GB400TT

[Bonez]

yep - more.

Now that's what I call dedicated or is that .........................(p/t)

Edit- Oh forgot to mention I saw a rather immaculate SR500 the other day.

[Bonez]

Update.

The beast is making that "rattly" cam chain noise these things are prone for. Noticed it on last weeks valley run with Bobsmith and co. Not as bad as some, but I'll have it attended to in a fortnights time. Should have enough spare pennies, without diving into the savings, by then to have the job done. Costs less than some spend on a rear tyre

Still a joy to ride. For those interested I'm running an Me33 up front 90/90 and Barracuda 100/90 (down one size) rear. This setup suits the bike real well.

Located some spare wheels for the Gasaxe today also. Hell, a good day alround really even managed to bring an old industrial B & D angle grinder to life. The things folk throw away. Will come in handy for those wee projects I will be carrying out.

[HenryDorsetCase]

I paid $4299 brand new for the mark 2 version in 1988 (faired, single seat). They immediately dropped the price to $3899, and I wrote to Blue Wing and told them I would never buy another bike from them. And I never will. treat their customers with contempt, mutter, mutter.

.

funny how old posts come bite you in the arse. I did buy a brand new Honda this year.... (go the Hornet!).

Just shows I am a whore for the best deal!

I would still like another GB, and still ahve a VF750 taking up space in the garage.... so not everything has changed.

[froggyfrenchman]

I have the worlds best gb!

[Silage]

Hey Bonez

The GBs do tend to chew out their cam chains although it is a mystery to me as to why. They are a 4/5 bar link (ie quite meaty) and must be under small strain. Mine last about 20,000ks. Hope your tensioner is not shot also as that will be extra dosh. It is an auto tensioner that takes up any slack but doesn't release it so if the chain gets a bit lumpy it tends to get tighter and tighter till the tensioner starts to slip - all not good.

[Shadows]

Dude I sold mine with 35,000km on the clock for $700 in 1992.
I'd bought it 2½ years earlier with 15,000k on the clock for $1100.
Mint apart from a dent in the top of the tank.
Everybody is too fucking greedy I reckon.

[Bonez]

Hey Bonez

The GBs do tend to chew out their cam chains although it is a mystery to me as to why. They are a 4/5 bar link (ie quite meaty) and must be under small strain. Mine last about 20,000ks. Hope your tensioner is not shot also as that will be extra dosh. It is an auto tensioner that takes up any slack but doesn't release it so if the chain gets a bit lumpy it tends to get tighter and tighter till the tensioner starts to slip - all not good.

Already toying with the idea of fashioning a manual one similar to those on the old yammy triples. Shouldn't be too hard.

[Bonez]

Nearly 2 years later the cam chain is still rattling away no louder than the last post about it.

Just checked the tappets, both inlets and one exhaust needed seeing to. Oil consumptions about 250mls every 2000kms as apposed to a 500mls or more every 500kms for La Trog. Two new tyres fitted in the last 1000kms. A Cheng Shin Barracuda front and Hi Max on the rear(both from AFC M/Cs). The tires managed the extended ride to and from the Cold Duck in inclement weather on sealed and unsealed road without issue. Mind you this bike isn't a powerhouse but fun all the same.

Final drive chain is due for replacement. Got three options-Chain/Sprocket kit, HD chain only or X'ring only. Probably go the HD only. The last one seems to have lasted well. Sprockets are ok. I tend the adjust/check/oil chains regularly and still haven't gone through that 4 litre pack of 90 weight gear oil I bought years ago. But next change will definately be a combo change. Will go to a 38 toothed rear spocket if one is available as the 36 is too high geared I've found.

Also will get an EMGO shorty reverse cone muffler within a month or so.

Completely drained the tank today to remove any water and loose scale.
Will change the fork oil and shout Gerble to a new spark plug in the near future. Hasn't been inspected since I bought it- if it aint broke and all that.....

All in all Gerbles given good service and hopefully will do so for a few years more.

[Bonez]

My time flies when your having fun. 80,000kms up and Gerbles due for another oil/filter change etc. Shell Helix 15/40 dino at $25 for 4ltrs seemed a good deal. LH fork seal needs replacing. Back country unsealed corrigations and dust the cause I should imagine, no scouring at all. Got a spare seal that should do the job. Obviously I'm going to replace the fork oil in each leg. Good ol ATF. Will check/repack the stearing head bearings while I'm at it.

Shes looking a bit worse for wear at the moment as she's out in all weather during the week. Still fires up first pop and rattlier than grandmas dentures in a tumble dryer-don't ask.

Almost forgot. Bought a small oil can($5 at Super Cheap), while getting the engine oil, to dispense the 90 weight gear box oil on the chain. Much tidier than the ATF top up dispencer I've been using for the last couple of decades. Small enough to pack away on tour too.

See ya out on the road.

Edit-The oil tank drain plug was a bit worse for wear. The 12mm hex head was rounded off a bit, a good sign its obviously had regular oil changes in the last 20 years, so replaced it with a 17mm sump plug off the 250T I wrecked a while back. The MDI shocks is still doing the trick. Still on the eye out for a good secondhand set of Konis/Ikons. Chain replaced with HD RK offering.

[piston broke]

lazy as,
gotta link too the 500 manual?
my old man has one,tho he uses it to comute maybe 60k;s/week.
shite i remember as a 20yr old droolin over them when they came out.
tho the old 74 cb400f ss i was riding was still waaay better.anyone know where i can find a 400f ss?

[Bonez]

PM me your address details and I'll post you a cd.

[Bonez]

Finally got around to pulling the forks to do the seals. Not a hard job but it helps to be in the right mood or else damage can be done to components. Left cap and the spring in to undo the lower allen bolt. A couple of bits of wood acted as soft jaws to hold the fork in the vice. Clean all bits with a water flush, rag, deisel and left to dry complete prior to reassembly. Will pop in to SKF to get suitable seals if they have them, taking the one of the items I pulled out as a sample. Doing this generally a lot cheaper than getting seals through a bike shop I've found in the past.

Be carefull out there.

[Bonez]

In the end I popped in to City Honda to cost out fork seals as SKF didn't have double lipped offering. To be honest the price wasn't too bad and came with a new dust so that's the way I went. Certain a lot less than a sole single lipped seal I ordered from ANZA a few years ago. Made a brass punch from some brass rod (removed burrs obvious) at work to gently tap the new seal in place. The manual says use special tool blah blah but you certainly don't need it. Also made a hook out of steel coat hanger to remove the washer at the top of the spring and spring itself. Used a CB500/4 dipstick to determin the correct fluid level.

Gerbles front end is all back together less the brass spacers the previous owner had fitted at the moment.

Damn hot and I should've been out riding but it's nice to tinker ah?

[Bonez]

My time flys when your having fun doesn't it? WOF for Gerble next month and the back tire will not make it through. Decided yesterday to pop into Manawatu M/C to see it they had suitable hoop to slap on and sure enough ther was a Shinko 110/90 SR 712R that would do the job just nicely. Had it fitted and bought an oil filter while I was there.

Hmmm, what do I do now? Scrub it in obviously. Off home we twaddled, get all my riding gear on and off we go. Destination-Havelock North via alternate route of course. Cracker day for it. Only other bike I saw on the toodle was Yammie Virago around Elstorpe way. Caught up with the whole famdamily and stayed the night with the olds. Up at 6 this morning rearing to go. Gas up and was intending to get home the quickest way as those clouds over Dannivagas were looking pretty ominous.

Gerble had plans and decided to head right off SH2 and on to Burma Rd(?). Seal to start off with then on the some really tight packed unsealed stuff. Awesome veiw towards the east coast. Fairly steep drop and no barriers to stop one being blown over the side, but hey, we try not to let that happen ah? The unsealed bit lasted a couple of miles, then onto a what could only be discribed as narrow country "lane". This connected up to Raukawa Rd which led back to Bridge Pa. This was the oppersate direction I was wanting to go but thought why not? NICE!! Got to the "Pa" then on towards Maraekakaho(sp) and Gerble decides to go left back into the hills up Valley Road. This linked back on to the Raukawa Road.

Going in the correct direction again, oh goody. Twoodled up to a T intersection that had Waipawa left, Argle Rd right. Argle Rd sounded familiar, but had not been on it before. Well not that I could recall anyway. This hooks up to Argle East Rd which loops on to Tiko Kino road so stopped in at Onga Onga. Put on my skivy as the temp had dropped and it was starting to drizzle. Back into 50 then SH2 Norsewood, Ormondville, Te Uri(?) Rd onto Dannivirke. Looked down at the tripometer and 190kms ticked over since gassing up. Hmm, not bad considering Dannivagas is only 95 odd kms from the olds place.

Wind and rain a lot worse now so I was feelling the cold. I'd removed the liners from the riding gear yesterday thinking they wouldn't be needed. Certainly was looking fwd to a nice hot bath.

Rear tires well and truely scrubbed in and am happy be back home refreshed for the next adventure. Mentle note to self- take the bloody map book next time and pack the liners.

[Bonez]

Ah well, WOF time again so off I toodle to VTNZ. I look down. Opps no speedo needle movement. Last test done on the CuBix the testing bloke rode it, so back home I go thinking the inner cable was broken. Nup, the tang that engages the cable has snapped flush. The reason it snapped is it appears the tag used to screw end of the cable into the drive had sheared and allowed the cable outer to wooble a bit more than it should. Not uncommon it would seem. Oh well, new cable as well then.

Managed to source a replacement drive originally off an FT500 from Pete Sales at Total Motorcycles. Manawatu M/Cs had an after market (Motion Pro) cable -thought I'd hold off till next pay on that. Whilst putting things back together it occured to me that I really don't want this to happen again. Had a shifty in the play pen, which I should have done earlier, and found a much more robust speedo drive of late '70s early 80s vintage where the cable slips in then a screw holds it in position using a V cutout (had a spare cable as one does). Had no problems whatsoever with these drives on my other bikes. Now with Gerble only having 84,000kms up I thought she deserved better. Ensuring the drive gears off each unit meshed ok, using the eyeometere made certain the cast in internal spacers looked the same as well as the axle hole, I fitted that drive instead.

I'll keep the one I got from Pete as a backup. It turns out Pete has a few bits n bobs for CuBix I'll aquire at some stage. Also figured out how to repair the broken one once I'd settled down for a cuppa. Missed the WOF though so Monday for that.