I have a Royal Enfield Bullet 500cc Classic with electronic fuel injection and ignition. It does have a kickstart, but doesn’t have a decompressor to lift the exhaust valve. Kicking it over is a pain as you have to take it past top dead centre before giving it some wellie. Failure to do so can result in a spectacular backfire with risk to ankle/leg. I happen to know this.
Also if the battery is flat then the electrics don’t work anyway, so kicking it over won’t help. The old lead acid battery was struggling so I put a new gel one on. An amazing difference, a touch of the starter and she’s away. I do occasionally kick it over for old times sake. Funnily enough in the days when I had another 500 single, a Velocette Venom, they had a reputation for being notoriously difficult to start. Mine was never a problem, it had a valve lifter and fired every time despite the creaky electrics. I was tempted to buy another recently, but common sense prevailed and I settled for the Enfield.
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