Rebuilding Oldguy's 900

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:41 pm

Well mounting the Bates bags to the Honda rack has been quite fun. Mad

This hump in the side of the bag has added an extra bit of challenge but I finally won.

I need to make some covers for the hole in the bags. That is where the Bates
turn signals were supposed to go but they are ugly and would hit the Honda signals.

These are the mounts and spacers that I made to hold the bags on the rack.

Turned out pretty decent IMO and they are sturdy.

I was thinking about having a set of the tail decals made up a little larger (and the correct yr of course)
and dressing up the bags a little? What do you think Jerry??

The license plate chrome ring was looking a little shabby so I got it a new one.

All four cylinders are running the same. This is good.

I learned my lesson on the bike from Texas. The Iridium spark plugs help these bikes. I don't like
the $56.00 price tag on them but they do make the bike run crisper which will equal better fuel mileage.

Thats all for today. Peace, Jim

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 4:44 am

I continue to be amazed by Jim's ability and attention to detail! I've been away from riding for a couple of months with a complete knee replacement, but am looking forward to getting back on the CB.

At this point, I trust Jim so much that I simply say "Yes" to whatever he suggests - and feel confident that it will be the right choice.

Keep on keepin' on,

OldGuy (Jerry)

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 12:50 pm

OldGuy wrote:

I continue to be amazed by Jim's ability and attention to detail! I've been away from riding for a couple of months with a complete knee replacement, but am looking forward to getting back on the CB.

At this point, I trust Jim so much that I simply say "Yes" to whatever he suggests - and feel confident that it will be the right choice.

Keep on keepin' on,

OldGuy (Jerry)

You and your 900 are in great hands! There are a whole lot of bike mechanics out there, but not many with the skill set and character to instill such blind trust. You found one!

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 8:41 pm

F-crazy wrote:

OldGuy wrote:

I continue to be amazed by Jim's ability and attention to detail! I've been away from riding for a couple of months with a complete knee replacement, but am looking forward to getting back on the CB.

At this point, I trust Jim so much that I simply say "Yes" to whatever he suggests - and feel confident that it will be the right choice.

Keep on keepin' on,

OldGuy (Jerry)

You and your 900 are in great hands! There are a whole lot of bike mechanics out there, but not many with the skill set and character to instill such blind trust. You found one!

Thank you for the TRUST and kind words!
Some day I might even know what I'm doing. Shocked

Happy fathers day.
I'm moving my home all weekend and moving the shop within a week or two as I finish some jobs. This one will be out early this week and then I have to shut this place down and become a carpenter/plumber/electrician/sheetrocker/painter. We will be renting out the place and lots needs to be finished.

Peace, Jim

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 2:19 am

This baby is nearly done. It just needs a couple new bolts and the top cluster bezel painted again and it's ready for Jerry's summer fun.

I wish it were mine.

This was the 1st and last job done in this shop.

Peace, Jim

These are the cover's that I made for the Bates turn signal holes. They are on there way to be painted.

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:20 am

Jerrys bike is done and he road it home today.

Here is the finished product.

These are the painted cover plates.

Here is all sides of the bike just in case someone were curious if they wanted
bags on their bike. Nicest bagger I have seen but I don't see many F's with bags anymore.

Jerry also thinks the bags need dressing up, so I will have some decals made up in a slightly
larger version.

Until next time, Jim

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:06 am

Wow! I went for a short (sixty mile) ride today. The improvements that Jim made are definitely worthwhile. He put on a larger front sprocket, so the bike turns about 4k rpm at 55 - that's considerably slower than it was turning before, and there isn't that feeling that you really need to have one more gear on top. And he advanced the timing, and there is no hesitation when you apply the throttle. It does take more cranking amps to reliably turn over and start, but that's a small price to pay for the performance improvement.

Oh, and it's still beautiful. I only made one stop, and was approached by someone commenting on how nice the bike was.

Nicely done, Jim!!

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 2:12 am

There is no better testament to Jim's work than a happy customer.
Phil

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2026 6:21 pm

Where it all started. Oldguy put something like 18000 miles on the bike before his legs got to where he couldn't hold the bike up comfortably. He also moved to a different place and had no garage to store the bike in. So, since I did a noob job on all of the bolts and polished them. It needs all and I mean all of the bolts replaced or replated. Jerry gave me the bike and at some point I will tear it down and do the bolts right this time. Live and learn. When I do get it done, it will be sold and I will split the money with him. This bike taught me that I am not the right guy to do restores to OEM specs. That kind of rebuild is much more labor intense than the race bikes I prefer. I mainly just build engines now.

I needed to see something in this thread so I thought I'd comment and bring it back up for some new forum members to check out. They may see something in the thread that helps them with their bike.

Anyway, found what I needed so back to work. Peace, Jjam