What do I have to do to be able to see PICTURES? I keep getting an access denied sort of error.

 

I’m sure the moderators need to approve your membership, it’s to stop spammers, anyway welcome!

 

yep you have to have an activated membership.

 

Hi Grady, welcome to the forum.

I'm sure things will get sorted out for you soon.

 

Welcome.....

once they get you fully up on the site...check out this thread.

What do you have for a bike? Do you have a photo to share with the class?

 

Evidently all I had to do was post a thread asking what I had to do. I thought my account was 'active' or whatever and had emailed mods several times. After posting this I finally achieved Double Secret Activation evidently so now I can see all the pics! Unfortunately I'm kinda done rehabbing this bike, just have to do the brakes but had my first real ride last weekend.

I tend to be super verbose, I don't usually post unless I have something worthy.

I'll post a pic shortly.

 

Here's my bikes!

A little history/context. I've lived in the greater Cleveland area (West side) most of my life. I'm 48yo.

I grew up with minibikes etc. Rupp Roadster II baby! I think around 6th grade I had a Honda XR80 and my buddy had a YZ80. My more rural cousins (think city mouse country mouse) all had 125cc and would slaughter me when we went out there. But back then, there was quite a lot of woods in the suburbs that are now completely developed (westlake, strongsville).

I'm a very self-reliant person and very rarely pay other people to do work for me. Car stuff I gave up on a long time ago and only do the most basic stuff but no intelligent/skilled mechanic has ever touched any of my bikes, only me!

So back in the day my first street bike was a Yamaha XS650 twin. Had a couple 1980ish CB750 one of which was all decked out with the Vetter/Windjammer stuff. Then somehow managed to purchase a 1983 Yamaha Venture for somewhere around $2200. After a few years I sold it in my mid 20s for about what I paid for it and did NOT ride another 2-wheeled vehicle again for like 20 years. I'd always say, "it's one of the few things in life I quit while I was ahead." I knew if I ever even touched a motorcycle and ended up getting back into it... I tend to jump into things with both feet. I used to ride that Venture back and forth from Kent, Ohio to Lakewood to woo this chick I had fallen for, this is 1991 I'd guess. We're still married.

So about five years ago the dam has burst. I don't even remember what triggered it but I was gonna buy a freaking bike. I think I rode my buddy's retarded little scooter thing and the thoughts started flowing. Mostly trying to re-create my nostalgia for a full-on tourer CB750 so I can again ride with my lady. It turns out she's not a huge fan of this plan.

So I pay $1100 for a 1986 CB700sc, which was pretty much the pinnacle of the whole CB750 thing imho. I realize there is no way to turn that thing into a tourer and I'm barking up the wrong tree. I spend something like $1500 on it getting it whipped into shape, it was a freakin mess. So I sell it for $1800 and buy the 1999 Triumph Trophy 1200cc in the pic. A few thousand dollars later it's all set up, perfectly awesome 2-up sport tourer. We have a few places we can overnight from 1-2.5 hours to longer trips... She's still never ridden with me at all. I still totally love that bike and would lose too much money to sell it. So I have my 2-up tourer, and might as well have a second bike just for me.

I'm finding the 1200cc Trophy to be a bit much for a sort of newb like myself to get back into it. It's the detuned Daytona engine from that generation, instead of 147hp it's got 107hp and TORQUE. Oddly enough very similar numbers to a 1200cc 1983 Yamaha Venture. But at least 200 pounds lighter! I'm trying to be nothing but conservative/cautious/newb. I'm slowly buying good protective gear etc.

The suspension was a mess blah blah. I just couldn't get confident on it. I put a Hagon shock, RT emulators etc and it's farking sweet now. But meanwhile I buy the CB650SC for $1,000 that you see in the pic. It's clean and needs very little. I put Hagon shocks on it and it's supposed to be the training bike, including getting my wife to ride with me on something light/easy/fun. It really is about the perfect beginner bike for someone that has time on dirt bikes or whatever. The mid-1980s CB450 has to be the perfect beginner bike of all time.

My skills progressed VERY rapidly on the cb650, it worked out great. I've had a ton of fun on it.

Last winter I went to the motorcycle show hoping to see all the Triumphs. They didn't even show up. But I got to see all the Hondas. I'm always vicariously shopping for the new cbr500r for some of my buddies who really need to buy a motorcycle. I am utterly enchanted with the CBR650F. It's like perfect for me, getting more into a real sport bike but not full race. I drive home with a big smile on my face wondering how many years until the used ones get cheap enough I can afford one.

So then I do some research and realize the F4/F4i is the total sweet spot in the Honda bikes, and literally superior to the newer rehash cbr650f. Just like the mid-1980s SC stuff was the sweet spot. I start watching all Craigslist ads for a 300 mile radius. I'm waiting for that perfect, too-good-to-be-true deal to pop up and I'm gonna SNAG it when it does. Watching and looking at everything but really only want the 2004-2006 one-piece seat, and really only want either the blue or yellow 2006.

I have a long history of being suckered by stuff that's too good to be true.

One day, this super clean mostly stock yellow 2006 with 7,000 miles pops up, 6 miles away from me. I drove 300 miles each way by myself to buy the Trophy so I'm not unfamiliar with the costs involved in a long-distance purchase, it's a ****ing pita and costs money. I drove 200 miles to help a buddy buy a Kawasaki Concours and learned a lot from that whole transaction.

It's so clean I just pretty much take it at face value. Since I had to buy and install in a $100 battery so it would run I get the guy down to $2900 and ride it home.

For the past 6 weeks it's been hanging or on stands and being worked on. I've probably spent a good $1400 on it. The seller was either a total idiot or totally dishonest. Only this last Saturday morning did I have my first real ride, went out to breakfast with a buddy near Chagrin River valley and it was F'ING SPECTACULAR! What a freaking bike, beyond my wildest dreams. So F'ing fun.

But man it was a hard won victory. When I realized both fork tubes were bent...

 

Uh, how do you post a pic??? All it will let me do is post a link to a pic that's already hosted elsewhere. I think we all know how that works out.

 

 

Lovely bike ,really like the F4i