They say variety is the spice of life and that’s very true here at Mono Motorcycles! This week it’s all about classic motorcycle repair.

This week at mono motorcycles, Havant,  not one Honda classic Motorcycle, but two!

Mono motorcycles, Havant  offer a fully mobile motorcycle repair service & I had a call from a customer in Southampton to do a re-commission of his beautiful 1972 Honda CB750 F1. The gentleman has owned the motorcycle for 20 years but, he had not used it for the past 7 years due to heavy work load. Now retired he wants to get it back on the road. The list of bits included a full brake overhaul, carb clean & a full service ready for the MOT.

Brake overhaul

The first job was to remove the calipers & carbs so I could bring them back to the workshop in Havant to clean and rebuild.

The calipers were stripped, blasted & the bodies painted satin black. While they were drying, the carbs had an ultrasonic treatment. After dismantling them, the bodies had 45mins in the cleaner while the jets, being brass, were left to soak in another cleaner that is my little trick that I keep to myself. Carbs rebuilt & calipers dry, they were rebuilt using new seals before heading back to Southampton to refit. New brake lines have been added, as I think 40 plus years is more than enough for the old ones. While the carbs were off I checked the valve clearances, changed the plugs and leads & checked the points.

Carbs on and it was time to hit the start button, few turns and she was running. But hang on what’s this?!

Red means stop!

 

The Honda CB750 F1 motor fired, but the oil light was flickering at low revs.  I was not happy with that as it only meant one thing; low oil pressure! I dropped the oil and pulled the sump off. Dropped the oil pump out I soon found the issue, the oil pressure release valve was stuck, jammed with lack of use.  Only one thing for it. After a full strip, clean and refit the motorcycle fired up & the oil light went straight out. Panic over. The Honda CB750 F1 motor sounds sweet, ticking over smooth, happy days and even happier customer. Mono motorcycles, Havant proves yet again that versatility is the spice of life!

Little brother

We also had a smaller Honda CB500/4 in the workshop this week. The customer had just bought the motocycle and the idle was all over the place.

First thing was to get the carbs apart which revealed a blocked jet and a leaking needle valve. A new seal, cleaned fuel tap & tank of fresh fuel & it’s as good as new.

 

It’s been great fun to be working on such a variety of motorcycles and I love the 70’s machines, the simplicity and how everything can be stripped & rebuilt with simple tools and minimal parts, to me this is what biking is all about.