Another New Member - Eternally Grateful!

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:35 pm

Hello from the rainy Pacific Northwest!

The name's Ken, and I am very appreciative of all the great tips and wisdom that I've already gleaned from this forum. You guys make owning a CB Custom more enjoyable than what they already are.

As for my background, my first bike was a 1969 Honda CB90 which I bought around 1975 or so. It was completely trashed but taught me a lot about fiddling with motorcycles. Next came a 1972 Honda SL125 - underpowered with poor suspension. Rode it through high school then gave it away for about $100 after I got married. Wife never let me ride again until last December when I picked up a 1982 CB750C that a guy up in Washington had sitting in his garage for the last ten years. Been fixing it up over the winter. Love the old CB fours.

My latest acquisition is another CB Custom, this one a 1982 CB900C. Bought it last week from this guy who had the top end rebuilt since the cam tensioner disintegrated. According to his invoice he was charged ~$1,100 to rebuilt it. Seems like a lot since one of the charges was 16 shims at 5 bucks apiece. Shim swapping is just one of the many things I've already learned by reading this forum. Anyway, whoever did the work never bothered to adjust the new tensioners. When I did a test drive the first thing noticeable was a very noisy head. Again with some help from quite a few posts here I was able to adjust the tensioners, check valve clearances, swap out a couple of shims (.005), replace a shorted rotor & R/R, and do a carb sync. All that's left is the fork seals, new brake shoes and some more elbow grease shining it up and she's gonna be a sweet ride. I really like the two speed secondary for the highway cruising - so much smoother than the 750.

Sorry to ramble, but I thought with a little history you can understand how much I again appreciate this forum. Hopefully I can pay back a little in the future with what has been learned.

-Solderwick-

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:55 pm

Ouch, $80 for all new shims? I hope he got the old ones back. Actually $5 ea. isn't a bad price for new shims.

Welcome Solderwick... lol, funny handle.

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:58 pm

Always good to know we're not just pissing into the wind!

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 11:02 pm

Welcomme to DOHC Customs.

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 11:05 pm

Nope, he didn't get the old shims or credit for them. Strange thing is the owner was raving what a great reputation this shop has. Now that I told him about the tensioner adjustment he is singing a different tune.

-Solderwick-

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 5:59 am

Glad to have ya! Now that the bike is ready, let's play! band

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 6:08 am

Welcome Solder! Nice story. Feel bad for your buddy but good for you.

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 9:04 am

Welcome to the site Ken ... Smile

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 11:43 am

Welcome, Ken. Looks like the DOHC bug has gotten to you! Got pics?

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 4:43 pm

Yeah once I finger out how to post them I gots plenty of pictures.

Thanks,

-Solderwick-

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 5:23 pm

OH say ken you see

by your screens eerie light

Go to photobucket

copy and paste this line 'IMG code 'into the post/reply

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 8:11 pm

OK, let's give it a try:

The first one is of my 750 when I first got it. Pretty raw but not too bad for sitting around for 10 years:

This second one is of my grandson very happy that I bought a motorcycle for him!

Now after 6 months of work and untold amount of money, here it is ready to be sold:

Lastly is the first picture of my latest purchase, 1982 CB900C. The picture doesn't do it justice - looks far worse than this picture shows:

I'll update the 900 when the sun comes out. It's looking pretty good but has a long way to go still.

Thanks,

-Solderwick-

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 8:32 pm

glad to see another new guy here... love the bike

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 8:34 pm

Nice colors. But you look too small to ride that bike.

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 8:16 am

Good job on that bike , Ken .

Now , if you would just re size all your pics to 640 x 480 that would be great . Thanks . Smile

That can be done on photobucket using the edit feature . You can also choose to have you pics automatically re sized when uploading to photobucket .

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 8:46 am

Is that better Boss?

I'm a learning ...

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 8:54 am

Actually, yes, that is very appreciated, thanks Ken. Wink

You too Pete, good job. Wink

We like a happy forum Very Happy

BTW, we still have members here that are on dial-up and have lower rez monitors. Thanks for indulging us everybody.

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 9:49 am

Just right Ken . 8)

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 11:17 pm

OK, here's a couple more pix of how the 900 is progressing. It's come a long way from how rough it was last week. Still have to change the fork seals and the choke cable. Other than that she is turning out to be one SWEET bike. Amazing how much smoother the shaft drive, air rear shocks and 2 speed makes it ride. I'm very happy with moving up. Thanks again to everyone here for helping me with the questions that may come up on any problems. Got to know the search function real well.

-Solderwick-

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 3:13 am

Good work! Wink

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 8:18 am

Nice . Clean . Smile

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 9:34 am

Made the home page already! thumbs up

Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 10:06 am

Wow, that's cool. Thank you for the honor.

-SW-

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:21 pm

Well, a couple of changes...

First, I sold the '82 750 over the weekend. The wife just wouldn't let me keep both (go figure).

Found out that the 900 is a 1981 model, not a 1982. No biggie since there wasn't too much of a change in '82, but I probably should have looked at the frame before to verify the year.

That being said, I went and painted the engine black. Took about nine hours of intense work but in my opinion it looks much better. Pictures to follow.

-SW-

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:16 am

With the backrest and the clear windshield she looks like a perfect example of our CB's - Commuter Bikes. Very nice, Ken!