Service

SERVICE

Paul Dean

The honeymoon’s over

I have a 1980 Honda CB650 Custom that has a lot more miles on it than the 12,000 that show on the odometer. The speedometer broke back in 1981, when I was riding the bike every day to and from the White House and Capitol Hill. I did that for several years, and would also ride home to New Jersey every other weekend. Needless to say, this bike has racked up a lot of miles.

I recently bought my first Harley and have been using the Honda to teach women how to ride. Late last year, the old bike started leaking oil from the cylinder head, and the gas tank began leaking from the valve. Is making either of these repairs very difficult? Do you have to remove the engine to fix the cylinder head? I’m not a mechanic, but I like to mess around with mechanical stuff. I’m going through a divorce and I thought that doing these repairs might help keep my mind occupied.

Claudia Caicedo Voorhees, New Jersey

I’m genuinely impressed with your style of post-divorce therapy. It s good for your soul and gets your bike fixed in the bargain.

Repairing the leaky fuel-tank valve, which is called a petcock, is a simple

task: Drain the tank, then undo the tw o small Phillips screws from the petcock ’s cover plate. Once you remove the plate, the petcock lever, a spring and a round, funny-looking rubber gasket all will practically fall out of place into your hand. Thoroughly clean the interior of the valve housing, replace the gasket with a new one and reinstall the pieces.

Fixing the cylinder-head leak will prove a bit more complicated. You didn 't state the exact location or nature of the oil leak, so I can’t offer muc uidance for its repair. But I can tell y that removing the head does not re re the engine to be taken out of the , me, greatly simplifying that repair. I also suggest that before tearing into the cylinder head, you buy a workshop manual for your bike, either from Honda or Clymer.

Don’t get shorty

I have a 1983 Honda Shadow 500, and 1 would like to lower the back end about 2 inches by installing shorter shocks. My question is, will this cause any problems with the shaft drive?

Don Seeley

Northfreedom, Wisconsin

The driveshaft and its universal joint won 't mind in the least, but your body probably isn’t going to like the idea one bit. A stock Shadow 500 has just under 4 inches of rear-wheel travel to work with; lowering the back of the bike 2 inches will necessitate cutting the rear travel down to less than 2 inches. So, unless all of the roads up there in Northfreedom are as smooth as glass, the modified rear suspension will quickly hammer your butt into submission. Not only that, lowering just the rear will crank another couple of degrees into the effective steeringhead angle, adding some weirdness to the steering behavior If you can live with those kinds of performance compromises, proceed with your modification. But if you can 't, don V.

Gimme a brake

1 have a 1988 Suzuki GSX-R1 100 that I wish had an adjuster for frontbrake lever travel, but it doesn't. The brake pads are new, but 1 still have to pull the lever in so far that it almost touches the handgrip, making one-finger braking nearly impossible. I would appreciate any suggestions for an inexpensive correction. Ted Jennings

Portland, Maine

Earlier GSX-Rs, both 1100s and 750s, were infamous for spongy front brakes that didn 't engage until rather late in the lever travel. This condition is caused mostly bv the master cylinder, which has a high leverage ratio that gives the brake a light pull; as a result, however, a lot of lever movement is required before any braking force is felt. The easiest solution is to replace the stock master cylinder with one from a later-model GSX-R, either a '90-to’95 750 or a '91 -to'96 1100. Those have a larger piston bore that yields a slightly lower leverage ratio, thereby requiring a tad more lever pressure, but they require less lever movement to activate the brakes.

You also should install steel-braided brake lines. The stock rubber hoses swell slightly during hard braking, causing a spongy feel, whereas lines with steel casings do not swell at all under high line pressures.

The VFR’s last dance

After reading the March, 1996, edition of Cycle World, I can’t help but respond to the “dancing” VFR750 Service letter from Frank Zappetini, Jr. This steering-head shaking problem can be cured permanently, and you don't have to use a steering damper or stay with OEM tires or, worse yet, put up with the problem, which will only get worse. The problem lies in the steering bearings, which are of the plastic-caged ball variety. The races on these bearings get pitted after very little use; mine crapped out at just 4000 miles. There is available an aftermarket tapcred-roller-bearing kit, including seals, part number SFH903R, that replaces the OEM bearings. When torqued from between 2 to 4 footpounds-and used in conjunction with properly sized and balanced tires-the bearings completely eliminate the shaking problem. There is also a kit available for the Honda STI 100. I defy anyone to get head-shake on my ’93 VFR, and believe me, it has been shake-tested.

A good Honda dealer should be able to help VFR/ST1100 riders with this problem. But anyone who has no such luck can get more information and technical assistance by calling Cycles Unlimited at 918/825-3326 between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CST.

Bill Willyard Pryor, Oklahoma

Thank you very much, Bill. I 'm sure that all affected VFR owners-including Mr. Zappetini and myself-appreciate vour assistance.