Getting Parts For A Motorcycle

Tune-ups don't require ignition coil replacements.paint and a few hours.
Sometimes you need to replace the spark plug capsAlternatively, if you know how to work with fiberglass,
on the ends of the wires, though. The resistance valueyou could build the bags you want yourself, but this is a
should be around 5K ohms. Honda Tune up kitslong-term project that will eat up a lot of your spare
generally has plugs, points and condensers in them, astime to do it quickly. You can also look on a few of the
a set. The number of miles you have on the bikecatalogue sites. In addition to that, try some of the
engine and the overall care it has had makes a lot ofe-groups for Kawasaki and Vulcan's. There are a lot
difference in what you will need and what may keepof specialized e-groups out there for specific makes
going for you, for a while.and models of bikes. Look there, as there may be
The tools that came in your kit, if complete, couldsomeone who is getting rid of a set that will work on
barely get you by on repairs/tune-ups. If you own ayour bike. It will certainly be less expensive than new.
bike, you need to know about how to repair it andHonda pretty much washes their hands of
have the tools to do the job. You can go to Wal-Mart,responsibility of supplying parts after about 10 years
Costco and elsewhere and get giant tool packagesafter end of production. They have made thousands
for $100 or less that will get you going pretty well. Anof different models and dozens of variations of many
Impact Driver with a selection of bits and a goodof those, so the parts inventory and production
hammer will be a good investment! Steel screws,considerations are staggering in any case.
resting in aluminum threads for such a long time willHonda does have a vintage parts division, apparently in
setup corrosion in the threads that can spell trouble inJapan who will make small quantities of some items
some cases.that they still have tooling for, like exhaust systems for
The cables are now 33 years old.... probably time for asome of the fours. CB750 primarily. CMS in Holland is
change! If your bike is a 1973 CB350G, then it has atied to them, to a certain extent and almost had them
front disk brake that has its own maintenance issues.remake the missing #2 pipe for the 350Fs but the cost
Same with the CB350F. The "regular" CB350 twinsgot too high.
had cable operated drum brakes.Companies like apex cycle, retrobikes and a few
You can get a lot of stuff on EBay, as far as tune-upothers are having Asian companies remake some
parts go. You need to identify the exact model, ofitems. You won't be seeing any new crankshafts or
course, before you move forward, plus a goodengine cases coming from Honda or anyone else.
tune-up guide and/or shop manual will be useful. I haveTooling and production of this stuff is way too
a PDF version of a minor tune-up guide that is a reprintexpensive nowadays.
from a Cycle Guide magazine special booklet, but itI have a source in Australia who makes new Dream
only covers CB350 Twins. The principles of engineand CB77 mufflers from stainless steel.
tuning are all the same, but the details between 2 andIt is a small company and he's willing to do the tooling
4 cylinder bikes are somewhat different in layout ofin-house just to produce the parts, but he's getting near
components.retiring and that source will dry up one day. A
If you used stabil or some kind of gasoline stabilizer forcompany in NZ made some beautiful new CB77
the winter, the carbs should be okay. I would certainlymufflers a few years back, but the supply is now
drain them and refill the tank with fresh gasoline.gone, I believe and they don't seem interested in doing
Yamaha makes a carb cleaner that you mix withanother run again.
gasoline and then funnel down the carb fuel line toIf there is sufficient demand, someone usually steps up
clean out the parts in the float bowl while it is together.and takes a shot at having parts made, but there are
Depends on what kind of condition the parts are in,so many parts in a bike and so many models, that it is
though. Honda carbs have numerous O-rings insideimpossible to expect that the supply line for 40+ year
that need replacing after 33 years!old motorcycles is going to continue indefinitely. Brit
What you could do, and it may require somebikes and scooters remained relatively unchanged for
modification on your part, is to find a hard bag mountmany years, so making parts for those is less of a
set for your bike and then go to a motorcycle salvagestretch, than doing Honda camshafts for 250-305s...
yard and see what they have that you may like. Youthere were three versions of splines on just those
would likely have to repaint them, but that requires aparts.
wind-free place to work and a bit of light sanding and