Hello from Rapid City, South Dakota!
My name is Jim. My handle, emperorspartacus, is one I've had since I was 14, and being a creature of habit I use it pretty much everywhere I go on the web. I found this forum via
www.hondacb650.com, and am happy to be joining such a knowledgeable and helpful online community.
In 2003, my friend Bob bought a 1980 Honda CB650 rat bike off of someone for $150. It had been parked in a garage for at least 10 years, and had a little over 10K miles on it. We got it in our heads that we could tear this bike down and rebuild/restore it in 2 months (what can I say... we were 21 years old at the time). We got through the tear down phase, but ran out of money pretty quickly when we started buying replacement parts, plus I went back to college in another city. Thus, it sat in pieces for 5 years, being moved from garage to garage the whole time.
A year and a half ago, in the fall of 2008, Bob's wife got tired of having a pile of parts in the garage and told him, "Build it, sell it, or toss it." He called me up and asked if I wanted it, free of charge. "Free," it turns out, is relative, but I imagine most vintage bike owners already know this. I agreed, and he brought over as many of the parts as he could find--2 boxes, a frame, engine, and 2 wheels. At the time, I had a small shed in the back yard, so I put everything in there to stay dry.
Some of the parts laid out on the workbench.
At the time, I also owned a 1984 Harley Sportster with a 1000cc Ironhead engine, so I figured I had a chance at putting the Honda back together. For those of you who don't know, an Ironhead will force you to learn to wrench on your own bike out of sheer necessity. Many a Harley guy will tell you that if you want to learn how to work on motorcycles, buy an Ironhead Sporty. I didn't know this when I bought it, therefore entered a VERY steep learning curve.
At any rate, my wife really likes the look of vintage import bikes (particularly the shape of the seat), so I thought it would be a nice gift to give her a freshly rebuilt bike.
Fat guy on a little bike!! I called it my Little Bastard because it broke down constantly.
In the spring of 2009, I decided it was time to reassemble the Honda parts. I didn't much care about the condition of the parts, I just wanted to see if they were all there. Naturally, I chose to do this without a garage, a manual, online advice, or the aid of an assistant. I managed to cobble together a rolling chassis, upon which I could set the horribly rusted tank and seat to show my wife what her bike would look like. I was feeling pretty proud of myself, seeing as how the Honda project was looking promising and I had just finished earning my teaching license. Then I got a job in Greeley, Colorado, and we had to move.
To an apartment complex.
That didn't have garages.
And we were broke as hell, therefore unable to afford a storage unit.
The Harley got sold and the Honda went into my dad's storage shed. It stayed there until about a month ago, June of 2010. I got laid off from my teaching job in Greeley, and my wife decided she wanted to go back to school to become an accountant. We chose to move back home to Rapid City, SD, and we stumbled across a decent apartment with a garage. Fortunately, I also found another teaching job within 3 weeks of moving back, so I was feeling pretty good. Time to get started back up on the CB650!
A day's work reveals there just might be a motorcycle amongst these parts!
I putzed with it, putting the headlight bucket back on and reconnecting wires and such, but just didn't have the motivation to actually put it all back together yet. Then, I was trolling Craigslist as I often do, when I saw a posting for a "1980 CB650C Parts Bike" for $150.
$150 for a bike that is the same year, make, and engine/frame? No way! I opened up the ad, and sure enough, there was a bike that was for the by and large complete, and even better, nearly identical to mine! I replied as fast as my fingers could type, and two days later, I went to see it. I knew I had to buy it when I looked in the gas tank and there was a touch of surface rust, but I could see more bare metal than dry rust. My research told me the major differences between the CB650 standard and the CB650 Custom were cosmetic, and thus far it has been mostly true. Different exhaust, wheels, and handlebars seem to be the biggies. Everything else looks pretty much identical.
Not bad for $150!
What's weird is that most of the stuff that is missing or wrong with the Custom, or "parts" bike, I have on the Standard. Most of what's boogered on the Standard looks to be in good shape on the Custom... and the Custom isn't in parts on the floor. Logic, or maybe laziness, dictates that if the Custom even
thinks about running, it'll become the rider. So far, I've put a battery in it and it turns over strong, and there's definitely compression. I haven't put gas in it to see if it'll run yet, because I want to clean out the tank first. There's no sense in gumming up potentially clear carbs with fresh rust.
I'll post a rebuild thread later, after I sort some pics out. In the meantime, here's a few to get started!
The guts of the Standard. Yes, the plastic mudguard is painted in chameleon paint, purple/green.
Something is missing...
One to ride, one to chop...
Thanks for looking, and I really look forward to becoming a part of this board!
