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 14

I thought that some photos would be in order rather just all that plain old boring text, so here is a front caliper and it's pistons:  This is the caliper before I managed to get the slide off. the pistons show a before polishing started and part way through. Here are the pins that hold the pads into the calipers. again you can see the before and part polished (I hope you can tell which is which) I thought I would show a picture of the rear caliper in pieces: there are more bits for a single caliper than I realised. The rear is a single piston caliper. and one of the front calipers. the front calipers are twin pistons (as I hope you noticed) I dont think that I will be able to remove all of the corrosion from the caliper pistons, so it looks like I will be getting all new caliper pistons. I'll order them once everything has been cleaned thoroughly.
Post a Comment
Read more

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 15

So, the gas bottle has now arrived, so it's time to see if this heat business really does work for freeing up parts. of course, if I'm going to heat the caliper with a blow torch, then I dont really want to hold it in my hands, so I set up a vise on a bench, and clamp the caliper into it. now again I dont really want to pull the slide with my fingers so I need to put some pressure on it. to do that I attach a bungee to the slide and stretch it a little and attach the other end to the bench. now the slide is being pulled off by the bungee and the only thing stopping it is the corroded in rubber boot. time to apply the heat. I turn on the gas and ignite the flame. I adjust it so that it looks really hot (not really sure how to tell, so I'm guessing, but it looks and sounds hot). then I start to play the flame over the caliper where the rubber boot goes through. I try not to burn the boot itself, but if it melts at least the slider should come out, and I can clean up an...
Post a Comment
Read more