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.
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