KE125, no resistance in the kickstart?

[poolshark]

A friend of mine brought me a barn-find the other day, a 1970-something Kawasaki KE125, 1100 miles on the odo, and asked me to make it run. I figured I'd try; heck, it couldn't be that hard ( :ohmy: ).

The bike seems to be in decent shape, but when I step on the kickstart, it doesn't give me any resistance; it goes through its entire range of motion without once turning the engine. Though I'm pretty sure the bike would push-start, it still won't be useable without a kick. It feels like I'm missing something simple; if anybody's got advice or ideas, I'd appreciate them a lot.

 

[j32]

check bike bandit for the parts finder -microfiche you can use that to see all the parts in there when you tear it a part
has it been apart before? look like it at least
probably the spring that keeps pressure on the 2 gears,so it will engage

 

[wirefryer#85]

Sounds like the gear engagement spring is broke or gone.

I have owned a '76' KE 125 but had no trouble with it other than a broken oil injector line. (Saved the engine!)

J32 is correct, check the 'fish' and print it out if you choose to do a tear down. DO order all new gaskets for the covers you remove!

Tim