Topic: K1 750 River Runner resto mod project, finished and gone.

[Don R]

 It's not really a rat bike but I found it in a river town. A bike shop guy posted a for sale ad on Craigslist and on a sunday someone on Facebook posted a link. I was 120 miles away at a drag race but I called first and wrangled myself a Monday am purchase from a reluctant seller. It came less title but after offering a $100 fee the seller went back to the former owner and got me a lost title. It ended up costing me $300 more to get it titled but that still left me with a decent K1 at an affordable price. The first bike I ever bought with 4-4 pipes too.



 It had a Wixom fairing painted to match, I never liked them much, being a jammer guy but it looks a lot like the newer Harley fairings. I may try it on a bike with a  short tinted windshield.

[Don R]

  So far I've rebuilt the front wheel and begun looking through my rears for a really nice one. It looks like I need to buy one. I got new old style tires for it, cleaned the carbs and rebuilt the front brake caliper. It already had the late taillight, I may swap a small light to the newer bracket.
 The plan is a new seat, wheel and neck bearings, chain and sprockets, tires spokes and rims, the #2 muffler needs swapped for one on a second bike I found with 4-4 pipes. Hopefully I can pull out a good baffle to swap into #3.  They are 341's but close enough. The paint will be 2013 Honda car Tiger eye brown pearl it's close to the old Honda brown but with lots of metallic and pearls, with a gold/black/white K2 stripe. Lastly, Euro bars from DSS and probably a Bosch 1970 h4 headlight.  I might even try a blue dot in the taillight, I have a cracked lens to experiment on.

[rickmoore24]

Awesome score!

[RAFster122s]

Congrats on getting another nice bike Don!  She will look great after you finish cleaning her up and repainting.
David

[Don R]

 Thanks, it is a nice one. Lucky find again, I hope to have some fun with it and pass it on to someone that likes it. I'm taking a chance with the brown, but I think it will be awesome. The painter was chosen because he was the farthest one on my short list but he was in the shop and open for business when I stopped by. The closest two weren't.

[JoeCooley]

Nice find! I'm excited to watch the rebuild. 👍

[Don R]

 I tried to post pics but photobucket is becoming a huge PITA. I need to move elsewhere.

[Beergineer]

I tried to post pics but photobucket is becoming a huge PITA. I need to move elsewhere.

Imgur is working great for me.

How many miles are on that bike? It looks eerily clean.

[Don R]

 22K I think. I'm not sure of the history, I bought it from a small shop that specialized in English bikes and was overwhelmed by the 4 carbs as soon as he saw them. The bucket is ok on my computer but messes with my phone downloads.

[Don R]

 Mice had chewed the back of the seat so I donated the seat off my K0 and bought a proper ducktail seat to replace it. It was originally Valley Green but we couldn't shoot the bottom of the tank with a color gun. We compromised on the Tiger eye brown pearl.





 Beginning the wheel, innies first.



 Truing it, I enjoy it. It's relaxing.

[RAFster122s]

Don, it is looking better and nice start on a replacement wheel.  Are you using new spokes or rezinc'd ones and any story on rim or hub?  Were K1 s and K0 s equipped with different hubs?  ( given everyone's obsession over sandcast stuff didn't know if there were other unicorns in the parts distinction...)

[Don R]

 New spokes except from Z1 not Honda.  Not knowing if there is a difference in the years I have, I stayed with the original hubs and brakes. I should have the new did rim this week. I dislike the stamped numbers but it will have to do.

  Update, I got the new wheel bearings in, cleaned and laced the rear, it's close to trued. Probably within spec but I'll go back after it sits overnight and recheck.
 This is the first wheel I laced on the first try without looking at directions. WooHoo, I'm a real bike guy now.

[Don R]

 I got the wheel bearings and rear brake assembly cleaned and ready to go. Tires get mounted Tuesday. Once the rear is on I'll take the front end apart for fork seals and neck bearings. The paint should be done soon and the fresh headlight ears can go on.  The gaiters are good and I'll lube the speedometer gear.
 I'd like to find a 71 fender and tail light at some point it acquired a 72 and up fender. If not I'll pop on a K0 tail light.
 Pics as soon as the painted tins are back.

[disco]

Wow, nice find. You must have quite a collection now, with your recent additions.

[Don R]

 I do have a collection, I had sold some cheap to make room, and was down to 2 K0's and a cheap goldwing. Buuuut when you get the chance to buy bikes and they're priced where you can do it,  it's difficult to pass on them. Now my shop is so full it's difficult to get work done. It's just crazy they all turned up at once. Two sellers are now friends and the guy I bought 6 from practically gave me his, parked for 20 years 1978 gold wing just because he wanted it to be appreciated. One lucky month. but a ton of work.
 When I was in a bind for storage space I advertised titled 1973-75 750 rollers here for $300 ea. with no results. Now they are tucked away and I don't mind keeping them until I sort things out. One 75 even had a sandcast engine. How's that for luck? And everyone of them ended up titled except the one I lost myself.

[Medyo Bastos]

looking good  on a side note.  wanna sell the joe hunt mag you have on your other post?

[Don R]

 The joe hunt mag was for a V8 and was gone a long while ago, I was just telling about it. Thanks for asking though. The 750 one I have is an ARD for my drag bike, it has the Fairbanks Morse tractor mag.

[Don R]

 Following the resto mod theme, I'm thinking I'll swap on the 71 euro spec handlebars. The stock exhaust inspection went 2 for 8, so I may put on a delkevic stainless header or the nice Hooker 4-2 that I have. Unless someone has a nice 341 #2 and #4 to sell me. 

[Don R]

 I found a #4 still need a #2 pipe. The tires are mounted, wheel bearings and brakes done. The rear wheel assembly is going together and the paint shop says it is done. I can't wait to see it.  I have the forks off for seals and bearings, I'll do the handlebars while the wiring is apart. I'm going to clean and lube the wiring terminals. I still need to adjust the carbs.

[RAFster122s]

Congrats on finding a decent #4.  Are you going to put a patch on #2 until you find a good one?

David

[Don R]

 I may do just that, or put on the hooker 4-2's. They look good and are the best sounding pipes I've heard. I missed the #2 by minutes. 

 I don't have a brown K1 to compare it to  but would recommend the 2013 Honda Accord Tiger Eye Brown color. With the contrasting gold K2 stripes it's awesome. Someone stopped by the paint shop that has a brown 750 and swears it's the same color. I think there's more pearl in the new color.
 I'm getting pics of the brown 750, it may be for sale.

[Don R]

 I was going to wait until it's together but I can't,

[Don R]

 I'd still love to know the difference between Yamiya and DSS repro exhausts. Here, the Dss is lower priced due to the $18 dollar shipping charge vs $2-3 hundred from Japan. I'm thinking I may need to pull the trigger before some crazy trade war starts and drives up the cost.
 The front end is on, the wiring is in the headlight bucket and ready to clean, lube and re-install.
 

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Is there a difference or are they the same?!

[Don R]

 It's my question, I get to ask it L0L!   My gut feeling is they're made at the same place but no one has been able to tell me. The ones I bought for my sandcast were from  mach IV motors off ebay but the box was generic with no clues to the origin.