Should I take this offer?

[samsonskeg]

my 2000 Suzuki Katana, 6k miles, with braada rear cowl seat for $2000 cash and a 1982 Honda CB 75 custom?


does this sound likea good deal to you guys? I need the cash to fix my car, and i wont be bikeless.

[backdraft51185]

sure you wont be bikeless, but then again your your switchin to a bike thats 23 years old instead of a five year old bike...so i day it depends on the condition of the old bike, if the maintanince schedule was actually followed etc.

[Range]

you must mean a CB750

[samsonskeg]

yeah... CB750

[The CyberPoet]

Re: Should I take this offer?

my 2000 Suzuki Katana, 6k miles, with braada rear cowl seat for $2000 cash and a 1982 Honda CB 75 custom?

does this sound likea good deal to you guys? I need the cash to fix my car, and i wont be bikeless.

If you need the cash, you need the cash. Living in NY, riding the bike all year isn't an option like it would be in Florida...

The CB750 is a comfy, lazy bike, and I like the type a lot for urban commuting (lazy commuting), but doesn't have near the handling or stopping the modern Kats do, and at this age, I would expect it to need lots of new parts, including new fork seals & oil if not outright new forks.
On the other hand, it's easy to work on (even easier than the Kat usually), parts are usually abundent (good quality tires can sometimes be a problem to find, depending on wheel sizes), and it's a robust bike (not prone to lots of mechanical failures). That time period CB-series did have problems with the electrical insulation on the wiring though (biodegradable), and you need to verify that the electrical system is 100% up to snuff before you seriously consider it. Also look closely at the exhaust (tends to rust out in places that get salted roads over the winter, because some of the salt is still there come spring) and test ride the bike.
If New York has a mandatory inspection, make the CB passing the inspection part of the deal.

Good Luck!
=-= The CyberPoet

[pvt. bloggins]

depends where you want to go with your motorcycling, personally I enjoy the ride/comfort of the Kat over most bikes..

[john 07]

honestly i would try some dealers to see how much they would give you. That CB is prolly not worth that much. Its just my opinion but i would keep the bike

[toobalicious]

gotta tell you man, the CB750 can be a fun bike... absolutely different than your 2000 kat... i have both, love both, and know which bike to take for the type of riding i plan to do that day... the honda has less clearance than a kat... you will likely grind something when you ride it hard, especially with an aftermarket 4-1... that said, it is very comfy, heavy enough and with a long enough wheelbase to be very stable, but still 200+ lighter than your average harley davidson... and i happen to know for a fact that my particular example is faster than a 2001 Fatboy, YMMV...
these bikes benefit greatly from a little massaging, like ss brake lines and exhaust/stage 1 kits... make sure that stock airbox stays intact wth the CV carbs... the slides wont even fully lift with k&n pods on stock carbs....

figure a dead-stock 81 cb750 custom is worth between $1K-3K depending on condition and mileage...

a

[ne-oublie]

Re: Should I take this offer?

That time period CB-series did have problems with the electrical insulation on the wiring though (biodegradable).
Good Luck!

Hey Cyber,what do you mean by this exactly?thanks.

[The CyberPoet]

Re: Should I take this offer?

That time period CB-series did have problems with the electrical insulation on the wiring though (biodegradable).
Good Luck!

Hey Cyber,what do you mean by this exactly?thanks.

Honda decided there was a world-wide problem with the recycling of the insulation on their motorcycle wiring looms at the time (I would guess it would apply to their car production as well during the same time frames, but I have no clue).
Whether this meant that the compound they previously used as the insulation was dangerous to the environment during smelting or after breakdown, or whether it was an attempt to appeal to the save-the-earth types (many who rode bikes at the time), or if it was just a marketing attempt to spin some cheaper vendor's wiring & insulation, I have no clue. But for a nineteen to twenty-two month period (somewhere between 79-83, but exactly where in there I don't know), they switched to what they called "environmentally friendly" insulation on their MC wiring looms.
The idea was that the bikes had an expected maximum lifespan of ten-to-fifteen years or so, and after that, the insulation was supposed to break down on it's own, permitting easier recycling of the copper at a crusher/smelter operation (perhaps less off-gassing than standard poly vinyl chloride?). The problem turned out to be that in certain situations (high heat, high humidity, high UV exposure), esp when combined with certain fungi (mold/mildew) exposures, the wiring loom insulation would break down at an even more accelerated rate, literally turning to dust and falling away in chunks in as little as 3 to 5 years.
Naturally, this lead to all sorts of nightmares for bikers whose looms went bad way before their time (including at least one of my own bikes from that era which got lots of heat, humidity, UV exposure -- and which caused me to back-track the issue back then). I don't know what the environment in NY would do to this insulation, but it's worth checking to make sure that the insulation isn't on the boundary of crumbling away and/or has already been replaced.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[slayergsxf1]

If the CB was 72 to 78 yes but a 1982,keep the Kat.