Self-lube final drive chains

Going way back and as recently as a few years ago someone tried to tell me he had a no-lube chain on his bike. Nope. There is such a thing as self-lube roller chain, but it's found on food processing equipment, not in the much more rigorous application of powersports vehicles. That's all we need--folks already neglect their chains, encouraging them to do so is a really bad idea.

Pre-gapped spark plugs

When you open that box with the NGK spark plug in it, you must check and if necessary adjust the plug's gap. In most cases you will need to. In the vintage Honda world, a lot of different models use the same plug. The bike manufacture determines the plug's gap, not the spark plug maker. No way it can come pre-gapped. It just isn't so. One the most common overlooked things in powersports.

"Marvelous" additive

What do you think? You think a can of mineral oil--"baby oil" to most of us--has any special properties? You think your engine either needs it or can even tolerate it? Adding (snake) oil to your combustion chamber has never been a good idea, fancy name notwithstanding. A first-semester mechanic's school student knows better. Marvelous and Mysterious indeed. No such thing.

Vintage Japanese bikes an investment

There are exceptions, of course. The Japanese have made a few eminently collectable production machines. Turbos, center-hub steerers, outragious hooligans, and the odd epically historic ride. For the most part however, very few 70-80s Hondas are worth more than the cost of making a machine run correctly, safely, and reversing years of neglect and abuse. I'm not talking about restoring, just putting the machine right. And this bothers some of the owners of these bikes. Unless they know the time of day, so to speak, they are startled to find this out. Generally speaking, there is no such thing as a vintage Honda investment.