Af quick question. First I have been told by two different dealers the proper way to shut off your bike. One said always use the kill switch on the handle bars, then secondly use the large switch to kill the power. The other folks said use the large switch on the console and use the kill switch on the bars for emergency only. Thoughts...?

Thanks
Mark

 

I've always used the kill switch.

 

Either way works.

 

I have been told that turning the bike off by the kill swith on the bars is like unplugging your computer while its on. Yeah it shuts it off but over time it can fry your ecm. Its for emergencies only. This was aparently in a service bulletin from HD. I had no idea.

 

I don't know why it would. Both just create an open circuit to shutdown the bike.

 

I'm in St Louis, My owners manual is in my garage in Arizona but I'm thinking if you look in the owners manual it probably has a procedure for shutting down the engine. I'm pretty sure it has one for starting it.

I could be wrong............Wouldn't be the 1st time.

 

Never heard of that before, I always use the kill switch on the handlebars.

 

My vote is the switch on the bars, I'm an electronic tech, but have no idea of the circuitry of a ecm, but can't figure out how cutting power either way would affect the ecm. With computers, all the ducks have to be in a row, maybe that holds true for newer rides too. I ride a 90's vintage. Wait for more posts, kinda interested on the concensus on this.

 

Kill switch, then ignition switch. Like the manual says.

 

Use the handlebar mounted kill switch first, and then turn off the key switch. This allows the ECM to get any error messages before power is removed. One important note: be sure not to roll on the throttle while hitting the kill swith or you will restart a higher rpms. Not like the good ol' non-computer (carb) days, is it?