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Display Mesage #93968


Why buy a PC800 - long
Written by daviddockstader on 6/10/2010 at 05:08 am

I would wager that the vibration in the first PC was caused by carbs weren't
ballanced.

--- In ipcrc@yahoogroups.com, "Leland C. Sheppard" <lcshepp@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Douglas,
>
> > What reasons did you all have for buying a PC and what keeps you
> > coming back for more?
>
> I fell in love with the looks of the bike. I think it is one of the
> most beautiful production motorcycles ever built. I thought so then and
> I think so now. I think the bike is just plain gorgeous.
>
> When, in 1988, I saw the Honda TV commercial for the PC, I almost spun
> my head off my neck doing a doubletake: WHAT WAS THAT?
>
> Contacted a dealer I knew and asked about it. He told me it was a
> Pacific Coast and that he had one.
>
> I went down and road tested it and didn't like it. Too much vibration.
> That plus the $8645 list price (or thereabouts) was too rich for my blood.
>
> So, no PC for me in 1988...
>
> When the '94 was introduced at a lower price, I got interested again and
> decided to double check on the "vibration" thing.
>
> I went to a Sacramento dealer (Carmichael Honda) and rode a used '89 and
> found it to be smooth as silk; not sure what was wrong with the first
> one but there sure was no vibration in the bike.
>
> That dealer told me no one was discounting anything and that the new '94
> model would be about $8000 out the door.
>
> I had never been a comparison shopper but I decided to try another
> dealer. I called the Honda dealer in Auburn and the first thing the
> salesman said was that they were discounting everything. Hmmm...
>
> I said, "talk to me." He asked what I wanted and I told him a Pacific
> Coast. He told me to hang on and after a minute or two he came back and
> said he could get one, it would take 3 days and the out the door price
> would be $6800. I told him he had just sold a bike. Three days later,
> I rode out on my new '94 PC.
>
> I bought the bike in September 1993, the month before I quit smoking. I
> had to finance it and figured to use my cigarette money to make the
> payments. I had been spending $172 per month for cigarettes and filters
> and the payment on the PC was $177. So the bike actually cost me $5 per
> month and my health improved on top of it... :-)
>
> I had a 1972 CB750 that I loved. Had had it since I bought it new in
> 1972. I was going to ride it on weekends and commute on the PC. Much
> to my surprise, the PC handled better than the 750 and, although the 750
> had a lot more horsepower, the PC could do just well on twisty roads by
> virtue of the superior handling. I loved the PC so much I stopped
> riding the CB and ended up selling it.
>
> In 1999, after 138,000 miles, I slipped in a tight right hand corner
> (had Metzelers mounted at the time) and went down with the bike. The
> bike and I were sliding along the road. I was on my back and my right
> hand was on the handgrip still. The bike was sliding on the crashbars
> because my hand on the handlebars was causing it to be balanced. I
> thought to myself that I was supposed to let go of the bike so I did. I
> regretted it. Had I not let go, I would have slid maybe 10 feet farther
> than I slid anyway and I would have ridden the bike home. As it was,
> when I let go of the handlebar, the bike tipped, the wheels touched, the
> bike righted itself and, because it was sideways in the road, flipped
> over and took out the whole left side of the bike. I jumped up, ran
> over to the bike, picked it up and couldn't move it. A Harley rider
> came around the corner, saw me, pulled over and came and helped me drag
> the bike off the road. The fairing subframe was bent badly enough that
> I couldn't move the handlebars. I got towed to my mechanic's place and
> left the bike for him to work on it.
>
> I lasted 2 days without my beloved PC and couldn't stand it. Got on the
> internet and found a good looking '89 for sale. It was a San Jose (150
> miles away) phone number but it turned out the guy lived just 3 miles
> down the road from me. I went over, looked at the bike, started it,
> turned it off and bought it. I planned to sell it when my '94 was finished.
>
> About the time I got the '94 back, I started thinking about all the
> miles I already had on it. I decided that if I kept the '89, I could
> alternate them and spread out the mileage and maintenance. (Oh, oh,
> folks, he's hooked.)
>
> In 2001, I decided that if 2 was good, 3 might be even better. The
> Dutch PC800 buy/sell page (for the whole world) had imploded so I
> decided to start one myself. I was the first listing - want to buy a
> clean '90 (I love the Candy Red). I announced the buy/sell page on the
> list and David Bond sent me an ad for the '90 that he wanted to sell. I
> took one look at the photo and called him. His bike never made it to
> the buy/sell page... In November, I flew to Baltimore and got a ride to
> New Jersey from Brian Soloway. We stayed at David's house in
> Livingston. Spent half the night installing a Clearview shield,
> Throttlemeister, a hookup for Widder electric gear and some other stuff
> I can't even remember now for the trip back. Got about 4 hours of sleep
> and, the next morning, started for California. Had a 5 gallon can of
> gas in a duffle bag on the passenger seat and it was a good thing; ran
> out of gas 3 times the first day. I forgot about the headwind I would
> encounter which knocked the dickens out of the mileage. Riding at 75 to
> 90mph didn't help either... I took I80 back to California on that trip.
>
> Anyhow, that's how I ended up with 3 PCs.
>
> I was going to stop there because I have never been a big fan of the
> "tomato red" (my name for it) PCs. Then my buddy Tom Humphrey sent me a
> picture of a '96 PC with a Hannigan sidecar installed on it. Tom asked
> if "it called to me." About a week later, I wrote him back and said,
> "it not only called to me; I just bought it." It was just too unique a
> rig for me to pass up and the Hannigan sidecar matches the style of the
> bike so well it looks to me like they were made for each other. The
> price I paid for it ($6000) wasn't too bad either. The first owner had
> over $12,000 in the bike and it didn't have many miles on it.
>
> Israel picked up the bike (which was in Baltimore, Maryland) for me and
> took it to his house in Salisbury. The poor PC, it turned out, had not
> been sitting for 2 weeks as the son of the former owner claimed but more
> like 14 months. It was green with mold and mildew. Iz said it stunk so
> bad there was no way he was going to put it in his garage. I didn't
> blame him. Between that time and the time I arrived in Baltimore, the
> guy had all but restored the bike. I said, "Jeez, Iz, I asked you to
> store it; NOT restore it!" Bless his heart, the bike looked like new.
> No green, no mildew, etc. I forget how many cans/bottles of Lysol and
> Fabreze the poor guy had to use but the stink finally stopped. The rig
> was gorgeous. A whole bunch of those neat PCing folks came over to Iz'
> house and Iz and they rode with me for the first few hours on the trip
> back. Steve Johnsen went all the way to Pennsylvania with me as I
> recall. I took I70 back to California on that trip. A little variety,
> you know.
>
> And that, folks, is how I ended up with 4 PCs. And I couldn't bear to
> part with any of them...
>
> That's my story and I'm sticking to it... :-)
>
> Leland
>
>
> --
> Leland Sheppard
> Placerville, California, USA
>
> ...Life is good on the Pacific Coast...
>
> '94 Pacific Coast, "Black Beauty", 211,500 miles
> '89 Pacific Coast, "Shadow Dancer", 118,300 miles
> '90 Pacific Coast, "Red Baron", 105,850 miles
> '96 Pacific Coast/SuperSport sidecar, "Handsome Hannigan", 31,150 miles
> '02 Ural Patrol, "Boris Blueanov", 15,250 kilometers
> '89 GB500, "Little Bugger", 13,692 miles
> '02 GL1800, "Copper", 55,675, '07 Aspen Classic, "Copper's Camper", 1,545
miles
> iPCRC #72; IBA #10582; AMA #481368
>
> Mother of all PC800 Web Site Lists: http://www.pc800links.net
>
>
>
>
>
>

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