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 18

I have done a bit of reading on how to clean brake caliper pistons, and found an article that said you could use fine wet and dry to clean corrosion off them [ http://www.motorcyclenews.com/new-rider/choosing-kit/2006/november/jan26-05-how-to-service-brake-calipers/ ]. as it suggested using 1500 grit wet and dry, I decided to be cautious and start with 3000 grit. I cut the wet and dry into strips about an inch in width. I put some wd40 onto a strip and started polishing the rear piston. After quite a while I started to notice the difference. it was getting cleaner. well, it was working, but it was going to take a long time. well, I was patient and I really didn't want to rush it and ruin the pistons. Over the next couple of weeks, I polished all of the pistons using the 3000 grit wet and dry. As it seemed it was going to take the rest of my life using 3000 grit wet and dry, I decided to take a risk and bought some 2000 grit. yep I was really pushing my luck here. I cut the 20...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project Z750 part 3

I realised that this was going to be a little bit more involved than simply attaching a new battery and firing it up. I guessed that the alarm could be stopping the ignition circuit and that is when I found that the alarm remotes had non-replaceable batteries. I also read that if the alarm sits for extended periods with no power then it can be toast. So my next step was to remove the alarm. another Hmmmmm moment. I have never removed or fitted an alarm. I've never even looked into how they work and what they do, so this was quite a daunting task. I took the insulation off the cables that attach to the alarm. now we've all seen nice electrical systems with all of the different colour wires to make it easy to see what goes where, well this thatcham alarm had a very large bundle of cables and all of them were black. No help there. So I had a look at how they were wired into the bike's loom. there was a bundle of wires going to the rear, which I guessed were for the i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project Z750 part 10

So what can I do whilst I wait for the polish to arrive? I know I thought, why don't I loosen all of the bolts on things that i'm going to be removing? that way I know what's loose and what's seized. So round the right side of the bike I go, and loosen the fork head bolts, the front brake reservoir screws, oh here we go, the screws for the reservoir are gonnas. as soon as I tried turning the screwdriver, it turned and the screw didn't. scratch one screw head. okay, dremel out and cut a groove (without going into the surround too much). okay slot created. flat screwdriver inserted and turned. yep you guessed it, the head gave way again and I'm left to drill a small hole for my screw extractor (which I had never successfully used before, but finally my luck is beginning to hold). the screw extractor worked and the reservoir cap is finally free. Think that's it for this time. Not much but still moving forward.
Post a Comment
Read more