Monthly Archives: September 2019

Doing some electrical on a K5 CB750 Honda Four in the Garage today

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
28 Sep

Well, Project Wire harness is the goal this weekend, I have a customer and friends, 1975 CB750K model Honda four in the Garage and it apparently wafted out a bunch of smoke under the seat, so it was bought here on the back of a truck and here it is at my place where I need to take a look at whats going on with this old 500 pounder.

I need to see what has happened the the wire harness and switches as these do look like they have been on there since it was created in late 1974. Just a few vids I did today with my phone, sorry for the quality.

Below, just look at how dry rotted the connectors are for the wiring, this old bugger has got to be all taken out and replaced im afraid and new switches as well.

 

Bit more video

I wanted to try and at least record what was going on today and I went on facebook and did a few video’s etc, may not be very clear but you get the idea I think?

My other bike, the Triumph Scrambler

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
24 Sep

I have always been into dirt bikes as I call them, from when i was a teenager and before I guess, My brother and I used to drool over the pages of MotorCycle News or Dirt bike magazine, we came from a humble home where there was never any extra money, so we made the best with what we could find, and even though we found old buckets of snot, we would get them running and keep up with the rich kids on their machines.

I used to love my T100 Daytona in North London, that thing was faster than a 750 and I rode the snot out of that bike.

I will always have some sort of two wheeled motorcycle, no matter what age I am lucky enough to live too and today i cleaned up my triumph Scrambler, this 2016 900 air cooled Triumph is my daily and, I use it every day with no issues, I make sure that it always had Gas, check the tire pressures and make sure I have enough oil in this puppy and she fires up every time with no worries.

 

I love ALL motorcycles, be it Cafe Racer, Brat bike, Custom, Drag, MotoX, Speedway, Flat track or even trials, I love all them styles and if I was a rich guy, I would have every bike I always wanted to own, from Steve McQueen’s Triumph, to Barry Sheene’s Heron Suzuki trans Atlantic machine, but I’m not rich and can always dream.

But- I always have fun on what ever machine that I am riding and hope that some of you share the same smile that I get when I sling my leg over a Motorcycle.

Jennifer and I have a Triumph each, she has a T100 Bonneville and we go and explore places like the Grand Canyon, or the Sedona mountains to the petrified Forrest of Arizona, always time to check out the great sights that the USA has for us and there are so many places for us to go visit, we would need 5 lifetimes, but- its fun trying.

Have fun with your machine as much as you can, there is always somewhere to ride, even in the rain and wind.

Jennifer and I love riding together, her Bonneville is as fast as mine, she also experienced crazy 70 mph cross winds for the first time but Boy! What an adventure we had.

 

 

Motorcycle ‘s built in your garage are still as popular as ever

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
15 Sep

Well, time seems to fly as of late, been doing a few things and it has been hard to try and blog anything these days, the clock just seems to tick away so many times faster than before, but I thought I might at least start one today and tell you about the old Super Sport I am putting together.

I have had some Hard Bags in my storage for some time, I last fitted some to Jennifer’s Triumph some 5 years ago and they are still holding up well, and as I had this old 500 pounder to play with, I thought I would use these bags and make a Little Dispatch style bike that I had back in the UK as I was a Motorcycle Messenger. Sure i love the cafe bikes, been parts of my life for so long, but- when you need to take a bunch of stuff with you on a journey, what do you do?

So I am making up some brackets to fit to the bike so that I can tale stuff with me, ie to the chrome shop, or powder coaters etc and these bags will undo with a coupe of bolts and the bike is naked again.  love it or hate it, these are part of my life back in the UK and though that I would build a bike that I can blap around on and make it look a little different to the many I see out there these days.

I think that once the Bodywork is all one cohesive color, then these bags may not even be noticed to be honest and am excited to do something that I used to when I lived in Great Britain, you dont see many bikes like this with bags on but its common place if you were a courier and I am going to give it a go, still a long way to go as yet but it is taking shape. So follow me on this little build and we shall see where it takes me.

I grew up with these bikes and even with bags on, you would belt around London, Birmingham or where ever, to get where you needed as fast as possible, it was such a fun yet dangerous job back then and loved every minute of it.

PHOTO BY DAVE GURMAN-https://www.wemoto.com/news/article/1100/motorcycle_couriers_then_and_now