I Got Shafted, Twice

Man is time flying.

I ended up buying two more bikes. One is a 1979 Yamaha 850 triple Special, the second is a 1980 Yamaha 750 triple Special. 

Both have sat for two or more years.

Both have dead batteries,fuel in the crank, and a whole was list of bits and pieces needed to complete them. The 850 was purchased as a parts bike for the 750 then the previous owner decided to stop riding for the time being. Along comes Tom and walla, I couldn't leave the little guys out in the cold.

These bikes are shaft drive which will make bobbing them interesting. I've found a few examples of shaft driven bobbers, but have not fallen in love with any yet.

I'm interested in getting these bikes on the road for as little out lay of cash as possible. My goal is under 1,000 each. Thats a finished bobber for 1,000. I'm not sure if that should include the title transfer or not. What do you think?

Retuned the bike much better

I went thru the Clymer tune-up steps once again.

Now the bike runs better. I can really hear the rocker arms slapping the ends of the valve stem and it doesn't sound right to me.

When I first checked the intake and exhaust valves there wasn't any clearance at all. The technical specification call for .1 mm exhaust, .05 for intake and I had 0.

Now the bike idles spotty and dies if I don't nurse it, say at a stop light. I think I'll start this troubleshoot with a good carberator cleaning. Then I'll check the intake manifold for air leaks, and hope that will do the trick.

Hopefully soon my bike will be as tuned as my friend Twix in the above photo.

   

What went wrong?

I spent some tome Friday tuning the bike and now it runs rough.

I rode the bike to work Mon-Thurs this week, cold in the morning, nice on the way home. It was missing a little, the front tire felt out of balance, shifting a little rough when down-shifting, other than that I'm getting about 60mpg and really enjoying my little stretch of Tenn highway 70 between White Bluff, Tenn and Nashville of the same.

I had Friday off so and I've been wanting to do a tune-up so...... I adjusted the valves,breaker point gap, ignition timing, and idle fuel mix and now it sounds like a little munch kin is pounding on the inside of the motor with a ball-peen hammer. 

The problem is I don't  remember how it sounded before I started. Very maddening!

I'm going to take a load to the dump (totally unrelated to working on the bike), and then I'm going to double check what I did yesterday. 

Got the wrong motor manual

I found a used Clymer motor manual for 100-350cc OHC singles at Amazon.com.
I need a manual for a 350cc twin, Hey I'm learning!

I was also hoping to get some technical frame measurements from the book. The bike in the book I got has a completely different frame. Maybe our next bike.

Today I'm looking for information on line about bobing the frame I have, which looks to be a CB175 Super Sport.

I'm dying to get started on this project but I'm waiting until next Friday when I take the skills test for Tennessee before I tear into it.

It's raining and cold today (63'F) in Tennessee today, yesterday it was sunny and 81'F with maybe 90% humidity (a wet heat). Today's weather is more like Oregon's. It reminds me of friends, and home, sniff.

Here's a link to a site for Yamaha XZ650 bobbers there are a lot of good ideas there.

Don't get lost here.
http://www.xs650chopper.com/2009/07/budget-built-bobber/

Now look I'm not a Honda snob, I just have one. I want to ride for cheap and fun, and I'm interested in old school bobbers and choppers. I'll take ideas anyway I can get them. Hint, hint.

OK, I'm a snob for older Japanese made bikes, but that's where the snobbery end's.

Oh yea, also I'm a little bit of a snob for keeping the price as close to $1000 bones as possible. Besides that I live by the creed (I try to) of my church, everyone's welcome, nobody's perfect, and anything is possible.

Takin' a rest from the bike...learnin' ninja

Man what a boring Blog

Sorry about not having much to see lately, I've been waiting for two books I ordered.

The first one is the Clymer Honda 100-350cc service, repair, maintenance book. It came today.

The second is Billy Lane's How to Build a Bobber-Chopper. It came last Thursday.

The first three projects will be, adjusting the valves, rebuilding the fuel pecot, and going through the clutch. The bike runs now so these might wait. Historically I wait until a repair needs to be done just so I can make it to work. Tyranny of the Urgent.

I rode the bike to town Saturday to run it through the gears, and warm the oil so I could change it. My top speed was 60-ish. I could have gone faster but I was 5 over the posted already. A speeding ticket is not in the budget.


Well I'll try to pick it up a little with pictures a details about what I'm working on. If your working on a project or have some good links let me know, I'm looking for ideas .

Need an idea to clean an old engine.

What works for cleaning an old bike engine?

Are there any no-no's?

Why is it so satisfying to work on a motorcycle?

Here is a picture of Jeremy, Johnathan, and I'm taking the picture. We worked on this bike Sunday from about 2pm until 8pm. After putting it together we rode up and down the street learning how to start and stop. Good company, good work, just plain old satisfying.

Next what basic tools should you not be without on a road trip?

Looking for a helmet

Any Ideas on a good helmet? There's too many choices.

Almost done dinkin' around

Jeremy, Johnathan, and I dinked on the bike this Sunday afternoon.

I'm thinking of creating a new line of colognes call Rotten Old Gas. I think it would be a hit with the ladies.

Right, Sally?

I hope you can tell I'm not a serious bike restoration enthusiast. I just want to ride a bike and I don't want to spend very much money on a bike to be able to.

So hopefully I will be able to achieve this goal.

If you are like-minded I hope you will be encouraged, otherwise I hope you will be at least entertained.

If you have any ideas to help, feel free to share. I'm working on this with my kids and friends, so I only ask that we refrain from using language that I couldn't share with them.

Thank you.

It's alive!

Jeremy and I got the bike running last night.

The points were dirty so we cleaned them, and the the fuel wasn't reaching the carbs. We added some more gas and the bike fired up.

We had to run up and down the street a few times to let our neighbours know we got it running. What a blast.

This morning we ran the bike up and down the street until we blew a fuse. I think I found the cause of the blown fuse. An ignition wire had been touching the cylinder fin melted the insulation and shorted out. I hope that's the problem.

Will pick up some fuses after church tomorrow

Ready, set go

Check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyJgxxOOyuY

Are you catching the fever?

I could have used this info Yesterday

hon•da

Pronunciation: (hon'du), [key]
—n.
an eye at one end of a lariat through which the other end is passed to form a lasso, noose, etc.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

I basically bought a noose. Maybe that's why I feel this way.

Oh Cr*p

Why does this always happen? You mess with one thing and then another and all of the sudden you understand the meaning of the word basketcase.

Drove to Kingston Springs, Tennessee Saturday September 20th

I called on a Craigslist add for a 1973 CB 350 gl Supersport Saturday just for kicks.

And out of five or six bikes I called on this was the only one I got a call back on. So Ethan and I drove and Jeremy walked (that's another story) to Kingston Springs and looked at this little bike. I really wanted a '72 Yamaha XS 650 but thought it would be good to see this CB.

After a sleepless night of daydreaming about the cb I finally called and made an offer of (cough, cough) yeah crazy, I know. The bike had been sitting for 10 years and no one had any time to spend on it. So just like a stray puppy that I couldn't leave out in the cold one more night, I brought it home, cleared a little spot in the basement, and regretted the whole transaction.