Hullo, I'm Red. I'm fresh off the boat from reed-valve Yamaha thumpers. Rules said that if I don't curse like a sailor in public, not to do it here. I assume that meant they thought most of us probably don't curse like sailors in public, so I'll try to behave myself.
Lucked into my current darling as a gift from a dear family friend who found himself one space short in the garage, an old CB550K that he purchased around the time that he and my father originally started riding together. I still have some interesting scars from welding on it for him when I was a bit younger. Sentimental value is the best value, and as a result he has a riding buddy now, since my dad left for Florida years ago and my brother's Ducatis keep breaking down.
The plan right now is to do a sport-touring restomod on it. Cafes are cool but there's something cooler to me about the sort of androgynous ambiguity of a slightly more unmolested UJM.
It needed some TLC in a bad way when I picked it up, but I like 'em a little rough. The build is where the bonding happens, where you learn whether it wants to run for you or whether it's going to fight you every step of the way.
Stock pipes were disintegrating in like nine different places. First thing to go on was a fresh set of Delkevic 4-into-1 with the straight muffler, full baffles. Open sounds too metallic and my neighbors hate the baffled version plenty enough. Second was a complete front brake rebuild with drilled rotor. It looked cool and I figured the extra wet-condition safety was probably a benefit. Then my tires arrived. Yanked the goofy art-deco front fender and replaced it with a Tarozzi fork brace, and slapped on some Metzeler Roadtec 01's, replaced all of the screws in the timing assembly, serviced the timing, adjusted the valves, and synched-up the carbs.
It was running great until yesterday on the way home from work, and I suspect it's got some kind of fuel delivery issue now. But that'll come later after I inspect the usual suspects.
