MXA TEAM TESTED: BOYESEN QUICKSTART:

On Sep 29, 2011 Last updated Mar 23, 2014

WHAT IS IT? A starting device that turns the “hot start” on its head.

WHAT’S IT COST? $179.95 (Quickstart with QuickShot3 and adjustable leak jet), $119.95 (QuickShot3 with adjustable leak jet), $89.95 (QuickShot2 without adjustable leak jet), $69.95 (original QuickShot2).

CONTACT? www.boyesen.com or (800) 441-1177.

WHAT’S IT DO? Do you remember Smokey the Bear? When you were in elementary school, he was the one who taught you that in order to create fire you needed three elements: (1) Heat. (2) Fuel. And (3) Oxygen. These three ingredients are interdependent. When there is too little heat, the fire can’t be ignited. When there is too little fuel, the fire cannot be sustained. When there is not enough oxygen, the fire will die. This is called the “Fire Triangle,” and it is as applicable to the inside of your four-stroke’s combustion chamber as it is to Yosemite National Forest.

When a four-stroke engine gets hot, it doesn’t like to start. Why not? The fuel, heat and oxygen mixture is off. A hot four-stroke engine has lots of heat?perhaps too much. Thanks to the Keihin FCR carb’s accelerator pump, it has plenty of fuel?perhaps too much. But, it does not have enough oxygen. And every time you twist the throttle, you throw off the mixture even further by adding more fuel to an overly rich situation. Surprisingly, when you close the throttle (as is required to start a modern four-stroke), you cut off the engine’s greatest source of oxygen.

The dilemma is too much heat, too much fuel and not enough oxygen. The current solution is to allow air to leak into the combustion chamber by pulling the hot-start lever. The hot-start lever is little more than an old-fashioned air leak that bypasses the carb to bring the fuel triangle into proper balance. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The reason it functions erratically is because it is a very small corridor with convoluted passageways. When the hot-start lever is pulled, it isn’t uncommon for the dense fuel vapor to create a vapor lock in the hot-start circuit. Since the pressure is small and the hot-start circuit is long, there is a high-pressure drop that lessens the amount of air that can contribute to the fire triangle.

This is where the Boyesen QuickStart comes into play. Since introducing oxygen through the hot-start system is hit and miss, Boyesen Engineering addresses the problem from a different angle. If you can’t get more oxygen in, the next best thing is to cut down on the amount of gasoline in the fuel triangle. And that, friend, is what the Boyesen QuickStart does.

WHAT STANDS OUT? Here’s a list of things that stand out with Boyesen’s QuickStart with accelerator pump and adjustable leak jet.

(1) Models. There are four models of the Boyesen QuickShot2 accelerator pump chamber, but our focus is on the $179.95 Quickstart (which comes with all the bells and whistles).

(2) Function. The QuickStart system replaces your bike’s stock hot-start system. You still pull the hot-start lever when starting a hot engine, but instead of leaking cool air into the combustion chamber, the QuickStart automatically shuts the accelerator pump down. Without the accelerator pump, you don’t have to worry about flooding the engine or creating a fuel-rich mixture that won’t ignite. Additionally, you can twist the throttle all you want, because as long as the hot-start lever is pulled, the accelerator pump will not work. The ability to twist the throttle means you can also introduce fresh air into the combustion chamber through the carb throat. All of this adds up to a perfect fire triangle.

(3) Performance. It works. Best of all, it works on an engine that has been cartwheeled and is boiling hot. If you can’t start your Keihin FCR-equipped four-stroke when it stalls, you need the Boyesen QuickStart. Plain and simple, this is creative engineering that Smokey the Bear would be proud of (if he were about starting fires as opposed to putting them out).

WHAT’S THE SQUAWK? It’s a bolt-on, but you will have to remove the subframe, gas tank, hot-start cable and float bowl from your bike. On some models, you will need to modify the float bowl to allow Boyesen’s improved QuickShot leak jet system to work. Additionally, there is a plug that has to be installed to block off the stock hot start’s air leak.

This is a product that allows you to start your bike?even if you’re no good at it. Better yet, it also comes with a high-tech accelerator pump chamber and adjustable leak jet.