New member and owner, from Louisiana

[Larry Zimmer]

I wouldn't even think of doing speedo repair -- just call Mike. You can find his contact info with a 'search' for speedometer. Your speedo looks as those it has seen some sunshine. Might consider having Mike rehab your entire cluster.

[Devonian]

Thanks all for the advice. Made it back home to Louisiana - 1,241 miles door-to-door.

Now to clean the bugs off. Have already reached out to Mike about the tach needle.

[Jeff Bennetts]

[Dynamohum]

Thanks all for the advice. Made it back home to Louisiana - 1,241 miles door-to-door.

Now to clean the bugs off. Have already reached out to Mike about the tach needle.

Mike can turn your gauges into these.

IMG_0611.png

[Devonian]

That is really pretty.

Can he (or anyone) turn an 80mph speedo into a 140mph speedo?

[JoeInTUS]

Mike can do the conversion to a 150 mph speedometer. Pretty sure he converted Dynamohum’s speedo

[Devonian]

I'll have to think about that... Not quite ready to throw money at this bike just yet - need to do a little more bonding with her first.

Different question: How much oil usage is normal? I see no leaks so pretty sure she is burning oil. Went through maybe 0.8L in 1,200 miles. It may be a little less because I think it was slightly low when I picked her up.

[Rick Pope]

A little oil consumption is normal. I never really toured on mine, but recall that a qt./1,000 mi was pretty average.

[Dynamohum]

My early 79 used quite a bit but my 82 didn’t. I used about a quart of Amsoil on a 4,000 mile tour. It had 106,000 miles on it when I sold it. So far my current 82 with just over 36,000 miles has used a quart in 2,500 miles.

[daves79x]

Glad to see you made it home! I do believe a new set of tires will cure a lot of your negative observations about the handling. So much about the bike you can't know at this point. The forks would benefit from a proper rebuild with correct weight and volume of oil. Or a set of Race-Tech emulators. Your Progressive was a good shock when new. Study the adjustments and see if you can fine-tune it a bit. As mentioned, the rear also benefits greatly from a linkage service.

You mentioned a high idle. Does it return quickly to that high idle or does it hang higher, then slowly drop to 1700? If it drops quickly to 1700, just back out the idle screw a bit to see if you can get a steady, slightly-less-than 1000 rpm idle. Sitting at a stoplight at 1700 rpm creates a lot of unnecessary heat.

I think you'll like the bike a bit better with stock gearing, but that may lead to a chain length issue as well.

Dave

[Devonian]

I don't necessarily feel bad about the handling - It is what it is! - Actually not bad for a heavy, powerful,'70s design. Nevertheless, I expect there are some improvements to be had, with new tires being at the top of the list. The current ones are old, cheap and well flat-spotted. I got the forks aired up properly and will undoubtedly get deeper into the rear suspension at some point too. ...all in good time. Does the rear suspension usually just need inspecting and lubing, or are there dodgy bushings that need to be upgraded (I had several '70's and '80's bikes in the past with plastic suspension bushings that benefitted from upgrading.)

The idle is pretty steady in the 1,500 to 1,700 region. I will give it a tweak, next time I can get out and ride it enough to get the temperature well up. I spoke to the PO, who told me it has always done that, so at least I have some confidence it's not a "new" issue. I want to get out and ride it today, so I can fill-up at a local gas station that does ethanol-free fuel - then figure out how to drain the carbs, if she's going to sit for more than a few days.

I got incredibly lucky with the route I picked across Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. I managed to select routes that kept me (mostly) off interstates, and on fairly smooth back roads where I could do 60+ mph. For a significant portion of the entire route, there were no other vehicles in sight most of the time, and I was free to go at my own pace. It would have been better if the weather would have been cooler, but I had no real choices there. At least it was dry. There were a handful of places where I came across roadworks and while I actually never ended up sat for long, I killed the engine any time I was stopped with no clear idea how long I would be waiting. The last couple of hundred miles, down through Louisiana were on busier roads but I still didn't get caught in any bad traffic.

I guess Honda chose the stock gearing for a reason. The PO told me it was down a couple of teeth on the back but I haven't looked any closer than just checking that the adjustment was ok and nothing overly worn. It was turning 4000 rpm at a fraction below 65 mph. The speedo seems to read right-on or slightly slow (compared to GPS) but the odometer is almost exactly correct.

[Larry Zimmer]

Regarding you question about oil consumption: My 82 does about 7'50 miles per quart if I'm running 75 mph steady. (No leaks) Do some back roads stuff that keeps speeds mostly in the 40 -50 and that goes easily to 1000. Plugs are always clean. While a cylinder 'cleaning' and rings might help, I find it easier to just add oil and enjoy the ride.

[daves79x]

I guess to make it perfectly clear - the bike should NOT be idling nearly that high. If adjusting the idle screw will not lower it, then you've got other issues that need addressed. I'm guessing the high idle started right after the carbs were rebuilt.

Dave

[Devonian]

If it weren't 95F here today, I would have taken care of it already :)

[Devonian]

So, I rode about 7 miles round-trip for fuel, and as soon as I got back, grabbed a screwdriver and tweaked the idle speed down. I can get it to idle nicely at about 1100rpm (as far as it looks with the tach needle broken.) Below that, it wasn't happy and when I tried to take it much lower than 1000rpm, it died.