OK, so a little more detail for those who don't mind reading.
The pics from 2024 (up to and including the one with the zip ties on the tire) are from our old house. We were going broke trying to keep too much house, so I wasn't getting very far with much of anything. Nonetheless, I was able to get the mechanical components put back together. All that was left was to handle the electrical components.
To get back within our means, we put the house up for sale and moved into a much smaller place that does not have a garage. I wanted a shop space of some kind, so I got an unheated, no power 10x20 storage unit. Not a perfect solution, but I call it my Storage Shop. After getting everything moved and situated, the house sat on the market for almost a year. Paying for two houses was kind of a step backwards in the whole "saving money" process, but I had pretty much everything I needed on hand to start sorting out the electrics. To distract from the headaches of being broke, I tinkered with the bike on occasion. Every step forward was met with half a step back, but even slow progress is still progress.
Over the course of July and August of 2025:
I get the headlight to work, but the tail light won't light up. Dirty connectors.
Get the tail light to work, but no brakes. Bad rear brake switch and a grounded out switch on the handlebar.
Get the brake light to work, but no turn signals. The tail light is LED, so maybe not enough resistance? I have an electronic flasher on hand now; I just haven't tried to work it out.
The marker lights used to work, but now they don't. I suspect a bad or missing ground on the fork. I'll sort this out later with the turn signals. I'll ride with hand signals for now.
The headlight quit working. Dirty starter switch got cleaned with contact cleaner; now it works again.
The tail light quit working. It's blowing fuses instantly. Turns out the connector I thought was a ground is actually hot and does not need to be plugged into a ground tab in the headlight bucket. My bad. Disconnect the connector and all is well. Perfect example of "If it used to work and now it doesn't, undo the last thing you did."
The headlight works, the tail light works, and the brake light lights up properly. Yay! Time to start it!
It only runs on 2 or 3 cylinders and pisses gas out of 2 carbs drains. Pull the carbs, clean, reinstall.
Still only running on 3 cylinder. I can pull the spark plug for #2 and nothing changes. Pull the carbs, clean again, this time paying special attention to #2.
Still runs on only 3 cylinders. Frustrated, walk away for a week or so. Let it sit in time out and think about what it did.
Got a storage unit closer to the new house. Recruit Caleb and Jason to help move. Start the bike to demonstrate the 3 cylinder problem. It sounds fine. Even warms up and responds to throttle. Whatever. Move everything to Storage Shop 2.0.
Get everything situated in Storage Shop 2.0. Start the bike; it runs fine, but there's a drop of fuel from the petcock when I turn it from "OFF" to "ON." A minor problem for Future Jim to handle.
Ride it around the storage unit complex. Get very excited, and go for a short shakedown run.
It rides straight, handles nice (a pleasant surprise since I raked the neck 5 degrees and extended the fork 3"). Brakes work, take it off choke as it warms up, fiddle with the idle so it doesn't die at stop lights. There's an occasional weird "thunk" noise that doesn't seem to correlate to bumps in the road, engine speed, vehicle speed, or anything else. It sounds like something hitting heavy sheet metal. Not a light tap, not a solid or ringing whack. When it "thunks," I can't feel a shock in the handlebars or when I touch the tank. Get nervous, take it back to the Storage Shop for analysis. The brake light is hanging by its wires. Surely that's the source!
Fix the brake light, notice the exhaust pipe bolts are loose. Tighten those, too. Go for another shakedown. The thunk remains. Get nervous, go back to the Storage Shop. Nothing obvious... but now there's an oil puddle coming from the front sprocket area. It's a fairly significant leak, even by Harley standards. Notice the sprung solo seat has a lot of play in the hinge and the bolt is loose. Replace the nut with a nylock nut and tighten it down good to tighten up tolerances.
Go for another shakedown. The thunk remains. About 3 miles from the storage shop, lose the back brake. Pull over immediately, discover the rear brake stay dragging on the ground. Baby the bike back to the Storage Shop and source another brake stay bolt from spare parts. Make damn sure the cotter pin is in place. Go for another shakedown run.
The "thunk" is gone! Feel like an idiot for not tightening the brake stay in the first place, head out to the back roads for a little longer ride. Pass a gas station, and suddenly lose power. Pull over, bike won't start. Flip the fuel petcock over to "RES" and wait. Bike still won't start. Call my dad, who lives just a couple blocks away, to bring me gas rather than push the bike a quarter mile back to the gas station. Get off the phone with Dad, and try to start the bike. It fires up immediately. Continue feeling like an idiot, and let Dad laugh at me for running out of gas. Go back to the gas station and fill up. Get back to the Storage Shop and put the bike away, making sure to turn the petcock off. Put kitty litter and cardboard under the bike to soak up the leaking oil.
Come back to the Storage Shop the next day with the intent of riding, get hit in the face with an overwhelming smell of gas. Look at the petcock and see that it is indeed "OFF," and then see it drip twice from the lever. Future Jim is now Now Jim, and is pretty annoyed with Past Jim. Drain the tank, install the spare, and discover the gasket on the spare is shot. Feel defeated and order a new petcock from Amazon. Wait 2 days, get the petcock in the mail, then immediately take it to the Storage Shop and discover that I ordered the wrong one and it doesn't fit. Return it and order a different one.
Go to the library and print Cash Machine decals. Be very impressed with the finished product. Decide to wait for the new petcock so the stickers can be placed with the tank on the bike.
The new petcock arrives literally as I write this sentence. It's dark and I don't have lights in the Storage Shop. Tomorrow I will try again! I'll take video and post glamour shots, and call it 98% finished. I'll investigate the oil leak soon and hope like hell it's just the shift shaft or oil pump. Otherwise, I may have a winter engine rebuild project.
On a side note, I have enough CB650 parts to make another whole bike, but the frame is untitled. In South Dakota, they're awful fussy about titles and I don't have a good solution. I plan to part it out. Anyone need some CB 650 parts?
