Bike history

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 3:12 am

After a long hiatus I am beginning to work on my bikes again. Back in 2010 or 2011, i bought a blue 1100F from a member living in the Monterey / Seaside area of Cali - his nickname on this forum was nu2honda. I was so anxious to buy the bike (and it was a late night sale), I neglected to get any history on the bike. It had 60,000 + miles on it and has run very well.

Is there anyone here who remembers him that could shed some light on this bike?? 60,000 mi. seems like a lot for an air/oil cooled engine to me - I'm wondering if it was ever rebuilt? Appreciate any info I can get - have tried Search and not come up w/anything useful.

Thanks, Ed

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 3:19 pm

May I suggest taking a compression check to learn about the health of the engine?

Do Routine maintenance like cam chain adjustments, then a valve adjustment, then do that compression check.

Compare those numbers with other known 1100 compression numbers should tell you what you’ve got.

You could pull the oil pan and clean out debris and look to see what type oil change maintenance the bike received as well.

At 60k I would expect cam chain adjuster wear with petrified rubber guides at a minimum.

I think these engines wear valves faster than bores, but that’s just an opinion I’ve gathered from reading others accounts that had more experience building multiple engines.

As far as finding anecdotal accounts of your particular bike, that may be tougher.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 4:10 pm

What fasty said. Especially dumping the oil pan. That's clutch wear caked in gray. A chance to clean the oil pump screen, and see how big something was trapped from being chewed by the oil pump blades.

Find things like, a wrench made corner marks on the flats of the engine mount bolts. That shows you if they yanked the engine out. Exhaust header bolts is another clue... if stock exhaust along with the rear muffler hanger bolts. Those have to be removed for bottom end engine work or top end work.

Top of the engine case bolts under the carb body; see if the case was split... looks virgin, no need to look at the engine to frame bolts. Setting/checking valve clearance for the comp test, look at the head stud nuts (if not outside the cover) and see if sockets left any marks.

Open the pleats of the oil filter cartridge. Look for brass particles. This more shows insert wear or needs a closer inspection.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 6:28 pm

Thanks very much for the tips, esp. those re marks/wear on the bolt heads & engine casing. I've cracked open several motors and know well what a PITA it is to get the cyl block off w/o destroying the fins - I also have seen the shocking deterioration of the OEM guides and tensioners. When it comes time (there are 4 bikes ahead of this one), I'll find out just how worn this motor is. Thanks again, Ed.