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During my early 20s times, in mid 70s, I assembled my own 250cc bike out of a few....
That bike had a kick start only, points type ignition and a generator-rectifier-voltage regulator as far as a 12V charging system is concerned.
I took the voltage regulator to an auto electrical shop for a pre-adjustment and the old mechanic told me to bring my bike back for a final-live set up to prevent the battery from overcharging...
At that time, I did not think much about his wise advice as we were already late for our 4K kms long distance round trip through few European countries.
Suddenly, on our/wt pillion way back home my bike died.....checked a few electrics and I noticed that the battery had no acid due to a "melted" hole in it = overcharging..
We got stuck 1500 kms away from home in a foreign country with very limited cash (no credit cards or cells at that times).....
I got the bike bump started but every time I turned on any loads like the stop light or horn, the bike died again....not thinking much and with no clue from where this idea came, I joined 2 or 3 battery cells by a wire that we have with us as one of "spare parts".

There were a few another issues .....with the carburetor falling off, due to improper, not gas resistant, rubber connection used between the carburetor and the cylinder, stolen emblems from my bike, running out of gas, almost falling off a cliff, flat tire experience......interaction at a gas station with a Russian citizen about a pair of Wrangler jeans, hotel stay and night re-entry, free ride an a police Russian Ural bike .....and the USSR border crossing with a 3 hr interrogation....I could write a longer essay about this trip..

Finally, we successfully and safely continued our ride home.
Here is the map of our trip:

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Pozna%C5%...FQAw%3D%3D

[url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/member.php?action=profile&uid=3454]PB - I wish you had pics of that ride and all the little fun bits you wrote about. It would have been a hoot to post up to see. Sounds very olde school exciting.

Great story from the past!

^^+1

Great trip, behind the Iron Curtain at the time too.

I got nothing like that one! Rode a few pizza delivery bikes in Mexico... CG125s, but I'd like to do more exotic riding sometime during my lifetime!

Finally got the map to display. Quite the trip to make on a 250 cc, home assembled bike. Feel free to tell more detailed tales from the trip, Peter.

Great story, Peter. Thank you for sharing it with us. Only with the optimism of youth do we have such great adventures.

(01-03-2023, 06:31 AM)Cormanus_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Finally got the map to display. Quite the trip to make on a 250 cc, home assembled bike. Feel free to tell more detailed tales from the trip, Peter.

... maybe scratch up some digital scans of some old Kodak moments?

Thanks for your comments.
You probably would not read this story if our Ferret was not stuck at a gas station with his battery going dead, post # 9171 [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3268&page=918]http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread....8&page=918

At a later time, I will make a full version - thank you Cormanus for the idea - of this exciting trip with more details, especially through the former iron curtain USSR, and how the idea and the birth of this bike started...

Every time I visit Poland, I search for the pictures that are "hidden" somewhere, but so far without any success. There were no pictures taken when the bike was being assembled, but there should be a few pics of the bike ready to ride, plus pics from that trip...or these might be buried in my basement storage boxes here in Canada ????
If in PL this summer, I will take pics of my very raw garage with very basic hand tool, no bench, no bench vise, all original and untouched since 1981, when I suddenly left.... for Austria, then finally Canada.

The full story is coming within a week or so, as I have some errands piling up and running behind schedule after recent holidays.