New Honda CA77 Owner

[sky.fred]

[Geoff Hastings]

Ok, if the engine is cranking then you don’t need a starter solenoid. The position one is for cranking the engine with no spark so you can do compression checks etc without the engine firing up. As the engine is able to crank make sure there is a thin lead attached to the solenoid feed side (not the starter side) this should go to the main (only) fuse located by the rectifier.

[Tim Allman]

That is utterly weird. A position for the starter motor only? What for? If you're doing a compression check you remove the spark plugs anyway. I'm sure the person who made that design decision thought it would be useful but I'm at a loss to know why.

[Geoff Hastings]

Ok, if the engine is cranking then you don’t need a starter solenoid. The position one is for cranking the engine with no spark so you can do compression checks etc without the engine firing up. As the engine is able to crank make sure there is a thin lead attached to the solenoid feed side (not the starter side) this should go to the main (only) fuse located by the rectifier.

[sky.fred]

That is utterly weird. A position for the starter motor only? What for? If you're doing a compression check you remove the spark plugs anyway. I'm sure the person who made that design decision thought it would be useful but I'm at a loss to know why.

According to Honda manuals, position I is used to fill the engine with fuel for cold-weather starting.
With the choke, it's belt and pant straps.
Honda engineers were worried in the '50s.

[Tim Allman]

Interesting. I used to ride my bike at temperatures well below -5℃. Apparently the engineer didn't understand Canadians.