Topic: What did you do to your bike today ?

[oldbob]

Good feeling, ain't it Bob!?!

It's pretty good. I almost feel like I know what the f**k I'm doing.

Bob

[Terry in Australia]

Another box arrived today, it's the front wheel for my CX500 Custom. The PO must have hit a gutter or something and dented the rim, so I decided not to use it. I couldn't find a good one here in Oz, so was surprised when the one I bought from the US arrived so quickly, I only paid for it last Saturday!

Tomorrow I'm getting new Pirelli Sport demons fitted, and I've got the next four days off work, so I'm gonna get some riding in! Cheers, Terry.

[dave500]

youll like those sport demons terry,,on the cb500s at least i think they are an edge over the age old bt45s?

[CycleRanger]

Sanded and painted the air boxes from the CJ360T.
Now it's time for non-Honda work.   
Changing the timing belt in my V8 Tundra.  See ya'll in about 5 hours...if I'm lucky.

[Greggo]

Started up the Dream...Worked on the K4's carbs...Wired the K6 so all my lights work...Put tins on the K4...

[750K]

Picked up new tires and tubes, Avon am26's. Hope I like them, haha.

[Tews19]

Had to return a movie to Redbox! Freaking cold out on the 750 and only 32 degrees out but god what a blast she is.

[Terry in Australia]

youll like those sport demons terry,,on the cb500s at least i think they are an edge over the age old bt45s?

Ha ha, they better be Dave, they cost me 62 bucks more per pair than the Bridgestones! If I fall off, I'm coming for you! (hmmnnn, bad choice of words, but you know what I mean, that was meant to be a threat, not some weird sexual inuendo............)

[MCRider]

youll like those sport demons terry,,on the cb500s at least i think they are an edge over the age old bt45s?

Ha ha, they better be Dave, they cost me 62 bucks more per pair than the Bridgestones! If I fall off, I'm coming for you! (hmmnnn, bad choice of words, but you know what I mean, that was meant to be a threat, not some weird sexual inuendo............)

Coming from you. wouldn't both be about the same?   

[Terry in Australia]

youll like those sport demons terry,,on the cb500s at least i think they are an edge over the age old bt45s?

Ha ha, they better be Dave, they cost me 62 bucks more per pair than the Bridgestones! If I fall off, I'm coming for you! (hmmnnn, bad choice of words, but you know what I mean, that was meant to be a threat, not some weird sexual inuendo............)

Coming from you. wouldn't both be about the same?   

Ha ha, yep, one's as bad as the other, a fate worse than CB750F ownership!

[MCRider]

youll like those sport demons terry,,on the cb500s at least i think they are an edge over the age old bt45s?

Ha ha, they better be Dave, they cost me 62 bucks more per pair than the Bridgestones! If I fall off, I'm coming for you! (hmmnnn, bad choice of words, but you know what I mean, that was meant to be a threat, not some weird sexual inuendo............)

Coming from you. wouldn't both be about the same?   

Ha ha, yep, one's as bad as the other, a fate worse than CB750F ownership!

 

[Terry in Australia]

Battlestar Gargantua has docked at Terry's Turdis:



Born in the USA! (That's a Dunlop "Harley Davidson" front tire on my American made Goldwing)



God it's huge!



I think it's been "Interstate" a few times over the last 26 years...........



The pic might look comical, but the Ulysseans are one of our most feared outlaw clubs.........



Anyway, back to reality, I also got my new Pirelli Sport Demons at Dave's insistance, for my CX500 "Hawg".





I better get them on so I can go for a ride!

 

[Stev-o]

Terry - your recent bike purchases have been a little surprising. First a 500 (gasp!) and now a Wing?!

[Terry in Australia]

Terry - your recent bike purchases have been a little surprising. First a 500 (gasp!) and now a Wing?!

Ha ha, you're right mate, but there's method in my madness. Over here, CB750's are just going for silly money at the moment, but besides that, I have a soft spot for CX500's (plus they are very popular as commuters, and sell for pretty good money too) and the Goldwing Interstate is a rarity here, and once restored will be a brilliant bike for long distance riding, in a lot of ways, better than my Triumph Rocket III.

I don't need 10 CB750's, (lets face it, they're great, but one pretty much feels just like another) so I'm happy to buy, tidy up and keep some other bikes that I've admired from afar, or sell them on and make a few bucks. Cheers, Terry.  

[Terry in Australia]

Yesterday was a busy day in the Turdis. Dave insisted that I install Pirelli Sport Demon tires rather than the "tried and true" Bridgestone BT45's that I've been using since Jesus played for the Nazareth under 18's, and I figured it couldn't really hurt to take the advice of my learned banana bender. They weren't cheap, but they look pretty.

I'd made an assumption that I could install an 18 inch back wheel on it, which I wanted to do to raise the overall gearing, and also, to fill the gap under the seat. As much as some folks might think that Honda always got everything right, this bike is a classic example of how amateurish Honda was when they brought this model out, so I feel like I'm correcting some of their errors.

Here's the difference between a 16 and 18 inch wheel:



This is the before pic:



And this is the after:





That's a 120/90 - 18 on the back, but it looks a little skinny compared to the 130/90-16 that was on it:



The back wheel conversion was a great success, the front is another story, which I'll elaborate on a little later. Cheers, Terry.




 

[Greggo]

Much better Terry.  I never liked the look that small back wheel gave those bikes.

[Terry in Australia]

Okay, so the back wheel 16 - 18 inch conversion was a great success, but of course, just when you think things are going well, Murphy comes along and tries to screw you. The front wheel on my CX500 has a small ding in it. so I spent 150 bucks buying what looked like an identical Comstar from the US.

Sadly it is around 20mm wider across the hub area, so with both discs installed, it just won't go. Bugger. I saw how Jeff at Ace Motorcycles was struggling to get the tire on the rim with his tire machine, so not even owning a tire lever, I decided that swapping the tire on a Saturday afternoon was not an option.

I still wanted to go for a ride, and I wasn't gonna re-install the correct front wheel with the old tire cracking around the entire circumference of the rim, so my alter-ego, "Doctor Bodger", stepped in. By removing one disc, the wheel went right in:



Of course, the wheel is now offset to the right by around 15mm:



With only one disc, only one caliper is required, so I removed it and made a "block off" adapter for the bolt:



I'll come up with a solution today, which may be a case of pulling both wheels apart and swapping the rims, but in the meantime, it's actually quite rideable, and apart from the poor braking performance, I haven't noticed any other serious problems, and it looks kinda nice too. (I must pull that little dent out of the tank) Cheers, Terry.

[Terry in Australia]

Much better Terry.  I never liked the look that small back wheel gave those bikes.

Thanks mate, the first CX500 I rode was the Custom model like mine, and I didn't like that I had to rev the piss out of it to go anywhere. Years later I rode the older model with the 18 inch rear wheel, and it was much nicer.

I hoped (but didn't know for sure) that the 18 inch wheel would fit, and luckily, it does. I've got a slipping clutch so I don't have any definite numbers for how many RPM's it's dropped since replacing the wheel, but my gut feeling is that I've dropped the revs by 500-1000 RPM at 60 MPH, which is good, plus it feels much easier to move around, a bit like a big trail bike. Cheers, Terry.

[maduncle]

Terry, I was going to ask you if you could do a rim swap on the front, how hard is it to pull Comstars apart and swap bits around?

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Cliff, I've got to admit that I've never tried it, and the wheels are actually stamped with the warning, "Do not disassemble", but we all know that rules were made to be broken, so no biggie, ha ha!

The hubs are just bolted to the spokes, but the rims are rivetted. It'd be great if I could just swap the hubs, but that's "wishfull thinking", so I'll have to carefully remove all the rivets, swap the hubs and spokes from one wheel to another, and re-attach the spokes to the rim, probably using some small stainless steel screws and locknuts. (or I suppose I could try rivetting them)

That is of course if everything lines up, I don't like the idea of drilling new holes in the rims, when playing with bikes capable of speeds in excess of walking pace, a collapsing front wheel would be a scary proposition. I do have another Comstar front wheel in the Turdis, but I haven't really looked at it, as it's the old style Comstar like the one on your F2. Cheers, Terry.  

[oldbob]

Yesterday, I synchronized the 400's carbs with my home-made manometer. This morning I buttoned up everything, double-checked fasteners, put some air in the tires and took her out on the road.

I road about 60 miles and, I have to say, it runs well. I still need to clean up the PO's bodges, but overall, this is coming together. Give me a cigarette.

Bob

[Greggo]

Rode the 500 to get some coffee beans.

[cabrala]

Blew the top end of my 550

Looks like a long winter rebuild is ahead for me.

[Stev-o]

Have had a charging issue with the red 550 since I got it a month ago.
Battery good, check. Battery charging slightly, but only to 11.84 volts, so thought regulator? Had a spare so thought I would pop it in. Loosened the two bolts and it fell to the ground! The PO failed to connect it at some point. Cleaned the terminals, and popped it back in. Charging great now and went for a ride to the lake...

[Tews19]

That is one sweet looking 550 Stev-o...