I have been looking for a good CB-1 for ages, and finally I found one locally. It is a 1989 model, just the same as the one I owned from new. It was cosmetically in quite good shape, and it ran reasonably well once it started, although it was hard to start and I knew I'd need to have a shop clean out the carbs. However, my first long ride "rewarded" me with a surprise!
In May several of us went on a long poker run in North County. The bike ran fine up to Fallbrook, and then out to the first and second checkpoints. At the second checkpoint, though, the bike wouldn't start. It was obviously a battery problem, and one of the guys there gave me a push to start the bike. However, it would not keep running, and was barely able to rise above an idle. I just managed to get out of the parking lot to the side of the road, where I gave up.
As you can see from the pics in the side, the voltage regulator was bad and fried the battery (literally) on my ride. The battery was so hot I could not hold it long enough to lift it out of the bike! Fortunately we were able to get another battery and ride the few miles from Valley Center to Escondido Cycle Center, where I asked the shop to check not only the voltage regulator but the starting circuits in the carbs. Turned out they needed a cleaning pretty badly. Once all that was done the bike ran really well.
I took a long ride up north yesterday (16 June) with the group again and this time it ran flawlessly. It started well, ran strongly, and got great gas mileage too. I still need to adjust the controls a bit but it is in good fettle!