JPanichella
Been Around the Block
Hey guys,
I'm a pretty novice rider, and I was forced to sell my first bike (xs650) to deal with several moves and lots of student debt. Now that my girlfriend and I are settled, she's got the urge to learn how to ride. So we're talking about picking up a small bike to learn on when we come across a CB360 about six minutes away from our house. The bike looks pretty great in the photos, here they are for reference.
We went and checked it out today, and it's in great shape for it's age. Here's all the issues I made a note of:
1. Seems like the cam chain is very noisy, I could hear it pretty clear over the sound of the exhaust. Is that an adjustment needed or do I need to look at replacing the tensioner/cam chain?
2. Popping on deceleration. I know that when a bike is well tuned it's supposed to pop occasionally, this is very frequent. This is a carb adjustment issue? In the post he claims he cleaned them, I'm hoping it's just a matter of tuning.
3. Headlight has a short and cuts out, or doesn't turn on at all. He said he did some electrical work when he replaced the battery, it looked like a pretty bad job with lots of wire nuts. I'll have to chase it down, but he seems to think it's under the tank somewhere.
4. Front brake was spongy, he has a new cable and recently replaced the pads. First time dealing with drum brakes, but I think I can figure it out.
He's asking for $1800, which for the LA market is in the ballpark, but I'm not sure of what I'm getting into in terms of these repairs. I'm mechanically oriented and eager to learn, and have access to some toys (tig and meg welders, CNC machine) so I feel like I can deal with most of the fixes, but wanted to get your thoughts.
I'm a pretty novice rider, and I was forced to sell my first bike (xs650) to deal with several moves and lots of student debt. Now that my girlfriend and I are settled, she's got the urge to learn how to ride. So we're talking about picking up a small bike to learn on when we come across a CB360 about six minutes away from our house. The bike looks pretty great in the photos, here they are for reference.
We went and checked it out today, and it's in great shape for it's age. Here's all the issues I made a note of:
1. Seems like the cam chain is very noisy, I could hear it pretty clear over the sound of the exhaust. Is that an adjustment needed or do I need to look at replacing the tensioner/cam chain?
2. Popping on deceleration. I know that when a bike is well tuned it's supposed to pop occasionally, this is very frequent. This is a carb adjustment issue? In the post he claims he cleaned them, I'm hoping it's just a matter of tuning.
3. Headlight has a short and cuts out, or doesn't turn on at all. He said he did some electrical work when he replaced the battery, it looked like a pretty bad job with lots of wire nuts. I'll have to chase it down, but he seems to think it's under the tank somewhere.
4. Front brake was spongy, he has a new cable and recently replaced the pads. First time dealing with drum brakes, but I think I can figure it out.
He's asking for $1800, which for the LA market is in the ballpark, but I'm not sure of what I'm getting into in terms of these repairs. I'm mechanically oriented and eager to learn, and have access to some toys (tig and meg welders, CNC machine) so I feel like I can deal with most of the fixes, but wanted to get your thoughts.
