Title click bait
I thought this was really about dinosaurs.

 

Stopped to help another bike parked on the side of the road. It was a scenic part of Highway 49 in the Gold Country of California. Japanese National on a rented bike.

He barely spoke broken English, but we were able to communicate well enough to figure out that he pulled over to take a picture (I know, stereotype), then couldn't get the bike to start again.I looked at all kind of things, then finally asked him if it was in gear. He wasn't sure what I was asking, so I just reached down and manually checked the gear shift. He was in 1st. As soon as I put it in neutral, the bike started right up.

It was the same as you ran into. It was a kickstand/gear interlock of some kind. Kickstand down and in gear = no start. Neutral or kickstand up = no problem.

I had a Kawasaki that had that feature. I hated it.

 

Uh... That's assuming he can get it started and take it to the dealer.

 

I rode about 100 miles yesterday. At some point, I realized I didn't bring the key.
(You can do that on a Shovelhead if the ignition isn't locked). Good thing I didn't need to get in the bags or unlock the gas door (caps) when I stopped and got gas.
You should get a Shovelhead.

 

Me too, I thought someone was going to say it global warming and not the asteroid.

 

Well that I said pretty funny. I did something like that once, but cannot remember the details!

 

Yup, wait until it takes you the second day to figure out it's the "Kill switch"!!

 

I do that all the time. I always forget my key for the bike.

 

Not on the kickstand... After reading about maybe on the kickstand, I'll have to go try that tomorroq.

I sold a Shovel before getting this. That was my second Shovel... My first electric start shovel, though. I had an Evo in between, but it didn't have the neutral lock thing.

Technology is baffling to me, it seems.