Topic: Belfast-2-Belfast-by-Bike

[BenelliSEI]

Sean is tough. I’m sure he’ll get moving soon. That knee needs to heal.

[RAFster122s]

Dang what a tangled and nasty turn on the story...glad it is starting to become a bit more encouraging...
Still, the medical care is typical of clinics, they often do not do the correct thing, merely the std expedient one. I had did a stupid move cutting some onion for a pot of food AI was cooking and had the onion in my hand, well the knife sliced through the onion and then through the corner of my finger, about 1/2 inch long straight through, longer path around the outside of the finger. It did the shortest distance between two points...
Well, I quickly wrapped it up and finished the cooking which was another 15 minutes and in between that time I cleaned it up and re wrapped a towel around it to provide compression and it was still bleeding 20-25 minutes later and I cleaned it off and used some cotton cleaning squares and bit of crepe wrap, slipped a nitrol glove on it and then drove myself to the nearest ER about 25 minutes away. It was still bleeding soaked through the two cotton absorbent pads and they cleaned it up and spee glued it closed. I get back home and sit down to eat and nearly dropped something and instinctively grabbed it in the injured hand and that was enough to bust the super glue and it was bleeding heavily again.  I gloved up again and ate about 1/2 bowl of my dinner and drove back to the ER and arrived about an hour after I had left. Explained situation and they took me back and what should have been done in one trip took two and they did the repair differently and wrapped it differently. I got to pay for 2 visits to get it fixed and the super glue they did the 2nd time lasted 3 days before it had delaminated from the skin. I decided to fix stuff myself after than and bought some thin and medium gap filling super glue for future deep cuts and put the unopened tubes in the refrigerator so they would keep longer. Haven't tried to slice my finger off since and actually bought a pair of kevlar woven knit gloves to use when doing things that might not end well and doing lots of knife work. No major cuts since. I'm on a blood thinner for life so, that helped things a long on not stopping so, I studied a bit on some first aid stuff got advice from my brother, a doctor, and older sister, nurse practitioner, on the kinds of things and techniques to use to do first aid on myself unless it was serious...

I think the super glue repair if an area that will bend or flex much is a stupid attempt and they aren't thinking clearly to do that. But hey I'm just an engineer I look at problems differently than medical people apparently.

Sean, hope you heal up and the other issues on the bike get sorted out. He is still dealing with the charge issue, not installed HondaMan 's rectifier yet and the front end issue with brake and wheel and bottom of fork tube needs sorted. Likely will need the welder fellow's services again, presuming he can tig weld too. He did a nice repair on the steering stops on the frame neck.
I think the bike probably needs some disassemble, measure and thorough check on the front end to address anything else that might be lurking from the heavy spill Sean took.
The wheel may need a check on trueing and balancing...but removing the tire to inspect it may be a bridge too far given his experience trying to get things done on the bike without enlisting other cb750 owners

[HondaMan]

I sent him a new lower triple tree (his got bent at the top), should be there about now. New AllBalls kit, too.
That steering stop had to have been a Friday Night can't-miss-this-hot-date or else a Monday-after-too-much-sake weekend thing at Honda Production, lousy weld! I've never seen one with just a tack at the top & bottom like this one.

[newday777]

I sent him a new lower triple tree (his got bent at the top), should be there about now. New AllBalls kit, too.
That steering stop had to have been a Friday Night can't-miss-this-hot-date or else a Monday-after-too-much-sake weekend thing at Honda Production, lousy weld! I've never seen one with just a tack at the top & bottom like this one.

I agree Mark and I also told him in a text the other day when I saw the pictures that it wasn't welded properly from the factory with the rust showing.
He is laying low for a bit to get his knee addressed and healed, insurance is covering that portion too, but very stiff so not bending it now while it heals. It's been a couple days since we texted, hoping to do some more chatting today for updates.

[Stev-o]

I sent him a new lower triple tree (his got bent at the top), should be there about now. New AllBalls kit, too.
That steering stop had to have been a Friday Night can't-miss-this-hot-date or else a Monday-after-too-much-sake weekend thing at Honda Production, lousy weld! I've never seen one with just a tack at the top & bottom like this one.

I agree Mark and I also told him in a text the other day when I saw the pictures that it wasn't welded properly from the factory with the rust showing.
He is laying low for a bit to get his knee addressed and healed, insurance is covering that portion too, but very stiff so not bending it now while it heals. It's been a couple days since we texted, hoping to do some more chatting today for updates.

Thanks for the update.  Does he need a front fender and/or stator cover?  I should have spares...

[newday777]

I sent him a new lower triple tree (his got bent at the top), should be there about now. New AllBalls kit, too.
That steering stop had to have been a Friday Night can't-miss-this-hot-date or else a Monday-after-too-much-sake weekend thing at Honda Production, lousy weld! I've never seen one with just a tack at the top & bottom like this one.

I agree Mark and I also told him in a text the other day when I saw the pictures that it wasn't welded properly from the factory with the rust showing.
He is laying low for a bit to get his knee addressed and healed, insurance is covering that portion too, but very stiff so not bending it now while it heals. It's been a couple days since we texted, hoping to do some more chatting today for updates.

Thanks for the update.  Does he need a front fender and/or stator cover?  I should have spares...

I don't think so. I'll check.

[newday777]

I sent him a new lower triple tree (his got bent at the top), should be there about now. New AllBalls kit, too.
That steering stop had to have been a Friday Night can't-miss-this-hot-date or else a Monday-after-too-much-sake weekend thing at Honda Production, lousy weld! I've never seen one with just a tack at the top & bottom like this one.

I agree Mark and I also told him in a text the other day when I saw the pictures that it wasn't welded properly from the factory with the rust showing.
He is laying low for a bit to get his knee addressed and healed, insurance is covering that portion too, but very stiff so not bending it now while it heals. It's been a couple days since we texted, hoping to do some more chatting today for updates.

Thanks for the update.  Does he need a front fender and/or stator cover?  I should have spares...

Well maybe he could as the fender is dinged and the alternator cover got scratched and dented.
He is getting ready to fly back to France for a couple weeks to heal his knee and see his kids while they are there. I don't know when he is leaving yet.

[newday777]

Today's blog upload

https://belfast2belfastbybike.com/2024/06/24/getting-it-back-together-15-21-june-2024/

[BenelliSEI]

Sean has the luxury of a very “loose” timeline! Having spent more than a couple of days with him, I’m sure he’ll be back on course shortly. The two weeks at home in France is a great idea. I’ll be watching for more good news soon.

[Kevin D]

John, those case protectors paid off for Sean.

[HondaMan]

On the picture of his bike in the back of the truck: is that really a K70 tread pattern I see on the rear tire?
If so, those are death on dirt roads, in my experience, on this chassis.

[BenelliSEI]

John, those case protectors paid off for Sean.

Yes…. I noticed they still look pretty straight!

[The Lone Builder]

Hi guys,

I owe you an update, sorry I'm so slack.

Right! I'm now back in France sitting on my terrace with my leg up hoping it'll get better quickly that way. Planned date to return is 16th July, so a few week to go.

Answers to questions/cmments:
Mark:     The tyre is Metzeler ME77. Not quite death, but not too far off!
John:      The crash bars have been straightened. They certainly save the case but with only two mounting points, they did bend backwards.
Steve:     While fender and cover are damaged, they are still useable; it's not a concours bike after all - as anyone who has actually seen it will testify! 
RAF:        Superglue was first used for clean incisions where the two sides were opposed with no tension. Then the use seems to have expanded to this situation where you fill up a gaping wound with the stuff and expect it to hold. It may work if the wold is clean, but with a dirty wound? No chance! The correct thing to do was freeze the area, give it a good scrub and clean using H<sub>2O2, and then probably leave it open to heal from bottom up. At a pinch suturing might have been OK, bit safest way would have been as stated. It's, arguably, my own fault; I should have insisted.

Anyways, it's all water under the bridge, so thing is to look forwards and get back up on the horse, I mean bike.

Will let you know when I'm on the move again.

Oh, and big thanks to Stu for keeping everyone up to date.</sub>

[newday777]

You are welcome Sean. Heal up under the summer sun.

[BenelliSEI]

Enjoy the Holiday and get well fast! Best wishes from Maya and John!

[HondaMan]

Owww....just reading about it makes my knee hurt.

[Stev-o]

Could think of worst places to heal than France!! 

[BenelliSEI]

Sean is on the road again soon. Check out his “new” route and if he passes your way make sure you connect. Fascinating stuff. See his blog for all the details:

Then it was back to porridge. I found a disconnected wire from the points, explaining the failure to start. This was reconnected and the bike started, but it sounded awful and No 1 cylinder was missing badly and putting out grey smoke. This turned out to be a defective plug, so all plugs were changed, which made an instantaneous improvement.

I fitted the new brake pads which had finally arrived and then drilled holes to mount my new windscreen which I had bought, having decided that the botch-up I was using was not only ugly, but also wasn’t very effective.

A test ride showed that hand tightening the steering head bearings wasn’t sufficient, so this was fixed and a second run was good. A bit tight now, but this will probably loosen up a bit.
Sean is back together again! Visit his Blog for all the details, but his trip across the USA is about to resume. If you’r on his route, make sure he stops in for a visit. Fascinating stuff. Here are the last few paragraphs from today.


With the fairing fitted, there was only one thing left; should I replace the rear brake shoes and tempt fate, or go with what I was fairly sure were acceptable shoes. In the end I decided to replace them, only because carrying the new ones around with me would be a pain in the proverbial. As expected, the shoes were only partially worn and probably good for another 5 000 kms at least, but they were replaced anyway.

So that was it; I was finally ready to go. I packed my bags and marvelled at the fact that in spite of my weeding out everything I considered to be superfluous, I still had a lot of baggage. To be fair, the main bulk was my cold weather riding gear, without which my seat bag would be half empty and about a third the weight.

[The Lone Builder]

Hi John,
Thanks for updating everyone; I was about to write something myself - honestly.

Well, I’m nearly a week out now. We’ve done Skyline Drive, part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and many others too numerous to mention. I’ve been through Pennsylvania, Virginia, a corner of Tennessee, N Carolina and some of South Carolina.

Two Belfasts have been visited, Virginia and N Carolina. Tomorrow I continue down the coast to Charleston and then on to Savannah and Belfast GA.


Bike is going beautifully engine wise. There is still a shake of the front at lower speeds, but once moving all settles down, until a long fast bend when the little nodding returns; nothing scary though. Talking of bikes, when on the Parkway, we were stopped at a visitor centre, when another 750 came down the road; had a great chat with the owner.

Back to the blog now!

Stay well all.

[newday777]

Great update Sean!(finally! Hint Hint!!!) You are riding through some my favorite areas to ride in this country.
What year was that 750?

[HondaMan]

There is still a shake of the front at lower speeds, but once moving all settles down, until a long fast bend when the little nodding returns; nothing scary though. Talking of bikes, when on the Parkway, we were stopped at a visitor centre, when another 750 came down the road; had a great chat with the owner.

HEre's a thought about those 'head wiggles' when loaded: I've experienced them with heavy loads when my loads were wiggling slightly at low speeds, and in corners, both. The chassis was fine: the loads were causing it. It took about 5 more bungee cords to fix the steering.

[newday777]

Sean
Aren't you using ROK Straps on your loads?

[BenelliSEI]

Sean…. I concur on the head shake. When Maya and I toured on our KLR650s my bike always had that symptom at anything over 100 kph. Her bike never did, because I always had 80% of “our” luggage strapped to the ass of my bike! As soon as I unloaded, and left the small GIVI side cases at home, the Kawasaki ran straight and true. Take care, be safe. J.

[The Lone Builder]

Well now I’ve ticked off GA, SC, TN and am on my way to Little Rock, AR, and all going (relatively) well.

Two tyre related questions for y’all; I’m a southerner now 

I’m running on Metzelers - ME77 rear and ME11 front.

The first issue concerns the front. I replaced it before leaving because it seemed to be wearing at the sides, leaving a ridge in the middle. Now this tyre is doing the same thing. Anyone else experienced this? Is it normal?

The second issue is the rear. I replaced it in Baltimore, about 4 000 miles ago, and it’s about ready to be replaced again. This seems very soon to me; maybe it’s due to the load.  Anyway, I’m thinking of changing to Continentals or Dunlops depending on what I can get. Does anyone know if these are harder wearing than the Metzelers?

And finally, any suggestions on how to avoid the exorbitant charge the guy in Baltimore hit me with to fit the tyre? After Little Rock, I’m heading up to Neosho, Missouri then to Greely, Nebraska and Sioux Falls, Minnesota ( or maybe the other way round on the last two). If anyone is out there en route and can help me change the tyres, at recommend a good shop that’ll do it ar reasonable cost, I’d appreciate it.

[BenelliSEI]

Sean…… that usually suggests under inflation. Will be curious to see what others say? “The first issue concerns the front. I replaced it before leaving because it seemed to be wearing at the sides, leaving a ridge in the middle. Now this tyre is doing the same thing. Anyone else experienced this? Is it normal?”

Why not try an inexpensive set of Kendas or Shinkos? They work well for me, mind you  I usually end up changing them out on age not mileage!

The absurd shop charges are what made me buy tire irons and a balancing stand! Hopefully someone on here is along your way and has the equipment you can use!