This is quite possibly the most Honda Pacific Coast PC800 motorcycles in one place at one time ever outside of the Honda motorcycle factory in Japan. Photo by Neill Thompson who attended the ride on September 8th, 2000.
A true friend of the PC800, Neill Thompson, recently shared these wonderful photos of the year 2000 edition of the The Great Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Motorcycle Ride on the Facebook PC800 group. This was the first official PC800 group ride organized by Leland Sheppard in a long-running series of rides. In total, there were at least 32 PC800 bikes in attendance. This was the high water mark year for the ride with the most PC800 riders drawn together that we know of.
This photo of the same scene comes from Leland Sheppard’s website about the ride. Wow what a day along the Pacific Coast Highway!
Neal’s beautiful black PC800 reflecting the light of a Pacific Coast sunset on his Pacific Coast motorcycle. It was a ride to remember.
To quote Neill, “The Great Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Motorcycle Year Two Thousand Motorcycle Ride (inaugural) Sept 10 to mumble-mumble, 2000. “
The Y2K ride for PC800s was a *Big Deal* in the PC800 community. Even the local Milpitas Honda dealership rode out the red carpet.
A PC in every rear view mirror! Neill says that it was a strange experience seeing a PC800 behind him everywhere he went. These days, we don’t get to experience that very often.
The Year 2000 group of riders in front of a poster that says “Ride the Pacific Coast.” Neill thinks it came from the Milpitas Honda dealership.
Most of the bikes lined up at the Bayshore Mall. Neill says they were trying to line up the bikes by date order but I see a few white bikes at both ends. It does take quite a bit to get us PC800 riders to follow directions 🙂
Some of the Honda Pacific Coast advertisements the riders saw along the way. Neill mentions that this was at the Milpitas Honda dealership’s event for the PC800 ride.
If you have more photos or videos of this ride, please get in touch with me so that I can post them. Thanks again to Neill for sending us down memory lane and Leland for having that archival shot of the group.
John Norris from the Honda Pacific Coast PC800 Facebook group recently built a new rat rod named The War Pig out of a PC800 bike. Here are a few photos of his wonderful creation!
The War Pig is a really unique bike! John kept part of the front fairing, a cut down windshield, the faux gas tank, and that’s about it. The rest of the plastics are gone for good.I love the cowhide details on the edge of the fairing and on the seat. The ammo can backrest and the two crates as panniers really make this bike look great. Here’s the War Pig in front of Mount Shasta on the way to a big adventure! I expect to see John on the highway somewhere in the desert very soon.
Roger from the UK recently wrote me about a stainless steel exhaust system for the Honda Pacific Coast PC800 motorcycle. This is the first time that I’ve seen a stainless steel full exhaust for our bikes. I am sharing some of the information that Roger sent over in case this helps anyone looking for a different exhaust for our wonderful bikes. Roger writes:
PLUS SIDES: – It won’t rot, it’s easy to fit and it looks neat. – You can buy the front lower pipe separately. This uses the o.e. sleeve gasket at the collector box, but not at the joint with the header pipe. – It has a 10 year warranty.
DOWNSIDES: – It doesn’t use the o.e. ‘sleeve’ gaskets, just jointing paste. – The system isn’t balanced – it is two separate pipes and mufflers (which isn’t so important on a softly tuned engine?) – The R/H mounting bracket requires a 15mm thick spacer in order to use the twin lobes of the original mount on the frame. The system is not rubber mounted like the original. – To remove rear axle the r/h can has to be swung downwards (remove mount bolt – which is accessible- & slacken joint clamp). Doing this obviously breaks the paste seal on the pipe joint. – If you want silence than you MUST specify ‘California Spec’ baffles. They’ve sold over 50 sets to date and I’m the first one to complain.
Since they’re going to cut mine open and replace the baffles I asked if they could (at extra expense) weld in a ‘cutaway’ in the r/h can to enable axle withdrawal without having to ‘drop’ it. I’ve no idea whether this is feasible. They obviously have a standard can to which they add brackets and pipes to suit.
Roger from the UK
Predator Motorsports in the UK sells the stainless steel exhaust system. If you’re ordering it, be sure to ask for what Roger asked for — the “California” silent model which has extra baffles to quiet the exhaust down.
When you go to their website, use the search tool and type in “PC800 exhaust” to get the right parts. You will probably want to email with the company to make sure that you get the quiet version — it’s not what comes default from their factory.
One note that Roger really wants to emphasize is:
My complaint [is] regarding the noisy standard baffles – […] their standard baffles are obviously less restrictive than the ‘California spec’ in that apart from the noise element, the tick-over increases by 300/400 rpm – the only adjustment necessary.
Roger from the UK
If you are planning to buy this exhaust system, be sure to think carefully about how loud you want your pipes and talk to the manufacturer before you place your order to get pipes that are the right volume and level of restriction for your ride.
Roger’s stainless steel exhaust.Check out that wonderful real left hand side muffler! All stock PC800s have a faux left hand muffler.Looks great on the right side, too.Looks great from the back!
