homemade carb boots> newbie questions??

My '81 CB650 has a '79 motor, and no "carb boots" came with the motor,
and '79 carbs. The '81 carb boots don't match up, and this stuff is so
old, it's all cracked, etc.
Don't see this covered in the Clymer manual, but wondering if I could
just take measurements, and substitute some kind of hose/clamps setup
(Home Depot?)...
Of course, they (4)would have to be impervious to gas...
I'm talking about the carb-motor rubber pieces. I have a perfect
airbox...
also - any online sources for good CHEAP oil/air filters?
I'm 53, and plan on riding this 1st bike <60 mph, 40 miles a day
(country roads) to work...
is it really that big a deal to buy Bridgestone tires @$140, or can I
get by for a year or so with Cheng Shin crappy tires?
I know - dumb ?'s, (my life is valuable), but wife is starting to stare
when I mention tire prices, etc...
thanks :+)

 

It seems you are asking for '79 CB650 "carb boots". Those would be
Honda part no. 16211-426-000 INSULATOR, $19.99 each NOS plus S&H at
partsfiche.com. Maybe you can do better than that price elsewhere (eg
David Silver Spares?), but that would be an easy way to go. Anyway set
up a free account at partsfiche.com so you can look at their CB650 parts
diagrams.

If that's too expensive, set up an ebay search to email you when
somebody parts out a '79 CB650. Email the seller and for all I know you
can pick up all four insulators used for $15.

 

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=active&q=+17211-426-000&btnG=Search

 

Okay - going w/Bridgestones and the link for the carbs - you guys
THANKS for taking time to help!!

 

Cheng Shin is trying to get rid of the bad reputation they got from the
motorcycle snobs that used to just automatically replace ANY Asian
original equipment tire with a so-called "premium" European tire. It
was tire racism, is what it was.

Now Cheng Shin is coming back as Maxxis and SuperMaxx. Some of the
latter tires are actually rated for higher speeds than the "Z" rating,
which is 150 mph continuous speed...

Cheng Shins are not really *that* crappy, you just have to understand
that inexpensive natural rubber tires do their best work when you ride
straight up. Are you going to be riding to work, or trying to see how
fast you can corner and how far you can lean?

Bridgestone published their "Introduction To Motorcycle Tires" pamphlet
on their Japanese language website so it's hard to find.

Bridgestone said that they add a lot of synthetic rubber to their tires
so
they would resist being torn up by cornering at large lean angles where
they get scrubbed sideways. Are you going to be Ricky Racing to work,
or commuting?

Bridgestone also adds silica (sand!) to the rubber for better wet
traction. Are you going to be riding in the rain?

Bridgestone also said that natural rubber was good for its stickiness,
but it just wasn't good enough for sportbikes leaned over to 50 degree
angles, when the molecules are rubber are being ripped off the tread
surface by the sideways scrubbing force.

As motorcycles "improve" and became faster and more complex, motorcycle
tire technology has had to change to keep up with demand for more
cornering performance and the ability to withstand a lot more power
going through them to the road.

Price has always been a factor in everything I purchase for my
motorcycles. I want value, I don't follow magazine fads.

I've probably tried every tire manufacturer you can imagine over 43
years of riding. I've ridden on Continentals, Pirellis, Dunlops,
Goodyears, Nittos, Cheng Shins, Michelins, Inoues, Carlisles, and
Metzelers...

I liked Dunlop and Metzelers best.

Firestone even made motorcycle tires for a while, but I never happened
to
find one around when I needed a tire.

I tried several Bridgestones when they were recommended by an
enthusiast who also happened to be a salesman in a motorcycle
$tealer$hip, so he had a vested interest in getting me in there to buy
my tires at his shop.

Of all the Bridgestones I ever tried, I only found *one* that worked
OK, the others were disappointing. The Bridestone original equipment
tires with strange names like "Mag Mopus" and "Exedra" were hard and
slippery.

A motorcycle is a queer vehicle. It steers by leaning. What a nutty
idea!

When engineers design cars, they do everything they can to keep the
tread flat on the road. Motorcycle tires can only get about half of
their tread surface on the road at any given moment. So the
manufacturers go through a bunch of tire geometry formulae to figure
out what size front tire of a given curvature will work with a rear
tire of a different size and tread curvature. And the motorcycle
manufacturers have to work with the generic tires offered by the
various companies and maybe talk them into building
tires with stiffer carcasses or softer rubber for their latest Elephant
on Wheels sport tourer or Ricky Racer Replica sportbike.

Bridgestone just keeps on trying, attempting to invent tire solutions
that work on evolving motorcycles. If you haven't noticed, most
motorcycles are evolving to look like sportbikes or dirt bikes, mostly
the former.

I didn't like Spitfire dual compound tires, they followed grooves in
the road. I didn't like the BT-020 front tire, it's too tall and
pointy. The back tire was OK. I didn't like the BT-45V's, they were
squirmy.

I was surprised to see AMA superbike racing teams like Erion using
Bridgestones on their Hondas. Well, it was a soft rubber compound
version of a BattleAx. Sometimes the sportbike crowd is stuck with some
original equipment tire size and can't get anything else that fits for
years, and so the soft rubber Bridgestone original equipment tire or a
softer racing compound version is what is used and it gains a
reputation as being a "good" tire.

Good for what? Keeping your wallet empty?

 

WOW! I wish you would goto CBFORUM and paste this - I know $150 a tire
isn't a whole lot, but these people swear that the Bridgestone BT45H is
the ONLY tire anyone with a decent I.Q. would buy.
Thank you for an interesting intelligent (time-consuming) reply...

 

If you had more money than time, you'd head down to the $tealer$hip
every year and just buy a new motorbike. The whole idea of fixing your
own motorbike is that you're basically broke...

 

Curious, where is "CBFORUM"?

 

In fairness, if someone with a Laverda triple asked what tyres I'd
recommend I'd say BT45 without a moments hesitation. They work very well
on it & last reasonably well.

Out of 5 running bikes in our household 3 of them are on BT45s. OTOH
there's also one on Cheng Shins & we're pleased enough with them that I
wouldn't hesitate to put them on in place of the BT45 if they were
significantly cheaper...

The only brand I won't consider using are Michelins - I've used Macadam
50s, 90s & 100s and hated them all :-(