motor surge current limiting or soft starts

[Mark Harriss]

Holy crap. That energy has to go somewhere. Can you switch in series
resistance to absorb it?

For the last 40 years of use in five different models, it's just
had a 1N5404 across the bridge rectifier for back EMF, without it
the speed controller blows up the instant you reverse while the
motor is still spinning. The flywheel is about 6" dia and 1/2" thick.