Topic: What's the worst/dumbest thing a PO did to your bike?

[HondaMan]

So many times I thank God that my dad was my PO and that my bike was not all hacked up when I started.  I really resent my uncle who told my mother (after my dad passed away) that he would restore the bike and sell it for her.

He took the carbs, tank, and seat off the bike and let it set in the weather in pieces.  #$%*.

My uncle was never a PO for the bike, and the deal between my mother and my uncle came to be.

I overheard my uncle say that he would have to put more into the bike than it was ever worth.

Talk about motivation to get something on the road.  That was MY DAD'S bike.  He would never know how much the bike was ever worth TO ME.

Ever saw a girl drag a 550 down an asphalt street while the chain is rusted and rear tire stuck and front caliper stuck?  Boy, the fun times that me and that bike have had since that day!

I wish you'd been around here then: I would have loved to help you resto it, just to watch you ride away with that big smile!

[Terry in Australia]

Not ground shattering...but could have caused an accident or worse. Checking the bike over before my first ride, I noticed there was a castle nut on the rear brake stabilizer bar, but no cotter pin, and at first, didn't see a hole for the pin in the bolt. Worse, the nut was loose! What had happened was the bolt had a "T" shaped head, and it wasn't seated properly, so the nut couldn't thread on far enough to expose the hole for the cotter pin. If that bar had dropped off when riding....

Well I can't say anything bad about the PO of "Goldie", Ken did a fantastic job building the bike before he totaled it on it's maiden voyage, but as there wasn't any damage to the back of the bike, I'd never removed the rear wheel. I think the bike was just cursed, because on my maiden voyage after I rebuilt it, it tried to kill me too.

Terryswinterride14-6-101 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was on my way home after a great ride, and as I approached a "T" intersection I hit the rear brake, then there was a loud "BANG!" followed by the rear wheel locking up. I managed to hold it upright as I skidded to a halt, and when I finally came up to a halt, I realised that the brake stay arm bolt had let go, and while the arm had just dropped straight down, the brake plate had rotated several times with the wheel, the rod had snapped and wrapped itself around the rear axle, the brake pivot arm was bent to sh1t, and I was 50 miles from home. 

Buggeredbrakes14-6-10 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

Luckily I was able to use my leatherman tool to "borrow" a length of fencing wire from a farm fence nearby to tie the brake arm away from the wheel, unlock the back brake, and I rode home with no other issues, just using the front brake.

I sold the bike a few months later to a guy in Sydney and apart from a post on a Cafe Racer forum that retro put me on to a few months later I've never seen it again, so I'm hoping the new buyer fared better than Ken and I, and wondering whether he had a pants filling experience too? Sometimes it's just bad luck...........    

[Keith]

You are lucky!! Exactly what I was afraid of!!

[CycleRanger]

Tearing down the top end of my CL350 engine.
The whole top end looked like this, every gasket surface.

[Godffery]

Tearing down the top end of my CL350 engine.
The whole top end looked like this, every gasket surface.

Oh Golly!  That's a great way to clog up oil passages!

[HondaMan]

Tearing down the top end of my CL350 engine.
The whole top end looked like this, every gasket surface.

...that should explain every spun bearing and clogged oil pump pickup hole...

[HondaMan]

Does Honda count as the PO?
When I got my first CB750(K1) in the early summer of 1971, I immediately knew it 'felt' strange, especially since I was a Honda wrench in 2 Honda shops in those days. Upon trying to race it, I couldn't dive reliably into right turns and couldn't pull it up out of deep left turns. The handling was just bizarre.

I contacted my Honda mentor of the 1969-1970 era and asked him to look at it: he ended up getting Honda involved via their local rep. Long story short: the frame had been 'tacked' together in their jigs at the factory, then hoisted (along with all the others) up and trammed across the factory ceiling to where they were finish-welded outside, under an open roof. After it was up high, it fell off the carrier and hit the concrete floor: this popped the spotwelds. But, it was then hoisted back up and finish-welded anyway. When the frame got to where the engine went it, the bottom forward (long) bolt could not be inserted because the hole on the right side was too far back. So, the assembly techs bored an oval hole thru the bolster AND the engine to fit in the bolt, and away it went.

The rear wheel was aligned more than 3/4" off to the right of centerline side after all that stuff. Talk about a squirrelly ride! Honda 'apologized' by swapping me, 6 months later, for a brand-new 750K2 (which I still ride now). I feel badly for whoever ended up with that gold K1 bike...

[Godffery]

 Hmmm, perhaps 71 was a year of 'growth Pains' while trying to keep up with a serge of sails?
I recently finished a Restore on a 71 that had the rear frame bridge welded in substantially crooked, to the point that the mounting holes for the fender were oblonged and the fender itself had to be tweaked to bolt in place.

[MauiK3]

Even the venerated Honda factory is capable of such a mess, sad to hear.

[willbird]

Not ground shattering...but could have caused an accident or worse. Checking the bike over before my first ride, I noticed there was a castle nut on the rear brake stabilizer bar, but no cotter pin, and at first, didn't see a hole for the pin in the bolt. Worse, the nut was loose! What had happened was the bolt had a "T" shaped head, and it wasn't seated properly, so the nut couldn't thread on far enough to expose the hole for the cotter pin. If that bar had dropped off when riding....

Well I can't say anything bad about the PO of "Goldie", Ken did a fantastic job building the bike before he totaled it on it's maiden voyage, but as there wasn't any damage to the back of the bike, I'd never removed the rear wheel. I think the bike was just cursed, because on my maiden voyage after I rebuilt it, it tried to kill me too.

Terryswinterride14-6-101 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was on my way home after a great ride, and as I approached a "T" intersection I hit the rear brake, then there was a loud "BANG!" followed by the rear wheel locking up. I managed to hold it upright as I skidded to a halt, and when I finally came up to a halt, I realised that the brake stay arm bolt had let go, and while the arm had just dropped straight down, the brake plate had rotated several times with the wheel, the rod had snapped and wrapped itself around the rear axle, the brake pivot arm was bent to sh1t, and I was 50 miles from home. 

Buggeredbrakes14-6-10 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

Luckily I was able to use my leatherman tool to "borrow" a length of fencing wire from a farm fence nearby to tie the brake arm away from the wheel, unlock the back brake, and I rode home with no other issues, just using the front brake.

I sold the bike a few months later to a guy in Sydney and apart from a post on a Cafe Racer forum that retro put me on to a few months later I've never seen it again, so I'm hoping the new buyer fared better than Ken and I, and wondering whether he had a pants filling experience too? Sometimes it's just bad luck...........

I have seen some fairly artistic brake stays for sale out there in the world, and it came to mind immediately to wonder if any of them were designed and built with any understanding of what the part does, and what happens if it fails.

[pekingduck]

When I was working in a Honda shop in the mid-'70s, a salesman took in trade a CB750 with 6" extended forks, fairly typical for the day, after a quick ride around the block.  It appeared they were original tubes that were extended with a 6" screw-on "slug" extention, the gap hidden by the lower clamp.  Horror!
I was asked to take them off and put the bike back to a stock stance. Took them off, but found no slugs.  Further inspection showed they were the original tubes, with the springs removed and the whole fork filled with quik-set concrete, while fully extended. Horrors!
The salesman was docked for the price of a new set of forks.

[spotty]

When I was working in a Honda shop in the mid-'70s, a salesman took in trade a CB750 with 6" extended forks, fairly typical for the day, after a quick ride around the block.  It appeared they were original tubes that were extended with a 6" screw-on "slug" extention, the gap hidden by the lower clamp.  Horror!
I was asked to take them off and put the bike back to a stock stance. Took them off, but found no slugs.  Further inspection showed they were the original tubes, with the springs removed and the whole fork filled with quik-set concrete, while fully extended. Horrors!
The salesman was docked for the price of a new set of forks.

on my old gs750 i ran up the back of a VW Kombivan, bent the forks a bit, as you'd expect

i got the forks straightened for free ( important in those days of high alcohol and drug consumption ) but couldn't afford new seals which were wrecked by the bent forks bouncing up and down in them for the ride home, so easy fix was take the tops of the forks off, fill them up with oil ( engine oil from memory ) and because they were full they couldn't move therefore they couldn't leak oil.
i rode it like that for a year or so and the handling was interesting to say the least, coupled with a properly square sidecar rear tyre, i got used to it but others who rode it had issues and only did so the once. i fixed it all eventually but it had lost its gloss for me, sold it and got a GS850G, great wallowing barge of a thing, comfy seat though

[CB750R]

My 750 F2 was sold to me with a K5 engine and head that had had a wire wheel taken to the head to remove the gasket, then milled super thin to try and remove the damage, combine that with the  F2 domed pistons, and I was sold a zero clearance engine, that grenaded shortly after I got it home.

Dude managed to also move houses in the mean time so I couldn’t have “words” with him when I figured out what a pile I’d been sold.

[HondaMan]

Hmmm, perhaps 71 was a year of 'growth Pains' while trying to keep up with a serge of sails?
I recently finished a Restore on a 71 that had the rear frame bridge welded in substantially crooked, to the point that the mounting holes for the fender were oblonged and the fender itself had to be tweaked to bolt in place.

Boy, they sure were!
When the 750 sandcasts were being made, your shop had to have a very high sales 'count' of bikes sold to even get one for sale. As the K0 bikes replaced them, Honda had an "allocation" scheme based on your previous 2 years' sales, which determined how many 750s you would get allowed to order. By early 1971 they were sending at least one 750 to every shop that sold more than 25 bikes in the previous year. It wasn't until around the advent of the Kawi 900 that this nonsense even slowed down: 1972 seemed to be the peak all year thru that summer, at least in IL. The K1, in particular the Old Factory K1, seemed to get most of the 'anomalies' (like the frame in mine), and I imagined them working long days without weekends, arguing over 'acceptable' on-line modifications, and the like. It happened again during the K6 production, with differing engine parts and wiring harnesses getting used in the K6 in particular.

[Godffery]

Hmmm, perhaps 71 was a year of 'growth Pains' while trying to keep up with a serge of sails?
I recently finished a Restore on a 71 that had the rear frame bridge welded in substantially crooked, to the point that the mounting holes for the fender were oblonged and the fender itself had to be tweaked to bolt in place.

Boy, they sure were!
When the 750 sandcasts were being made, your shop had to have a very high sales 'count' of bikes sold to even get one for sale. As the K0 bikes replaced them, Honda had an "allocation" scheme based on your previous 2 years' sales, which determined how many 750s you would get allowed to order. By early 1971 they were sending at least one 750 to every shop that sold more than 25 bikes in the previous year. It wasn't until around the advent of the Kawi 900 that this nonsense even slowed down: 1972 seemed to be the peak all year thru that summer, at least in IL. The K1, in particular the Old Factory K1, seemed to get most of the 'anomalies' (like the frame in mine), and I imagined them working long days without weekends, arguing over 'acceptable' on-line modifications, and the like. It happened again during the K6 production, with differing engine parts and wiring harnesses getting used in the K6 in particular.

Now that you mention it, I have also experienced that mismatched wiring harnesses issue.  Though some times things like that are from Previous owners, and that is not really a big surprise especially considering all they have potentially been threw over a span of some 50 or more years.

[rotortiller]

Marettes for wire connections, threaded rod for motor mounts, brake lever hacks, missing brake parts, butchered suspension, chafing parts, short structural hardware with 50% thread into nuts, cracked metal where holes were drilled too close to a metal edge, wood screws used to secure parts, Robertson hardware, etc. That was on one bike lol!

[Swoop]

Defies words

[M 750K6]

My PO had been unable to get the bike to run off the choke. And it leaked oil. I had deluded optimism. An owner before had removed the cylinder head cover with a chisel. Daylight between them. All head bolts were loose and one, the middle front external one, had sheered in the head. Two of the carb slides were oval. Other than that and various household electrical connectors and rust, it was fine. Oh, apart from the split rear brake hub, rusty sticking front calliper and a slightly bent front fork.  Dodgy seat lock, a mouse taking up residence in my seat foam, new tyres/tubes, ....

I managed to get 2nd hand carbs, rear wheel hub, head and cover. Bores were glazed, but passed inspection and were honed. Blasted and powder-coated the frame and put it all back together, with various bits replaced, such as steering bearings, calliper, gaskets etc..  Got the lot done for around £1200 in parts, plus 3 months of my time, but what else to do in winter!

I thoroughly enjoyed the process. The first time I've got into a bike that far. It looks pretty posh now 

[CycleRanger]

Defies words

That's..... so weird.
Vents to cool the steering bearings?
Speed holes?

[bryanj]

New breed of metal termite?

[lash]

How to get your 6 yr old daughter to stick weld frame tubes….

[newday777]

How to convert a K6 750 single feed gas line on left side petcock to K0-K4 double outlet right side petcock......
Plumbing 101.....

[HondaMan]

How to convert a K6 750 single feed gas line on left side petcock to K0-K4 double outlet right side petcock......
Plumbing 101.....

Gasoline levitation 101?
 
It reliably DOES stop overflowing bowls, though. I once got a "cafe'd" 750 to "fix it so it would run over 50 MPH again". The owner had done exactly that, because the "carbs were always overflowing. Moving the fuel lines underneath stopped it form doing that."

It just needed new float valves.

[Terry in Australia]

Not ground shattering...but could have caused an accident or worse. Checking the bike over before my first ride, I noticed there was a castle nut on the rear brake stabilizer bar, but no cotter pin, and at first, didn't see a hole for the pin in the bolt. Worse, the nut was loose! What had happened was the bolt had a "T" shaped head, and it wasn't seated properly, so the nut couldn't thread on far enough to expose the hole for the cotter pin. If that bar had dropped off when riding....

Well I can't say anything bad about the PO of "Goldie", Ken did a fantastic job building the bike before he totaled it on it's maiden voyage, but as there wasn't any damage to the back of the bike, I'd never removed the rear wheel. I think the bike was just cursed, because on my maiden voyage after I rebuilt it, it tried to kill me too.

Terryswinterride14-6-101 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was on my way home after a great ride, and as I approached a "T" intersection I hit the rear brake, then there was a loud "BANG!" followed by the rear wheel locking up. I managed to hold it upright as I skidded to a halt, and when I finally came up to a halt, I realised that the brake stay arm bolt had let go, and while the arm had just dropped straight down, the brake plate had rotated several times with the wheel, the rod had snapped and wrapped itself around the rear axle, the brake pivot arm was bent to sh1t, and I was 50 miles from home. 

Buggeredbrakes14-6-10 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

Luckily I was able to use my leatherman tool to "borrow" a length of fencing wire from a farm fence nearby to tie the brake arm away from the wheel, unlock the back brake, and I rode home with no other issues, just using the front brake.

I sold the bike a few months later to a guy in Sydney and apart from a post on a Cafe Racer forum that retro put me on to a few months later I've never seen it again, so I'm hoping the new buyer fared better than Ken and I, and wondering whether he had a pants filling experience too? Sometimes it's just bad luck...........    

Well after many years “Goldie” resurfaced on FB. A new owner (probably not the guy I sold it to) was posting that finally, after 3 years of work, it was ready to go back on the road. I wondered why it took him 3 years, as apart from different handlebars, seat and wrapped exhaust it looked pretty much like it did when it left my place? He didn’t elaborate, but was obviously trying to claim all the work that Ken and I had done as his own. Made me laugh, future owners can be as bad as previous owners….