[CityHunter357]

You can’t get much better with “low maintenance” if you stick to a bike that has a shaft drive. I have a Honda Shadow Aero with shaft drive and it’s great! I change my own oil and filters, change my own air filter. When it’s time I’ll change my own radiator fluid and gear oil too. The only thing I haven’t done on my own yet is remove the wheels to get tires changed. If motorcycle shops are scarce around you, I’d be sure to get a service manual, regardless of what bike you get so you’ll know what parts to order on the “internets” as required.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

I got a Honda Shadow 750 Aero for my first bike. I took my time between finishing the MSF class and getting out into real world traffic (3 – 4 weeks riding around the neighborhood) to get comfortable. Now it’s second nature. I enjoy my 40 mile daily commute and the 53 mpg is wonderful. It’s not the bike that’s dangerous, it’s the rider. If you have a level head and take the time to get comfortable with the machine, I don’t see why a mid size cruiser like a V-twin 750 shoudn’t be an option for you.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

Funny thing, I let the bike sit over-night and rode it to work this morning. The speedometer needle worked ok. I guess something got wet and needed time to dry off….it’s just kinda weird. About the service and parts manuals, you’re preaching to the choir there bro. I had a problem with my bike about a month ago and needed to get a service manual to do the fix myself. Fortunately, I joined a website that caters to Honda Shadow owners and was able to get a pdf copy from another member…saved $60! I’m pretty sure I’ve probably saved about $500 – 800 this year alone by doing my own oil changes and fixing the last problem I had with it.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

There is a multi-pin connector that plugs into the speedometer assembly underneath the housing. Unfortunately I don’t have small enough meter leads to check electrical connections at the connector. The cable doesn’t appear to be damaged at the connector. I also took a look under the seat to see if there was a lot of residual water there and there didn’t appear to be any. The only thing I can think of is it’s either something in the speedometer assembly that burned up (the speedometer is a mechanical needle), or perhaps it could be the speed sensor (I find this unlikely since it’s under a cover and well protected. I just don’t want to spend the $250 on a new speedometer assembly if I don’t have to.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

I’ve been commuting and tooling around town on my Honda Shadow Aero 750. It’s a mid-size V-Twin, very comfortable, not too heavy, shaft drive, liquid cooled. I was hesitant at first to start out on something like it, but to be honest with you, after taking it slow and getting used to it, it’s been great!! I’d highly recommend you take a look at this model in addition to the others you mentioned.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

If you can get past some of the “extraneous content” of the web-site, it’s an otherwise pretty good general resource on motorcycle repair and such.

http://www.dansmc.com/

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7555996.stm

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

I think I’ll be able to ride 9 – 10 months out of the year here in TX. It gets really cold and icy in January/February, but other than that, I think I can manage as long as the weather holds out.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

Hey guys,

Just thought I’d fill you in on the latest regarding my motorcycle faux pas. After removing the right side crankcase cover, reseting the gap for the pulse generator over the rotor to 0.02-0.04 inches, resealing the cover with HondaBond HT and filling her up with oil again, I believe I corrected the problem. The engine starts up no prob. I’m going to wait until tomorrow to take her for an extended test ride, but I’m hopeful I fixed the problem. I have to say that this was a tremendous learning experience for me. I’ve only had the bike for about a month, and because of this issue I’ve had to learn how to:

1. Do a complete oil and filter change.
2. Remove a crankcase cover, clean it and reseal it.
3. Get familiar with the inner workings of the engine.
4. Troubleshoot using the shop manual.
5. Use online resources like HondaShadow.net for information and advice.

I also learned the Honda has a lot of what I would consider to be critical parts on Back Order which means it could take a significant amount of time to receive…say… a new pulse generator. I may yet order one of these just in case I need it down the road. I was almost going to cave and take the bike to the shop and get it fixed, but decided to tackle it on my own first. A special thanks for those of you who gave me advice if not sympathy

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

I looked at the FS-10 also. It’s a nice helmet, but for the money I went with the AC-10 Crypt instead and used the balance of the money for another piece of gear (Icon ARC Textile Pants – White).

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

I found a pretty good resource for the problem I think I have.

http://www.hondashadow.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63714&highlight=pulse+stick

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

I’ll give that a try. I have a theory as to what’s going on. I mentioned I saw a 2-wire cable going into the crankcase. The ONLY thing I can think of that would be electrical in there is the alternator. If the alternator is located just inside the crankcase on the near right side, I think i got the dipstick caught while it was spinning and I probably damaged some of the insulation on the alternator which would cause the short. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s what I think is going on………….sigh.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

I spent most of the day trouble-shooting the problem…As best as I can figure so far, I’m getting fuel to the cylinders because I can smell it coming out the exhaust. I’m getting compression because when I removed one spark plug and tried turning over the engine, it turns over. The missing component seems to be electrical. I grounded out the spark plug against the cylinder block and didn’t get a spark. After looking a little deeper, I was able to trace what looks like two wires going to what appears to be a sensor in the crankcase. Is there an electrical component normally found as part of the crank case assembly? Is there a sensor that could have gotten damaged which would prevent all four spark plugs from firing? It seems to make the most sense to me since when the dipstick got caught on whatever was moving in there, the engine suddenly stopped. If there were no electronics in the crankcase, I would assume if it was a mechanical issue, the engine would probably make some weird noises, and if it was serious enough would have made some kind of grinding noise. Any thoughts?

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CityHunter357]

The dipstick was bent but no pieces were broken off. When I have the bike in neutral and hit the starter button, I can hear the starter motor turning things over and I hear pulsing from the exhaust, but it doesn’t catch. I had just installed a new battery and before this morning’s incident, the bike started almost immediately with a quick touch of the starter button. I hate learning things the hard way………..

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

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