Jun's Garage
The bike, the bench,
the journey.
This is my corner of the world, one motorcycle, a wall of tools, and everything they've taught me. The reviews live next door; this page is my hands, my mistakes, and the machine I keep coming back to, filmed in full.
“Kintsugi”
1978 Honda CB550
The Current Build
1978 Honda CB550
1978, cafe-raced, by hand, over four winters
I bought her as a box of parts and a rolling frame. Everything you see, I touched. She's not the fastest thing in the lane, and that was never the point, she's the bike that taught me how to listen.
The numbers
- Engine
- 544cc air-cooled inline-four, SOHC
- Power
- ~45 hp at the crank (on a good day)
- Dry weight
- 189 kg, lighter since the diet
- Year
- 1978, older than me
- Fuel
- 4× Keihin 22mm, freshly synced
- Wheels
- 18" rear, single front disc, rebuilt
Mods done, by these two hands
- Hand-stitched brown leather cafe seat
- Clip-on bars + rearset controls
- Pod filters & re-jetted carbs
- Powder-coated frame in matte graphite
- 4-into-1 stainless exhaust
- LED headlight, mini bar-end mirrors
Maintenance Log
Everything she's been through
A real logbook, kept by hand. Every date, every reading, every lesson. The machine remembers what the rider forgets.
- ServiceMay 12, 202638,420 km
Valve clearance check & carb sync
Spring shakedown before the riding season. Intakes were a hair tight. Synced all four carbs by ear and gauge, idle finally settled into that even, breathing hum. Nothing beats it.
- ServiceMar 28, 202638,010 km
New chain & sprockets
Old chain had a tight spot I kept ignoring. Swapped the lot, dropped a tooth on the front for a lazier highway gait. Measure twice, torque once.
- RepairFeb 9, 202637,650 km
Rear shock rebuild
Found a weep on the left shock during a wash. Pulled both, rebuilt with fresh seals and 10wt oil. The road stopped shouting and started talking again.
- ModNov 22, 202536,900 km
4-into-1 stainless exhaust
Saved up all summer for this one. Tucked the header tight, re-jetted to match. She breathes deeper now, but the real win is the silence between the throttle blips.
- RepairSep 4, 202535,480 km
Fork seals & fresh oil
A wet patch on the slider told the whole story. New seals, new oil, careful with the dust caps. Front end feels honest under braking now.
- ModJun 15, 202534,100 km
Pod filters & re-jet
Pulled the airbox, fitted pods, went up two sizes on the mains. Took three test rides to dial in. Patience is its own kind of tuning.
- ModApr 2, 202533,200 km
Hand-stitched cafe seat
Spent two weekends on the pan and foam, one evening on the leather. My stitches are crooked in the corners. I will never replace it.
- ServiceJan 18, 202532,640 km
Full fluid & filter service
Mid-winter ritual in a cold garage with a space heater and a thermos. Oil, filter, plugs, points cleaned. The bike sleeps better for it. So do I.
The Journey
Memories worth the mileage
The moments that stuck. Some triumphant, some humbling. All of them logged somewhere a wrench can't reach.
Spring 2022The first cough of life
Four winters of work, and then one cold morning she fired on the third kick. I sat on the garage floor and just listened to her idle. Didn't ride that day. Didn't need to.
Summer 2022First real ride
Twenty kilometres of empty back road at dawn. Everything I had bolted on was suddenly underneath me, holding me up. I have never trusted anything more.
Autumn 2023The breakdown that taught me
Stranded with a fouled plug, two hours from home, no signal. I cleaned it with a pocketknife and a prayer. She started. The mountain taught me to carry tools and humility.
Summer 2024First long tour
Eight hundred kilometres of coast over four days. Just me, the bike, and a tank bag. The journey stopped being about arriving somewhere a long time before the end.
Winter 2025A quiet night in the garage
No project, no fix. Just a rag, some chrome polish, and the radio low. Some maintenance is for the machine. Some of it is for the rider.
Garage demonstrations
Hours in the garage, kept at full length
I film the work start to finish, partly to remember, partly because someone, somewhere, is staring at the same stubborn bolt I once was. Each session has chapters, the tools I used, and the physics of why the adjustment matters.
Carburettor sync on a 1978 CB550, by ear and by gauge
The full session: warming the engine, hooking up the vacuum gauges, and balancing all four Keihin carbs until the idle settles into an even breathing hum. I explain what each adjustment does and why the gauges lie when the engine is cold.
On the bench
- Vacuum gauge set
- Long flat screwdriver
- Feeler gauges
- Fan for cooling
Why it works
Each carburettor's throttle plate creates a pressure drop proportional to airflow. Unequal drops mean unequal cylinder loading, so the crank sees an uneven torque pulse every 180 degrees. You feel it as vibration; the gauges see it as a needle that will not sit still.
Finding top dead centre, sliding the feelers, calculating the shim change, and reassembling with the cam chain tension right. The most intimidating service on the list, filmed slowly enough to follow.
A weeping seal, a full strip-down, new seals and bushings, and fresh oil measured by height rather than volume. Includes the trick for driving the seal without a proper tool.
Shaping the foam, cutting the leather, and hand-stitching a seat that is crooked in the corners and will never be replaced. Less a tutorial than a meditation.
The full-length sessions are still being moved off the class Google Drive. Until they land, each tile shows its chapters and notes so you know what is coming.