Motorcycles

Bikes

In a previous life, I owned and maintained a number of Honda Shadow motorcycles:

  • 1992 VT600C, Red
  • 1996 VT600C, Black
  • 2003 VT750 American Classic Edition (ACE), Red/Black

These are fantastic bikes. You can’t kill them. Honda makes things easy to repair and maintain, especially if you have a service manual, and parts are relatively easy to come by. I was fortunate enough to have manuals for both to maintain them (see below). I’ve since sold the bikes and moved on to other hobbies, but I will keep notes here for posterity.

Maintenance Recommendations

  • Oil: Rotella T6 5w-40, Full Synthetic
  • Filter: K&N KN-303. Has a 17mm exposed nut for easy removal.
  • Chain: BikeMaster 525-BMO O-ring
  • Chain Lube: Dupont Teflon Multi-Use Lubricant (11oz spray can)
  • Headlamp: Osram H4 Night Breaker Plus
  • Carburetor Rebuild Kit: K&L Repair Kit 18-5104 (For VT600c)

Modifications

  • Auxiliary Power
    The goal of this project was to provide a extra circuit from the fuse panel to provide auxiliary power for GPS, USB port, etc.
  • Battery / Jump Start
    This modification provided a connection straight to the battery to be used to trickle-charge, but with a wire thick enough to provide a jump start, bike-to-bike, if necessary.
  • 5th Gear
    On a different VT600C I owned previously (1996 model), I ran a 41-Tooth rear sprocket, which is a 3-tooth reduction from the standard 44. No noticeable affects on acceleration from stop, but significantly less RPMs at highway speeds. It’s like adding a 5th-gear.

Trips

Other Projects

  • Honda Service Manual 88-89 91-96 VT600C,CD Shadow VLX, 61MR107 (1994 Edition, printed in 1995)
    This is a full digitization after unbinding the original paperback. Binding was destroyed to scan pages to 600dpi TIFF files, post-processed using ScanTailor, and optical character recognition by Adobe Acrobat ClearScan. Table of contents was added, links inserted throughout, and final product saved as Optimized PDF. This is my personal electronic copy that matches my physical copy, and I am storing it here on my website. For myself. View and Download Here