Bike of the Month - April 2009
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I found the bike in Northern California. It still had the green California riding sticker attached to the fork. It had been used as a get-around vehicle on a large farm in the wine country! I had it shipped to my home in Houston, Texas. The bike arrived - and a couple of weeks later (Nov. 17th) I started stripping it down, inspecting the frame for weld defects and other damage. There were no frame defects and no welds which needed repairing!
From there, I assessed what parts would need replacement, what parts I could repair or clean-up, and what parts were not the stock items.
Every bearing, bushing, seal, seal carrier and gasket has been changed out. 99% of the nuts, bolts and screws are new Honda items, or updated items.
From the steering head to the swing arm, all bearings have been replaced! The rear D.I.D. rim, spokes, rim strip and rim locks are brand new. The stock steel 49T sprocket was in amazingly good shape. The 14T countershaft sprocket was replaced with a new one!
All new lever perches, levers, lever covers and cables have been replaced. The throttle tube - I had to custom-make from a similar Honda throttle tube. The original factory grips were replaced with the exact duplicates from Honda.
All new fenders and side panels were installed. A new seat cover too! The air box was in good shape, but I installed a reinforcing ring where the carb boot goes through. A billet crankcase breather fitting was also installed. All new case screws were installed as well. Chain rollers are brand new. All cable guide inserts are new
The fork seals and fork dust seals, along with fresh fork oil were the next items to deal with. I chose red fork boots over the factory item black ones. The stock rear Showa shocks were replaced with Progressive shocks. The new chain is a Honda item too!
I had the stock expansion chamber re-worked a little, to get the major dings out; and a ProForm alloy silencer fills the void until a stock silencer becomes available!
That's it in a nutshell.
Robert Sabatini |
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