Marty haz a sprockets! 89 Honda Pacific Coast refresh

Brought over from the Sprockets Forum, I bought a 1989 Honda Pacific Coast motorcycle. It's possibly the most... I don't know... misunderstood(?) motorcycle to ever be produced. It's not "the answer" by any stretch. It's odd. I like it.

Here's a pic of what it should look like.

Mine is a dirty, beat up version comme ca.

As you can see the windshield is borked. It's a Rifle windshield and the plexi is very thin. Thankfully it came with the original Honda windshield in perfect shape.

You may also notice that the panels look all warped and sagged out. I was worried a bit about that, but it looked to me like it was just an alignment problem because the previous owner impatiently removed the battery for the winter.

The guy I bought it from was an interim curator of sorts. He bought it and decided it was too small, so he went out and replaced it with a Goldwing. I imagine he also thought the bike was just too odd to be seen on. Whatever the case may be, I got a decent deal on it.

The good - service manual, safety certificate included. Has some farkles installed by owner #1. I'll get into the add-ons next time(s) as well as some of the apparently rare factory options.

The bad - needs a bath. I haven't actually heard or seen it run. The panels may be covering damage as they're not straight anywhere.

So that's the starting point. Since those pics were taken, I have brought the bike home and had a quick look at it. Things look promising after all.

I'll get some more pics this weekend to show what I have found so far, as well as hopefully digging a little deeper into this odd machine. Hope this works out.

Vous parlez francais? On another note, very cool bike. What kind of engine does it have?

NoPermitNeeded wrote: Vous parlez francais? On another note, very cool bike. What kind of engine does it have?

Oui, un petit peau. J'ai travailler a Quebec a deux ans (pour deux ans?)

My grammar and spelling is crap, but the phrases stick

It's an 800cc liquid cooled 45deg v twin shadow engine more or less. I don't know the differences between it and a shadow engine beyond they didn't bother to cast fake cooling fins into the jugs.

That looks like a Corbin or Sargent saddle on there. Someone must have liked to ride it all day at one point in it's life.

Huckleberry wrote: That looks like a Corbin or Sargent saddle on there. Someone must have liked to ride it all day at one point in it's life.

It's a Corbin saddle. There are a few little tears in the front seat bum, but it's an old bike.

It also has the Hondaline "spoiler", rear skirt and AM/FM radio. Add-ons are the saddle, broken Rifle windshield, throttle lock and a couple switches that do who knows what. My guess is it had auxiliary lights of some kind and the other switch in the fuel fill area may be a secret squirrel kill switch.

Neat bike. I remember seeing commercials for those when they were new. I've always thought they were kinda cool.

Those are like the ultimate commuter bike: lots of storage, wind/ rain protection and decent mpg.

Probably best you put it in this subforum, not really 'sprockets' with shaft drive

Those are underappreciated bikes. How many miles on it?

That wasn't a cheap seat upgrade.

What's all that white stuff around it?

I've seen a lot of PCs in my days, but I haven't ever seen the spoiler, rear skirt, or radio. Those are probably pretty rare.

Is the muffler chirpy? I've heard of folks fixing it by putting a carriage bolt through the muffler.

The most robust group of Pacific Coast owners is still on Yahoo Groups of all things.

Trans_Maro wrote: What's all that white stuff around it?

He's 45 minutes from me. I still have some of that white stuff too!

bastomatic wrote: The most robust group of Pacific Coast owners is still on Yahoo Groups of all things.

Same story with the Yamaha Radian enthusiasts. They're too cheap/too few to warrant the expense and upkeep of a real forum.

You, as a neglected PC800 owner, owe it to yourself to sit and read this... Detroit to San Diego on a PC800: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Negligence

NGTD wrote: He's 45 minutes from me. I still have some of that white stuff too!

Not any more.

Moved back to Thunder Bay (after almost 10yrs out of the region) in November. Those pics are from when I went to see the bike in March. Bike was in Pic River. I believe some of that story is in the Sprockets thread.

That being said, There was snow in the bush on Sunday when my brother and I went to pick the bike up, and the smaller lakes are still iced over.

Woody wrote: Those are underappreciated bikes. How many miles on it?

About 86,000 kms - not quite 55,000miles. That's a LOT for this part of the world. 25,000miles is a lot here.

akamcfly wrote:

NGTD wrote: He's 45 minutes from me. I still have some of that white stuff too!

Not any more. Moved back to Thunder Bay (after almost 10yrs out of the region) in November. Those pics are from when I went to see the bike in March. Bike was in Pic River. I believe some of that story is in the Sprockets thread. That being said, There was snow in the bush on Sunday when my brother and I went to pick the bike up, and the smaller lakes are still iced over.

Ok - your Profile still says T'mang QC.

I want one of those. And I don't even know how to ride. It's just so right up my 'weird but surprisingly functional late 80s stuff' alley.

Huckleberry wrote: You, as a neglected PC800 owner, owe it to yourself to sit and read this... Detroit to San Diego on a PC800: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Negligence

I came in to post the same.
Be sure to see the other adventures too

. http://cackchronicles.com/rides/

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/from-anchorage-to-parts-unknown-cack-comes-back.467019/

Vigo wrote: I want one of those. And I don't even know how to ride. It's just so right up my 'weird but surprisingly functional late 80s stuff' alley.

Got my learners' permit Wednesday after work and I take the course next weekend.

I'm 42

Nice! Take an MSF course as well, and always assume that everyone, both seen and unseen, wants to kill you.

Also, I wanted to post this yesterday from work, but couldn't figure it out on my tablet.

Edit. Ohhh, check it out, I'm a full-fledged Dork now. Sweet!!

Tiny update. I put the battery on the tender and it's blinking fully charged. Multimeter says 12.8V also. Tomorrow I'll de-panel the right side and pop in the battery, check the oil, fuel level and coolant and see if it starts.

Check to see if any of the side panels say Honda on them. If so, then it will start.

How long since it's been started? If you have the same crappy ethanol gas up there, take a look in the tank, and strongly consider draining it and the lines out before trying to crank it.

Also, just noticed the Throttlemeister. Pretty nice throttle lock.

XLR99 wrote: How long since it's been started? Also, just noticed the Throttlemeister. Pretty nice throttle lock.

My guess is around 6 months since it last ran. Gas here is ethanol blended, but I don't know if it's any different than US gas. Premium is typically unblended here.

Knowing precious little about throttle locks, I'll take it as a good sign that you approve of this one. It threads backward to what I assumed it would and I thought the throttle cable was gummed or kinked. It moves ok now - left hand thread on the throttle lock. Go figure.