Topic: '83 Nighthawk CB650CS in Montreal, Canada

[francisew]

Hey Guys,

I'm 27, and just finishing my Ph.D. in Chemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I have had my '83 CB650CS for about two years now. I've had all kinds of good and bad times with it.

I generally drive from Montreal -> Ann Arbor about 10 times per year. That's 1000km / 600mi each way. I also do the daily commute in Montreal on my bike every day, rain or shine. Lots of photos of my bike on my web site: http://www.esmonde-white.com/gallery/Motorcycle/

I've begun to get an idea of what's going on in my bike, and a better idea of how much I have to do just to wrestle the beast into a shape that's safe to drive around on. This spring, it looks like it'll be around 500$, gulp.

Anyhow, I'm looking to buy a carb kit to clean/refurbish my carbs, have my fork seals redone (they are leaking oil like mad), and change my front brake rotors/pads because of extensive, fingernail-grabbing grooves in the rotors (forgetting for the moment that it's all drenched in fork oil). BTW, fork oil all over old brake rotors is a great way of preventing them from squeaking.

If you know of where to buy these parts at discount near Montreal, or in Canada, or just plain anywhere, let me know.

Oh- and before I forget, I have the original CB650CS owner's manual scanned in and in PDF, and PPT formats on my web site. Email me and I'll give you a link to the files.

Thanks!
Francis

--

Yikes, I just realized why my bike isn't listed on SOHC4.us... I have a DOHC/4... does that make me unwelcome here?

[Killer Canary]

Toss one of the cams! Nice bike, anyway.
Does anyone know of a site for it?

[francisew]

Toss one of the cams! Nice bike, anyway.
Does anyone know of a site for it?

Heh.

I have lots of people pop by my web site and email me regarding their '83 nighthawks, since I have the owners manual posted. I'd guess there's a good following of owners and people who loved that bike, but no serious central website for it. It kind of falls between the cracks of the different enthusiast sites, and the parts are rather tricky to find, since it bridged the SOHC and DOHC line conversion.

Right now I'm having a bunch of issues... I forgot to mention that my cam chain also got noisy last summer, and my odometer stopped working. The big white plastic gear inside the (ugly) dash odometer stripped, though the speedo still works fine. The cam chain has an automatic tensioner tucked inside the cylinder head, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to tighten up the last time I pulled the cylinder head off (quite honestly, I was all out of energy by the time I had scraped the 20-year old gasket off- I was changing the seal because of an oil leak from the half-moon rubber caps & the cylinder head gasket.).

I'd appreciate any links to a good DOHC site though. :p

Thanks,
Francis