Passes & Canyons Blog

The last time I’ve ridden my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom was early October when I took it to the shop for repair of the electrical problem that has plagued me all summer. It’s still sitting there.

Joel, who runs Mountain Thunder Motorsports, my shop, tells me the issue is a burned out rotor, which is on order. It’s been on order for six weeks now.

That’s a problem those of us who ride older machines run into with some regularity. It’s hard–or damn near impossible–to get parts sometimes. In this case, getting a new rotor is dependent on Honda doing a manufacturing run of this particular part. Presumably they wait until demand builds up and it makes sense economically for them to do it. Meanwhile my bike sits and waits.

The issue for me, however, is that if it’s another month before they do a run it will be sometime in December before I have my bike back. And that would mean not riding the bike even once in November. Anyone who knows me knows that is totally unacceptable.

I’ve been riding this bike for more than 20 years, and when I bought it I made myself a promise that I would ride it at least once a month every single calendar month. It got pretty iffy a couple times but in all these years I have kept this string going. But now it is threatened.

So I did the only thing I could do. I told Joel it is extremely important to me that I have the bike back before the end of November and if that means replacing the rotor with a used part rather than a new one, then so be it. He said OK, he would do that, and he promised I’d have the bike back before the end of the month.

Obviously I’m hoping this doesn’t turn out to be an expensive move. Obviously, a used rotor has more of a chance of dying soon than a new one does. Will I be right back in for another one all too quickly? I sure hope not. And it may be silly, so you can call me sentimental or whatever, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take to keep my every-month string going.

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Biker Quote for Today

I don’t know, it’s kinda weird, but the constant chest pains seem to go away when I let the clutch out on my bike.

I’ve written previously about mechanical difficulties I’ve had with my 30-year-old Honda CB750 Custom. Well, it’s happened again and this time I have no one to blame but myself.

As an aside, there is no better time than now to rave about the free roadside assistance you get if you join the American Motorcyclist Association. I’ve been towed three times now this summer and it didn’t cost me a penny. Just a lot of time waiting for the tow truck.

So I’ve known I have an electrical problem, and by testing I’ve been able to determine that the battery is fine. That means the charging system has an issue. But I wasn’t willing to let it go at that and just take the bike over to my mechanic. I’m on a pretty tight budget these days and if I’m going to pay for a new stator I wanted to be sure I really needed it.

My way of confirming that the issue truly is in the charging was to ride the bike. With the battery fully charged it fires up and runs great. With no charge reaching the battery, the lights and spark plugs gradually drain the battery until the bike stops dead. This time, however, I packed up my battery charger and an extension cord, figuring that if it died somewhere I’d have my confirmation and then I could find someone who would let me plug in for a few minutes.

Gosh my plan worked well. I was on my way to the gym and it died about 10 blocks away. This wasn’t quite what I had hoped because I knew of an exterior outlet at the gym and I figured I’d limp in and then give it a charge while I worked out. But no problem, I’d get a charge from someone here that would get me to the gym and proceed as planned.

Long story short, I did find a Burger King close at hand where the manager agreed to let me plug in for 20 minutes. Oh, did I mention that I have a trickle charger? Twenty minutes with a trickle charger doesn’t do much. I sat there at Burger King for 2 hours until I could finally start the bike and ride to the gym.

At the gym I plugged in as planned and went about my business. When I came back I turned the key and pushed the starter button and got . . . nothing. It turns out that outside plug does not have power going to it, and apparently if you hook a battery up to a charge unit and there is no power flowing into the battery it drains the battery instead.

So it was time to call for a tow. And of course they never get there in less than an hour. All in all, it was not the best use of my time, especially considering that I’m now going to need to take the bike in and pay the repair bill just the same.

But oh boy, I’ll know that I really need to spend that money.

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Biker Quote for Today

If it’s supposed to move and it don’t–WD-40. If it ain’t supposed to move and it does–Duct Tape.