Honda-SOHC

Thanks all, great advice as always.  I am now on the horns of a dilemma between, Triumph Trident 900 and VFR800.  Will see if I can find some to try.

It's 29 years since I bought a bike and that was in boxes.  Do people allow potential buyers to test ride or is it considered a no no?

Most dealers will allow test rides, take your licence with you but private sellers normally only allow a test ride if you give them all the money on cash first (in case you drop it or ride off) and if you provide proof of insurance that you can ride any motorcycle. If a private seller arranges to meet you in a car park to carry out a sale run a mile because it's probably stolen!

🤣🤣🤣

The box would be the finishing touch to a restoration but not sure I'd want to spend that kind of cash on a damp piece of cardboard but then again it is for a yellow one🤔😁

That looks great. Very lucky to find a plater who will re-chrome a silencer most wouldn't touch them.

Some good progress over the past week.  Tank and side panels are now with the painter and just deciding on the paint colour to use (waiting for Honda Japan to confirm the correct code). The forks are now rebuilt with new seals, re-chromed stanctions and fresh oil.
Today I finally commenced with the engine rebuild starting with another deep clean of the crankcase halves that were blasted and painted. I have fitted new shells on the conrods and mains (thanks Ash). I've also fitted the complete layshaft and countershaft I purchased from Ted after giving everything a good check and all was found to be serviceable including the bearings. All new seals have been fitted. Tomorrow will be closing the cases and fitting the barrels rebored by Trigger with +50 NOS Honda pistons I purchased from Ted.
I have also fitted a taper bearing headrace set from Pyramid Parts and..............they don't fit properly despite being advertised as the correct kit! The top bearing (15mm depth) protrudes 6.5mm from the top of the steering head with the result I could only obtain one turn on the castellated nut and nothing at all on the top yoke centre nut!  I removed the 3mm washer from below the lower race on the yoke which itself was really difficult to do without causing damage and refitted the dust seal with the lower bearing sitting directly on it with no spacer at all. This allowed three turns on the castellated nut but still only one and half turns on the top yoke centre nut. I have been in contact with Pyramid Parts and asked them to comment becuase I don't think having only 1.5 turns on the top nut feels particually safe.

Henry Cole would be proud to have found that during one of his shed and buried's.
Good luck with the rebuild, post some progress reports please Johnny as it will make for an interesting read. I've seen these running but never anything about how they were made.

I hope the bike is ok and you can enjoy it as you used to as it obviously means a lot to you. It’s a shame the people who worked on it have so little knowledge of the engine and the person in charge failed to undertake basic workmanship checks prior to handing it back to you.

In view of how they have refitted the filter housing and the copper washers as pointed out by Nigel if it were my bike I would be taking the filter housing off to fit it correctly (the cast lug is there for a reason) and at the same time I would be checking the filter itself has been replaced with a new item and the flat washer has been refitted in the correct position between the spring and the filter. It will also give you an opportunity to check the condition of the oil. I would be taking pictures and I’d be going back to the mechanic and demanding some kind of refund for such shoddy workmanship.

I was with CM for over 20 years. Carole was fantastic but when it was sold to one of the big boys prices doubled within a couple of years.

Going back to Ian's original point, I had to contact Nectar yesterday due to a problem with my card. I had to use the 'live chat' function. After 45 minutes of endless texts to an overseas call centre I gave up and closed the chat down with no result. Had I been able to speak to a real person on the telephone it would have been resolved in 5 minutes!
My local council has now removed the reception and telephone operators desk from the civic centre to 'save money'. You now have to call a main telephone number where it is all automated and use the keypad to navigate to the department you wish to speak to. When you finally get there nobody answers the phone because nobody works in the council building anymore as all staff now undertake 'hybrid' working, in other words they work from home.
Is it any wonder the country is broken and it is impossible to get anything done anymore. Meanwhile the goverment (no matter who they are) are in the pockets of the major corporations and allow massive profits to be made and paid to mainly overseas shareholders at the expense of service to customers.