OM guitar

Visualizing the new rosette which will be handmade on the top. The center of the rosette will be an interlocking wave pattern surrounded by multi-color bands.


This is a new top for an orchestra model acoustic guitar. The body is walnut, mahogany neck, Honduran rosewood fretboard, and Sitka spruce top, trimmed probably in maple. It will be a left handed steel string guitar.

Commuting on a race replica

All the issues with this bike are resolved and it's been my commuter bike for almost two weeks while the car is in the shop.
A v-4 engine like on this bike has a lot of torque, so it accelerates really fast. Handling is neutral but responsive without being twitchy. I have learned that I need to temper my driving and slow down so the cage drivers have time to see me and respond. It's hard enough on a normal bike to be seen, but when you're riding a fast bike like the Honda Interceptor, the rider must slow down so that the drivers see more than a blurry streak or the sudden appearance of a vehicle where there was nothing before.
For a little while, I was riding without instruments and judging speed by flow of traffic and wind resistance. Once I got the replacement instrument cluster, I realized how fast I was really traveling. The bike is very smooth and quiet, and the small fairing displaces enough air over the top of my helmet so that I was not able to correctly judge my speed or acceleration. Also, I can now calculate my fuel efficiency, which is just under 50 MPG in city driving.
Not bad for a $900 bike.

This motorcycle is a 1985 Honda VF700F Interceptor.
The paint scheme is black and white instead of the factory Blue and White.
When I got it, it had been dropped a number of times and worked on by a monkey with wrenches.
It is now almost in good enough condition to be seen in public.


The motor is a low mileage replacement. The cams are shiny and smooth with no sign of pitting.

Improvements made include;

• Cleaned and lined the fuel tank.
  
• Replaced the exhaust system. The header pipes are wrapped.
  
• Replaced the head gasket on the rear bank and also a broken head bolt.
  
• Re-torqued both sets of heads and adjusted the valves.
  
• Cleaned the carbs.
  
• Replaced various screws and bolts, re-tapping when necessary.
  
• Got new turn signal lights and rear view mirrors.
  
• Repaired the radiators and replaced leaking cooling system gaskets.
  
• New tires.
  
• New paint, to do; decals, pin stripes, clear coat, etc.
  

On the wish list; new wind screen, replace sprockets and chain, 750cc engine.

VF700F back to life

This 1985 VF700F Interceptor is running after some repairs to the cooling system and the motor rear bank of cylinders. It's now time to put a paint job on it. The original paint was blue on white, but I'm leaning toward black & white or a dark charcoal & white, since I've got yellow decals.

Out with the old bikes, in with the new one.

Sold the GS750, Sold the GS450L, sold a guitar, transferred money from an investment account.

Got a '85 VF700F for $900 plus have already bought parts for about $300+.
Is there money left? You betcha. Pay off a CC, get a bike!

This is a nice ride, it just needs to be brought back to a reasonable maintenance level.

For me, one of the nice things about getting used bikes is, if they aren't wrecked, they only suffer from benign neglect. Easy to get them back running.
The reason is that many who purchase bikes don't know how to keep a shovel in good running order, much less a motorcycle. Bad for them, good for me.

Fitting in on the highway.

One problem with hyper-miling is being so out of synch with most other drivers that you stand out.
This last tank of gas, I drove a little more normally (for Atlanta) and it cost me 3MPG or 1.5 gallons more or less. From my personal best, it 5MPG, which is a couple of gallons lost on the highway. The way gas prices are going, that's no small change.

Smoky Sleeper

When I first got this 1978 Suzuki GS750, it had a hole in the lower crankcase that I patched with some high temperature epoxy. Well, that lasted a couple of years, and it started leaking. It turned out that it was cheaper to buy another engine than to replace the lower crankcase.
I got a running 1978 GS750 engine, but there were some signs that it wasn't what it seemed. It had oil cooler pipes, the covers were all chromed, hmm...
Well, after a lot of cleaning, the engine was swapped in and everything was buttoned up and tested. The starter motor is a little weak, but the engine will start on the weakest of kicks on the kick start. Hmm...
It's got torque, and it growls like a 900cc... Hmm.. I mighta lucked out and picked up a bored out rebuilt motor. It smoked real bad on #4 piston, but after it got hot, the smoke went away. I did put a little seal conditioner in the oil to help the valve seals plump up a little. After all those weekends of wrenching, I AM going to ride.
While the engine was being swapped out, I did a quick paint job that I signed 'Infidel'. That's my left hand print on the top of the tank. Red and yellow should be bright enough for most other drivers to see me coming.