Thanks for all the compliments!
Since many have wondered about how I got it, here's the "War and Peace" version I PM'd Bob Wessner earlier this month:
A buddy of mine that I'd see now and then at the local bike nites had gotten a CB750K3 and was really excited about getting it running. Being a Harley mechanic, he was only familiar with working on 2-cylinder bikes. I told him I could give him a hand. When I went over to his house he had numerous Jap bikes stuffed into the tiny 1-Car garage. Buried in the back corner was the CA95. He must have noticed that I kept looking at it, because he said the magic words, "That's for sale.." I told my wife about it and when she looked it up in my Honda model guide, she fell in love with the styling and we agreed we wanted to buy it. We were able to afford it, so I told him I would buy it off of him.
Now, the kicker. He informed me that the bike had no title, but he had the registration from the last known titled owner. I was reluctant at this point as I had read the horror stories from others on the SOHC board, so I was hesitant. To help out the situation, he arranged to have the local police come over and run the VIN number to make sure it wasn't stolen (this is required when applying for a title in MI anyway) The number came back clean, so we went ahead with the deal. The bike also came with a genuine Honda shop manual- an added bonus!
Now, here's a side story I need to tell you. Last fall a neighbor I see in town regularly told me that a fellow who lives a couple doors down from him had an old 1966 Yamaha YCS5-C "Big Bear" Scrambler that he wanted to give away free, but not to someone who would strip it all down and put it up on eBay the next week. My neighbor told him he knew the perfect guy- me. Earlier this summer I picked it up. Half of it was in boxes as his son was fixing it up years ago, but passed away and it sat untouched ever since. When I went through the boxes of parts, I noticed lots of stuff was missing. I also discovered the front fender had been bobbed and mini high-rise bars had been fitted to it. This coupled with the legendary difficulty of finding old Yamaha parts and the premise that the bike was supposed to be complete made me decide I wasn't going to pursue the project. I wanted to get rid of it, but I wasn't sure to whom.
Back to the CA95. We loaded the Benly up on my pickup truck and hauled it to my house. When we put it in the garage, he inquired about the Yamaha. I told him all the details and that I didn't have the wherewithall to tackle it. We struck a deal on a price and I loaded it in the truck to take back to his house. This was nice since I knew he would work to fix it up, I got it out of the garage and the sale would help offset the purchase of the Benly. He hated to see the CA95 go, but the acquisition of the Yamaha helped to soften the blow for him.
When I got home, I started going over the bike to see what it would need, fighting the temptation to tear into it as it wasn't legally mine yet. The tires were dry-rotted, I was told the rectifier was shot and the headlight was out, the little cover plates on the rear fender brackets had been drilled out to accommodate turn signals, some rubber inspection plugs had disintigrated and fallen off the motor, the cables were shot, the seat cover was coming apart, one mirror mount was stripped, the air filter was missing, and numerous other little things. Not a huge deal, but they detracted from the bike's overall appearance. I started a mental shopping list and turned my attention to the next important thing- getting a title.
I filled out and printed the required documentation on the Secretary of State website and headed to the nearest branch office armed with all the documentation. As I sat and waited, I looked over the paperwork and noticed that the numbers on the police inspection form and those on the old registration didn't match! My heart practically stopped- there was still a slight possibility that I could have a "hot" bike as the engine number was the number the police checked, not the frame number. I returned home and had the police run the proper number and fortunately it was OK. I went back to the SOS and submitted all the documentation. Since the bike was over 6 years old and the value was under $3,000, they were able to enter all the info into the system and I would get the title in a week! Sure enough, when I picked up our mail from the post office when we got back from vacation, the title was there. At last, it was officially (and legally) mine!
My hope is to have it ready for the Holly Bike show, but that will hinge on the box of stuff coming form CMS. I hope it won't take them close to a month again to fill my order..
I'll post more pics of the "progress", and an "after" pic.
