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I love your confidence Lorne. I cracked on with removing the final drive case. The manual helpfully just says to open the drive boot (at the motor end) to access a circlip that holds the prop shaft to the output shaft and slide that back...and that circlip will not release at all. I may need circlip pliers that expand a bit more than the ones that I have, or figure out some other way to spread the circlip and get it off the output shaft groove. Unfortunately it sits inside the final drive end with just a small cutout for access as you fight with the rubber boot. Suggestions to the usual address please! I am wondering if (in following the general themes of corrosion) the drive splines are actually a bit rusted together and the circlip isnt the only problem. So have given the area a good dose of penetrating oil. On the other hand, the drive shaft was able to be removed from the bevel case with a little wedge encouragement so that FD is completely off; loads of oil drained as this was removed from the shaft tunnel/seal area (which should be dry), so there's my smoking gun at least. I will keep persisting with the little bastard circlip as I think I need to be able to push the drive shaft end back into the spline on the bevel case with a bit of encouragement, if not I will need to wedge the shaft to stop it sliding forwards when I remount the FD.

Hello everyone. Back in June, I put a Kenda behind a half-used Bridgestone. Cornering grip and transitions very good. A couple of times I skated a pebble mid-corner, and the tire hooked up instantly. Even as I approached the wears bars, performance stayed consistent. I slow way down in the wet. I got 4000 miles, and it is done. Dennis Kirk had the KM1 set for $180 delivered, which I am mounting today. I ran 42/42 this summer. I had some feathering like in @DannoXYZ 's pic. I plan to tweak pressure to see if I can smooth it out. Did you ever run KM1's at the track? How did it go? Thx.

Some of it depends on your lid. Some like to be behind a screen some don't.

Bit of an update: Confirmed on a ride yesterday that my bike defo does not benefit having a lower screen vent to allow air under the screen. Violent turbulent air hammering my lid, started around 90ish & got progressively worse with speed, now more tolerable, it's far from perfect, but by stuffing a microfibre cloth in the vent, it moved lower edge of turbulent wind upwards several inches to upper lid area, feels much like any other screened bike at this speed, had a few blasts up to 130ish, which was impossible with vent open, it's now tolerable, still hate this feckin screen, its gotta go as soon as I can find an MRA that's not silly money. Dunno wtf Honda were thinking back in the day, , never had this issue on any bike, so folks, get stuffing if you're having turbulence problems.

As I know the electric is sorted, it's time to think of rest of the bike. Like the tail. It's a bit of dilemma through. I'm building this more towards a Scrambler than a Cafe racer that it was as I bought it. Reason actually I like to have a motorcycle I like to ride longer distance than to local cafe in city (not the one I usually visit as post pictures from) whit some comfort. In a way I like the seat that came whit the bike separate that I fitted. It would look great when colored same color as tank (thro will not be silver or gray), and even has vision for mounting the small round taillight into it, as think it would look cool. The only back side is the seat is nothing you want to sit on longer than 5 minutes..... I actually bought a other seat for 20€, new from one that could not get is sitting good on its cafe build, perhaps better for a Scrambler?, that also feels more comfortable. It need heavy modifications for the frame tail section through. But I think I'm leaning towards the later. So I started whit some tails for the seat, need to get them welded together, the aluminum profile is there for support so I get all located right. For the rear section I ordered a loop. Found 4 new turn signals on local marketplace for 20€ Then also bought from local marketplace a Yamaha XSR 700 rear fender whit tail light as extender whit turn signals (that I don't need) I don't know if I will use more than the main fender as taillight, but for 30€ think it was ok Talking of price for parts. There are 3 OEM parts I need for my Zephyr, a neutral switch, a plug where the Koso engine temp sensor is and a tiny bracket on carbs that hold the chock cable. You would believe the neutral switch would be the most costly but nope I think I will make a bracket myself..... Yesterday, even end of October it was surprising warm for time of year, so of for a spin even road's wet from the night's rain, and to where, sure the favorite Cafe along the nice curvy road. Hopefully more rides this year still!

this one is fighting you tooth & nail, Terry. But I suspect you'll prevail.

Or did I find the oil leak? Earl has been sitting quietly in the Mancave with the FD draining into a bucket, but there was also some fluid leakage on the floor, which had come from the joint between the bevel casing and the swing arm. There is of course another big oil seal in there (see handy photo), unfortunately this one will need more serious surgery as the shaft must be disconnected at the motor end and the bevel casing unbolted. Not completely new territory as I did something similar to my ST1100, but I hadn't expected to be solving a shaft oil leak on this one. The FD case shows witness marks on the retaining nuts and some pry marks too, so someone has been here before, probably from one of Earl's earlier crashes. Ho hum, more parts to order...

My leak came back so I pulled the rear hub down again and found the main oil seal on the wheel hub was slightly torn, at 12 o'clock so the area least likely to be oily during long term storage. Possibly just a result of sitting outdoors in salty air, then being moved? Anyway the seal was easy to pry out once the circlip was removed, no other FD disassembly was required. Hopefully a new seal puts this one to bed.

Looking at dealer parts screen, no tank vent is shown, so based on this, it'll likely vent thru the filler cap like all other carb'd Honda's. A quick way to confirm if tank vent's blocked is use a spare key, have filler cap unlocked, if bike runs ok, tank vent's defo blocked. If you've no spare key, cap can be unlocked & key removed by compressing the seal section upwards while turning key into the locked position, cap is effectively locked but still open. Other issues could be the cause of bike cutting out, but the above check will confirm if you have a venting issue or not. 👍

Do you have an update on this? I've had these issues. Never had a pulse generator fail in 300,000 miles. It has always been fuel pump that gives up.

I found my oil leak; the big seal around the wheel hub had a torn lip, no idea how or why but at least I know what to fix. The old seal came out easily without any more disassembly than removing the muffler, wheel, calliper and the brake hub then popping the circlip out and prising the old seal up. Parts ordered from Webike so should see these in 7-10 days time. I will spend a bit of time polishing corrosion off the wheel hub, not sure if it is the sealing area but better safe than sorry.

So...300km later, we had a great ride down to Raglan and back on my favourite back road. Earl performed famously well, and the restored rear ride height was apparent from the off with much better low-speed manners. I had a bit of a fiddle with the front rebound adjusters and ended up back at the stock setting (1.5 turns out) and didn't mess with the rear at all. The road I took is a great tester of suspension and cornering confidence, and while I think the front end could be better on the bumpy bits, none of it was bad and we had a fairly swift run, including a few brake work-outs (they're great!). Unfortunately Earl is still identifying as a chain-drive bike and throwing some oil onto the rear rim.

HF makes a lot of adequate and even good stuff. I picked up a three unit used black Craftsman set recently to hold this second set of tools. Probably leave one box on a bench or rolling table as it is frackin' tall with all three. It was cheap...but I still likely overpaid (<$400 for all three). I'll do a lot to steer clear of red things. I did get to disassemble and clean/wax it...then I cleaned my primary boxes as they hadn't been cleaned at all since the 80s and started to smell like it.

Mmmm, quite like the look of your screen, that little flip up section looks like it might be a potential winner, not seen that particular design before on a short screen, flip ups I've seen are way more taller, anythings gotta be better than this D/bubble brain batterer. VFR's the only bike I've owned with an internal bottom screen vent, does this actually do anything measurable? anybody ever tested what it actually does? no bottom vent on my Fazers MRA screen which is a smallish D/bubble of sorts, not even a hint of turbulance battering my lid, just wind & lots of it, tolerable at speeds well into 3 figures, Ooops sorry officer, on a closed private road, wink wink. Weather's been mostly shit here this week, pissed down for the last 2 days solid, forecast says fairly clear tmora but cold, like 11degrees C max, better get my windproof willy warmer on & break out the heated glubs. Sunday's fuckt, another monsoon comin ffs, so tmora looks like my only window to kill a few flies. I reckon it's worth a punt on cutting this screen down, nothing to lose, it's horrendous as is, see if it improves matters, never cut this thickness perspex before, I'm thinkin a thin cutting disc on angle grinder will work better than a jigsaw, I've got visions of a jigsaw blade grabbing & smashing the screen to smithereens, it'll be a put on till I can source an MRA, can't find any as yet at decent money, no interest in used, they'll likely be scratched up, sellers are asking silly money for new screens. Cheers for the input guys. 👍

Have an older made in USA Craftsman cabinet that was just stuffed to the gillz.... was looking for a reasonably priced storage solution to unload it some. Harbor Freight has some good choices and last summer was looking at this Yukon cabinet that was priced at roughly $350, Thats really good compared to Lowes sells it at $450... But then, there was a sale for $299... oh, yeah gotta do that... Very nice cabinet, drawers are on bearings..... one finger pull outs... Quite nice.... [/url Mine is refrigerator white.. light makes it weird.. There's black, blue, red, white...

Well, this thread may end up being costly! Love the old Craftsman tools, and the old Craftsman cabinets, always looking out for good ones. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/lets-hear-it-for-the-old-gray-red-sears-craftsman-tool-chests-and-cabinets-60s-70s.289206/

I've got the MRA screen with the turned up lip. On this bike with the handlebar, it worked best for me, 6'1". Better than the DB, the original or MRA's adjustable. On my '98 that had low clip-ons, the DB worked for me. Of all the screens I've tried, I think MRA had the best quality.

Thanks! I have my eye on that second link. I can't believe that they get "piece" credit for each Allen and bit driver. lol

Your not kidding there.. I am such a tool junkie.. If I am working on a bike, that gives me an excuse to buy more tools... ("Oh, if I had one of these, it would work better in this spot.") I'm a huge fan of YT - Torque Test Channel, along with Project Farm...... TTC turned me on to TEKTON tools..based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan https://www.tekton.com/ Recently have bought 3 rachets, a socket set, a ball end hex key set. and Torx set...All high quality pieces.... The rachets are jewels, 90 tooth gear, love this thing... https://www.tekton.com/3-8-inch-drive-x-8-inch-quick-release-ratchet-srh11108 Somewhat pricey, but my guess is shipping is embedded in the cost.. (its free shipping) and they give points credit for $ off on future purchases.. Some tools are USA made, but quite a few are Taiwan made... (I find generally that Taiwan made tools are better quality than China made.) They are my goto now for anything I might need... HUGE Fan and addicted.. Super nice quality tools.. . Another set of wrenches I should add are these extra long box end wrenches.... great for tight spots where a socket wrench wont fit, I use these quite a lot. They are awesome! https://www.carnagetools.com/collections/hand-tools/products/extra-long-double-ring-box-end-wrenches-metric I bought 2 or 3 at a time, but they do have sets.... https://www.carnagetools.com/products/extra-long-offset-box-end-wrench-set-metric?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=a8abdb4af&pr_rec_pid=5748294320290&pr_ref_pid=5748097450146&pr_seq=uniform Also excellent quality pieces... Yup, definately a tool junkie..

Some progress Oil light on right side separate wires to plugs, after connection figured out, the connection was not all like the connection diagram I found, through some was right. Then plugged in. What I found out the neutral light switch is foulty through VID_20251024_170118735.mp4 But the rest is working as should 🙂

When I got mine it came with 3 screens. I tried them all. I'm 6'1" of normal proportions, 33" inside leg. The stock Honda screen probably looks best but offers very little protection unless you are Japanese sized! 😂 The second screen was a taller Flip Up style touring screen that just created a huge amount of turbulence around my helmet when sat in normal upright position. So NO. The 3rd was a large Double Bubble no makers mark, but worked well when touring in Europe at higher speeds. It got a bit long in the tooth & got cracking in the screen & the mounting points which were breaking, its 20years old! So I replaced it last winter with an MRA double bubble, it's better looking than the old one, not quite as tall, but it works great. Try it & see if it suits your size. I prefer clean air around my helmet, not redirected off the screen etc. Makes for a quieter ride IMO. Hope that helps.

All the Craftsman stuff is made in Chi-nuh now likely in the same factory as many other "brands". Don't overlook the Icon stuff at HFT. I've got a few things that seem to be significantly better quality than the Pittsburg stuff. I have a lot of old Craftsman tools that go back to the '30s. Hard to beat if you can find 'em at estate/yard sales. Tools in general can be a deep rabbit hole to go down..... A couple things I have that make wrenching on the bikes easier is my Kobalt cordless screwdriver, and my Milwaukee 1/4" cordless ratchet.

I got these for my son when he moved from NC to CO. Was hard not to buy them at basically $100 each. Then got me the Kobalt set as spares for myself. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-KBLT-297PC-MECH-TOOL-SET-3-drive-set-SAE-MM/5015031681 https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-159PC-Mechanics-Tool-Set/5014463527 This one pops up also for the Craftsman box... https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-VERSASTACK-Mechanics-Tool-Set/5014463547 Past few weeks I hit some yard sales looking for home gym equipment and was also able to score tons of wrenches, sockets and such for cheap.