At the end of last week's commute, the mileage on the 750 was 60 miles short of 150,000 miles. So my wife and I went for a ride down to the Owyhees in southwestern Idaho on Sunday to watch the odometer turn over.
The last time the odometer displayed this was April of 1996 –
Overlooking the Snake River –
Just outside Oreana, ID with 150,000 on the clock –
Some shots of the old Catholic church in Oreana. It is still used for services –
It’s a b i i i g country –
We stopped for cheeseburgers at the Murphy General Store. They are decent burgers –
I have a hard time riding past an old barn without stopping and taking a picture –
OK, as for a recap of the last 5,000 miles there is not much to tell that is a big deal, except the bike had its 40Th birthday in February. Just after the 145,000 mile report, the ignition switch began to get a little wonky. I'd have to fiddle with it a little to get the power on. It got worse and worse until one morning before work I couldn’t get the bike to light up. I took the switch out a couple of days later and found the plastic housing part of it was crumbling. 40 years and plastic are not a good combination. I pride myself on the ability to fix or fabricate anything, but this would have been a challenge. I soon found out the switch is NLA from Honda, but saw David Silver Spares listed an aftermarket one for a very reasonable price. I’ve heard some bad things about some of the aftermarket switches, but threw the dice and so far so good. It was an exact match for the OEM one except it isn’t quite so crumbly. And the 3 ohm Dyna coils haven’t slagged it either. It does another thing the original hasn’t done for a few years – it clicks when you turn the key.
There were oil changes at 146,000 and 149,000 miles, along with the usual 3000 mile tappet clearance check. No change at 146, but at 149 the intakes on 1 and 4 would pass a .0015 feeler, but not a .002. First adjustment I’ve made there in a while. I finally took the wrecking yard clutch cable off and put the new one on somewhere in there.
At just over 146,000 miles I replaced the needle jet sets as fuel mileage was dropping (low to mid 30s at the lowest), no choke was required for start up, plugs were sooty, and it stank. This is the third time I’ve done this. The needles were very visibly worn. Unfortunately, these sets are NLA from Honda, but I was able obtain 8 sets. So I have 4 in reserve for some day down the road. The previous times I did this, fuel mileage would jump back up into the mid 40s, and throttle response would be crisp. But this time it went only up to 39-40 mpg typically. It still smelled rich, and ate gas when I was fighting headwinds coming back from Bonneville Salt Flats with Pimpzilla after meeting Old Scrambler and his crew. I had always installed the clip in the stock middle position before and had good results. But in January I decided to drop the needles one notch to see what would happen. Fuel mileage is now back to 45-46 on the commute and on our ride two-up last weekend. It really needs the choke now to start, is a little cold blooded like I remember it being. Runs perfectly when warmed up.
During our ride last weekend, I was impressed how effortlessly it still spins along at 65-75 two-up, when by all rights it should be feeling very tired by now. I see I talked about some oil consumption during the 145K report. I had the same thing happen on the ride to Bonneville and back where it used a little oil. It was the same way, hot air temps and headwinds. But since then on the daily commute, oil consumption is very little.
I see also in that 145K report, I talked about doing a top end at 150K. Well, we are there now and it would seem pointless to do it.
theres plenty out there with a lot more miles on them just what can they do? 
mick.
So Mick, in the case of this particular bike, I don’t yet have an answer to your nearly 10 year old question and I am happier than a pig in slop about it.
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