The Jist:
Here it is, our travel blog for the big summer 2010 cross-continental journey! For those of you who don't know, Julianne, the art student, and I the music student, have been planning an epic journey of discovery. We're going to spend the summer riding our 1971 Honda CB500 from our home in New Hampshire to the west coast and back again! We'll stick to the smaller highways and byways. We'll do a lot of camping along the way. We'll see some of the cities and national parks that we've always wanted to. Hopefully we'll have the adventure of our lives!
We'll start with describing the idea, and then the bike itself. Tomorrow, I'll talk about what we're bringing and how we'll equip the bike.
The genesis:
Traveling is something Juli and I have always been interested in. Neither of us have seen much of the country or any other country, unless you count Canada.
One fine day in the summer of 2008, we were both at home in Pittsfield and my dad had the idea to ride motorcycles down the road to look at a Volkwagen bus. We love old VWs, and it was a great excuse to take a little bike trip.
Now I've seen a fair number of busses in my day. Our family has owned two and Juli and I have spent lots of time tramping around our region in dad's '83 Westy. But this bus had an impact on us. We both felt a deep desire to buy this thing and drive it far. We spent the next day fantasizing about driving across the country in a bus, bringing very little with us and camping out where ever .
Then we both realized, "why not drive across the country?" We could save up enough money to take a summer off. The trip itself didn't have to cost much if we did a lot of camping and national parks and other amazing free stuff. We mainly just wanted to get out and see the rest of the country. Juli's car or even my car would make the trip.
I can't remember exactly how the idea to use a motorcycle came about. We thought about the cost of gas. Any motorcycle would get at least a few more mpgs than either of our cars. (Remember, this was 2008, $4.29 per gallon gas was on our minds).
But the more we thought about it, the more a motorcycle made sense. How are you supposed to "get out and see the country" from inside a glass cage? How are you supposed to experience prairie wind from inside a car? Or the wide open skies of Wyoming and Montana? Or the rockies? Or the Pacific coast highway? Yes, a motorcycle was the obvious way to take it all in. We could bring minimal camping gear and camp along the way, to save money and to connect with the land.
The Bike
If we were to take a motorcycle, it would first and foremost have to be one that we could afford. No bikes made within the last 25 years need apply. Secondly, it had to be one with the proper riding position for two-up traveling. No goofy assed feet out front cruiser bikes. No racer-boy wanna be tupperware-cladded sport bikes. Thirdly, it had to be big enough for us and some luggage, but not too big to be fun to ride. No goldwings, 1100 specials, or other behemoths, and no honda Z50s. And finally, it would have to be something reliable. Or sort of at least.
So I scoured craigslist and ebay and local classifieds for weeks. Don't be fooled, I already do this anyway. I love old bikes and am always looking for good deals for fun. One day, in October of 2008, I came upon this old tramp:
A 1971 Honda CB500 Four, decent shape, $500. This was one of
many similar to this that I had been looking at. I told Juli about it because it looked like such a great deal, and she asked "could we use it for our trip?" Now, whether this bike would be good for the trip for not, I would have replied "yes," and I did, for it was love at first sight for me. We wound up getting the bike for $400 because it wouldn't start for the guy. The reason it wouldn't start turned out to be a dead battery, but that wasn't all this old girl needed. As you can see, there were some cosmetic issues. The torn seat, the crappy white paint, the gas-varnished engine covers, and general dinginess of the whole bike needed attention. So the Honda got all that and more. The bike had around 14K when we brought it home, and was in nice shape overall. Besides the paint and 4 into 2 exhaust, it was very original. I spent the fall and winter working at it little by little. Here's a rundown of what I did:
Rebuilt master cylinder
did the basic tune up: valve adjust, camchain adjust, chain adjust, etc
all new spark plugs
new battery
new uni air filter
cleaned, polished, painted various engine and exhaust bits
replaced shocks with progressive and heavy duty springs
recovered seat
painted it green
cleaned and rebuilt all four carbs
replaced grips with ourys
replaced all cables
Jeez, that list seems so short for how much time I put in! Some of these jobs, especially the carb work, I had to repeat several times before I got them right, which is one reason the list looks so short to me. Also, it was spread out over a few months when I would come home from school on the weekends. And finally, each job had to wait until I had saved up enough money to buy whatever part I needed at the time.
Well, after half a summer of tuning and tweaking, I've got the old girl running nicely!
Here's the bike after all this work:
Before I forget, I have to mention the forum of the century: SOCH4.net. Without that site I would never have got the bike going so well. The forum is full of knowledgeable nuts who own and maintain sohc4s, (The first honda 4 cylinders, from the CB750 in 1969, to my bike, to the CB350F, CB400F, CB550, and the last SOHC CB650 in 1982). I downloaded (for free) the factory shop manual for my bike and received (for free) countless bits of advice that got me through fixing the bike. Seriously, I had no idea what the f%#k I was doing when I got this thing, and those guys, my book, and a little luck helped me get the bike running great!
Now, as for the bike, it is a freaking classic! I always appreciated the smooth, timeless lines of 70s and older bikes. My dad's got an 04 Royal Enfield that was pretty much my favorite bike. It is amazingly fun to ride. My brother's got a 75 CB750 that I road a couple of times before getting mine. I liked it a lot, but it seemed a little unwieldy to me. Maybe it's because the thing was dangerous.
But when i got the CB500 I discovered the perfect motorcycle! I like to describe the design of this bike as simply elegant. Four cylinders in a line. Four carburetors. One overhead camshaft operating 8 valves on rocker arms. A simple single disc up front with a cast aluminum master cylinder. Spoked wheels. Round headlight. Two gauges. Simple, yet sophisticated. These old bikes were and are renowned for their reliability, and over the 3k miles I've ridden it so far, I have to say I would ride it to the end of the world tomorrow.
This thing is the perfect size and weight and has plenty of smooth power. 50 horses to be exact, for anyone who cares. It has plenty of go to propel Juli and I over the mountainous back roads around here we love so much at a brisk pace.
Okay, well, let's get this out of the way now. There are maybe 2 people who haven't tried to talk us out of using this "old," "small," bike for this trip. "You'd better bring tools." "Are you sure that thing will make it?" "That bike is too small and uncomfortable for a cross country trip"
Those are the most popular comments so far. As far as tools and reliability, I have every bit of confidence that I can keep this thing going for our trip. It's solid and simple. I am fairly confident that any break down we would experience would be something simple and minor enough for me to fix either on the side of the road or in the next town if need be.
As far as small and uncomfortable, we are plenty comfortable on this old girl. We're not big people, and we're not bringing much stuff. We like riding normal sized motorcycles. I don't get today's giant overweight overpowered touring bikes. We're going to ride country roads. We don't need to go 85mph for extended periods of time.
Here's something I'll probably repeat in the future. Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is (among other things) one of the most beloved of all epic motorcycle adventure stories. He did the trip on which the book is based on a honda cb77 superhawk. Don't know what that is? here:
It's a 305cc twin with a about 28 horsepower. Him and his son with a mountain of camping gear, on this bike riding across the country.
So before you ask why we don't get a goldwing or something, just remember Zen!
That's enough on bikes. The next posting will focus on what we'll bring and how we'll outfit the motorcycle for the trip!
Good night,
Jeremy B
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