So here's the story.........
I've owned two CB750's for the past 5 years, both '78 F3's. The first one I bought had a blown motor but all the hard parts/chrome were in very good shape, perfect for restoration. The second one I bought was a rusty,leaky,frankenstein "runner" that I could use for gettin' around on while the first one was in pieces.
It took about 2 years of cleaning,wrenching, and wallet emptying to get bike #1 finished. In the meantime I was happy to get around on the rusty beater. It has a nice Corbin seat and Viper fairing and even though the right rear shock was not "up to task" it handled very well in the turns and was very fun to throw around on the weekends.
Once bike #1 was finished it became my Daily Rider and bike #2 became the next project. Bike #1 got everything I could think of; 836 pistons,Mrieck headwork,hot cam,progressive shocks and springs, new wheel bearings, swingarm bearings,steering bearings,etc,etc.... What I wanted was a near stock looking hot rod of the period. I have not been disappointed in any of the areas of speed and performance except one........handling.
Now, I've ridden two of essentially the same bike for long periods of time. By all my calculations Bike #1, with all the extra attention to the parts that govern "handling", should be the better ride. But ever since I pulled Bike #2 from service I have been missing it. It handled sooooo much better in the turns.
At first I thought I must have done something wrong when building #1. I checked the swingarm for play, I checked the new races in the steering, I fiddled with the rear shocks, I drained and remeasured the fluid in the forks. Nothing changed. And then one day I noticed that the front fender sat just a bit askew. On closer examination I could see that the built-in brace was a bit tweaked. The chrome was imacculate and by all outward appearances it was a brand new fender, but that brace........hmmmmmmmm?
Enter Saint Terry of Australia. I don't know what possesed him to start working on a fork brace for the F2/3 or even how he chose me to be the guinea pig for its initial test but, dammit, I'm thinking it was an act of god almighty.
The brace arrived in yesterdays mail, and though quite exhausted I was exctited enough to mount it on the bike and go for a 1/2 mile spin. "Wow", I thought, "this feels kinda different". Almost like my front tire was twice as wide and the front forks were dampening for the first time. Well, this is nice
But I thought I'd wait until today to put it through the paces and see how MUCH different things actually were.
Today started like any other day with the usual dash for the coffee pot and a mumbled curse about having to fight rush hour traffic on the way to work. I wheel the bike to the curb, warm it up and drop into 1st to start my journey. The first turn brings me on to a main street and the front wheel runs over a yellow lane reflector. In the past this would make the front "skip" just a bit but today there was only the muffled "thump" as the bike continued in the desired direction.
Another turn brings me to a four lane road with no stops for about a mile. I open up to about 50 and head for the freeway at just the same time someone decides to back their car into the street. I hit the brakes and drop to 25 while I move to the center lane..... For me, this bears repeating.... I GRABBED the FRONT brake while CHANGING course....... In the past this has been cause for panic since grabbing the front brake hard meant the bike was going to go in a straight line of its choosing. "Yee-frickin'-haw" I think "Me rikey a rot".
Next I get on the freeway for about a mile of lane splitting. This section of freeway has recently had "grooves" dug in its surface for the rain to wash away in and it also has large splits/cracks running up between the lanes. In the past the grooves have given the bike that "swimmy" feeling and the splits have caused my bike to pitch to one side or the other when my front tire ran in them. NOT TODAY!!! Today my bike went where I pointed it and laughed a mighty laugh at al the splits,cracks, and grooves that used to rule over it.
On the way home from work I took a detour to try some bumpy, twisty roads. No high speed daredevil riding, just a bit of further testing of my new found dampening and front brake stability. The changes in the way the bike handles now seem minor in comparison to the effect they have on me, the rider, which is MAJOR. No more dusting off speed by braking far in advance of a turn so I can have time to recover and set up my turn. I can now do both at the same time and if I'm still coming in too hot I can stay on the brake without fear of being pulled in a straight line. Oh, and bumps, well they're just bumps now.
I've written far too many paragraphs just to express my joy, but it has been over a year of daily riding with a voice in the back of my head saying "you're gonna put that thing in a ditch if you don't watch out" and that voice just shut the #$%* up
So "Good on ya, Terry" or whatever they say over there when one gives a big smile of gratitude and a hearty slap on the back. You ROCK!!!!!
