Well, I guess it's about time I introduce myself. My name is Greg and here's the story of my CB. I'll try to make it quick as possible. When I was a teenager, my first bike was a 76 Honda CB550. It was old, loud, beat up, and ugly as hell..... I loved it. I rode the hell out of it for years until one day I blew the head gasket. Being cocky and young I figured "Hell, I'll fix it my damn self!" So I tore the engine down and realized that it was going to be far more work than I thought. It got pushed to the side, I bought another bike, years went by, and I forgot about my old friend.
Years later I'd moved far away, got married, had kids, and sold the bike I had at the time (diapers are friggin' expensive!). It wasn't long until I got the bug to ride again and not having a bike was killing me. That's when I remembered my old CB. I wondered if it would still be at my parents house, in boxes, waiting to rumble once more. My wife and son (one then, now I have two sons) took a trip 600 miles to visit my parents and I thought that it would be a perfect time to look through my Dad's garage to see if the old Honda was still there. Looking through the garage I ask my Dad "Is my old Honda still here?" "Nah, we moved it over to the shed behind your sisters house." So there I go, to my sister's, eager to see my old four cylinder companion again.
We reached the old shed looked inside, and to my surprise...No motorcycle. "what the hell?" I looked everywhere until to my horror I discovered it, behind the shed, UNCOVERED. Engine case wide open. Pistons and all exposed to the elements for years. It was half sunk into the mud, weeds grown all around, and rusted all to hell. Turns out that my sister's boyfriend at the time had taken my bike out of the shed to make room for his Harley.
"I cant even sell this for junk!" I told my buddy who had come with me to help me load my bike onto the truck. My friend said, "So your just gonna let it die huh?" That question burned through me as I remembered all of the good times I had on that old CB. "let's load her up..."
After months of cleaning, learning, cursing, and beer drinking, she roared back to life. I didn't think that it could be done but I did it. What a feeling of pride. It aint perfect, and I still got a long way to go before it's where I want it, but it runs. It doesn't look half bad either.
Here are a few before and after pics for ya.
