It’s getting to the point with the CB350 that I need something more than the centre stand to hold the bike up and off its wheels. I’ve been keeping an eye on the Motorcycle Jack sold by Canadian Tire for $129, but eventually gave up on it going on sale and just plunked down the cash.
Should make it a lot easier to work on the bike, although I do need to pick up some tie downs so the energetic midget does not knock the bike over while racing around the garage.
My efforts with respect to the ’72 CB350 have largely consisted of the regular liberal application of penetrating oil on all the fasteners I can access, agitating the vinegar filled gas tank and removing/cleaning/filing random parts as needed.
I did recently replace the broken shift lever, and was able to clean the linkage up a bit, reinstalling it for the time being as storage space is at a bit of a premium.
Now that the real weather is back I hope to clean the garage, make some more space and then make some meaningful progress with respect to this bike.
Went out to move the bikes around in the garage so neighbor can store his bike in our garage for the storm. Noticed when I turned the key on the CBR250R one notch too far that it didn’t produce that characteristic “whine”, and then clued in that the instrument cluster was dark.
Crap.
Multimeter in hand checked the battery and sure’nuff it was showing 5.6 volts – a little low to run the bike. Ok, one issue at a time. Hook the bike up to the battery tender and get it charged back up.
Battery measures 13v fully charged, so that suggests the problem is elsewhere. Will climb all over the bike in a few days based on advice from the helpful folks at the CBR250 forum, and will try to isolate the issue.
My Panasonic CF29 Toughbook is easily one of the most durable computers I have ever messed around with. Running a lightweight Linux distro it does a fantastic job of allowing me to deal with my email, surf the web and manipulate images. Nothing fancy, just rugged dependable and simple. In fact the only thing that has gone wrong with this computer since my brother gave it to me has been the occasional total failure of the power supply.
The power supply has failed again.
So as I wait for our lettercarrier to deliver a parcel containing the replacement power supply my online presence will be somewhat limited.
Piece by piece the bike is coming apart.
Yesterday was still fairly cold, but with the sun out I had no choice but to get the CBR out of the garage and take it for a zip around town for an hour or so.
Jilly snapped a photo of me grinning like an idiot when I got home, it’s kinda hard to tell with the helmet on.
Have now taken apart and re-assembled the interesting Right Hand Switch on the bike, and reinstalled the front brake switch. I’m still somewhat puzzled by the switch, but hey. It’s a 40 year old bike.
On to the next item.
I’ve now got a copy of the service manual, of the exploded diagrams and parts lists and the Clymer manual covering this model year. Should guide me along, and at least tell me where I went wrong.
No we’re just waiting on the warm weather.
Side covers taken off the bike and cleaned up. A few minor cracks that can be melted/epoxied from the inside without issue I expect.
Not bad for 41 year old plastic, eh?