Hello folks;
I'm a total newbie to this stuff, I raise livestock, but my son likes bikes and we're expanding my horizons.  We picked up a 1979 enduro from a neighbour, its been sitting in his garage for a long time.  Did some basic stuff to see if it would run and then this happened.

We pulled it to start the other day, got it running, drove it around.  Tried to pull start it yesterday (it didn't start).  We got it running today with the kickstart (figured out the problem) but when I went to put in gear it wanted to run backwards.  What did I do??

   It worked fine the other day. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

I don't know what you've done but the engine must be running backwards as the gearbox picks drive up from the primary drive on the right hand side of the crank shaft.
Bet that was a bit of a shock when you let the clutch out and shot off backward instead of forward.
Certainly a cartoon moment.

Did this happen just the one time and it's fine now?

Do you have points ignition?  Or CDI?  I'm going to assume points.(Looks like might have come either way in 1979)

On the points ignition looks like they put a diode in the small wire at the ignition coil.  Probably could easily be removed.  Without the diode, engine can be started backwards.  With the diode in backwards, engine would only start backwards.

You also should check the timing.  If retarded, it's easier to accidentally start backwards.

Hey guys 
Thanks for the help.  We pulled the magneto? (the round magnet thing by the points) off and someone had put the wrong size key in there and it broke.  I'm assuming it moved it enough that it through the timing off and it started backwards.  We put the proper key in and it fired right away.  I have a very happy kid driving around the yard.  Thanks for the advice.

 

Well sorted out and thanks for posting. 

When I was a kid I had an RD60B that would run backwards if you rolled the bike backwards on a hill in higher gear. An unintentional bump start! It wasn't an enduro but we rode it that way. Needless to say it shook apart after a few years of abuse. 

Got to be done up nice & tight on that flywheel nut or the key will break again. Only there to locate it but the taper does the holding--if tight enough. Best way is to hold it solidly with a tool engaged in the slots but not too deep or coils will suffer. Then the holding tool against the footrest etc for a solid hold.