White House K10 - a story of regeneration

[Ninemeister_imp]

On the 30th August I logged into eBay and searched for "Honda CB1100 K10", in full expectation to get a nil result and a list of search results for "Honda CB1100" instead. All I can say is that the eBay gods were clearly on my side when this advert came up:
K10 kit? Tick.
Wire wheels? Tick.
4-4 exhaust? Tick.
ABS? Tick.
6 Speed? Tick.

It took me less than a minute to pinch myself, look over my shoulder to check nobody was winding me up, then shoot off a private message to see if it was still available. The advert finished that night, but not before I had saved the photos to my laptop.

At that price I figured three things:
1. That it's a Honda, so at 35,000 miles it's barely run in
2. For an owner to ride it for 35,000 miles, it must be a comfortable bike (I'd never tried one)
3. At that price it is worth it for the K10 kit alone, so even if the bike was a nail I could swap the parts with another bike and still be in pocket

Thankfully Bassel replied on the following morning (Sunday) and set the wheels in motion for me to buy the bike unseen.
These were the photos from the advert:

[Houtman_imp]

That is a great looking bike ! Who is Bassel ?

[Ninemeister_imp]

That is a great looking bike ! Who is Bassel ?

He's the salesman from the vendor, Motorcycle Giant.

[peterbaron]

On the 30th August I logged into eBay and searched for "Honda CB1100 K10", in full expectation to get a nil result and a list of search results for "Honda CB1100" instead. All I can say is that the eBay gods were clearly on my side when this advert came up:
K10 kit? Tick.
Wire wheels? Tick.
4-4 exhaust? Tick.
ABS? Tick.
6 Speed? Tick.

It took me less than a minute to pinch myself, look over my shoulder to check nobody was winding me up, then shoot off a private message to see if it was still available. The advert finished that night, but not before I had saved the photos to my laptop.

At that price I figured three things:
1. That it's a Honda, so at 35,000 miles it's barely run in
2. For an owner to ride it for 35,000 miles, it must be a comfortable bike (I'd never tried one)
3. At that price it is worth it for the K10 kit alone, so even if the bike was a nail I could swap the parts with another bike and still be in pocket

Thankfully Bassel replied on the following morning (Sunday) and set the wheels in motion for me to buy the bike unseen.
These were the photos from the advert:

Holy s**t Nm, great find, this is Great White K10 edition, supper look =

...I must visit the UK with my CB, so the two whites can ride parallel...don't laugh, my European moto trip is scheduled in my calendar and was cancelled once..

[GoldOxide_imp]

9

[Ninemeister_imp]

On the 30th August I logged into eBay and searched for "Honda CB1100 K10", in full expectation to get a nil result and a list of search results for "Honda CB1100" instead. All I can say is that the eBay gods were clearly on my side when this advert came up:
K10 kit? Tick.
Wire wheels? Tick.
4-4 exhaust? Tick.
ABS? Tick.
6 Speed? Tick.

It took me less than a minute to pinch myself, look over my shoulder to check nobody was winding me up, then shoot off a private message to see if it was still available. The advert finished that night, but not before I had saved the photos to my laptop.

At that price I figured three things:
1. That it's a Honda, so at 35,000 miles it's barely run in
2. For an owner to ride it for 35,000 miles, it must be a comfortable bike (I'd never tried one)
3. At that price it is worth it for the K10 kit alone, so even if the bike was a nail I could swap the parts with another bike and still be in pocket

Thankfully Bassel replied on the following morning (Sunday) and set the wheels in motion for me to buy the bike unseen.
These were the photos from the advert:

Holy s**t Nm, great find, this is Great White K10 edition, supper look =

...I must visit the UK with my CB, so the two whites can ride parallel...don't laugh, my European moto trip is scheduled in my calendar and was cancelled once..

Holy s**t Nm, great find, this is Great White K10 edition, supper look =

...I must visit the UK with my CB, so the two whites can ride parallel...don't laugh, my European moto trip is scheduled in my calendar and was cancelled once..


I know. When the advert dropped off eBay I actually messaged Bassel to check that it had not been pulled because the bike had been undervalued. Seriously! Probably not the best way to start a purchase negotiation but I was in shock knowing how much this would have cost to build.
To their credit, Motor Giant stood by the price (I paid full asking) then as a courtesy gave the bike an oil change, a fresh MOT and delivered it for me a couple of weeks later. I have nothing but praise for how they dealt with the sale and would certainly buy from them again.

As for getting the great white sharks together - you may want to hang on a little as things are about to get more interesting...

[Ninemeister_imp]

This is the bike when it landed 20 days ago, delivered to my work on an early Friday evening. Luckily I took the Bonnie to work that morning, so it would have been rude to not to leave the Bonnie at work and ride the CB home, wouldn't it?

An hour later, in the dark, I set off for the 7.5 mile ride, never before seen a CB1100 up close, never mind ridden one. Less than a mile in I was hooked. It rode like silk on a fashion model, I couldn't believe how smooth and easy to ride it was compared to the raw little Bonnie. I arrived home with an ear to ear grin.

[peterbaron]

...and this is why we all love our CB1100 and how she is, a marvel!!
Great White-K10

PS. Colin, think yours is leaking coolant

[Ninemeister_imp]

Once the CB arrived and I'd ridden it home, finally I could allow myself the luxury of working out the plan to regenerate it into the K10 I had imagined just a few weeks before.

Starting point: what do I like, what to fix and what to change?

Likes:
Wyvern Exhaust. What a bonus. Remove, re-polish and fix the leaks around the cylinder head joints.
Excel Wheels. Wire wheels were always a must have, but the gold lightweight Excels with stainless spokes were another massive bonus, especially given that I had been considering the same for another project. The question is how to use the colour to maximum advantage...
K10 tank & side panels. What's not to like?

Fixes:
Dent in fuel tank (arrow 1, photo). No big deal, but would require a re-paint
Chain & sprocket. Better to be safe than sorry, given the mileage, however on inspection the rear alloy sprocket was shot.
km/h Speedo. Dial change or repaint at minimum to mph only or mph/km/h

Changes
K10 Headlight Ears (2)
Paint Headlight Bowl (3)
Chrome Speedo/Tacho covers (4)
Cut off indicator brackets (5)
K10 rear light

Time to place an order with Takashi.

Then there was the colour...

[peterbaron]

Once the CB arrived and I'd ridden it home, finally I could allow myself the luxury of working out the plan to regenerate it into the K10 I had imagined just a few weeks before.

Starting point: what do I like, what to fix and what to change?

Likes:
Wyvern Exhaust. What a bonus. Remove, re-polish and fix the leaks around the cylinder head joints.
Excel Wheels. Wire wheels were always a must have, but the gold lightweight Excels with stainless spokes were another massive bonus, especially given that I had been considering the same for another project. The question is how to use the colour to maximum advantage...
K10 tank & side panels. What's not to like?

Fixes:
Dent in fuel tank (arrow 1, photo). No big deal, but would require a re-paint
Chain & sprocket. Better to be safe than sorry, given the mileage, however on inspection the rear alloy sprocket was shot.
km/h Speedo. Dial change or repaint at minimum to mph only or mph/km/h

Changes
K10 Headlight Ears (2)
Paint Headlight Bowl (3)
Chrome Speedo/Tacho covers (4)
Cut off indicator brackets (5)
K10 rear light

Time to place an order with Takashi.

Then there was the colour...

As to your dented tank...
There is a procedure called paint-less dent removal...they will fix your dent without painting...my car had over 170 dents after a heavy hail...they fixed everything without a drop of paint. Condition: no paint cracks