vfrworld.com is the best online forum I found for answers if you're working on a Honda interceptor of any age; new or used or 1st generation. If you're working on a vintage, it's well-known that the only economical way to run smoothly is to do ALL the work YOURSELF! This is my first bike, and I haven't more than one or maybe two friends who I can call for advice. A lot of info I needed was readily available in the service manual, but when the instructions are "1) pull carb body up. 2) disconnect throttle & choke cables. 3) remove carb body from bike", I needed a little extra help... like "what do the throttle & choke cables look like?" "What do I need to do to disconnect them?" And then "Now that I've got the cables disconnected, why won't the carb body budge when I try to pull it out?" This website was a life-saver, a money-saver, and all though I spent quite some hours in the garage, my wife appreciated it because we both knew without all this help, I'd still be on step #1, and grumpy ALL the time!
Not only has this forum helped me by providing advice on how-to's, allowing me to tap into their collective millenia of experience, a few members of the online community have gone a little further. You remember I mentioned the busted clutch side cover? Not only did a member on vfrworld.com help me figure out which part this is, but he said "dude I have a cover I'll give you, just pay for shipping." $15 for shipping, and he GAVE me a close-to perfect cover... a part which is over $100 to replace. This is what the 3 lb. chunk of metal looks like:
(This isn't THE cover I received, mine's actually in better condition than this one pictured from ebaymotors) So I was pretty happy about that!. The next piece of equipment I got through the users at this forum was a rear lift stand. This wasn't a donation, but I gained a great lesson from the deal... which ended up being a good one in the end. I'd spent 4 or 5 hours working on the bike the night before, leaning it on its kickstand. This one has no 'center stand', which is like an extra kickstand only with two feet, propping the rear tire off the ground and holding the bike upright, instead of leaning to one side. I was looking at my options, which were to either buy the parts and install a center stand, or, I could just buy a 'rear lift stand', which is more like a large lever with wheels which uses leverage to lift the rear end of the bike up and onto the flat side of the stand, working essentially like a center stand. Except it's a BUNCH easier to use, you don't have to ride around with it attached weighing the bike down, and if you can haggle the price down on ebay or an online forum, isn't too bad a hit to the wallet.I'd been online all day looking at these rear lift stands. I didn't find a single one that would work on my bike model for under $140. I decided to write a post on this forum and someone offered me one they'd only used once or twice and asked me to make an offer. I replied: "how's $60 sound?" Him: "Well I think I spent $120, but $60's a fair offer." Then he went into how he needed my address to ship it to me, after he received a paypal payment. I wasn't afraid of the paypal stuff; paypal's only rough if you're trying to SELL something. And I'd pretty much already accepted the reality of having to give him my home address, I was after all asking him to send me something! What kind of hit me as a red flag was that he said he spent $120 on it, had only used it once or twice, but $60 is a fair offer...?! Either something was wrong or damaged on the stand, or he didn't spend $120! e mentioned the brand name of the stand, so I went to that brand's website and found new ones for....... $60... oh no... This is when I learned the lesson, "NEVER MAKE AN OFFER UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE BUYING!" Now remember, I had been searching all day and hadn't found any for less than $140. But I guess that still doesn't excuse me for not asking him what he was trying to sell me before I said "DERRR, HOW'S UMMMMM $60 SOUND, DERRRRRRR?" So anyway I thought I had to find a diplomatic way to fix this or break this off; I didn't want to just not reply and tick him off. So I'd made my dumb offer, and he'd accepted it, and we were on our way towards scheduling a payment.
Me: "Hey, would you mind sending me a link to this manufacturer's website? I'd like to see what it is I'm getting from you."
Him: "I'll send you a photo of it once I get home tonight of you want."
Me: ok, he doesn't want me to see what he doesn't know I've already discovered. Why else wouldn't he just send me a link to the item on the manufacturer's site? Later on, "Hey I've found their site, and based on your description of what you've got, they're selling those new for $60. I see they are selling front and rear lift stand sets for $120, is that what you were thinking of?"
Him: "Oops, I guess I remembered $120 but only spent $60. My bad."
Me: "Well this is awkward, I wish I'd never made my original offer without seeing this website. Would it be out of the question for me to request to lower my bid to $30? Otherwise I might as well buy a brand new one."
Him: "I'll take that."
After this, I spent some time chatting with him about bikes, gained some common ground, cheered both of us up, etc... He was willing to take my deal, and I was willing to take his equipment for half the price of what they usually would be, and slightly less than the price of installing a center stand on my bike. Here's what arrived in the mail 3 days later:
a nearly perfect, fully functional rear lift stand, capable of lifting 700-800 lbs. My bike's around 400, so it's real easy on the stand, and I can lift it up it all by myself.As they say in star wars, "This is where the fun begins!"
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