Classic Ride - Honda CBX1000Z

After only 60 miles on his just-rebuilt CBX special, Rickie White began a 1000-mile adventure from Ireland to Kent. Brian Tarbox is glad to report that he made it and describes how Rickie created his super CBX special.

IT was a nerve-racking journey. Rickie White had bolted into place the last piece of his Honda CBX1000 special just a few days before.

Now he was setting off from his home in Enniskillen in County Fermanagh for the CBX Euro Rally in Kent - a round trip of 1000 road miles and a return ferry crossing of the Irish Sea.
The engine had been rebuilt after standing idle for more than 20 years and before setting off that August morning Rickie had put in a total of just 60 'test' miles. What now lay ahead was 1000 miles of high anxiety. Anything that sounded at all unusual sent his pulse racing.

The clatter of the valves, the swish of the cam chain, the pounding of the suspension: he listened to the orchestrated symphony, fearing and half expecting the gut-wrenching discord of disaster. And so it went on, nerves raw and exposed, for hour after hour until he arrived at the rally site.
He said: "I wasn't exactly in a panic but I felt like a first time mother with a new baby for every mile of that journey."

LAST month I managed to dismantle Mark's Kawasaki Z650F1 down into big lumps - and not without some difficulties.
The major problem was two of the front engine bolts which were seized solidly into the crankcase and I had to resort to carefully cutting through them with a hacksaw blade squeezed between the engine and the frame tube in order to get the engine out.
Now I've got the bike into smaller bits I can really start work on the renovation.
As various bits will have to be sent out for powder coating and plating, I've decided to get those bits prepared and sent out first, then I was able to work on the engine while I waited for them to come back.

1: I've started by separating the cycle parts into piles, sorted according to how they need to be refinished. This sounds easy, but remember it may be some months before it all goes back together again and it's worth taking lots of photos and making notes as a guide when it's time to reassemble everything. These are all the parts for powder coating.

2: To make the job easier for the powder coaters, everything has to be degreased and washed before it goes off to them. I'm using a small electric parts washer filled with Miller's Millsol Green cleaning solvent. It's a bit smelly, but it's a fast and effective way of quickly degreasing parts and is an invaluable workshop resource.