Skip to main content

Adventures with a CB750

So, I've been riding the CB750 this week, just to iron out any issues and get a bit more confidence that it isn't going to explode whilst I'l riding down the road.

It's been doing fine. It's an old bike, and it doesn't go fast, anything over 70 and your pushing it, but it's a great bike to pootle around on. well, its great as long as you can overlook the odd engine playing up for half a minute or so once every ride. it's quite reliable in that once every ride to and from work, the engine will decide that it wants to test my resolve and starts acting as if I'm throttling off/on like a metronome.

anyway's on the way home today, it decided to keep me on my toes again. the engine had played up for a short bit early on, and I was just coming off the M4, down the slip road to a roundabout. the lights were red, so I was slowing down and went to change gear. funny, I thought, i don't usually miss the gear lever, so I tried again, nope still missed it.

I look down, and (I'm still doing 50 miles an hour at this point) I don't quite understand what I'm seeing. it doesn't look right, I can't see the gear lever.

As I can only look down in very short bursts, I slow down and stop in the traffic waiting for the light to turn red. I have a good look down.

OMG, where's my gear lever gone !!

So, I'm stopped in traffic, waiting for the lights to go green. I'm in top gear ! Luckily It's a bit of a slope. now I'm not far from home, and all of the different routes start to spin through my mind. I'm in top and will have to see if this little bike will get me going in top gear from a standstill, so I'm calculating which route i have to stop less on.

The lights go green, I give it a lot of revs, and slowly let the clutch out. we have movement. slow, but we're moving. Wow, its got some grunt. I limp around the roundabout and find a place to stop. having a look I realise that the circlip, holding the gear lever onto it's pivot has gone walkies and the gear lever is just hanging down. phew. I thought there might have been some damage, or that I'd lost the gear lever on the M4 somewhere.

I put the lever back on it's pivot get back on the bike. I realise that I can hold the gear lever on with my foot while I limp home. it make changing gear a test of nerves. will the lever come off while I position my foot to change gear?

I got home and have now ordered some circlips. I'll probably check the rest of the bike, and change any more I find.

Oh the joys of riding a 35 year old bike.

until next time.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Project Z750 part 16

The piston puller has arrived. it looks like a pair of pliers, but works opposite so that when you press the handles the "nose" of the pliers expands. the idea is that you put the nose into the piston, grip very hard and turn and pull the piston so that it comes out. the theory is great, but actually using one isn't. in use you are trying to grip as hard as you can, and at the same time trying to pull the piston out of the caliper (as well as maybe turning it if it's stuck like mine). it took a herculean effort to get one of the pistons out, I was gripping as if my life depended on it, trying to twist the piston and pull it out of the caliper. when it turned (a little) it gave me renewed hope of getting both pistons out, and eventually the piston was out, so just one more left. so now on to the fifth and final brake caliper piston. I put the piston puller tool into the caliper, gripped with all my might (no laughing please) and twisted. Well something mo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project Z750 part 12

Okay, I've been to halfords and bought a small bottle of brake fluid, so now I can get the pistons out of the front caliper, and start cleaning them up. first thing is to fill up the fluid resevoir and bleed the new fluid through. as the front has two calipers, bleeding the new fluid through is being a pan, so i had a brainwave! attach the front caliper to the rear system, as that is a lot less brake hose and no second caliper to make things harder. of course bleeding the brakes with the caliper off the bike is not something i would recommend. I had one hand holding the caliper still so that i could turn the spanner on the bleed nipple. my other hand was on the spanner to loosen and tighten the bleed nipple, which left my foot to press on the the brake pedal whilst trying to synchronise all three limbs. okay, this isn't working, so I've ordered a brake bleed helper (which will make the final refit easier) and i'll try again when that arrives. while I'm ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project Z750 part 24

With the the forks out, I can finally try to dismantle them and replace the seals and stanchions. So easy enough, just loosen the bottom bolt, then undo the top and take everything out. How hard can it be ? well, that's a question I really should learn never, ever to ask myself. I found an allen key that fit the fork bottom bolt. Then I clamped the fork on my workbench (using two pieces of wood so that the clamp didn't damage the fork leg). Okay, here goes. Allen key in bolt, breaker bar attached to allen key, and pull. of course, by now, you know what happened. Nothing, nada. Well that isn't strictly true. the entire workbench was moving as I tried to get this bolt undone, so something was happening. Just not what I wanted. I didn't try for too long as I didn't want to damage anything. This was a job for the professionals. I'll take the forks (and new stanchions and seals) to my regular bike shop, and get them to do the work.
Post a Comment
Read more