My 80 650 Custom

[Gunny]

Just picked up an '80 650 Custom for $400. PO said it needed a stator and was not firing on the #4 cylinder. Trucked it home and, while removing the battery, noticed that the terminals were corroded. Cleaned the terminals and all of the very crusty connectors in the charging system. Replaced the very black, wet plugs and it fired up like new. Charging system is 14.8 volts at 5000 rpm. Sure, it has the obligatory oil leak in the head, needs new fork seals, a good cleaning and fresh paint, but for $400 I am smiling a lot. From what I can tell, the bike is stock except for the mirrors and sissy bar. The Splitfire windshield is pretty much worthless for somebody as tall as I am, so it's coming off. Many thanks for all the excellent info on this forum. It's good to see so much experience and knowledge shared.

Regards,

Gunny

[pae]

Hi Gunny, wlecome to the site. Lot of bike there for $400, good purchase.

regards, Phil

[cb650]

Another one that looks like mine. I must have bad taste .
If you want to sell the shield let me know.

[Gunny]

Sorry about the windshield CB, but my son has already claimed it for his 550. You can get a new one on Ebay for around $70 but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're 5'6" or less, or like laying on the tank. lol

[Volker_P]

Welcome here, Gunny!
Looks like a very good deal for you, as you already noticed. The windshield reduces the wind load on your body considerably even if your head is completely above it. So it is not completely worthless. You will notice the difference at high speeds as soon as it is off! If you consider a higher windshield instead, turbulences on the level of the helmet may be very annoying. In this case a lower shield even with full wind on the helmet is much better. So don't give it away until you are really sure you don't want it.

[cb650]

Well I'm 5'9" and use one already. The angle / hight is greatly adjustable.
Have pics of my bike and others in my "tag". Mine is starting to crack at the mount points.

[Rocky]

Nice bike and a steal at $400.

welcome to the forum.

[Gunny]

You were right about the windshield Volker. I took it off and went for a ride. There's a major difference without it, so I put it back on. My son will have to find another one for his bike. lol

Gunny

[cb650]

They do make a big diff on long rides. I have them on both my bikes.
Did you check out my twin to yours? Even has the same rack altough I have the locking trunk also.

[Gunny]

Hey CB,

I did take a look at the twin. You've got great taste in bikes. lol

Noticed you've done a lot of riding at 10,000 feet plus. Any issues with performance of your bike? I've always heard that higher altitudes can be a problem on a carburetor engine.

[cb650]

Well I live a mile hi so "jetted" for here. Both bikes run good untill about 8000 ft. Then they want to slow down. Always start and keep chuging along though. Have 2 more elevation signs I want to get in my colection this year. Not really higher just more pics. Some where I do have a pic on top of mt evans (14k) but before I really took interest in the "bike by sign" idea. Was on the 360 with my boy and it didnt like it one bit. Kept running just felt like I could push it faster.

[Gunny]

My first bike was a CB350 and I rode it all over Southern California. I'm 6'1" and 225 lbs., and it didn't like my size much either. lol But that never stopped me. Rode it up to Big Bear several times and it never let me down. I'd love to find a 350 to restore just for tooling around on short trips. They're hard find around here though, and expensive. I'm keeping my eyes on CraigsList and one will show up someday.

[chucksklrst]

Years ago, say about 27 years ago, I took my First bike to the top of MT Evens. Had to keep adjusting the idle so it would run. It happened to be a 1979 CB 650. My goal this summer is to take the 79 CB 650 that I own now to the top of MT Evens. Trying to relive that ride of 27 years ago . Hope I am not disappointed.

[cb650]

Let me know when and I'll tag along.

[arcangel]

I have a tall windshield on my bike and it hits my head just above the eyes, I have the wind turblance as listed above but it beats the crap out of having the wind blow me off the bike and speeds above 60mph I love it !

you also have to contend with rain blocking your view from a wind shield that is to high as well. Just things to think about.