Enjoying the K1

[UK Pete]

I have been taking every opportunity to ride my K1 lately as i really enjoy riding it, the sound from the exhausts is the dogs boll--ks
i am getting about 90 miles to a tenner of petrol , is that about right for these bikes, also what length should the rear shocks be, the reason i ask is the bike is really hard to get on the center stand , and also Yoshi mentioned they looked like 550 shocks .
Pete

[SteveD CB500K0]

My maths says that:

[honda-san]

Hi Pete,

I get around 48 - 52 mpg usually. Or approx 11 miles per litre for the youngsters out there, so I reckon 90 miles to a tenners worth is about right.

Rear shocks are DEFINATELY correct - they are the opriginal type with the black plastic cover around the damper up inside the spring.

They can be a bit of a heave onto the mainstand, but its just a case of three shredded wheat in a morning (or some spinach) I'm afraid.

Wish the weather up here in Yorkshire was fit to get out on the bike. What's happened to all that bloody global warming we are supposed to be "suffering" from!!!

Keep on enjoying it Pete - Chris R.

[Spitfire]

Just keep on enjoying it, I've never checked my MPG but the plugs are a nice colour and the bike goes nice

Cheers

Den

[UK Pete]

Yes i recon with the stiff throttle on these and the heave ho needed to get it on the stand i will soon have arms like Arnold Swartzenegger
Ha Ha
Pete

[the-chauffeur]

<Jealous> Can't wait to get out on the K2, but am waiting on delivery of a Gordon frame kit from the US site.  Can't take the aggro of pulling the engine every time I wanna fiddle with the top end (adjustable cam sprocket maybe).  Am also awaiting a Dyna ignition for the CB450 from the US.  Needless to say, the wait(s) is killing me.

On the subject of heavy throttle, has anyone tried/used the lockwire trick - running a length or two of lockwire around the throttle cable groove in the handle?  I'm told it makes the throttle a bit more responsive without making any permanent alterations.

[UK Pete]

I was thinking of getting a gorden frame kit, if i do it will go on my cafe racer project as this bike is going to be made from spare parts i have accumulated so chopping up the frame does not bother me, i must say what was Honda thinking when they designed the frame on these , it would have been so easy to make it different so as to be able to dismantle the top end in situ,
I have never heard of the throttle mod
How long have you got to wait for the stuff from USA?
Pete

[Spitfire]

Never heard of the wire trick but we always used to put a pencil between the grip and the throttle tube to make it easier to use with thick gloves on.

Cheers

Den

[the-chauffeur]

I'm guessing that when Honda made them, they only envisaged a five-year life cycle, and so didn't really plan for the engine coming out 

Might just be me, but stuff from the 'states seems to be taking longer and longer to get here - particularly if it's sent USPS.  Apparently the surface mail option is now all but defunct, but even though they were sent air freight, the last few bits I ordered (another electronic ignition kit and a couple of NOS switchgears) took the best part of three weeks to appear - with the obligatory import and 'handling' charges attached. Whilst I can't pinpoint precisely where the main delays happen, I have a sneaking suspicion they're this end where Royal Mail meets HMRC. 

The Gordon kit is a bit different, in that it's not an off-the-shelf set of bits.  Once the guy who supplies them gets enough buyers (I think he needs fifteen-to-twenty for a viable run) he puts the order in and there's a two week machine time (which I think we're in the middle of that right now) - and then they're posted, again, USPS (or the Canadian equivalent).  He tells me that when my kit is taken in for posting, he's gonna mark the box as a low value commercial sample - which is technically correct - and so hopefully it won't get caught up in the RM/HMRC black hole.

Still seems a long way off . . .