So even though I have the head decompression valve, I went to kick the KX500 yesterday and heard a loud crack and the kickstart lever froze in the down position. Fortunately I was able to get it apart but found a broken kickstarter shaft. Fortunately it looks like nothing else broke. However, I ordered one from partzilla (pn 13066-1056) yesterday and today they contacted me and told me 'Kawasaki isn't accepting backorders'. Is this really no longer available or is this just a Partzilla issue? Is it also common to break the shaft? I've heard of breaking the kickstart levers and especially the earlier design which I did while ago. I'm a little concerned that the shaft break could have to do with the TSR billet 2 piece cover I recently installed as the kickstart lever bottoms out and contacts the clutch cover bolt and boss which may be putting an odd load into the shaft. Or maybe it was just old and it was it's time to break....
