I usually turn the key or if I feel particularly lazy that day, I will simply put the kickstand down which causes the engine to stop.
But some people insist that you should always turn off the bike using the killswitch and then turn the key.
So, how do you guys turn off your bike?
I only got my license in July, but they taught us kill switch, then key, then fuel line. I don’t always turn off the fuel, but the kill switch is a lot easier for me than the key, because I am one of those “all the gear, all the time” girls, and the gloves are a little bulky.
Fuel line? Most modern bikes I am familiar with do not have a fuel line switch. My last bike had one but it was right below the fuel tank, normally inaccessible, unless you removed the two front screws and lifted the tank.
Ignition switch. The kill switch is for emergencies.
I usually hit the killswitch. I’ve heard it’s a good idea to vary it, to be sure everything is working. I would think the ignition is best because that ensures you won’t leave the power on and run down the battery.
As for fuel cutoffs, I thought all bikes had them. My 06 Honda Shadow has a 3-position switch right below the left edge of the fuel tank; On, Off, and Reserve.
Actually the killswitch in motorcycles isn’t a “real” killswitch. It only cuts the power to the relays that control the fuel pump, starter motor, etc.
A real killswitch would disconnect the battery directly, like the switches in trucks and racecars.
That would be a “Master Switch”. The kill switch kills the motor so what’s wrong with calling it that?
I use the key, even though the user’s guide says to use the kill switch. That way there’s only one action to turn it off, not two. Also, when you start it again you don’t have to do the ‘press the start button, turn on kill switch, press start button’ routine.
Key if it has one, hidden switch on the choppers, fuel valve ( it is not a switch ) depending on the bike. Most of mine are kick only.
Keyswitch. I never bothered to wire in a kill or kickstand switch, and I don’t think that there was an off-the-shelf kickstand switch for one of them.
I grew up on motocross bikes that don’t have kick stands or keys. The habit of stopping the motor with the kill switch was ingrained and just carried over to street bikes.
I use the kill switch. When I’m at a red light and I have a minute to sit there, I have no problem being absolutely sure that I’m in neutral and taking my hands off the handle bars and putting them on the tank or down at my sides, but when I pull into my driveway or a parking spot, it’s just easier to hit the switch and not have to worry about taking my hand off the clutch and having it lurch forward by accident. Also, my driveway has a bit of a slope to it so taking one hand off and feeling around for the key is a bit awkward.
Turning it off by putting the kickstand down I’ve only done by accident and even then I’ve mumbled to myself “Holy crap, I can’t believe I left it in gear.”
In class we learned to use the kill switch as well, but I think that’s mostly because the teacher is standing in front of 20 people that have never ridden motorcycles before and would much rather they turned them off then as quickly as possible then (as I said earlier) took their hand off the clutch to feel around for the key.
As for the fuel shutoff, yeah, we had to do that in class, but in reality, the only time I do that is when I put it away for winter. I can’t think of a good reason to do that every time you ride unless you want the engine to die 2 minutes into every ride. Sure, a fuel line could break and you could lose 3 gallons of gas, but if it’s going to happen, I’d rather it happened while you had the bike parked and not while you’re riding.
I don’t have a bike at the moment, but when I did I used the ignition.
All of the Harley riders that come through our town in July, though, have a different approach. It involves backing up to the curb outside my store, revving up to redline several times, and then cutting the engine.
Usually I use the key, but it’s right there in front of me so I just release the brake and turn it off. If I’m on a hill or something like that I might use the kill switch so I don’t drift. My bike doesn’t have an ‘off’ position for the fuel, it’s prime, on and reserve.
Carbureted bikes are typically gravity-fed from the fuel tank, and are usually equipped with a fuel shutoff so that entire contents of the fuel tank doesn’t leak into the carb and engine if the needle valve in the carb sticks open. (Old carbureted cars used a pump to lift fuel to the carb, so no shutoff valve was needed on those; if the pump wasn’t running, fuel wasn’t going to get up to the carb.)
Fuel-injected bikes use a pump to move fuel out of the tank (just like cars have done for the past 25 years or so); if the pump isn’t running, fuel isn’t coming out of the tank, so no external shutoff valve is required.
Me? I typically kill my bike’s engine by flipping out the sidestand. No problems ever.
nevermind, should have read all the options properly
Using the key, on my new bike the dealer said to use the kill switch, the key is a 40 year habit now so hard to break.
First the kill switch, then turning the ignition off with the key. That’s what I was taught as a new rider in the MSF and the justification for the practice made sense, and now it’s an ingrained habit.
The reason it makes sense: when intending to park, I can stop the engine with a flick of my right thumb without removing my hand from the handlebar. On the other hand, stopping the engine by turning the key would require me to remove my right hand from the front brake. While parking a motorcycle one is already flat-footing the bike around (or tip-toeing for the shorter folks on taller bikes), meaning I’m also not on the rear brake. So if the engine were still running, there’s a chance I could still be in gear and the bike would lurch forward, which could well mean a dropped bike (or worse) as I scramble in surprise to regain control of it.
Now usually my bike would be in neutral while maneuvering to park - I’d have shifted to neutral to back my bike up to put the rear wheel to the curb, or have backed into my garage - but if I were in a shopping center’s herringbone parking lot or something, I might have ridden into the spot nose in. And occasionally I miss neutral while shifting gears to park.
Yes, there’s that the lack of a green “N” light on the dashboard to tell me so, but really it costs me nothing to be in the habit of quick-killing the engine when parking (which is the key part about parking), and then getting the details like being in neutral, having the kickstand down, etc., before the final step of removing the ignition.
Key almost always, my old KZ 750(she turned 30 last October) has a lot of tired plastic and I would be afraid of the switch wearing out, no need to cut off the gas its vacuum feed(weird)
I don’t have a big bike anymore, but when I did, I would use the kill switch, then the ignition key. On my Vespas (1964 and 1980) I turn off the fuel at the petcock and let it run until it’s empty.
Then turn off the ignition switch on the 1980 P series. The other one doesn’t have an ignition. It’s kick start only.
I almost always use the kill switch. The kill switch on my bike is on when centered, and off when positioned to the left or right. Whether I move the kill switch to the left or the right to turn off the bike is pretty random. I don’t think about it ahead of time, sometimes I push it and sometimes I pull it.