So, after working on him for several years, I finally got my brother to actually buy a bike. Last night he brought home a fairly decent looking '69 CB350. It has all the usual issues (dead battery, tires shot), but should clean up well.
Unfortunately (or fortunate, for me ), neither of us know much about these bikes beyond the basics. Anything he should be on the lookout for? Quirky carbs, hard to find parts, etc.? From what I've read they were solid, dependable bikes, but it'd be nice to get some broader opinions.
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1997 Valkyrie- Light Cutomization, but Too Busy Riding
1980 KZ1300- Bike's Haunted
1976 GL1000 (Yellow)- Behaving Itself Rather Nicely
1974 Velosolex 3800- Better Than Walking
1972 CB750- Learning The Joys of 4 Cable Carbs
1969 CT90- The Most Fun You Can Have on 90ccs.
1965 CA77 Dream- Needs a Full Teardown, but Complete
All advice I give is only valid until an expert corrects me.
I had a 73 F model. They are pretty easy to maintain. No real issues. Get a good manual of course. Popular enough to be able to get lots of parts yet.
1976 Goldwing Super Sport
1985 Honda Elite
1976 KZ900 Dragbike
1992 ZX7 Dragbike (KZ900 style motor w/NOS)
and a rotation of various purchases
Randakk approved Carb Rebuilder
I've had a few. Pretty easy to work on. Just be sure to do maintenance like the manual says to. There are a number of people who should know better that advise folks to adjust the valves and cam chain while running, which is a bit crazy. Be sure to clean out the centripetal oil filter under the round cover on the right hand engine case. If anything specific comes up, let us know.
Looks like a nice find for your brother. I had a 72, it was very dependable/reliable till the throttle cable broke, it wasn’t very old, the solder joint where the cable splits into two separate cables to the carbs pulled out, I just reached by the tank and manually used one carb to get home with. Everything else was bulletproof for many miles.
Thanks for the advice. He just sent me a video of it running, so it can't be too far bad. He's got a copy of the factory service coming as well, so that's sorted.
Just for fun I looked up how the carbs are put together, and I hope he doesn't have to mess with them. They seem set up a lot like the GL1000 carbs- CV, two main jets, press in with lots of o-rings, etc. At least he's only got two of them.
1997 Valkyrie- Light Cutomization, but Too Busy Riding
1980 KZ1300- Bike's Haunted
1976 GL1000 (Yellow)- Behaving Itself Rather Nicely
1974 Velosolex 3800- Better Than Walking
1972 CB750- Learning The Joys of 4 Cable Carbs
1969 CT90- The Most Fun You Can Have on 90ccs.
1965 CA77 Dream- Needs a Full Teardown, but Complete
All advice I give is only valid until an expert corrects me.
I sold my 68 just a bit ago. Great bikes, easy to do. Kinda small for 6 foot and 260.......
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82 GL1100 Interstate-Oldewing October 23 BOTM
06 GL1800 Road bike, as in Rode alot...
Sometimes I wrestle with my inner demons.........
Other times we just hug.......
Team 898
Team LTD 993
Team 76 R2B3
And always remember: beer has some food value--but food has NO beer value...
82 GL1100 Interstate-Oldewing October 23 BOTM
06 GL1800 Road bike, as in Rode alot...
Sometimes I wrestle with my inner demons.........
Other times we just hug.......
Team 898
Team LTD 993
Team 76 R2B3
And always remember: beer has some food value--but food has NO beer value...
I finally saw the bike in person this weekend. It's a smart little machine.
The Good:
-It appears all there.
-Chrome is pretty good, including the exhaust. A bit of rust on the bottom, but it'll clean up.
-Paint has a VERY nice patina, and will probably buff out nice.
-Slightly bent turn signals should pop back straight pretty easy.
-Carb slides move pretty easily.
The Bad:
-Runs like crap. The left side is hit or miss, and when I tried to give it throttle on the street it fell flat on its face.
-Almost no front brake, even after adjusting the cable.
-The engine cover screws were replaced with Allen heads, so somebody's been in there.
-The battery isn't charging.
He's still waiting on a manual (plus has some other projects in line first), but once he's ready I'm going to take a trip and do a carb rebuild day. They look fairly similar to GL carbs, so I'm DEFINITELY waiting until he gets the manual. It definitely has potential to be a little gem.
1997 Valkyrie- Light Cutomization, but Too Busy Riding
1980 KZ1300- Bike's Haunted
1976 GL1000 (Yellow)- Behaving Itself Rather Nicely
1974 Velosolex 3800- Better Than Walking
1972 CB750- Learning The Joys of 4 Cable Carbs
1969 CT90- The Most Fun You Can Have on 90ccs.
1965 CA77 Dream- Needs a Full Teardown, but Complete
All advice I give is only valid until an expert corrects me.
In The Shed:
'81 gl1100I barn find aka "Josie, the farmer's daughter." (almost comatose build)
'77 gl1000, roller parts bike.
'82 gl1100I, 'Old Crusty' titled roller parts bike (free!)
'82 gl1100I, My first 'Wing, and an expensive lesson! New2U Bike? Read Me.
i had around 15 of them back in the day, guys were selling them cheap so they could get a CB 750 or Z1 900. back in '07 or '08 i was looking at a few CB 350's but decided that i didn't want to play with points and condensers plus i wanted a real oil filter. i ended up with an '85 CB 450 nighthawk
'75cb750, '79cb750 super K, '79cb750f,
'99 ST1100,'93gl1500se, '70 ct70H, '05sunL70
'06 ST1300a
... william
), neither of us know much about these bikes beyond the basics. Anything he should be on the lookout for? Quirky carbs, hard to find parts, etc.? From what I've read they were solid, dependable bikes, but it'd be nice to get some broader opinions.
