Honda Twinstar

[klenny808]

Hey everyone. I just bought a used 78 Twinstar, my first official bike, and I need to change the battery. What's with the hose? What's the best approach to changing it?

I am assuming I need to get the battery, fill it with acid, bolt the nodes on, and stick the tube into the acid hole????

Thanks in advance for your help. Also, where's the best place to find a 78 battery? Is an 81-82 version workable (found one at an Autozone)?

Regards,
Newbie

[DaveH]

From what I understand, these went from 6V to 12V after 79 or 80 so yours is a 6V and the one Autozone is selling is probably a 12. Not sure of your other Q tho, but a new battery when shipped dry is filled with acid and from then on only refilled with distilled water.

[nikola11]

Nice, I want one

[Kingshead]

The VT1100 ACE comes with a very odd battery, hence expensive. Went to Wallmart, bought one that would physically fit and never looked back. As long as the voltage is correct, it isn't to large for your charging system, and has enoug amps, your good to go.

Spent the money for the correct one the first time, mechanic installed incorrectly, pinched the wire resulting in a short. Killed the battery, this is what led to the off replacement. Didn't want to wait for the correct one to arrive. You know what it's like when you want to ride, you want to ride "NOW".

Martin

[Bear14]

I am in college and just bought a 82 honda twinstar cm200. Its the first motorcycle I have ever owned so i know little to nothing about them. I had to get a new ignition key switch for the bike. I have had trouble with getting the bike to idle good, It normally starts up the first time but sometimes it will just die out. I have tried pulling the choke and that works sometimes but not everytime. When its doing this if i try to hit the gas it dies immediately. When it did this today it finally ran for awhile then when i stopped it died and took 15 minutes to start again, Any ideas?

[point]

It sounds like your carb. That Carb is the simplest thing in the world. Easy to remove and easy to clean. Try to pick up a maintainance manual for it if you arn't familiar with carb work. It may need a carb re-build or just a cleaning. Don't bother with the carb sprays as those products don't get into the guts.

[egcastle13]

i just bought a 81 200 twinstar, and i got basically everything ready for the road except for the tires, im having a hard time find reasonable priced oem size tire, any suggestion?

[shawguy]

If you have been riding since your post of 2008 you probably know all the essentials of Twinstar maintainance,but I'll tell you a bunch of stuff I learned about it after riding 71,000 miles in 3 years on the 81', CM 200T. Most of these pertain to constant riding not casual recreational riding tho they still apply.

First: good luck trying to find a truly round tire. I noticed quite early during installing a new tire that they mostly all of them have a flat spot in them! ! ! ! ! I had to hunt high and low for good, round tires. The other down side of these tires is they don't wear very long. About 9,000 miles at the most. You wouldn't notice if you just ride 3 or 4 times a week.

Second quirk: Chains too wear out very quickly! ! ! ! And as you all know when you change a chain you have to change the sprockets too.

Another part that is very poorly designed is the foot shifter! ! ! ! You see I averaged about 50 miles a day, 7 days a week, in all city riding so the weak point of that component showed up many times. The foot shifter connect point just wears out. Too lightly built. I had at least 4 of them.

[scooterspal]

Hey Shawguy...

I'm in the process of completing my CM185 restoration. I purchased new tires and tubes for the front and back.

Cheng Shin C155 Tire - 3.50 x 16 - Rear
Kenda K272 Tire - 3.00 x 17 - Front

I did have an issue with one of the two Bikemaster tubes... the one for the front. Marked correctly for size but way too tight on the install. As it turned out it had a slow leak near the valve. I replaced it with a Kenda which was larger both in diameter and size. Install was way easier and so far no leaks.

What tires are you running on your bike? There is a German company called Heidenau which makes a rear tire for the CM185. Nothing for the front, though. Limited choices as it turns out.

On the chain... are you using the heavy duty version as recommended in the book? Perhaps set too tight? That would cause excessive wear when you sit down and the chain tightens up. I try to get someone to sit on the bike and adjust the tension that way.

Just some suggestions : )

[Cunningham]

Hi everyone,

I just picked up a 78 CM185 twinstar with 2000 miles on it. It was serviced two years ago but was not used since. I can get it to start and after warming up for a few minutes it will idle, but it occasionally backfires. Any thoughts on whats causing it? Thanks.

[Dodsfall]

Originally Posted by Cunningham

Hi everyone,

I just picked up a 78 CM185 twinstar with 2000 miles on it. It was serviced two years ago but was not used since. I can get it to start and after warming up for a few minutes it will idle, but it occasionally backfires. Any thoughts on whats causing it? Thanks.

The most common cause is a gummed-up carb. A thorough soaking and cleaning will likely fix the problem.

[Cunningham]

Originally Posted by Dodsfall

The most common cause is a gummed-up carb. A thorough soaking and cleaning will likely fix the problem.

Thanks I'll give that a go. Also only the right exhaust was hot last time I fired it up and left one (backfiring side) was still cool / warm is this a symptom of the same problem or could it be something else?

[scooterspal]

Originally Posted by Cunningham

... only the right exhaust was hot last time I fired it up and left one (backfiring side) was still cool

Since the single carburetor is for both cylinders and assuming you have power enough to ride it (both cylinders working) then I'd look to the clamps that secure the pipe to the exhaust manifold.* If they are loose then exhaust fumes are leaking past the pipe causing the backfiring on one side.

Easy way to check. When the bike is cold... start it up and place your hand near the clamps. If you feel any air puffing out... that's it.

There should be none at all.

*BTW: There should be a copper and asbestos gasket in each port. These are sometimes lost and not replaced if the pipe was removed at some point.

[Cunningham]

Thanks for all the advise so far. Just checked the clamps, didn't seem to be any air getting out there but snugged them anyway. While I did that I pulled the plugs and it seems like the right plug had more carbon build up while the left one was wet with gas and had minimal carbon. So I think my problem may be electrical. The battery did sit for a year after being installed and the electric start has not been 100% so the battery is probably not great

So I think what I need to do is, new 6V battery, new plugs, and clean the carb.

[Honda]

I would love some more classic bike like this.. if only I had the time to keep them going.

[DevNull]

Chastise me if you wish, but I'm resuscitating this thread for the sake of our old Twinstars.

Picked up an '81 CM200T a month back. Sword Blue, all stock, old and a little tired and sore. When I got it it wouldn't start, but a some time and sweet love to the carb with a bucket of injector cleaner and a toothbrush got it back up and running. My problem now is that the idle is inconsistent and that I have to have the choke at full to keep it from stalling out while at idle. Even with the choke up, it still has stall issues while at an idle.
The fuel tank is a little dirty and I haven't gotten the time or chance to throw some bearings in and shake it up, nor have I had the chance to find a cheap mid-line fuel filter.
And last, but not least, occasionally when I'm starting the bike (it's still a little hard to start and sometimes takes a bit of coaxing) there's a loud squeal just before the engine catches and it fires up. This is typically if I'm pulling the throttle back while trying to start it (as that's pretty much the only choice I have). It seems to start easier with the choke disengaged, however due to the idle problems, I cannot just "start" it with the choke down, I have to immediately raise the idle and then engage the choke.
Considering 80% of my problems have been fuel/carb related, I'm got my hands on a $36 original Keihin carb on ebay, so I can keep it stock. I will hopefully be throwing bb's in the tank soon to clean it out, and I need to hunt for a mid-line fuel filter to keep all these problems from happening again in the future.

Any ideas what the squealing could be? Any suggestions on how to restore this beautiful old bike back to 1980s Honda showroom floor quality?

[LOOPER]

Hello, I am completely new to this forum stuff and my computer skills leave much to be desired. Having said that, I wanted to say something about the "little" bikes. I bought a 1981 twinstar at mid-ohio swapmeet last year. I only bought it for one reason. To race it in the Lake Erie Loop, which is a non-stop, wide open race around Lake Erie, hence the name lol. This bike was stone cold stock except for the "slightly bent" forks where it had run into something bigger than it and lost the battle. I added a new chain and 1 tooth bigger sprocket in front. Also added small cheap windshield. Left the starting line at 6:02AM Sat. in June 2011. Twelve hours, 8 minutes and 671 miles later I was back. I rode the dog snot out of that little bike!! Wide open until it ran out of gas, hit reserve while still rolling, take next exit, fill up, and back to wide open again until she ran out of gas again. These twinstars are awesome!! I have made some "performance" upgrades and can't wait until this years race. Thanks for letting me be so long winded about these bikes, but mine at least, is GREAT!

[Bruce Rock]

Originally Posted by shawguy

Another part that is very poorly designed is the foot shifter! ! ! ! You see I averaged about 50 miles a day, 7 days a week, in all city riding so the weak point of that component showed up many times. The foot shifter connect point just wears out. Too lightly built. I had at least 4 of them.

Interesting! 71 K miles on a twinstar. Hope mine goes that far.

Do you mean the splines on the shaft and shift lever wear out? While there should be no movement between the two, my experience tells me that is what is causes splines to wear.

I used to design equipment for underground mining. We used splines for the connections between the electric motors and gearboxes. When we went to "wet" splines (splines lubricated by the gearbox oil) we didn't see any more worn out splines.

Before I ride this spring, I'll grease those splines, not so the lever slips relative to the shaft, but to reduce fretting wear.

[jwolf265]

Just got a twinstar 200 really cheap, and it will start on ether, but won't stay running. Cleaned the carb really good, new plugs, fuel is coming out when loosen the drain screw so it is getting to the carb. How do I check if it is getting to the engine? thanks!

[Bruce Rock]

Is it fresh fuel?

I've never tried it, but if you remove both plugs and turn over the engine with the throttle wide open and the choke closed, you should have a fuel spray comming out the the spark plug holes. But I doubt you will since my experience tells me the carb either wasn't cleaned well or wasn't put back togather correctly.

[jwolf265]

Thanks for the reply, I soaked in sea foam the first time, but wanting to hurry, forgot to clean the jets before putting back in!Cleaned carb out again, this time got all, I think. Got it running good on half choke sounds great, no choke , running crappy, going to check float level and clean it again. Now just to get the lights all good and will have a great gas saver!

[LOOPER]

As you can see, carb cleanliness is paramount. Our wonderful little twinstars were never meant to run on this "liquid" they call gasoline. So many changes to the blend since 1981 or so that it literally eats brass. That's why you quit seeing brass floats, screws, seats etc. Now it is all some type of plastic or alloy. Best thing you can do for your carb is continue to use the carb cleaner of you choice mixed with your gas in the right amount, try to only buy gas at busy stations so as to get fresh gas, and if it is going to sit longer than a couple of days, turn off the petcock and let the motor run it's self empty.JMHO but these little guys need all the help we can give them.

[rakos]

Hi all,
I have a CM200t. Regulator was not working so I put in a 40 amp bridge rectifier which worked for 2 years. Last few weeks battery was low, but I then saw a strange flash of the neutral light and bike stopped. Now all of the lit light bulbs are burned out, and there is no spark. Most important question: how do I test the coil? Resistances are primary (across the black & blue leads) 0.6, secondary (across the two spark plug leads) 12k. Is this correct? Thanks, John.

[1911tex]

rakos: It might help to tell the forum the year of your CM200T.....1980 was the last year for 6V. Other changes as well. You might also check the fuse behind the right hand battery box cover. There is only one fuse. Sounds like a blown fuse.

[rakos]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, 1980. Fuse is fine: there is 6v going to the input of the primary (black) and coming out at blue. I tried touching the ground (blue wire, which goes to points) wire of the coil to the chassis ground to see if there is spark when I disconnect from ground, but no spark. I am assuming noe of these contact are grounded inside the coil: my manual seems to draw the secondary as between the two high tension cables.

[1911tex]

rakos:

I cannot post links...must have 15 or greater; however, go to Google and search "how to test a motorcycle coil" and you will get great results...using your multi-meter.

[rakos]

Did that, of course, but all it says is to measure resistances (mine are good) and test with the make and break method - not good. I amso wonder if other coils, (less expensive) could be substituted.

[Alaskanzia]

I have a 1978 185 twinstar project. Where is the best place to get parts? especially exhaust.

[1911tex]

Your local Honda dealer......many o.e.m parts still available also ebay.

[1911tex]

Let's see some twinstar pics...here is mine; 1980 and in perfect condition, 5500k miles. Had it since new, just replaced the original tires. Old school (points, mechanical brakes, etc.):

[Team Elkhorn]

Hi noob here that just got back into riding. I recently found an '80 Twinstar and my wife just bought an '82. These little bikes are a blast to ride and easy to work on. Its great to be riding again. Ill post pics after I get a few posts under my belt.

[loopertoo]

Hello LOOPER. This is the other LEL nut that rides the Twinstar around the lake - Deb Canter. Are you the fellow that lost the spark plug this year? Sorry I'm bad with names. Tried to send a PM but I'm new to the forum and they won't let me.

I need to work on my pit stop strategy - even with two fuel tanks my time this year was 12 hours 41 minutes (my best ever). I have work to do to beat your 2011 time! US Customs accounted for 15-20 minutes of it this year. And trying to ride with my friend who rode my other Twinstar.

Stay in touch - can't wait till next year. Are you thinking about the The Real Cannonball next May?

deb

Originally Posted by LOOPER

Hello, I am completely new to this forum stuff and my computer skills leave much to be desired. Having said that, I wanted to say something about the "little" bikes. I bought a 1981 twinstar at mid-ohio swapmeet last year. I only bought it for one reason. To race it in the Lake Erie Loop, which is a non-stop, wide open race around Lake Erie, hence the name lol. This bike was stone cold stock except for the "slightly bent" forks where it had run into something bigger than it and lost the battle. I added a new chain and 1 tooth bigger sprocket in front. Also added small cheap windshield. Left the starting line at 6:02AM Sat. in June 2011. Twelve hours, 8 minutes and 671 miles later I was back. I rode the dog snot out of that little bike!! Wide open until it ran out of gas, hit reserve while still rolling, take next exit, fill up, and back to wide open again until she ran out of gas again. These twinstars are awesome!! I have made some "performance" upgrades and can't wait until this years race. Thanks for letting me be so long winded about these bikes, but mine at least, is GREAT!

[Team Elkhorn]

These are ours. 1980 and 82.

[Stewart21]

Just bought a 1980 Twinstar, and am thinking about doing it cafe style. I was wondering what is the lowest Amperage it can run on?

[in_exile]

Hi, I just acquired a 1979 twinstar with 6v system. The previous owner said he put a 12V battery on it by mistake. I put a fresh charged new 6v battery on and I don't get anything. Will I see any lights if the bike isn't running? Would the rectifier get ruined from putting a 12v battery on. thanks

[Royson]

I have a 79 Twinstar as well, made a similar mistake, when battery was dead I jump started it with a 12volt battery. One thing for sure, that 6 volt starter really cranks fast when driven by 12volts. Bad news is, I blew out all the light bulbs on the bike with my careless act. The headlight is a sealed beam and cost me $50! (later I found cheaper headlight replacements on eBay, but OEM from the dealer is $50) The tail light and neutral bulbs were not too expensive.

On my bike it appears the rectifier, coil, and other electrical parts survived the 12volt mistake. I think. I have ridden it a few times, but not verified that the charging circuit is working correctly. I keep a trickle charger on all my bikes when not riding, so time will tell.

Anyway, you'll need to check each electrical part on your bike to see what survived.

[ColtonGG]

Hi i got a 79 honda twinstar about a little over a month i drove it for about a week and my chain broke and my tires we dry rotting so i got a new tire and fixed the chain now when i go to start it theres no spark at all i think it might be the Coil pack but im sure any advice??

[ColtonGG]

Hi i saw your cafe racer and was wondering if the gas tank you put on fit or did you have to custom it to fit
Thanks Colton

[Chrobo]

My bike has been running great until about 3 weeks ago. It has always had a minor fuel leak when it is in the 'on' or 'reserve' position on the fuel switch. It was idling erratically and having trouble not dieing at stoplights. After much much tinkering with the carb mixture, i got it running a tad smoother but there is still a problem. Well today after further inspection i found three tubes that are not connected underneath. One I traced up to the battery, the other two seem like they should have been one connected tube at one time. I traced the possibly broken one up each way and one end goes straight up to the carb and the other (the one that seems to have the steady leak) goes up to where i cant see. I have posted a picture and you can the see batter tube dry at the top. Then underneath that you can see one tube very well and the other is behind it with the tip being wet (fuel leak). I was wanting to see if anyone knew if they should be connected before I take it into a shop.



Also I keep reading there there are two mixtur

Thanks for your help!

[1911tex]

One tube as you found out goes to the battery. The other goes to a drain under the air filter housing...you can see the small "drain spout" at the lower rear of the housing. There is also a carb overflow drain Under the carb, which may be your fuel leak source...check your float level. Others may chime in at any moment. Good luck !