New sidecover decal for the CB550F

The 550F was missing the right sidecover decal when I bought it. Fortunately there are several companies that make replacements for old motorcycles.

Complete sets for this model sell for around $60 bucks. I inquired with reproduction decals and asked them if they would sell just one sidecover decal. These guys are great! They quoted me $10 for the decal including shipping from Canada. I sent my payment and the decal arrived in about a week. Thanks!

Installation was almost too easy. The instructions were very thorough but this was a small decal, which is very easy to apply. I cleaned the sidecover and measured the location for the decal. Measuring from the top of the sidecover, the "F" in Four was 2 inches down. Using a piece of masking tape as a guide, I placed the decal on the sidecover with the "F" centered in the middle. Then I carefully removed the front portion of the wrapping which holds the characters in place. Voila! It took all of five minutes, going very slowly to make sure the decal was in the proper position and free of bubbles. Checkout the pictures below.

The decal is blue with gold trim. Most of these photos give the lettering a black appearance with gold trim.

Ideally, one would clear coat the sidecover after applying the decal. In this case I'm going to skip it. If I need another decal I can get one from reproduction decals at a fair price.
Okay, that was a quick, easy and satisfying job. Next I need to work on the brakes!

New seat installed

I was thinking about the best way to for replace the seat that came with this bike. Looking around on the internet, there weren't many options. The 550 is a great bike but it wasn't near as popular as the CB750.
A company called "buyer 4 us" sells reproduction seats on E-bay. These seats are made in Japan by an aftermarket company (not Honda).

Here's a photo of the touring seat that came with it versus the stock replacement. The new seat looks very much like the original, it doesn't have the chrome trim but that's okay with me.

Other differences - the original seat has studs sticking out for the mounting nuts. The new seat has threaded holes and mounting screws. The seat latch screws were not long enough. I picked up two longer screws (6mm X 30mm) at the hardware store and they did the job fine.







The seat mounting holes didn't quite match up with the stock hinge. I filed and drilled one of the holes (the hole closer to the front of the bike), making it oblong so it would line up with the seat mounting holes. It didn't take much, maybe 1-2 mm.












Here's the finished product - looks pretty good, huh? I think the Honda is taking on that Supersport character again.

The rubber bumpers under the seat don't quite match the frame and the seat rocks around a little bit. I'll see what I can find at the hardware store to fix it.

Next on the to-do list: fix the front brake. The previous owner got some lubricant on the pads. And the master cylinder was leaking after the Honda got shipped to Oahu. I have a new set of brake pads and an aftermarket master cylinder to install. Maybe next week I'll get that done.

Registration and finding parts for the CB550F

On November 27th I went to the satellite city hall to register the Honda. Although I had checked with the DMV over the phone, I was still concerned about a couple of things. One, the Honda had not been registered since 1998 (nine years). A lady at the DMV assured me that I would only pay one year's registration and would not have to pay the past registrations. Two, the former owner had given incorrect mileage when he brought the bike to Hawaii ten or so years ago. The title showed 37k miles and the odometer now reads 30k.

It took some research by the clerk at satellite city hall, but after ten minutes or so she issued me a new title with the correct mileage and I only paid the current registration fee ($77). That was a relief. I've had problems registering old bikes in the past and it's no fun having a classic bike that you can't legally ride on the street.

Hawaii also has a safety inspection process. Nothing fancy, they just make sure the lights, horn and turn signals work. And of course the registration documents must match the number on the frame.

I went to Cycle Tech in Moili'ili, a shop that's been around since about 1980. The owner's name is Al. When I was attending UH-Manoa starting in 1982 I first went to Cycle Tech to get work done on my '74 RD350. Subsequently I bought a '77 Suzuki GS750 and later an '83 Kawasaki KZ1000R (Eddie Lawson Replica). Cycle Tech is a good shop and close to UH, so I would go there to get maintenance work and tires changed.

Al checked out the Honda and gave me the safety inspection, now everything is legal. Great!

Next: changing some parts on the Honda. It currently has a touring seat and I'd love to get a stock-appearing seat back on it. I searched the web and found http://www.mrcycles.com/. I was happy to see that they had parts and ordered a new seat and some other things. The next day, I got an e-mail saying all of the parts are out of stock - permanently. Shoot.

A company with listings on http://www.ebay.com/ has a reproduction stock seat for the Honda. I ordered it and am waiting for it to come in.

Picked up the Honda today

I called Young Brothers (Hawaii's interisland freight company) and confirmed that my container arrived. Caught a ride from my brother and waited in line to open the container. It was nice to see the bike sitting upright when the door opened. We had tied it pretty well but you never know for sure until you see the bike.

Started the Honda up, rode it to the gas station and then to Cycle Tech, a motorcycle repair shop in Honolulu. The owner, Al, is a guy I've been taking motorcycles to since 1982 when I owned an RD350. He gave me a passing safety inspection, a necessary procedure to get the bike titled and registered in my name.

Then I rode the Honda back to my house. It ran a little rough but made it okay. I noticed brake fluid on the reservoir, somehow it was leaking out and onto the beautiful tank! I wiped the fluid off with my hand as I rode.

When I got home I washed the fluid off with soap and water. Just a few drops of fluid were on the tank and it looks like they softened up the paint. It's barely noticeable, I hope it doesn't get any worse.

Thinking about it some more, the reservoir maybe leaking because of the tie downs we used for the container. A rope may have rubbed and pushed on the reservoir. Oh well, the front brake is not very good anyways, might as well change the master cylinder to stop the leak and get a usable front brake.

Another thing I noticed is the #4 spark plug was arcing (sparks) to the head of the motor. When it cooled off I pulled the plug cap off and checked to see that it was connecting with the plug wire. Reinstalled it and no more arcing.

The Honda's mileage was 30,385 when I bought it.

Found a Honda CB550F on craigslist

I was browsing craigslist a few weeks ago and saw a Honda CB550F (1976 model year) for sale. It's on the Big Island and I'm on Oahu. It's more difficult and expensive to travel there and checkout a motorcycle, but you don't see many Japanese fours of that era on the road anymore. Hard to believe, at one time they seemed as common as Chevy's with 350 V-8 engines.

I sent the guy an e-mail and he replied that he had several inquiries. The other potential buyers were on the Big Island. I didn't want to fly over there and check out the bike just to find out somebody was ready to buy it. A Big Island buyer could hop in his car and drive to this guy's house. I'd have to go to the airport, get a roundtrip airfare and find a way up to his house.

After a week or so I called him back to see if he still had the Honda. He said yes. One person came by and checked out the Honda, he was on the short side and had a hard time reaching the ground. Another guy lived on the other side of the island and had not driven over to see the bike yet.

So I made my airfare and the owner agreed to pick me up at the Hilo airport. Our plan was for me to inspect the CB550F and if everything was okay, I would buy it on the spot, take it to the harbor and ship it back to Honolulu.

On Wednesday, 11/14/07 we met and he took me to his home where the Honda was stored. It has high miles (30k) but a mechanic did a lot of work on it and the motor seemed to be in good shape. It started up quickly and ran smooth. Then I noticed smoke coming from the wiring harness close to the ignition switch. We shut down the motor and started poking around. Apparently some of the wires were frayed and shorting out. He tried to do a quick solder job but it wouldn't hold. He offered to put the bike in his truck and take it to the Harbor. I didn't want to do that because when it got to Honolulu I'd have to find a truck to haul it home. I said I'd look for the replacement part on Oahu for him (Oahu has probably the only motorcycle junkyard in the State of Hawaii).

I found the part and mailed it to him. He soldered the wiring harness to the replacement connector and hooked it up to the ignition switch. The motorcycle ran again and no more smoking wires.

On Wednesday, 11/21/07 I flew back to Hilo and met the owner. Everything seemed okay and I paid him $2,200 for the Honda. I drove it to the harbor where we strapped it into a small container. The cost of shipping the motorcycle to Honolulu was $140. There was plenty of room left in the container, too bad we didn't have anything else to ship over!

The Honda should arrive here in Honolulu on Monday the 26th. I'm waiting and hoping it ships safely here!

Hawaii motorcycle links:

TLC - Probably the only motorcycle junkyard in Hawaii. It used to be located in Kakaako (downtown area) for 20-something years and moved to Mapunapuna (near the airport) around 2005. They recently moved again to Kaneohe.