How long has your CB sat

[Retsel_imp]

My bikes get ridden fairly regularly, even in the winter, although my full fairing bikes get the call on most of the winter rides. All of the winter rides below freezing lol. The longest my CB has sat is 26 days and I felt guilty letting it sit that long, but the longest I have gone without riding is 3 days this winter. The FJR getting the call most of the time.

It's funny but a conversation I had onetime with Dale Walksler the owner of Wheels Thru Time Museum in Maggie Valley N.C. was an eye opener. He regularly gets in bikes that havent been run in nearly 100 years. I asked him how he prepped a bike that hadn't seen the light of day in years. He told me gets the old bike on the bench, puts fresh gas in them, makes sure there is oil in the crankcase, and then fires them up. He said motorcycles are mechanical things, that have no idea if they were turned off yesterday or 100 years ago.

Thinking about that made me wonder how long some of our CBs sit with out that little spark arcing in their 4 little spark plugs ignigting fuel. Like Teamvicegrip. Understand the circumstances, but can't imagine hi bike sitting there without breathing life for almost a year and a half.

While going to college in Phoenix, early 70's, I hung out at a local custom motorcycle shop. On one visit, someone had found a Harley that had been sitting it the desert for over 20 years. They flushed it out, put new oil and gas in it, and it cranked right up. Guess the bike didn't know how long it was out there!

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Heck of a reliable battery.

Heck of a reliable battery. Probably didn't have one. I believe it was a kickstart with a magneto. That was the setup on my 1960 Sportster.

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[Frulk_imp]

You know, there are younger riders today that don't even know kick-starters existed. It's why I haven't traded in my somewhat beat-up atv's for newer models. I like the redundancy the pull starters provide in addition to the battery. A couple of times they saved me from a loooong, hot walk out of the desert backcountry to pavement for help.

[GoldOxide_imp]

You know, there are younger riders today that don't even know kick-starters existed. It's why I haven't traded in my somewhat beat-up atv's for newer models. I like the redundancy the pull starters provide in addition to the battery. A couple of times they saved me from a loooong, hot walk out of the desert backcountry to pavement for help.

My first ride was only kickstarter. On bad days it was a pain. Otherwise, cool to use.

[the Ferret]

I think the first 9 years I rode the bikes were kick start only. Then for the next 10 years I think they had both kick and electric. Finally they discontinued the kick starters altogether and that made no sense to me, but it hasn't really been an issue.

[Retsel_imp]

You know, there are younger riders today that don't even know kick-starters existed. It's why I haven't traded in my somewhat beat-up atv's for newer models. I like the redundancy the pull starters provide in addition to the battery. A couple of times they saved me from a loooong, hot walk out of the desert backcountry to pavement for help.

My first ride was only kickstarter. On bad days it was a pain. Otherwise, cool to use.

My first ride was only kickstarter. On bad days it was a pain. Otherwise, cool to use. My Sportster was extremely finicky. Leaving school, people use to come watch my "man against machine" antics! When it wasn't refusing to fire it was backfiring and kicking my knee back up to my chin.

Here is the beast responsible

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[GoldOxide_imp]

Ha! I know what you mean Retsel.

When I went for my motorcycle driver's final test, the bike engine decided to flood. It took some 30+ (?) kicks to start the engine. The tester was thankfully patient and took the next person in line to test. The line was long. So while I was kicking away, a whole bunch of HD riders were laughing. I little embarrassing at the time.

So eventually I got it started and a ton of blue smoke (two stroke engine) poured out of the dual exhaust. I mean a lot. The smoke drifted over and through the HD riders waiting for their test. They went from laughing to coughing.

I passed my test and watched a few other riders go through the test. I watched two HD riders go through the test and both failed upon their foot landing on the ground. They were pointed to the exit.

[the Ferret]

You know, there are younger riders today that don't even know kick-starters existed. It's why I haven't traded in my somewhat beat-up atv's for newer models. I like the redundancy the pull starters provide in addition to the battery. A couple of times they saved me from a loooong, hot walk out of the desert backcountry to pavement for help.

My first ride was only kickstarter. On bad days it was a pain. Otherwise, cool to use.

My first ride was only kickstarter. On bad days it was a pain. Otherwise, cool to use. My Sportster was extremely finicky. Leaving school, people use to come watch my "man against machine" antics! When it wasn't refusing to fire it was backfiring and kicking my knee back up to my chin.

Here is the beast responsible

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My first ride was only kickstarter. On bad days it was a pain. Otherwise, cool to use. My Sportster was extremely finicky. Leaving school, people use to come watch my "man against machine" antics! When it wasn't refusing to fire it was backfiring and kicking my knee back up to my chin.

Here is the beast responsible

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Boy can I relate. My 59 Sportster was like that. It was 1969 and I traded my brand new Honda CB 350 for it (what an idiot lol). If everything went just right it fired right up, but if one little thing in the cosmos was out of order it was an ornery beast to kick start. The backfires were the worst and could almost break your leg. Glorious thing once it was running but getting it running was a chore most of the time.

[Houtman_imp]

"Peter......if that discussion took place in the 70's the bike was from around the 50's. That means the HD had a kick starter. Totally plausible. "

And was possibly equipped with a magneto. No battery necessary.
Jim

Based on additional info, I agree with you..

Would add that likely due to magneto design, experienced this 1500 km away from home, when generator was overcharging battery, burnt out a hole in it, acid leaked out and battery had less than 2 V. As long as I kept all light/acc off, I was able to make home with totally dry battery... nedless to say, I had to remove stop light bulb..
None of any vehicle of mine was ever towed, exept Renault 12 that broke crankshaft between main bearing 4 & 5
Thanks for your full update Jim & Frulk

Based on additional info, I agree with you..

Would add that likely due to magneto design, experienced this 1500 km away from home, when generator was overcharging battery, burnt out a hole in it, acid leaked out and battery had less than 2 V. As long as I kept all light/acc off, I was able to make home with totally dry battery... nedless to say, I had to remove stop light bulb..
None of any vehicle of mine was ever towed, exept Renault 12 that broke crankshaft between main bearing 4 & 5
Thanks for your full update Jim & Frulk
Did they sell Renaults in Canada ? , when I did my military service in Holland I had a Renault 4 , would love to buy one now !

[peterbaron]

"Peter......if that discussion took place in the 70's the bike was from around the 50's. That means the HD had a kick starter. Totally plausible. "

And was possibly equipped with a magneto. No battery necessary.
Jim

Based on additional info, I agree with you..

Would add that likely due to magneto design, experienced this 1500 km away from home, when generator was overcharging battery, burnt out a hole in it, acid leaked out and battery had less than 2 V. As long as I kept all light/acc off, I was able to make home with totally dry battery... nedless to say, I had to remove stop light bulb..
None of any vehicle of mine was ever towed, exept Renault 12 that broke crankshaft between main bearing 4 & 5
Thanks for your full update Jim & Frulk

Based on additional info, I agree with you..

Would add that likely due to magneto design, experienced this 1500 km away from home, when generator was overcharging battery, burnt out a hole in it, acid leaked out and battery had less than 2 V. As long as I kept all light/acc off, I was able to make home with totally dry battery... nedless to say, I had to remove stop light bulb..
None of any vehicle of mine was ever towed, exept Renault 12 that broke crankshaft between main bearing 4 & 5
Thanks for your full update Jim & Frulk
Did they sell Renaults in Canada ? , when I did my military service in Holland I had a Renault 4 , would love to buy one now !

Based on additional info, I agree with you..

Would add that likely due to magneto design, experienced this 1500 km away from home, when generator was overcharging battery, burnt out a hole in it, acid leaked out and battery had less than 2 V. As long as I kept all light/acc off, I was able to make home with totally dry battery... nedless to say, I had to remove stop light bulb..
None of any vehicle of mine was ever towed, exept Renault 12 that broke crankshaft between main bearing 4 & 5
Thanks for your full update Jim & Frulk
Did they sell Renaults in Canada ? , when I did my military service in Holland I had a Renault 4 , would love to buy one now !
Yes they did
That was in Europe/R12, around 1973??.
In Canada, as far as I remember we had R5-Le car, and a few more Alliance or Reliance ????

[GoldOxide_imp]

Yes Alliance. Would sometimes experience oil leakage into the standard shift dry clutch plate. It was a real "drag" trying to get up the Gardner freeway ramps in Toronto.