My bike…1974

[shinyribs]

Ugh,I hate turn signal issues. They're the worst IMO. I dont consider myself to be a stupid person,but the way they operate completely eludes me. Good luck with it bud.

[MarkPBG]

Popped on a new light duty (non load sensing) Signal Stat 552, and it all works perfectly again. :)
The old flasher was so old, the contacts were RUSTED. lol

[MarkPBG]

After a month of riding...3 trips of 5 or more hours, one 2 hour cruise and dozens of short (under 11 mile) trips, my battery is sitting at 11.84V. Not bad! I think I'll just need to throw it on the Battery Tender once a month to insure it stays good.
Still need to finish tracing and testing wires. I am individually testing every wire in the harness so I know I don't have any more shorts. Then I can stop disconnecting the battery overnight to feel safe from a short circuit induced fire. Won't be long now before I completely trust this bike. :)
On a side note, the engine seems to have a lot more metallic rubbing sounds than newer bike engines. I'm guessing it's due to all the internal chains and tensioners, right?
Still getting a TON of thumbs up when I ride, and crowds and questions when I stop....awesome! :)
I've got a photographer friend who is having a baby, and she needs some extra money to help out before she hangs up the camera temporarily in June. So I emailed her to hire her for a "lifestyle" shoot. Hoping to get some good pics of me, my bike, me and my bike, me riding my bike, and some vids of me riding. I'll use these to update all my social media sites. She's got a style that's kind of "vintage" inspired so I think it will turn out well.
I was riding today and stopped by Rybovich Marina in West Palm Beach, just South of my house. The late Steve Jobs and family has their new yacht docked there, and I snapped a pic....

Hope everyone else is riding!

[shinyribs]

Those lifestyle pics sound pretty cool. I'll be looking forward to those!

And yeah,they do seem to be pretty noisy engines. I think the primary chain setup may account for some of the noise,but the clutch rattle on the early bikes ( pre-75 or 76?) is quite noticeable. I had some clutch issues once and ended up removing the ''updates'' that Honda had issued to help with the clutch rattle. On initial start up I could tell a huge difference in clutch rattle! But I kinda dig it now. It just adds to the old & cool factor IMO.

[MarkPBG]

So the last 5 days I logged 622 miles on the bike. Not bad considering I'm not on vacation, and I'm not on some kind of road trip. This was all just around town cruising! (well, I visited Miami (2 hours away) and Ft. Lauderdale (1 hour 20 minutes away) and Delray Beach (45 minutes away) several times each. I guess the bike is running really well....I do have to glue those new grips on, the speed keeps dropping as I hold the handle, because the grip slips a bit on the throttle tube. Other than that.....

[TOOLS1]

Hair spray works great, for gluing the grips on.
TOOLS

[MarkPBG]

First picture is from the last stop on today's 260+ mile ride, in the parking lot of the Jupiter Lighthouse. Second is from the lunch stop....grilled salmon and spinach. Rode it to the reserve twice and used half of the third fill up. 2.8 gal, 2.7 gal, and 1.4 gal. How many of you use two and a half tanks of gas just cruising around for a day? (not full tanks, just filling up before it hits reserve and tries to die on you) Lots of fun today....

[shinyribs]

That's a huge piece of salmon! Looks amazing,as does the bike!!!! Looks like your getting upper 30's as far as mpg. Not too bad!It's great to see you out enjoying that thing.

[MarkPBG]

The filet was about the size of my hand, a fair size, maybe 8-10 ounces. I am most definitely enjoying the hell out the bike. Too bad I didn't get it running right until the start of both the rainy season, and hurricane season. Other times of the year I can ride 7 days a week. Now it's maybe one or two after work. Rains come in the afternoon mostly, so IF i had some days off other than Sunday, I could still ride most mornings too.
 I took note of many photo ops along the ride today, too rainy to bring the camera. I'm hoping to take a LOT of photos next time and put up a ride album. That or just order a HERO video camera and ride for a few weeks, then put up a half hour movie with music of all the cool places to ride around here. I'm really itching to do that, though what spare time I would use to do it, I have no idea, since I have none during daylight hours.

[MarkPBG]

I have been noticing that as I learn how this bike likes to shift, I've gotten to the point where upshifts are smooth, quiet, and "clunk" free. But downshifts, no matter what I try, are noisy. The trans "clunks" into each lower gear as I downshift. Is this normal with these bikes?

[shinyribs]

Mine does it,too. If I down shift at very low speeds the clunk pretty much goes away. And I mean VERY low speeds. Like,downshift from 5th to 4th at about 25 mph. Useless when riding(way out of the engines powerband),but it works when coming to a complete stop.

A blip of the throttle helps. Pull in the clutch,blip the throttle,downshift,release clutch. It helps since the engine speed raises to match the tranny speed. Just like how you'd downshift and old truck with a non-synchro tranny.

A loose chain will cause the shifting (up or down) to feel clunkier than normal,too. IMO

[MarkPBG]

My 5th to 4th downshift is relatively quiet if I down shift at 35 MPH. The other gears I guess I just need to figure out their ideal speed to down shift. I think I got the 4th to 3rd quietly at 20MPH, but the others, by the time I am going that slow anyway, I just go down through the other 2 gears as I'm actually stopping at the light....maybe 5MPH and into 1st as I stop. It's a very different beast than my old 6 speed 99 Katana 600, that's for sure. I'm also learning I need to brake like it's an old 4 wheel drum equipped muscle car...VERY long stopping distances compared to anything from the '80s, or with ABS. lol I've skidded to a stop 10 feet past the line on a few occasions before that sunk in. lol

[shinyribs]

Go dual disc. You'll never look back. Trust me. It's amazing with the right master cylinder. I stop with 1 finger now.

[MarkPBG]

I only need one finger to pull the lever now, but the bike just doesn't stop that well. LOL

[shinyribs]

lol    Well, you know what I mean.  I only need one finger to stop well!

[MarkPBG]

I can stop really well with one finger....honk at the car in front, flip them off with just one finger, they slam on the brakes, and I stop. :O LOL

[MarkPBG]

I have noticed when taking gradual sweeping turns and leaning the bike, the front feels a bit unstable, like you're going over bumpy road when it's smooth. I think it might be time to service the wheel bearings and/or the triple tree bearings....which if I do, will get the roller conversion. The tires are balanced and trued, we double checked. I think these are the only other two things that might cause what I'm experiencing here.

[shinyribs]

Definitely not a bad idea to check all those bearings if you haven't already. But you might look into springs also. Is your fork oil good,or due for a change? I know my bike rode really rough when I first got it on the road. Just thought it was typical ''old bike'' fare. I popped in a pair of progressive up front and the bumpiness you described went away. Phenomenal difference! Probably the best $80 you could spend. I still think Sarge silently to myself every time I smack into a pothole and my front end doesn't bottom out anymore. That man gives good advice!

[MarkPBG]

The front end is still all original as far as I know. There is definitely a front end service due soon. I have looked at the progressive springs, and I think they'll suit my riding.

[shinyribs]

I'm pretty sure they will. My original springs felt real jouncy in the curves. I was afraid progressive might feel too soft and wash out under hard cornering,but they're awesome. They really are the best of both worlds. Corner excellent and ride is plush. They'll glide over a groundhog at speed with remarkable ease! Highly recommended. Can't go wrong.