Despite the cold weather that has been overshadowing the area for the last couple of weeks, I woke up to a moderately warm sunny morning. The temperatures were in the 50s and climbing. At about 10:30 Chicago Ben(Cb570) and Bill(Concourse) showed up at the house. I was still eating breakfast, but they were early! Ben was riding his 78 CB750F that has been customized to his liking. Bill was on his Kawasaki Concourse. After breakfast I pulled the bike out of the garage, fired it up and started moving down the driveway where Ben and Bill were waiting. As I looked up at the end of the driveway, I see Bill standing next to hit motorcycle which is lying on the ground. He had that look of “Yeah, now I’m officially part of THAT club”. He had put his foot down where there was depression! Anyway, no harm no foul. We met up with Joe(Big Blue) on his SV650 (His CB550 was in a state of rebuild) on the East side of town and headed down Winchester road towards Winchester.
The wind was a bit chilly, but not bad at all! I have taken these roads many times on way out to the Daniel Boone National Forest area, where there are lots of great roads to ride. We decided to take 15 out of Winchester. This is a fun road that has some very nice sweepers, and even a few sections with some switchbacks. Of course the scenery is great, it’s Kentucky after all! 15 takes it’s time winding around the Mountain Parkway until its end. The Honda is just performing flawlessly and everybody is humming along. The day is warming still and I couldn’t imagine a better ride. The new shocks and fork rebuild I had recently done gave me a good deal of confidence in the corners. I just couldn’t go slow at times, and found myself a little ahead of the rest of the pack. So, I was continually slowing and waiting for the other guys to catch up. Ben was just cruising along on his rat cafe! That’s his style!
15 eventually leads us to 9009 and the end of the Mountain Parkway. 9009 joined with 114 and we head towards Salyersville. This is a larger road, but still has some great scenery. Along the way we go through some smaller cities. Sometimes, it’s not just about the riding, but seeing places that you have never seen before. I always enjoy small towns having grown up in a large city. It’s starting to be a bit more “mountain-like” now as head our way up 460/23 to 80 and then to 119. The winding roads through the mountains were both disorienting and awe inspiring. Just before we get to these areas, my bike begins to hiccup. It’s nothing major, maybe a miss or something!? As we head up the mountains through some more beautiful scenery on 119, the bike starts it cough and backfire. As long as I keep the revs up, it runs better. So, that’s what I do until we reach our meeting point in Williamson, WV. It’s a coal town that looks like every other town on the surface, but as we turned off the main road, you could see some of its history. We pulled over so I could check my messages. No service! I can see two phone towers, but nothing. So, not knowing where we should exactly be to meet up with the CvilleChopper (James) crew, we headed back towards the main road. Fortunately, as soon as we pull up to the main light we see James’ Honda across from us at the light. We U-turn and park right under a cool image representing the coal mining influence in the town.
Because of the glitchy running, I checked my plugs. They were black as night! It was running rich! We suspected that it was the elevation. I just changed the plugs and we sat around looking at each others bikes, talking, taking pictures and screaming Godzilla’s name in strange Asian accents. We’ll, some of us did! It was great to meet everybody, but we were already running late and we still needed to eat. While we were eating, we see this truck practically lock up its brakes and turn back into the parking lot we were parked in. They got out of the truck and started mulling over the Hondas. We were sitting outside enjoying our lunch. They came up to the table telling us about all the old Hondas the have had and/or have, and reminiscing. They were very enthusiastic, too say the least. That’s one thing I get while riding older bikes around. People often see them and reminisce. They are instantly your friend and honestly, I wish that I could have enjoyed these bikes when they were originally released. I’m sure that they had a much different effect on people then, much like our new bikes have on us now. They were high performance machines, intended to take the rider to his or her limits. Regardless, I get to enjoy them now and with a different kind of respect, considering I understand what role the Honda SOHC played in motorcycle history.
After lunch, we headed back up the road towards 292. Along the way, we see that 292 is closed and continue up 119. Unfortunately, I missed the cut-over to 292 and we went deeper into WV. I knew something was up and before too long we figured out where we were and headed in the right direction. We cut over from 119 to 40 by way of 65. 65 was a fun road with sweeper after sweeper. Not such a bad mistake getting lost! From 65 we headed down 52 and then 40. We were trying to make some time because of our delayed schedule, but it would have been a waist. 40 was spectacularly fun, with tons of twists and turns, up and down through the hills of Eastern Kentucky. Again, my bike began to act up, but if I kept the revs up it ran like a champ. So, I took advantage of my misfortune and took a bit quicker pace, waiting every now and then to make sure everybody was A-OK.
As it was getting dark, we arrived at 114 again. We decided to just hit 9009 and head home down the parkway, which will take us all the way to Winchester. There are rarely lights on these roads and my Honda lights just don’t quite light up things as much as I would like. As we hit the Mountain Parkway the Honda is just churning along. It seems as though all of my tuning issues were elevation related. About 20 miles outside of Winchester, the bike starts hiccupping again. I am thinking to myself, “It’s just rich, everything will be fine. I’ll just pull over in a bit and change the plugs again.” Inevitably, it get’s pretty bad and I start thinking about pulling over soon. About this time, Bill on his Concourse and with my tools comes hauling by, honking his horn. He’s ready to get home! I flash the lights wildly trying to get him to slow down, but he keeps trucking. Ben, realizing what is happening takes off after Bill on his café, but to no avail. He’s gone! While Ben was chasing, I had to exit due to the poor running. Joe and I sat there while the bike cooled and Ben circled back around.
After letting the bike cool down a bit, I pulled the plugs. They are not rich anymore! Actually they look pretty good; a nice sandy whitish color. We pondered what might b the problem and thought that defective coils might be the issue. I did just re-build them and it seemed like a logical prognosis. So, after a few more minutes I tried to fire the bike. It fires right up, idles good, good throttle response I say “Let’s go for it”. As I get on the parkway again the bike is running just fine. 3 or 4 miles down the road is the last exit for 10-15 miles. As I pass it I realize that I am now committed. The bike is running fine! Not! About a ½ mile down the road it starts sputtering and I hear a nasty rattle in the motor. At just about that moment I look in the rear view mirror to see Ben coming up next to me. He though that we were running through some fog. Nope, my bike was now smoking horribly and then it just dies! After pulling over we see that the rear tire is covered in oil. The vent had puked a good bit of oil all over the right rear of the bike. “I think it’s done!”
Sitting on the side of the road, we decide that Ben should head on. He’s coming back with his truck. Joe hangs out with me for a while, which I am grateful for! I call my girlfriend and she is on the way. Joe, having dealt with this for a while is ready to head on home, so he heads off knowing that I have help on the way. So, there I sit in the darkness on the side of the road with the parking light on so nobody runs the bike over. A pack of coyote come up behind me howling and yipping and then slowly fade away as they move on. This reminded me of spending time as a youth in the scrub brush in east Texas. Very fond memories and it gave me something to think about while I was waiting. A bit later Bill calls, realizing that he had ran off with my tools. He’s coming back, too! One out of countless cars actually stops to see if I’m OK and offers to let me use their phone. As they stated “We just wanted to make sure you had help on the way! We’re bikers, too!” I thanked them for their consideration and told them that I had it under control and was just waiting for my recovery crew. It’s a shame that somebody has to be a biker to think of helping somebody stranded on the side of the road. This also reinforces my feeling of belonging to a small, but giving family of motorcycle riders. What is it about a motorcycle that brings people together? I could go on forever, but it’s really simple; we’re all part of the adventure! Shortly after, my girl shows up and Bill soon after. I was really glad to see my girl, but Bill had BOURBON! I wasn’t alone anymore. 15 minutes later Ben shows up with his truck and we load the bike up with no hassles. A million Harley jokes were running through my head. “Why is a Harley so much like a dog?” “Because they ride in the back of trucks so well!”, “Because they always mark their territory”…..and so on. Doesn’t matter! I had a great trip with some good people! I do not blame the bike and I know it will be re-born shortly; much like Godzilla rising from the sea time and time again, ready to battle. Already, I have visions of what the new incarnation my beloved Honda will take. I can’t think of a better time to tear it down and build it up even better! We will ride again!
I asked Big G for his opinion. Godzilla's prognosis is not good!
See, I told you! Your pistons are FUBARed!
He likes the upgraded top-end that's going to go back in!
Hey, yours are bigger than mine!
Caught Big G checking ut my cafe build.
850 is good!
Big G decided to hang out at Ben's shop for a while and check out his crazy projects.
What is that? A drag bobber!?
Big G really liked this one!
What's this, an almost stock 750 at Ben's shop? Blasphemy!
Godzilla just couldn't leave Kentucky without terrorizing a Kentucky farm house.
Getting ready to head out to Lake Cumberland. Waiting on Irish Johny to show!
Spanner's cb750 and Ben's cb750.
The crew at Lake Cumberland! See Tugboats post for names.
