Sorry, I couldn't resist... If I had the graphic for the guy laughing on the floor I'd post it, but I don't...

Start bits are always present. Start bits are about the only thing that's constant in async-serial comm's. You can't have asynchronous serial communications without a start bit. Well, you could, but I can assure you it wouldn't work very well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchr..._communication