Rolling out the CB650 for 2022

The sump oil leak was still ongoing when I rolled the CB650 out of the garage for the first time today. I reviewed the shop manual and found the torque specs I had previously missed: 7-10 foot-pounds for the M6 bolts in the crankcase area, which is obviously higher than the 5 lbs. torque than I used before. So I retorqued the suspect bolt and the two next to it after running the bike enough to get it up to operating temperature. We’ll see, but I’m afraid I will be dropping the sump to put in a new gasket after all. The bike is about due for an oil change, so I won’t be wasting the oil I dump out of it.

I have to say, it felt really good riding it the 3 miles down to the FS to fill it up with fresh gas.

I will be replacing the back tire soon; however, this is presenting a problem. The last time I replaced the back tire, I put on a Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 130/80H-17; I got the tubeless model by mistake, but got it mounted with some difficulty (with a tube, of course) and all has been well up to now. Previous research indicated that the “correct” size is 120/90-17, but you just cannot buy a rear tire in that size anywhere anymore. The 130/80-17 size I’ve been running is nominally 104mm tall, while the 120/90 would be 108mm. 130/90-17 tires do exist, but they would be 117mm tall, 9mm or almost 3/8 of an inch more than the 120/90 and 13mm or right at half an inch taller than what I’ve got on the bike now.

I should say, 130/90-17 tires do exist, if you can get them. They seem to be out of stock everywhere.

I can run the tire I have for a while yet.  Hopefully something turns up.