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NVaderJ posted:This is exactly what I was hoping for. Now that I have way too much to look at, are there any mirror guidelines I should know about? I'm all about function over form, so whatever will (cheaply) translate to safer riding is what I want to get. I personally like the lollipops on my CB; they're convex, so you see a whole bunch of the road. But generally, safety wise, bigger = more view/better magnification = safer. As long as you remember that objects in the mirror are closer, etc...  7/8 bars are what you're looking for. Harleys use 1" and BMW's use something close enough to 7/8 that they usually fit.
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Oct 14, 2008 15:26
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Does anyone know how to make cheap side-covers? I was thinking of using a thin plastic material or something; I pretty much only need them to cover the triangle of the frame containing the battery, and I'd paint them black if they're not molded. I'd buy some off ebay, but apparently the going price is $50 per side for a '79 CB750k, and screw that. Maybe I could buy a bunch of cheap pie-tins and use the thin aluminum...
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Nov 14, 2008 18:53
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Nerobro posted:Actually this is a fair answer. Fiberglass is fun stuff to play with. :-) If you're really smart, you'll find someone with good covers, and ask to take molds. That is one of my projects this winter for my GS550. Left side GS550 covers are super rare. I actually HAVE two sidecovers; I just didn't want to paint them black for the other bodywork (it's not like the 10th anniversary CB750 is worth anything, but I'd prefer not to crud up some good covers just for the sake of my vanity, if that makes sense). How does one go about making a mold? Do I get a bunch of clay and shove the cover into it?
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Nov 14, 2008 20:31
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Cool. Let's see what those A's in highschool art got me insofar as practical talent...
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Nov 14, 2008 22:05
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I have a 79 CB750, and I've acquired an old Tracy fairing and mounting kit for it. I was wondering if anyone's found an easy way to make a fixed fairing for a normally naked bike. I was thinking of grabbing the fairing bracket from a later model (mid-eighties) Sabre, since the bike looks similar (though I've never seen one in person that wasn't in a junkyard). Does this sound like a good idea, or should I just give up and let the fairing be headlight-mounted like it was intended to be? EDIT: The fairing looks like this:  ...minus the headlight protector thing, and in flat black.
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Nov 26, 2008 04:22
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Don't even bother replacing it with another link. They suck. Just get an inline fuse holder, splice it in, and use an inline fuse of the same amperage. You'll find replacements much easier to find. The fusible link on my CB750 blew one day and I almost died; I had no idea what it was, but the puff of smoke made me think I fried the harness or something.
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Dec 24, 2008 03:46
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So I've got the worries. I put my bike away back in late October, and I made sure to run a tank with some seafoam first. I then topped the tank off, tossed some more seafoam and some stabil in the tank, ran the carbs dry, and turned the petcock again to let them fill with stabil/seafoamed gas. Given that gas in MA all has at least 10% ethanol, was this a retarded maneuver that has promised me a spring of carb rebuilding? The bike's at my girlfriend's mom's house, about an hour West, so I can't just empty the carbs. I plan on getting the bike out of storage as early as possible; this is probably gonna be mid-late April. (And I know there was some internal logic to why I did this, but I can't for the life of me think of what it is).
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Jan 4, 2009 07:22
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Nerobro posted:I wouldn't worry about it. You should be just fine. The alachaol will evaporate. The stabil will prevent varnish. What I would worry about is the seafoam. That stuff is designed to eat crap. The sort of crap that builds up and keeps old seals working well. ;-) You'll likely be ok. ...Luckily, the carbs are otherwise freshly rebuilt.  Thanks for the reassurance.
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Jan 4, 2009 16:21
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Handiklap posted:So I just did my valves on my 08 Rebel (3,200 mi) as recommended at 4k miles. Everything runs fine, I haven't lost any low or top end, and it starts just fine. I am noticing that after riding to work (~12mi), the engine smells "hot," which if it did before, I wasn't noticing it as much; I can smell it easily at stop lights. It's definitely coming from the cylinder heat sinks. I've also noticed that the rpms don't drop as quickly when I let off the throttle. As Z3n noted, the loose side is what you want. Even if you're talking the choice between .004 and .007 (if you use shims; if it's a locknut engine, don't mind me), I'd choose .007, especially if we're talking exhaust valves. Rather a rattling drivetrain than a burnt valve.
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Jan 7, 2009 22:14
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Gnomad posted:I'm thinking that maybe the hot smell is from a small oil leak. Take a good look at the valve cover, see if there is any sign of wetness, if so, you'll want to correct this. You may need a new valve cover gasket but it's also easy to let the gasket slip out of position. In this vein, check for a bit of smoke coming out of the tach drive. My bike leaked just a bit there and it smoked pretty nastily after 15 minutes of riding. The seal is usually like $5, though in my case, getting to it involves removing the valve cover and taking one of the cam holders off. It's not hard, it's just annoying.
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Jan 8, 2009 05:46
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OrangeFurious posted:How hard is it to get a small dent out of a tank? We're talking about something the size of a human thumb and not particularly deep. It's on the curve from the side to the top of the tank. You can get a dent puller, but that might be too big of a tool to use. For a small dent, I might be inclined to use filler and just to repaint. But that would require ambition, so I'd be more likely just to live with it.
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Jan 9, 2009 00:24
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What's a 7/11? Only thing I can think of is a 1100cc in a 750 chassis, but that's just my being a Honda guy.
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Jan 18, 2009 23:23
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Ha, funny thing is, I only know the 7/11 as a CB750f/k with a CB1100f engine. Thank god for similar cc ratings. :P
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Jan 19, 2009 01:37
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unSavory posted:Tech/maintenance question: Is it brand new? If you really rode the crap out of it, I guess it could be the wear indicators on your brake pads, but unless you've put a great deal of miles on it or you ride the brakes or something, I don't know how you managed to pull that off.
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Feb 9, 2009 00:10
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Question, as the idea intrigues me: Does anyone know if the frames for most late seventies Honda CBs are the same, motor-mount wise? This may sound fairly dumb, but in the past year I found a '79 CB750, which should've been a DOHC, with an SOHC shoved in it. I've heard stories of a CB650 with a CB550 engine, which seems more plausible given they're both SOHC engines and I presume the same block may have been used (but who knows). Finally, looking at the '79 CB650 and CB750, I see a good number of similarities in general proportions (the fact that the CB650 and CB750ltd have pretty much identical paint schemes certainly doesn't hurt). Do I sound like a fruitcake? More importantly, does this sound plausible, or is everyone just welding motor mounts left and right?
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Feb 17, 2009 04:26
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Bugdrvr posted:I know for a fact that the SOHC 650 motor will fit into a 500 or 550 frame no problem. You just have a different looking head and lose the kickstart. This makes a lot of sense; I know the DOHC K-F-C bikes all have more or less interchangable engines (the 750 is solid mount, 900/1000/1100 are rubber mount, and you need to swap chain drive to chain drive and shaft to shaft, if that makes sense), but they're all based on the exact same block in each case anyhow. The plastics I knew about; this is why my sidecovers are $50 apiece. It would stand to reason that the SOHC bikes would be similar if they're based on the same block in the first place... but the smaller SOHC bikes are actually all related, rather than being related to the 750 from what I understand... the 550 is a 500 bored out, and the 650 is the really big version of that rather than the 750 being made smaller..? So I would think 500-550-650 would be compatible from that standpoint (same blocks = same mounting points), but the 750 wouldn't be as likely. And my DOHC bike would be a different monster on top of that, given the whole thing is just brand new in the first place, so it's not as surprising that it wouldn't be compatible. Honda just decided to use an extremely similar tank/seat/sidecover setup on the 79 650 as my 79 750ltd just to be jerks, which given the way they designed pretty much everything on the bike*, is just keeping the status quo. *see: carbs, how the valves are adjusted, random things designed solely to scrape your knuckle, etc...
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Feb 17, 2009 20:19
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Not at all related to SOHC bikes, but hilarious, I found this in Wikipedia on the CB360: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB360 quote:The new model had equally good handling characteristics to the CB350 twin it replaced. The model was dropped in 1976 due to the oil crisis and was not directly replaced. Anyone lucky enough to own a piece of history in decent to mint condition is usually reluctant to part with it, as riding these motorcycles [as with any vintage] down a public highway enstills a sense of pride rarily seen on todays bikes. Good job on the objectivity there, Wikipedia poster!
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Feb 17, 2009 22:42
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Nobody checks in on the CB360 article often, it would seem. Now if only Kaneida drove a CB360, we'd have seventeen pages of how his bike differed from reality and why Honda screwed up in not retroactively making a new bike with those features (whether they existed in reality or not), etc... vv Some scraggly dude with social anxiety is gunning for you now. vv George RR Fartin fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Feb 18, 2009 |
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Feb 17, 2009 23:18
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pr0zac posted:Jack the Smack is my favorite CA poster. I like that he's gone from being ridiculed wherever he shows up to being sort of the clown mascot of the Cycle Asylum once everyone realized he's the Bizarro version of anything anyone would ever recommend.
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Feb 19, 2009 18:44
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Captain Apollo posted:Speaking of JTS. In the sv650 thread I asked how easy it was to change motorcycle batteries. I'm always deathly afraid of jumping cars, etc. It is that easy. Just don't ground out against the frame, or you get sparks.
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Feb 19, 2009 18:54
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Prince posted:I notice that when yuou use the kill switch the engine stops a lot faster (ie 1-2 revs) than the ignition (5-6 revs). There must be some difference here? I had an old Jawa Moped with a kill switch and was told to use the decompression lever to stop the engine because the kill switch was poorly made and shorted things out if you "over used" it. I also heard stories of the thyristor going bad faster, but nobody understands thyristors, so that's probably an old wives tale. So in short, if your bike was made in a soviet bloc country, you may want to rewire it with good components or something.
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Feb 20, 2009 22:20
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dietcokefiend posted:What is a good cleaner one could run through a motorcycle to get remove some amount of internal varnish from the carbs after sitting for a length of time. Can any fuel system cleaners be used or are most useless? You might be better off just taking the carbs off and cleaning them. If it's bad enough to cause the bike to run noticibly wrong, it's probably bad enough to warrant special attention. This is, of course, assuming the issue is not one which a carb sync/valve adjustment might resolve, or something symptomatic of a different issue. Or you could go lazy, throw seafoam in the gas tank, and cross your fingers. What issues are you seeing?
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Feb 26, 2009 21:17
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dietcokefiend posted:Nothing so far, runs fine from what I can tell. Might have a bit of a stumble but very minor off idle. I just figure if there was something I could do short of tearing down the carbs that would be nice. I will have the float bowls off when I replace the orings sometime in the future, but I really dont want to go further than that. In that case, it may not have any real issues. I'd say do the valves (if they're not self-adjusting), sync the carbs, and see if things run well from there. You might do well to check spark plugs and the air filter to ensure those aren't old and causing issues (intermittent spark, clogged filter). Seafoam in the tank certainly won't hurt. And it's like $3 a bottle, so go to town. EDIT: Upon further thought, I wouldn't be super worried about the sparkplugs/filter. The syncing won't hurt though; I found my bike was really irritable at low revs until I sync'd the carbs, at which point it was a lot better. Also, if the bike is cold, it won't like idling much without the choke. George RR Fartin fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Feb 26, 2009 |
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Feb 26, 2009 21:39
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dietcokefiend posted:I really dont want to dive into the valves unless I absolutely have to. The clearances around the engine is tight on the zx600 with the i4 engine, making the adjustment a bitch. Air filter is brand new and I have spark plugs ready to go in. the current plugs look good so I am not worried about swapping them right now. I havent picked up flow meter yet to sync the carbs, so until I get one I dont want to mess things up with any adjustments. Oh definitely. All you can do without tools is make the adjustment worse. Give seafoam a shot; in the worst case scenario, you end up exactly where you are now.
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Feb 26, 2009 21:51
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Christoff posted:I heard it also causes cancer. Fixed that one for ya.
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Feb 26, 2009 22:37
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kdc67 posted:Why is everyone obsessed with Seafoam? Carb cleaner's just as cheap ($3) and you have the added benefit of not wasting money if it doesn't take care of your carb issues. Cleaning carbs is super easy. I agree that most problems are better solved by taking the carbs off and cleaning them, but then you have to take the carbs off and clean them. Some bikes are easier to do this on than others, and for a lot of folks, taking carbs off is just a massive pain in the neck. If you can fix the problem with a can in the gas tank, why not? And again, for a couple of bucks, it's not like you've just lost a paycheck if it doesn't work.
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Feb 26, 2009 22:51
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kdc67 posted:That's true, but I agree that it's easier to clean them than a lot of people make it, but drat if taking them out of my CB for the first (and second, and third) time wasn't the most annoying headache in the world. I have a system now, so it takes like five minutes, but I can totally see why people would avoid removing carbs whenever possible. And for something like a really small idling issue, seafoam may very well clean out the tiny bit of whatever that's causing issues. If his bike were not starting/idling at all, I'd go with "just clean 'em," but it sounds more like an incredibly minor problem that might be resolved with an incredibly minor solution.
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Feb 26, 2009 23:03
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Would these be some good, cheap bar-end mirrors? I actually like the range of view on the stock CB750 lollipops, but I'd like a lower profile: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bookings/trvl_gear/item/cateye_mtb_bar_end_mirror.htm Another option is the third eye... you can tell I'm going super cheap by going with bicycle mirrors over motorcycle ones. $150 for a pair of mirrors? No thanks.
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Mar 20, 2009 20:42
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Does that stuff cause the exhaust to rot out more quickly? That's the only thing keeping me from wrapping my exhausts in it.
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Apr 14, 2009 21:28
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Odd little thing with my Honda CB250: neutral is almost impossible to hit unless I'm moving. All other shifting is fine except going into Neutral whilst standing still. This happened on all the MSF bikes in my course, and they were all Nighthawk 250's. I think it's just the design and age, honestly. edit: ONLY my red one did it 100% of the time. I got the lemon. Everyone else it was more like 30% of the time. George RR Fartin fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Apr 16, 2009 |
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Apr 16, 2009 21:39
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This is gonna sound stupid considering I've done oil changes myself for the last 12 years, but here goes anyway: The manual for my 1979 CB750 says to use 10w40 or 30 weight oil as a "general" viscosity. I've used 5w30 in all my vehicles under the impression that 30 weight is ideal, and 5w30 works well for a range of temperatures. Seeing as I'm in MA, and the temps will vary from 50-110 degrees at the peak of the season, is 5w30 ok, or do you think the 10w40 recommendation is due to older tech and engine tolerances etc...? Am I overthinking things?
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Apr 24, 2009 17:45
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Provided I can find it without the EC tag, is 5w30 preferable? Should I just stick with the manufacturer recomendation? I'm not really gonna take it out if it's <60 out (except in the spring, when 45 is "warm" to me). Also, the last oil change I did, my EMGO filter basically crumbled in my hands when it came out...after ~1000 miles. Is this supposed to happen, or are EMGO filters trash?
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Apr 24, 2009 17:53
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Is there an equation for comfort on a bike? I realize this is more complicated than it seems, but here's the scenario: My '79 CB750k is standard as far as riding position and such go, with the exception that the bars are swept back more. This is because I'm 5'8", which is about the minimum height for this bike, and the only way to remain sort of upright is to pull the bars back. Naturally, this looks doofy as hell, and I don't feel all that connected to the road. Now, I've tried supersport bars, and those were fun for 20 minutes before the wrist pain set in; I was bent over, sure, but you can feel each twitch of the bike will lead somewhere, and it's all very good. Next, to alleviate that pain, I tried upside-down clubmans, which are close to okay, but angled a little weird and cause a different sort of wrist pain. My next project is CB550 bars, as they're an inch or two shorter than the current bars and shouldn't look as completely weird swept back a bit. I also obtained some rearsets for cheap, in case I want to go full tilt or perhaps they might help in tilting me over the bars a bit better. In any case, here's my question: Given what I have here to make adjustments, what's the safest bet as to a good balance between sporty and comfortable? Will installing rearsets actually cause more harm regardless? Should I look into shaving the seat? Essentially, I'm going for sporty/connected without the numb wrists and backpain. Is such a thing possible on an old standard? Should I just do more situps and be a man? George RR Fartin fucked around with this message at 15:34 on May 5, 2009 |
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May 5, 2009 15:31
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Nerobro posted:You're going about it all the wrong way. Rearsets will just put more weight on your wrists. That's the thing, I have supersport bars, and they were pretty cool with the exception of the extreme wrist pain. The clubmans were upside-down, so they were 2-inches rising rather than falling; if they weren't angled at like 45 degrees, they'd be close to perfect. This is why I think the 550 bars might be right on; they're similar to the stock bars but shorter by maybe two inches. I'm glad to know about the rearsets; I've been under the impression that comfort would improve with those and lower bars, but it seems they'll just sort of tilt me forward even more.
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May 5, 2009 15:37
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Nerobro posted:I said superbike. There's a difference. ;-) The "euro" bars have more pullback. I don't know what the 550 bars are in relation. The "550 bars" I mention are stock CB550F bars. Think about midway between CB400F (similar to your superbike bars) and normal UJM bars, slightly biased towards the latter. I'm thinking they might resolve things, but I figured I'd pose the question in case there's a formula. I meant superbike bars, not supersport; I just like putting "super" before things, I guess. When are you getting that moped running fast again? Get on it! :P
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May 5, 2009 16:45
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AkrisD posted:Quick question. Is it possible to make a more modern bike (say a gs500 or nighthawk 750) look like a cafe bike? Or because the way the tanks and frames are now is it a ludicrous amount of work? I'm not sure why you think it wouldn't work. The tanks on more modern bikes are less round-breadboxy tanks, but a cafe bike is pretty much just a set of clubman bars, cutdown (usually single) seat, rearsets, and sometimes a little round fairing. The two bikes you mention would be perfectly fine for that, they just won't look "period" because they have more modern elements to their styling. If you've got it and you feel like making those changes, there's no real reason not to.
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May 5, 2009 17:01
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Z3n posted:I'm counting down until Nero gets into Bobbers and we get a rant about how the old school bobbers were set up to strip off all of the extraneous parts to make the bikes faster, and how stretched front ends are a monstrosity. He is right about the history; I think it's a matter of whether you want something to serve a purpose or simply to look a particular way. The initial question: quote:Is it possible to make a more modern bike (say a gs500 or nighthawk 750) look like a cafe bike? ...seems to be more the latter than the former. It's good to know your roots though, and I can see why people get upset when people ape styles without any knowledge of what they're really doing. I'm becoming more of the mind that since we're all out of context with this sort of thing anyway, just do what you want and people will judge if they like it or not, but maybe call it something more appropriate to what it is, like "my take on a modern cafe bike" or something rather than just appropriating a title that no longer really applies. I dunno why the new "Custom Chopper" trend hasn't been given its own name anyhow (I guess "Custom" takes it, but that's too broad for me), given how far it falls from what it claims to be. Don't be ashamed of it*, just name it something more appropriate, if that makes sense. Long point short, people should be less lazy and just give new names to new things. *don't get me wrong; I think they're ugly as sin, but to each his own.
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May 5, 2009 21:20
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OrangeFurious posted:Let me direct you to: SOHC CB750's can be cafe'd. The bikes that were otherwise referenced were (or at least, I assumed) the 90's and 00's equivalents, which aren't really stylistically supportive of the cafe treatment. The CB750 is one of the most commonly cafed vintage bikes out there; Carpy's site is fairly well known.
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May 6, 2009 03:24
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dietcokefiend posted:What do you guys think of these types of seat covers? hey man do you have any pot I can grab off ya?
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May 7, 2009 15:45
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8ender posted:Hell in that case you could just use your wallet or something under the rear tire. hey guys i tried this and now my credit cards are all crushed and I think i lost $5. haaaaalp
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May 13, 2009 20:46
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