I came across an awesome find. There is a couple I graduated college with. One night we were sitting on the patio of their apartment and I had noticed that they had an old Honda sitting in the corner. I was just getting into bikes then and wanted to buy it from them (Brooke and Justin). The story was, that Justin's father picked it up at an estate sale and couldn't get it running and sent Justin out with it to the trash. Brooke saw him wheeling this gorgeous thing out to the trash and stopped him. She had fallen in love with the blue tank and wanted to fix it. She really didn't know what it was, but she really liked it. It sat on their porch for 4 years under a tarp. So when I asked her about it a year ago, she gave me the "From my cold dead hands" speech and I dropped it.
For the past two weeks I had been looking for a small twin to work on while I'm at home during the week( I work on the 500f on the weekends since it's in the shop 60 miles away). I scoured craigs for one and most were sold or were already restored. I was driving through town 5 days ago and gave Justin a call. I asked if they still had the Honda and what it was exactly. He didn't know for sure but told me to go visit his wife who was bar tending down town. So I stopped and had a drink. After I gained the liquid courage I needed I asked her about the bike again. I was worried she would throw an empty glass at me. After some moments of almost tears, she said "Ok, she's yours."
"How much?" I asked.
"No, it's YOURS, I got it for free and you will get it for free."
Later that night I was driving home with a 1974 CB450 in the bed of my truck. This dusty beauty is now sitting in my garage.It's funny how life works out, huh?
From face value, there are things that need to be addressed. The bike is dirty as hell and needs a good cleaning. The fork tubes need to be rebuilt,front brake needs to be disengaged. Engine needs a new gasket set. A good once over, pretty much.
I got to tinkering on it last night. The battery is dead so I had to use some cables from my truck. The engine turned over fine with a kick. I put the tank back on, checked the oil, added oil and turned the key. All lights lit up and worked. Even the horn worked.
I heard the starter crank to life and the engine briefly clunked once or twice. Then, the starter began to spin freely, no longer engaging the engine. The kick lever stuck downward and would no longer kick through. I'm afraid one of two things has occurred, or both.. The starter clutch has slipped and the engine has locked up. I've read a bit on how to fix it. I'm just hoping it's the starter clutch.
This bike will definitely have to go through an overhaul, I know. I'm almost done with the 500 rebuild so my attention can be focused on this one. Of course, a twin is a different animal all together, so it will take me some time to figure it out and its many differences.
The engine seemed stuck, so I took the generator cover off and began to turn the engine. It will turn one full revolution and stop dead and won't go any further. When it bottoms out I can use the kick lever to spin it back around and then it bottoms out again. Pretty much what I'm saying, is that it won't spin all the way around. It seems like it gets stuck. Now, this may be a twin thing that I'm not aware of. I just thought it would turn all the way through. Thoughts?
Anyway, here she is. I'm open to all suggestions.
There's some form of life in this old girl.
