Topic: 21 Rides in 2021... SOHC 4 bikes .

[Alan F.]

I need to finish some old projects first, and do some riding.   

Same here! Unfortunately it's not Springtime here.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Alan, yep, my winter was probably a bit milder than yours, so I was able to get the T350, CB750A and T500 done over the winter months. I got home today from dropping off a K1 frame that I bought from a member here, to a mate's place on the other side of town, he's been patiently waiting for it since June or July? I walked into my garage and almost tripped over this fine machine:

K2 Bitsa Saturday 27 Mar 2021 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I bought this from a shark 2 states over who said it had a K0 frame, and I had a thought to build another K0 from parts I had left over from my other one, but it turned out to be a re-stamped (illegal here) K1 frame. Oh well, I got 500 refunded and used that to buy a K2 frame, so as I haven't looked at it since I bought it in March, I thought I'd see if it still runs. To my surprise, it only needed 40 or 50 kicks to fire it up, and it ran really well on the sh1tty old fuel in the tank.

So, considering that over here it's not hard to get $10K for a clean-ish K2 here, I think I might build a "Flip Bike" to finance another purchase that I'm currently working on. Luckily I'll only need to buy tyres and probably a Delkevic 4 into 1, and some paint etc. I'd bought a lot of new parts for a K2 I was going to build for another guy, but that deal went south, so the good news is I have lots of good parts to install on this bike. It'll be nice to work outside in warm weather for a change.  

[goodtryer]

Ride 21 - October 30 - 116 miles

Beautiful clear day, mid 70's, no breeze, light traffic

What a day for a ride. It was in the 40's first thing in the morning so I waited for the afternoon and headed out to the hills. My neighbor couldn't join me today so I was solo. Headed south out of town, kept to the bigger roads today. First to Castrovile, then Quihi (pic), Hondo, long shot up to Bandera, English Crossing, Lake Hills and then home. About the worst that happened was a fat bug splattered on the top of my face shield. Otherwise a fantastic ride. Feels great to complete the cycle; after a couple of weeks off and some windy, cold days, I was a little concerned about getting to the finish line.

Cheers!

[Terry in Australia]

Yes it's almost summer, I can almost feel that sweet sunshine, thawing out this heart of mine....... With apologies to the late, great Billy Thorpe. So as part of my "Freedom Rides" program, today I dragged the poor neglected old K0 out of the garage for it's first outing since March 20th. I first drove over to the gas station and bought 6 litres of 98 RON fuel and dumped that into the tank, and all the concerns that I've had about it running rough on 8 month old fuel were unnecessary, it started on the 2nd kick, and ran like a champ.

K0 Monday 1 Nov 2021 c by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I filled out my log book and headed to the Shell station in Kalkallo to fill the tank right up with fresh 98 RON gas, then up the Hume Freeway to Beveridge, across to Eden Park, Whittlesea, Kinglake, and Yea (pronounced "Yay") where I stopped for a late lunch.

K0 Monday 1 Nov 2021 i by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was disappointed that the little fish and chip shop in Yea looks like it's gone bust. There were a few other places to eat open so I went to the bakery and then sat under a tree and ate my pie while admiring the old girl.

K0 Monday 1 Nov 2021 k by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

I stopped for a piss behind the 2009 Bushfire memorial (is it wrong to piss behind a bushfire memorial? I mean, I didn't piss on the memorial, and I was busting?) and took a pic.

K0 Monday 1 Nov 2021 n by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Monday 1 Nov 2021 m by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

For some reason I had an urge to take a closer look at the engine, and noticed this:

K0 Monday 1 Nov 2021 q by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Damn, I would often get a few spots of oil on my alternator cover on a long ride, but could never work out where the leak was, but now it's pretty obvious that the cam cover gasket is weeping a tad. I don't want to try cranking down the JIS screw any more, or replacing it with an allen screw, I'll just wipe the oil off, that dribble that you see in the pic is after 120+ miles, so it's not a lot.

Now being old and having a little dementia isn't always great. The speedo on the K0 is in MPH, so by the time I got to Yea I'd done over 100 miles, and should have filled up the tank before I headed the 40 miles back to Whittlesea, but for some reason I was thinking that I'd only done 100 Kilometers, because the K2 bitsa has a KPH speedo and I'm more used to riding that bike, but anyway, I figured that I should be able to ride back to Whittlesea, just. Surprisingly I rolled into Whittlesea with 141 miles on the odo, and I hadn't even hit reserve? That's not bad for 120 mains, with the needles raised one notch.

What was even more surprising, was the bike only took 10.14 litres (2.74 US Gallons, or 2.23 Imperial Gallons) to fill the tank right to the top, so believe it or not, I was getting 63.22 miles per (Imperial) gallon or 51.45 Miles per US gallon, or 20 Km per litre, that's as good as my Harley 1200 Sportster! (well, the Harley only likes the cheaper 91 RON fuel, so I guess it's more fuel efficient, but whatever) Anyway, as anyone with an old bike knows, gas stations are dangerous places if you're in a hurry, and a couple my age wanted to talk about old bikes and old Volkswagens, I told them that I'd built the K0 over a couple of months late last year as a Covid-19 Lockdown project, and they told me that they'd done the same with their old Bug, but other cars were waiting for us to piss off, so I did.

I rode back home and squeezed the bike back into the garage, after doing a total of 183 miles. (293 Km) The K0 had run like a new bike all day, and I'd had a ball. The riding position is really comfy, but anything over 70 MPH is a little uncomfortable due to the "Wind Sock" effect. No matter, 70 is as fast as I'm allowed to go, so it'll keep me legal. All in all, a good day.

K0 Monday 1 Nov 2021 u by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[RAFster122s]

Bike looks good Terry. Glad you had a nice adventure and I would hope you could get over 150 miles out of a tank...

[PeWe]

Nice ride with a relaxing meal along the road as it should!
Boring with an oil leak.

Aftermarket gasket?
The cheap aftermarket gaskets are often wrong close to the cam chain tunnel.

Shape too wide and collide with cam towers for #2, pressing gasket wrong, hole will not line up with hole in head and easy to wreck gasket when tighten the M6 screw.

Green Honda gaskets works fine.
Aftermarket might work if you check that all holes match and cut the part thinner where it coolide with cam tower.
The hole does not match to the far left on inside either.

These cheap gaskets are the ones that stuck into the alu on both sides so it is tricky to remove a cover without trashing the gasket. Honda not, possible to reuse.

[Terry in Australia]

Nice ride with a relaxing meal along the road as it should!
Boring with an oil leak.

Aftermarket gasket?
The cheap aftermarket gaskets are often wrong close to the cam chain tunnel.

Shape too wide and collide with cam towers for #2, pressing gasket wrong, hole will not line up with hole in head and easy to wreck gasket when tighten the M6 screw.

Green Honda gaskets works fine.
Aftermarket might work if you check that all holes match and cut the part thinner where it coolide with cam tower.
The hole does not match to the far left on inside either.

These cheap gaskets are the ones that stuck into the alu on both sides so it is tricky to remove a cover without trashing the gasket. Honda not, possible to reuse.

Nope, genuine gasket Per, I had to drive over to my mate Fred's place to get it because I'd used the non-OEM gasket out of my Cruizinimage set  on the K2 bitsa. Surprisingly (not really, I've never had an aftermarket gasket leak) Fred opened an OEM gasket set to give me the cam cover gasket, and it's the only one that leaks, but I'm not blaming the gasket, that old cam cover is 51 years old, and who knows how flat it is? I think Don suggested flatting cam covers on a sheet of glass with wet and dry sand paper glued on, if I ever have to pull the engine again, I'll do that.

[PeWe]

Valve cover can be in need of a massage then.
Funny, I had a leak too I fixed with a cheap gasket today a few hours ago!
It had to be adjusted with a scalpel on a few holes.
Leaking gasket a good Honda I have reused 3 times. This time another head which is understandable.

 Grit 240 papers A4 size glued on a flat board. 2 after each other.
When flat, grit 400 if you like smooth surface. Head, cylinder and upper case need that.
Spray glue will be possible to remove within an hour, wipe clean with acetone.

I have done that on heads, cylinder, upper case and some covers.

[Kevin D]

Ride #21 150 miles  47mpg  63f

Wow, I got my bonus ride in for the season and I have made it “in” with 21 rides this year. 20 days have passed since my previous jaunt, and I was beginning to doubt that this ride would happen at all since the jet stream dipped a while back bringing a big chill. But the weatherman has been pointing at today for a week now, predicting low 60s for today and I made sure that the calendar was clear. I set off at 1045, the temp was 51f but it was warming, and the sun felt good on my back even though a very little cool air leaks through my jacket zippers. I made sure to wear my gauntlet gloves and tuck the sleeves in. Since arriving home the temperature, and the sun, have begun their drop.
 There wasn’t a cloud in the blue sky, but it was obvious right away that the color show was well beyond its peak. At the river crossing the trees were bare, I’m disappointed.  The oaks are the last to change and there were many showing their copper tones, and others trees here and there still looking good.
Sorry, bike is a bit dirty, and I made a 100mile donation to SOHC4 for Frank, BobbyR, and Bob Wessner.

[Terry in Australia]

Ride #21 150 miles  47mpg  63f

Wow, I got my bonus ride in for the season and I have made it “in” with 21 rides this year. 20 days have passed since my previous jaunt, and I was beginning to doubt that this ride would happen at all since the jet stream dipped a while back bringing a big chill. But the weatherman has been pointing at today for a week now, predicting low 60s for today and I made sure that the calendar was clear. I set off at 1045, the temp was 51f but it was warming, and the sun felt good on my back even though a very little cool air leaks through my jacket zippers. I made sure to wear my gauntlet gloves and tuck the sleeves in. Since arriving home the temperature, and the sun, have begun their drop.
 There wasn’t a cloud in the blue sky, but it was obvious right away that the color show was well beyond its peak. At the river crossing the trees were bare, I’m disappointed.  The oaks are the last to change and there were many showing their copper tones, and others trees here and there still looking good.
Sorry, bike is a bit dirty.

Well done Kevin, welcome to the “21 Club”! A very exclusive club indeed, well until next year when we’ll all have to squeeze in 22 100(+) mile rides. Glad you made it mate, hopefully we’ll have a few more members here doing some long rides next year!

[ekpent]

Good job Kevin ! I thought you would be gettin' done as its been so nice the last few days. I rode Friday and Saturday but played the good husband role on Sunday and got my wife out for some 'we' time. Made up for it on Monday though and blasted out  a 100 miler and then dropped my bike off at the shop and got a ride home. No more bikes in my home garage now so another ride not so easy but I think I'm pretty much done for the season.   Some pretty nice colors still holding around here but fading fast.  Again congratulations for you and that bike.
 

[Kevin D]

Well done Kevin, welcome to the “21 Club”! A very exclusive club indeed, well until next year when we’ll all have to squeeze in 22 100(+) mile rides. Glad you made it mate, hopefully we’ll have a few more members here doing some long rides next year!

Good job Kevin ! I thought you would be gettin' done as its been so nice the last few days. I rode Friday and Saturday but played the good husband role on Sunday and got my wife out for some 'we' time. Made up for it on Monday though and blasted out  a 100 miler and then dropped my bike off at the shop and got a ride home. No more bikes in my home garage now so another ride not so easy but I think I'm pretty much done for the season.   Some pretty nice colors still holding around here but fading fast.  Again congratulations for you and that bike.

I couldn’t get to riding FSS, helped with preparing 77 turkey dinners Sat, Sunday unwind with family, I was aiming for Monday all along. I didn’t have a plan B if Monday weather was shaky, but the weatherman was indeed right and I’m happy we missed the record setting foot of snow that Gaylord got earlier.

This is my dream job: get a 50 year old classic SOHC4 motorcycle, ride it 100 miles to my favorite places on my favorite roads, sample local cuisine, take photos, report, repeat 21 times.
Okay, I’ll do it! 

[ofreen]

Squeaked over the line today at 103 miles. 

[Terry in Australia]

Beautiful pics Greg, as always.

[ofreen]

Thanks Terry.  Sounds like you will finally have the opportunity to start putting up your own photos again.  Looking forward to them.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Greg, I've done a couple of rides since we were given back our freedom, but the weather has been miserable for the last couple of weeks, and while I should be sitting here in a T Shirt and shorts this time of year, it's bloody freezing, low 50's with lots of rain and hail, so not going anywhere at the moment. This time next week it'll probably be in the 80's, stupid weather. Oh well, soon.........

[PeWe]

Weather (winter) stops me too!
A few more rides is needed.

[Kevin D]

Squeaked over the line today at 103 miles. 

Ofreen, I think that view in the last photo is at least 103 miles. 

[70CB750]

Trip #7:

Getting fresh cider and pecan pie from a specific farmer's market in Winchester, VA.

121 miles total, nice ride.

[Terry in Australia]

Well unless I'm mistaken, I did ride #30 today! Another beautiful day here, a fair bit cooler than it should be for this time of year, but very pleasant for motorcycle riding. It was almost too cool for my mesh jacket, but as I've split my riding gear between the storage unit and the garage, I didn't have my old Marlon Brando jacket so the mesh jacket had to do.

I took the tried and trued route to the Heathcote bakery again, had lunch, then hit the road again. I filled up at the 104 mile mark, and noticed that my fuel economy has dropped from 63 MPG on my last ride to 46 today, but to be fair, on my last ride cops were everywhere, whereas today I only saw one Highway patrol unit, so I was beating the old K0 like a red-headed step child. Another trouble free 135 mile ride on the ol' red beast, and the more miles it does, the better it goes, I'm starting to think that this is the best engine of any CB750 I've owned over the last 43 years, including the one I bought new. I think it's gonna be a keeper.

K0 Sunday 28 Nov 2021 b by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

Nice photo Terry.
Here dreaming about next year's rides.
The higher compression make that bike to run much better, right?
I guess it has no points either which are trickier to adjust for best power when 1-4 and 2-3 are equally set.

[Terry in Australia]

Nice photo Terry.
Here dreaming about next year's rides.
The higher compression make that bike to run much better, right?
I guess it has no points either which are trickier to adjust for best power when 1-4 and 2-3 are equally set.

Thanks Per, yep, CB77 pistons in stock 61mm bores, but heaps of compression, so with the freer flowing K&N filter, 120 mains and needles raised one notch, Delkevic 4 into 1, and the nice fat blue spark from the Kokusan ignition and Dyna coils it just rips, and the fuel economy is great too.

[PeWe]

Nice photo Terry.
Here dreaming about next year's rides.
The higher compression make that bike to run much better, right?
I guess it has no points either which are trickier to adjust for best power when 1-4 and 2-3 are equally set.

Thanks Per, yep, CB77 pistons in stock 61mm bores, but heaps of compression, so with the freer flowing K&N filter, 120 mains and needles raised one notch, Delkevic 4 into 1, and the nice fat blue spark from the Kokusan ignition and Dyna coils it just rips, and the fuel economy is great too.

I think I'll give my K2 a KN filter for stock airbox too. Always something to order

[Terry in Australia]

Nice photo Terry.
Here dreaming about next year's rides.
The higher compression make that bike to run much better, right?
I guess it has no points either which are trickier to adjust for best power when 1-4 and 2-3 are equally set.

Thanks Per, yep, CB77 pistons in stock 61mm bores, but heaps of compression, so with the freer flowing K&N filter, 120 mains and needles raised one notch, Delkevic 4 into 1, and the nice fat blue spark from the Kokusan ignition and Dyna coils it just rips, and the fuel economy is great too.

I think I'll give my K2 a KN filter for stock airbox too. Always something to order

Ha ha, you're lucky that you've only got CB750's Per, with 20(+) bikes from 8 or 9 different manufacturers I've got parts everywhere, and I'm still buying crap that I may, or may never need.......

[RAFster122s]

Terry, nice photo and ride recap. Looks like great countryside to ride in...