Now it is 42 years. I missed the 41st year write up as I was out on a week-long ride on the GS over the 4th in 2018. Then a couple of days after I got back, July 12th, the 750 and I were nailed by a pickup truck on the way home from work. The 750 ended up on its left side with a hole in the alternator case and some other lesser damage. I fared a little worse, with my left foot nearly severed. I’ll spare everyone the gory details (I have some interesting photos), but through the miracle of modern medicine, I still have my foot and can use it as one, though I am gimpy. Getting better all the time though. So I was on my back for 9 weeks, no weight bearing on my left leg for 6 months until after a bone graft in November took, on crutches until the end of February, used a cane until March 6th, when I decided to quit being a big baby and quit using that. I have had a lot of catching up to do.
Amazingly, it appears the bike suffered very little or no impact with the truck, my leg took the brunt. Being well and truly laid up, I didn’t get around to completely assessing the damage to the bike until this spring. Besides the aforementioned hole in the alternator case, the airbox was shoved to the right an inch and a half, buggering up the carb to airbox rubbers and bending the frame and airbox tabs, knocked the #1 carb bowl off (all by my leg), two dents in the left side of the gas tank, bent the gearshift lever, and the trim on the Windjammer was gouged. The Windjammer mount was also bent so the fairing was up against the tank. The rear wheel hadn’t been touched, so it, swingarm and frame are fine. The Windjammer protected the handlebar, clutch lever and grips. Although the fairing mount is bent a little and the trim is gouged, the fairing is in good shape. The bike hit the road hard, so the 41 year old fairing is pretty damn strong and it saved the bike from more substantial damage.
One point of concern was when I was able to get to examining the bike, I found the oil tank was bone dry. Only about half a teacup came out of the crankcase. When we were laying on the road, I saw a big pool of oil and gas under it. It was still running laying on its side, rear wheel spinning, oil running out the new hole. I told one of the kind folks standing by where the kill switch and petcock was. I knew a lot of oil had run out of it, but figured it hadn’t run long enough to cause much if any damage. Then my wife told me that the knothead who brought it home on the wrecker had started it when taking it off the truck. She said he had it running about a minute. It had to have been running like crap, with the #1 carb bowl hanging by the overflow tube. (Somehow the float assembly wasn’t damaged.) But now after about 250 miles, all appears well. Another testimonial for Spectro 20W50 HD. It works great even when it isn’t there!
Anyway, I found a NOS case for a reasonable price. Thanks to Mark and Scott for their generous offers of alternator cases, but I felt so bad for letting this happen to my faithful friend, I decided it deserved a new one. New carb rubbers and case and tranny cover gaskets from South Sound Honda, an airbox gasket from DSS, some tweaking and bending and the bike was back together. My goal was to get both the bike and me back on the road before our 42nd anniversary together, and I made it with a few weeks to spare. I’ve lost some range of motion in my left ankle and feeling in my foot, so upshifts are a little deliberate. The first couple of rides left my ankle sore, but I was out for about 150 miles today and it didn’t cause my ankle much trouble, so I think riding is actually good PT for it.
So I took a ride today to celebrate the 42nd anniversary and the fact that both the bike and I are still functional. It could have been a hell of a lot worse. My joke is that if I was really lucky, it wouldn’t have happened. But I am pretty damn lucky.
And yes, the bike is still for sale, current price $163,724. As always, the price goes up a dollar a mile. One thing in the favor for you procrastinators is that I promised family and friends I won't commute on it anymore, so mileage accumulation will slow from the former average 5-6000 miles a year. Traffic around here is getting nuts because of rapidly increasing congestion and many people refusing to pay attention to their driving or just being a-holes. So it is just as well.
