To give you a little back story on Feb. 17,2010 I went to Seattle to purchase this beauty 1978 Honda CB750K.....
Here is what I posted before I left...
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=65795.0"My version of motorcycle diaries…
So tomorrow I leave for Seattle to pick up a 1978 Honda CB750K year old that I have wanted for a while, and ride it back home 1100 miles! I’ll be flying into Seattle tomorrow morning and staying the say in rest of the day then riding out early Thursday morning to Portland where I'll also stay a day, then San Francisco and home. I want to check out all the sights and sounds along the way. Also the stops will help to break up the trip a little because that long in the saddle seems daunting. I plan on doing as much touristy stuff as possibly so if there is anything you guys recommend me checking out let me know or if anyone is along the way and wants to ride I would love to. I’ve never been to Wa or Or so anything on my way would be worth seeing, and I'm not too familiar with SF but Ill probably check out the golden gate, fisherman's warf, pier 39, etc.
I've never been on this long of a ride and will be solo, so if there is anything you guys can recommend I bring let me know so I can make sure I do before I head out. "
And now to bring you guys up to speed, my journal I wrote along the way with pics, and video. Hope you enjoy!
Well here is a brief synopsis of how the trip has gone so far…
I Landed in Seattle at 9:10am wed morning, and went straight to get a 3 day trip permit for the bike since the tabs were expired. I hopped on the local Amtrak or whatever they call it here, it was confusing as all hell. It was an odd yet exciting feeling being in a strange new place where I didn’t know anyone and was by myself. I had some time to kill till my mechanic up here picked me up at 3:30 to go get the bike and look at it for the first time. I toured downtown Seattle and had a great time. I walked to the waterfront and had a bite to eat at a place called Ivar’s where I tried oysters for the first time..I’m still not sure what I think.
I enjoyed relaxing eating there, but time was of the essence so I grabbed a train to downtown Seattle center where the Space needle is. I took a tour of the needle and got some great pics, but after being up there and seeing it for 15 mins that was about all there was to it. I had to get going to meet the mechanic a few cities across town. I tried to find a taxi but of coarse when I needed one I couldn’t see one. So I just started walking in the direction I thought I was supposed to be going. Mind you I have a duffel bag that is packed to the brim, a backpack that you can’t even fit a tictac in, and a motorcycle helmet to lug around with me wherever I go. I was tired of carrying this crap, and just when I couldn’t take it anymore I was able to flag down a yellow cab, $40 later I was in another town and wandering again. Still had 45minutes to kill so I walked on….for a bit anyways. That got old quick, I grabbed the first park bench I could find and plopped down.
We met up, get to the owners place, and see the bike for the first time. I could not believe my eyes! The picture and description of the bike was nothing like the one in front of me. The bike was not worth what he was asking and I already felt I was paying a little on the high end. I said some words to this idiot and said screw it... I came for an adventure. So after dealing with this (insert explicative here) I agreed to take it and get on our way so we could get to the parts store before they closed. It was time to put this piece together. My nice and shiny vintage Honda was a rust bucket. Got the parts and we rocked on the bike from 6-12am. In that time we found that the swing-arm that the seller swore up and down was for the bike was not, and was for a bike with disk brakes in the rear. Seeing as mine hads a drum we had to take the swing-arm to a chopper shop where my mechanic new the owner. The guy was totally cool, he opened the shop for us and let us cut the brake lever connector thingy and re-weld it to the other side to make this arm work.
Once we had that tackled we finished the rest of the #$%* list. Here is what we did last night…
Cut and weld swing arm
Fab up adjusters
Install new chain
New Front sprocket
New rear sprocket
Oil change
Filter
Adjust carbs
Readjust carbs
Rebuild carbs
Get electronics working
I think that’s about all we did, the hours and work is all blending together now.
We were getting so fed up, frustrated, and tired we decided to call it a night at 12am. I was feeling pretty #$%*ty about the situation, and to be honest wondering what the hell I was going to do about getting home. The plan was supposed to have the bike running, and get on the road early before day break to get to Portland. Instead my mechanic was a nice enough person to let me crash on his couch and we hit it again first thing at 7:45 with a cup of coffee and a space heater inside his freezing garage.
We got back on the carbs, and resynced them all again. The bike is a real cold hearted biatch when she is cold, and it was freezing! Kept messing around with it and we ran into a ton of problems one after another it seemed. We would fix one issue and get two more. The petcock was spilling gas all over the damn place so we went to buy another only to find it didn’t fit. We used the internals of the stocker, and it seemed to work only to find that the carbs and fuel line were spewing gas everywhere…Im sure you get the point. So we get to where its running pretty well on the stand…still a little popping and backfiring but we take it down the long driveway for a test ride. While on the driveway the mechanic grabs the breaks and the bike jumps to the right and he almost dumps it, close call #1. He fires it up and gets it into 3rd and applies the rear break and errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr he locks up the rear and almost looses the rear end! Another close call. He gets it up and down the street through the gears and she is running strong. We take it back up to bleed the breaks, adjust the rear, and fix the flooding carbs again. At this point I hadn’t even sat on it yet, and when I did I was tippy toeing it and that was not going to fly for a 1300 mile ride home…especially with a full load on the back. So we decided to ditch all the foam and just run the pan, but that wasn’t going to fly for that long of a trip either (don’t need a dead butt). So we get some memory foam and add a bit of padding. The seat looked ridiculous but I could flat foot it now, I figured it’s just another custom one off part = )
Once that’s sorted we decide to get it out on the hwy, and to be completely honest I was scared #$%*less from what I had just seen and how rough it was running. I get it out on the hyw and it is just as quirky as it looks if not worse. The front tire is hard as nails so it doesn’t track well and you can’t feel the road, the @$$ end feels like it’s a ridged frame and is to be desired. I get about 2 miles on the bike and the mechanic notices that it’s spewing gas again. We pull over and sure enough it’s that number two carb again. I put another couple miles on it and up on the stand she goes again. At this point I’m seriously considering going over that guy’s house that sold me the bike and straight up murdering his ass….and I’m a very mellow person. We got after the carbs again, sorted out the idel, and more crap kept rearing its ugly head. Oil leaks, chain loose, swing arm loose, gas leaking out the petcock, you name it we were dealing with it. By now its 4pm and its going to be dark soon. 4:45 rolls around and everything is behind us and she’s running well, so I decide to make a dash for Portland before dark. I load my duffel bag, back pack, bungee everything down, and say a prayer. I hit the road at around 5pm I think, and not long into the trip it was dark. So here I am in the middle of nowhere, 40 miles to the nearest anything, and jamming down the road doing 80mph on a 32 year old bike with a grin from ear to ear laughing my ass off to myself thinking just how crazy this really is. I’m not sure what was worse the cold, the wind (no wind shield), or the tiny seat pan I’m sitting on. Regardless I was determined to get to Portland in one piece. IM A MAN ON A MISSION! Portland is about 190 miles from where I was staying so it wasn’t just a stroll down the hwy. I think the only thing keeping me warm was being so stressed. I pulled off the hwy (5 S) after about 30miles and again at 100 or so just to look things over. What I found was that damn gas leak was back! I knew it wasn’t a big issue so I pressed on, I wasn’t going to let something small like a gas leak stop me = ) Soon enough after jamming down the hwy at 85mph I’m on top of the Portland exit. I exit the freeway and have no idea where I’m going so, I pull over and call my cousin who I’m going to be crashing with to ask for directions. He doesn’t even know where I am…great. He points me in the direction and I start heading down this street only to find that it’s a one way and I’m going the wrong way!!! I think it was the headlights closing in on me that tipped me off. I get the hell out the way, turn around, pull over, and ask a stranger for directions. I change directions and before I know it a guy makes a right hander in front of me without even looking before pulling out! Quick decision!!! With a bike this old you cannot grab on the breaks or you will find yourself in a heap of trouble so I down shifted as quickly as possible and applied both breaks narrowly missing said douche bag. Nothing is surprising me at this point, and I’m glad I took that caffeine pill before I left so I was alert enough to avoid that hazard. After driving around for a half hr I found the address and parked F.B.K (Fukc Bryan Kamerer <---the douche that sold me the bike, I named it after him). I was glad to be alive. Albeit cold, tired, hungry, it was a blast. I met my cousin settled in and got myself some food and took a nice hot shower.
Now do I kick it in Portland tomorrow like I was supposed to do today? Or do I hit the road early and try and eat up as much hwy as possible? It’s almost 3:00 am and I’m beat! I’m going to map out my route and see what the weather is going to be like, and then I’ll decide…
