This thread is from Chris Rushton. His bike is pictured on the Main Page, on the roads of the Isle of Man. He has written VERY interesting comments.
"For your interest hopefully, I have attached a picture taken of my "regular rider" sandcast, serial number 1005298, E1005192, taken on the Isle of Man during TT 2004. I have owned this bike since 1989. When it came to the UK, it was 80% original and was showing 22,000 miles which I would suggest was probably correct based on its general condition at that time. Following a re-build, it has been in regular weekend use (April to November) every year since then and is now showing 82,000 miles. Over the last few years, the annual mileage has been increasing, 7,000 miles having been covered in 2004 alone. It is not a show bike, it is used in all weathers, but I do try to keep it mostly in original condition. As a concession to its past, I have never removed from the left hand fork lower the "University of Southern California" parking sticker which shows an expiry date of 30th January 1972!
I do ride other Hondas, both modern and classic, but can honestly say that the CB is the best of them all. Trips planned so far for 2005 include two weeks on the Isle of Man, a week in Scotland, and a possible trip to Norway. Can't wait!
A technical thought also. A couple of years back, when ridden hard (80mph + crusing / hard acceleration), she was suffering from oil being blown out of the oil tank breather all over the rear tyre, etc. I was concerned the rings were shot (60,000 miles up by then on the originals), but could not understand why the oil was coming from the oil tank breather rather than the cylinder head cover breather. Eventually, I found that the cylinder head breather tube was completely blocked with emulsified oil, resulting in the crankcase having to "breath" back up the small bore tube from the crankcase rear to the oil tank separator, in turn pressurising the oil tank and forcing oil mist out of its breather. The solution was, and still is, to remove the cylinder head breather tube at every 3,000 mile service and clean through. Since then, no more oil loss (even at 100+), and the rings are still original at 82,000.
It would be interesting to know if any one else has suffered this problem (most people unfortunately probably do not cover enough miles on these bikes any more though). It may just be a feature of our climate here in the UK (rarely over 25°C even in the middle of Summer). Most of the time the engine does not run hot enough, even on long trips, to completely burn off all moisture in the oil. (there is usually some emulsified oil present under the oil tank cap.
I probably should of posted this tale to get some discussion going.
Cheers for now - Chris
NOTE: Chris, this is GREAT stuff ! ss