Passes & Canyons Blog

My CB750 parked out front of Colorado Moto Service, ready to head home.

I got my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom back from the shop Wednesday and it’s running great. But I’m totally baffled.

I took the bike over to Colorado Moto Service specifically to finally get work done to stop it from smoking like crazy whenever I fire it up. It’s been doing this for years and lately had gotten a lot worse. Spend the money and get it fixed!

Well, I took it in and they told me they were not seeing any smoke. How could that be possible? I had all kinds of theories: Maybe the guy would just fire it up and hop on and ride away, thus leaving all that smoke behind him and much more dispersed. I don’t know. But I was determined to start the cold bike myself and then have them watch while it warmed up and started producing blue clouds.

So I told Judy not to leave as soon as she dropped me off–she might be taking me right back home while the bike stayed there. And I didn’t tell them I was coming so they couldn’t “get it ready” for me by warming it up in advance.

The mechanic who worked on it was very nice and totally deferential: “You’ve had this bike a long time and you know it better than anybody . . . ” And I was determined to show him what he should have seen immediately.

I threw my leg over and laid my hand on the engine to make sure it was cold. It was. I set the bike upright, turned the key, pulled the choke, and pressed the starter button. It turned over nicely but didn’t catch and he realized he had the gas turned off. So, gas flow enabled, I pressed the starter again. It turned over and caught. I told him now to wait a moment because the engine had to warm up before it started burning oil out of the cylinders.

And we waited, and I revved it, and it ran nicely . . . and it never did start smoking. Never. I just have no idea what to make of it.

But that’s OK! If this issue somehow mysteriously solved itself now, finally, and I don’t have to pay $1,000 or whatever to have it fixed I’m fine with that. In the meantime, they synced the carburetors and the bike is now running like a champ. Plus, miraculously, while they had it, the ignition switch developed a problem (what better place for that to happen) and they diagnosed that and fixed it. Heaven forbid it had happened to me out on the road.

And I got out of there for less than $600, whereas I was sure I was going to be paying about a grand more by the time they finally found the problem I had taken it in for.

So now there’s just one more hurdle to pass. It’s parked in my garage now but the next time I take it out to ride will it smoke? If it does I have only one theory: they parked it on the side stand and I always put it on the center stand. Is it at all possible that that somehow makes the difference in oil getting somewhere it isn’t supposed to be? If that happens heck, I’ll just start parking it on the side stand. Problem solved.

I’m going to be very curious to see what happens.

Biker Quote for Today

I’d risk the fall just to know how it feels to fly.

All I want is to have my Honda running well and not smoking. Is that too much to ask?

All right, so I took the CB750 in to Colorado Moto Service to have them work on the problem with the oil seeping through the valves into the cylinders, leading to heavy smoking each time I start the bike up. Get this job done finally.

Well, I got a call from them to say they had checked the bike out and . . . there was no smoking when they fired it up. What?

They did say it was very low on oil–which kinda happens when you’re constantly burning it and you neglect to top it off frequently–and maybe that was why it was not seeping into the cylinders. As in, there was no oil there to leak through. Ken you are a bad owner. You are neglecting your motorcycle again. But who knows if that is the reason.

So they added oil and checked it out and said the carbs need to be synced, which I can easily accept, and there is an oil leak from one of the lower engine gaskets. Tell me about that. This bike has leaked from that gasket since the day I bought it. It used to be a lot worse. I would come home from a ride with oil on my pants where it had seeped out and the wind had blown it back onto my pant leg.

I said go ahead and work up an estimate of what these two fixes would cost. I’m very leery of having the gasket done because I know from experience that that can run into serious money.

And one more thing. There seems to be a switch problem. When they tried to shut the bike off it wouldn’t shut off. Again, what? I have never had that kind of issue. And I did have the ignition switch replaced some years ago. I need more info on this issue but if all it takes to get around the issue is to hit the kill switch I’m perfectly capable of hitting the kill switch. Heck, I’ve done it by accident some times.

So what the heck is the deal with it not smoking for them? I can’t count the number of times I’ve been standing there revving the engine to burn out that oil from the cylinders and pumping out huge clouds of blue smoke, hoping none of my neighbors were looking out their windows at me polluting the neighborhood air. I’m going to be very unhappy if I get it back after spending a bunch of money on other things and then it starts smoking again. It just doesn’t seem to make any sense.

Biker Quote for Today

It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels.

My Concours ready for me to pick up at Rowdy Rocket Garage.

I got the V-Strom back from the shop the day before the OFMC left on this year’s trip and then on the last day of that trip my Concours overheated going up to the tunnel in blazing hot weather. I managed to get it home finally but then I needed to get it into a shop. Some shop. Which shop? Ever since Joel got out of the business that’s a question I’ve been trying to resolve.

I had taken the V-Strom to Colorado Moto Service and they had done good, and for the most part timely, work on it. But their customer service needs some improvement and they are not close to home. It was a pretty obvious move to try again to get work done at Rowdy Rocket Garage, which is much closer to where I live. If once again the guy, Mark, couldn’t find time or space for me then I’d try CMS again.

So I called Rowdy and, as before, Mark told me to call again later. I did and this time, lo and behold, he said sure, bring it in tomorrow. Yahoo! That date was August 22. The bike had overheated on July 30 and it took me that long to get it at least semi-operational and then find a shop to get it in to. As I rode it over there that morning Nick and I were getting ready to take off on a three-day ride so we wanted to get it there as early as possible. That meant during commuter traffic–slow going, stop and start–and just as I expected, it started to overheat again. Fortunately we didn’t have far to go and I made it there.

Recognizing what a valuable resource Rowdy might prove to be, I didn’t want to risk annoying Mark by pressing him on getting the work done. But as time dragged on I did contact him now and then and very tactfully ask about the progress on the bike. These guys are super busy which means two things: One, it was definitely going to take some time, and two, they don’t need my business so don’t hack them off so they tell you to take your business elsewhere.

Long story short, I finally got the Kawi back on September 28. Almost five weeks. I didn’t care, it was done. One thing Mark noted in a text was that “It also has a tendency to be slow to lower the RPMs when releasing the throttle.” I came to understand that the instant I started it up to take it home. Mark had probably run it before I got there and so when I gave it total choke before starting it exploded to life and the revs went through the roof. I hastily shoved the choke lever all the way down. But still it raced a bit, only slowing down gradually. Hmmm.

I headed out and on the way home it was obvious there was an issue. Mark had said it had to involve the vacuum valves and that was a deeper internal issue that they had not had the time–or my prior authorization–to pursue. I was familiar with this sort of thing because I had had a similar issue about five years ago and Joel had replaced the vacuum slides on the carburetor. But it hadn’t been doing this before I took it in to Rowdy.

I spoke with Roy, my resident motorcycle mechanics guru, and he suggested that when the gas tank was lowered back into place that it was crimping the throttle cable. I figured that should be easy to check out. If I just lifted the tank an inch or so any crimping should be relieved but when I tried that, every time I lifted the tank the engine cut out. Roy also said if it had not been doing that before it was in the shop, go back there and insist that they fix it.

I did go back by the shop and spoke to Mark. He said he’s been doing this a long time and knows the proper routing of cables, plus, the throttle cable is encased in a rigid metal sheath that would not easily be crimped. No, he said, it has to do with the vacuum mechanism somewhere, and that’s a devilishly tricky problem to suss out. He said he currently had a Triumph in for which he was trying to find the leak but it was a slow process. Bring the bike back in and they would address the issue.

But are you super busy still? Do thinks slow down for you in the winter? Yes and no. When could you get it back in? Not any time in the next couple weeks. The same situation I had encountered before.

And that’s where the matter sits. Do I go through the rigamarole of calling every couple days until Mark has room to get me in? Do I just go ahead and take it CMS? Is there someone else I could turn to? Who? Where? Man, do I miss Joel.

Biker Quote for Today

F.E.A.R: Forget Everything And Ride.