .

[Megadan]

Assuming they are even wired in correctly. Mine weren't, which was fine because I went to remove them to disable them anyway.

[CyclePilot]

Originally Posted by Megadan

Assuming they are even wired in correctly. Mine weren't, which was fine because I went to remove them to disable them anyway.

Megadan- I could have sworn my now 7 days old Hawk DLX could start in gear but now I’m noticing it does not start in gear- clutch in or out, don’t matter it won’t start in anything other than neutral...
I JUST did a valve adjustment in the damn think and I’m thinking that’s when I noticed it wouldn’t start in gear (if it ever did). Is that sound right?? I’d love to have this bike start in gear ( like my Triumph Tiger or any other bike I’ve own) as you never know when you need to start and get the hell out of the way ASAP- ie when you stall at a red light or something… what’s your thought??

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by CyclePilot

Megadan- I could have sworn my now 7 days old Hawk DLX could start in gear but now I’m noticing it does not start in gear- clutch in or out, don’t matter it won’t start in anything other than neutral...
I JUST did a valve adjustment in the damn think and I’m thinking that’s when I noticed it wouldn’t start in gear (if it ever did). Is that sound right?? I’d love to have this bike start in gear ( like my Triumph Tiger or any otper bike I’ve own) as you never know when you need to start and get the hell out of the way ASAP- ie when you stall at a red light or something… what’s your thought??

I always start in neutral, safety features disabled or otherwise, for a variety of reasons. I take the one risk with the clutch switch bypassed simply because it is often a Normally closed circuit, so if the wires are disconnected it ends up open anyway, making it a silly system. I also disable kickstand switches because I find their existence annoying and potentially unsafe. I don't need the bike shutting off at random because it thinks my kickstand is down. I have had that happen to me before after hitting a bump at 70 mph . Thankfully the Hawk never had that feature installed.

[buzz]

Right on dan, he know what hes talking about.

[CyclePilot]

Originally Posted by Megadan

I always start in neutral, safety features disabled or otherwise, for a variety of reasons. I take the one risk with the clutch switch bypassed simply because it is often a Normally closed circuit, so if the wires are disconnected it ends up open anyway, making it a silly system. I also disable kickstand switches because I find their existence annoying and potentially unsafe. I don't need the bike shutting off at random because it thinks my kickstand is down. I have had that happen to me before after hitting a bump at 70 mph . Thankfully the Hawk never had that feature installed.

Yes makes perfect sense. Thank you guys!!

I was thinking more along the lines of stalling the bike at a red light or train tracks where if you stalled you may not have seconds to fiddle with finding the damn neutral; specially being all nervous and flobbered in wanting to get the hell going ASAP.. that’s all

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by CyclePilot

Yes makes perfect sense. Thank you guys!!

I was thinking more along the lines of stalling the bike at a red light or train tracks where if you stalled you may not have seconds to fiddle with finding the damn neutral; specially being all nervous and flobbered in wanting to get the hell going ASAP.. that’s all

In that instance then you should be able to just pull the clutch in and start the bike. That is the entire purpose of that clutch switch. If you bypass it, you can still start the bike in gear. As mentioned, since that circuit is normally closed, when you remove the wires you open the circuit just like when you have the clutch pulled in, which means the bike will start without pulling in the clutch - the reason I start in neutral. Mine wasn't even hooked up right and never worked. My last Hawk they constantly fell off on their own.

My response about never starting in gear is more for the starting the bike when getting ready to ride/warm up the bike scenario. I never start in gear for that reason. If it's a scenario more akin to what you describe, where I am already on the bike and have been riding, then starting off in gear presents less danger than the scenario at hand, because even if the bike starts and takes off because it's in gear - somehow managing to overpower my fat butt - the result is desired in that case lol.

[Britt]

Originally Posted by CyclePilot

...I could have sworn my now 7 days old Hawk DLX could start in gear but now I’m noticing it does not start in gear- clutch in or out, don’t matter it won’t start in anything other than neutral...

My Hawk DLX will start in gear just fine, as long as the clutch lever is pulled in. This has been my first bike, and I've, well, stalled a 'few' times at intersections. I'm glad I didn't have to go looking for neutral before I could get going again.

[Megadan]

I guess I didn't read close enough to understand the actual problem CyclePilot. Doing a valve job wouldn't cause your bike to not want to start in gear. I would say there is something definitely interfering with your ability to start. Do the DLX bikes come with a kickstand switch? On most bikes that have a kickstand switch, they will disable the starter if the bike is in gear and not allow it to start even with the clutch pulled in. This is the exact reason I dislike kickstand switches.

[Britt]

Originally Posted by Megadan

... Do the DLX bikes come with a kickstand switch?...

No

[CyclePilot]

Originally Posted by Megadan

I guess I didn't read close enough to understand the actual problem CyclePilot. Doing a valve job wouldn't cause your bike to not want to start in gear. I would say there is something definitely interfering with your ability to start. Do the DLX bikes come with a kickstand switch? On most bikes that have a kickstand switch, they will disable the starter if the bike is in gear and not allow it to start even with the clutch pulled in. This is the exact reason I dislike kickstand switches.

Sorry Megadan I was out for a few days and just read this...


As others posted No I do not see a switch nor any wires going to the bike stand or anywhere near it. I still can not start the bike in gear, clutch in or not, it will only start in Neutral...

[CyclePilot]

Originally Posted by CyclePilot

Sorry Megadan I was out for a few days and just read this...


As others posted No I do not see a switch nor any wires going to the bike stand or anywhere near it. I still can not start the bike in gear, clutch in or not, it will only start in Neutral...

***UPDATE- Mystery Solved***
Turns out that the bullet connector on the pink wire in the rubber housing behind the Headlight was NOT plugged in- this connector goes directly to the Clutch Perk cables/connectors so while I verified the switch worked correctly, not being plugged in behind the Headlight did not work as intended. The wire/bullet connector is now plugged in as it should be and now everything is back to normal; I am now able to start bike in gear while clutch is pushed inl!


Thanks Megadan, Britt and everybody that chimed in!



y

[Megadan]

Good job on finding it. Little issues like that can be quite annoying.