Keith Tanner said:
You can't replace the rack or you won't be able to use the bike properly.
But what if I add more racks?
Keith Tanner said:
You can't replace the rack or you won't be able to use the bike properly.
But what if I add more racks?
I think that's where your family goes.
love the new bikes, but yours is the first one I've seen in the correct color! My 1970 K2 (I've owned it so long I can't even remember, it might be a '72 K4?) CT90 has been sitting around for about a decade, but I've been planning a little revival of it as a fun project to teach my 5 year old how to wrench (poorly, like his father). Seeing yours might actually get me off my butt to do it! Happy riding.
In reply to bobloblawslawblog :
Love it!
The heavy factory pizza rack came off, along with the upper intake assembly and the toolbox.
The new rack drops right on using the same hardware and mounting points.
I like the new look, and as a bonus, the crossbar that everyone complains about bumping into with their butt is lower and further back from the seat.
That svelte rear rack is much better looking than the previous rack.
Removing the air intake snorkel leaves you with a big mouse hole on the end of the airbox.
I addressed this with a K-Speed Diabolus Air Filter cover from Beezdeals (eBay). This is the part that I was mistakenly looking for under the name Diablo. There are a few different styles out there, but I liked this simple one the best. There's really not much to these things. It's just a molded cover that holds the screen, and it's seems pretty expensive for what it is, but I needed a good way to keep the dirt and critters out. I probably could have hacked something together myself, but this was quick and easy.
It looks okay, without really drawing any attention to itself, unlike some of the other options.
Following along. These are such cool small bikes.
For future reference, because eventually someone will ask and I will certainly have forgotten, the rear rack was made by Kijima.
I actually typed Kitanji the first time, so there's your proof that my memory sucks.
So not even a bit of a ride yet?
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Heavy rain and work all week. Hail forecast for today.
This made me check the Honda Canada web site. The Canadian version is only available in red, and there are accessories available, the mid rack, a windshield, heated grip connector kit, heated grips amongst them.
I just got home from work and there's a break in the weather.
I mounted the stock toolbox on the new rear rack, checked the oil and I'm going for a ride.
I took it out for 38 miles on the road today. Just pavement so far, as I wanted to keep it clean for a full nut and bolt check when I got back.
First impressions were very good. This thing is a ton of fun to ride, although admittedly, most motorcycles are. It's quicker than expected and it's certainly not a scooter. I was a little apprehensive about riding it downtown, but it zips right along with traffic, so that won't be a problem. EVERYBODY, notices it. I got lots of smiles and thumbs up, along with a few (genuine or accidental) biker waves.
The fuel injected engine is really nice, and it's quiet but it sounds good.
The transmission was a little notchy, but given the fact that the bike had zero miles on it, I'm going to hold off on my assessment there until it's properly broken in.
I like the automatic clutch, which kind of surprised me. I've had hand surgery, so regular motorcycle clutches can give me some issues after even a short ride, so I think I'm going to enjoy this feature. The only time that I miss the hand clutch is on downshifts, as it's a little harder to match the revs and downshift smoothly. I think I'll eventually figure out how to do that.
I can't figure out why they chose this particular shift pattern (four up) but I suppose that it makes just about as much sense as any other motorcycle. Most of my bikes have been one down and four or five up, although I think that the C70 and CT70, as well as the Chibi were three down. It would be nice to not have to go through first to get back to neutral.
This has a heel and toe shifter (my first). It's a little weird shifting up with my heel (front half is a little short to toe up), but I suspect that I'll get used to it.
For some reason, the US market bikes have a different shift pattern than the Asia and Canadian bikes. In the US, it's neutral at the bottom and four straight up. Asia and Canada get a circular pattern (I'll add a picture form the owner's manual). For them it's neutral at the bottom and four up, but if you come to a complete stop in fourth, you can click up (or heel down) once more, and that brings you back to neutral, instead of clicking down four times with your toe. Weird. I think I'd prefer the Asia/Canada way, but I've never heard of any other bike with that feature.
It corners very well for having such small wheels and tires. Probably due to the light weight and very low center of gravity.
I will absolutely be adding a long seat, as I need to stretch out my legs a little more. I'm looking at the options that are out there. There are a few. When I got back, I rolled the bars forward a notch to stretch out my arms a little more, and rolled the brake master cylinder back a corresponding amount.
Overall, I'm impressed and very happy.
Also, the fuel gauge hasn't moved off Full yet.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:The transmission was a little notchy, but given the fact that the bike had zero miles on it, I'm going to hold off on my assessment there until it's properly broken in.
I would check the chain tension. Make sure it has the correct amount of slack.
Excellent first ride review!
In reply to Slippery :
Good suggestion. I'll check that out. Thanks.
This is quite interesting. I doubt they made a different transmission for the Canadian market. There has to be a way to convert it by removing some sort of detent, but it might require a splitting of the cases, which would make it completely not worth it in my opinion.
Looks like this is the reason:
Weird since my BMW can be setup to shift gp style and I was asked by the dealer which way I wanted it setup.
One thing that I forgot to mention about the first drive... the Gen 2 bikes (2023+) have rear shocks that are adjustable for preload.
Mine were delivered at 3/5. At 220#, I was going to stiffen it up a little more before the ride. But I decided to leave it as I got it and see how it feels.
No complaints. I was kind of surprised because a lot of first gen guys have replaced their shocks and springs. I'll have to reassess after riding it off road.
I had the day off, but it was raining, so I spent the day in the garage.
I started off with the aforementioned nut and bolt check. All good there, so I moved on to a few more simple mods.
This bike will get some knobbies in the near future, which requires raising the front fender for clearance. Simple with a pair of easily available brackets. But the horn hangs low and will dent a raised (steel) front fender on full compression. No tires or fender mods yet, but I removed the original mounting bracket and flipped the horn to move it up and out of the way. Minor bending was required.
I haven't added any more miles yet, and the first oil change isn't due until the 600 mile mark, but it's well known that the first oil change yields a fair amount of sludge around the plug (probably clutch stuff). They are also known to be delivered with an oil level at the absolute bottom of the dipstick.
I don't know if they use special break-in lube or not, but I wanted to run the original oil for the full 600 and see what comes out.
I ordered a quart of Honda oil and a Gold Plug oil drain plug, with a rare earth magnet. I swapped the drain plug with minimal loss, and then topped off the oil level. We'll see what happens in 562 miles.
I thought I had more pictures, but I guess there wasn't much to see here anyway.
A few days after rolling the handlebars forward to stretch my arms out a little more, I learned about a cool little steering hack.
I unbolted the base of the bar mount, removed the top clamp, and rotated the bases 180 degrees. The whole deal took about fifteen minutes. It makes a noticeable difference.
I'm surprised that's not actually in the documentation for the bike, it seems like a design choice to make it fit people of different sizes.
this is the kind of motorbike speed i can handle. not much else past this. even my e-mtb scares me haha
You'll need to log in to post.
