hodaka revival buying vintage tires biking in hawaii · on hodaka motorcycles. rick darke shares...

Celebrating over 25 years of vintage motorcycling

Hodaka Revival

Buying Vintage Tires

Biking in Hawaii

Honda at Home in Japan

Volume 26, Number 8 April 2004 $3.50

2 www.vjmc.org

VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB MAGAZINE APRIL 2004

CONTENTSPresident’s Column. . . . . . . . . . 3

Editor’s Column . . . . . . . . . . . 3

VJMC ChapterMembership Benefits . . . . . . . . . 6

Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . 7

A Ride to Remember:Coast to Coast on a CB77. . . . . . . 8

Tire and Size andRating Info Decoded . . . . . . . . . 9

Tech Tip: BalancingCarbs with TWINMAX . . . . . . . . 12

Barber Museum KeepsBike History Alive . . . . . . . . . 14

Honda History:At Home In Japan . . . . . . . . . . 18

Big Horn Reborn . . . . . . . . . . 22

Vintage JapaneseBikes in Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . 25

The Hodaka Motorcycle Revival . . 26

International MotorcycleSuperShow Report . . . . . . . . . 28

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

This issue’s web password is:showersEffective April 25thUse lower case

Mission Statement

The Purpose of this organization is to

promote the preservation, restoration

and enjoyment of Vintage Japanese

motorcycles (defined as those greater

than 15 years old) and to promote the

sport of motorcycling and camaraderie

of motorcyclists everywhere.

PresidentPete Boody

(865) 435-2112, [email protected]

Magazine EditorKaren McElhaney(865) 671-2628, [email protected]

Classified AdvertisingGary Gadd(817) 284-8195, [email protected]

Commercial Advertising Region ANorman Smith(941) 792-0003, [email protected]

Commercial Advertising Region BBrad Powell(678) 576-4258, [email protected]

MembershipBill Granade(813) 961-3737, [email protected]

WebmasterJason Bell(972) 245-0634, [email protected]

Cover LayoutAndre Okazaki

Magazine LayoutDarin Watson

© 2004 Vintage Japanese MotorcycleClub. All rights reserved. No part of thisdocument may be reproduced or transmit-ted in any form without permission.

www.vjmc.org 3


From the President: Membership goal setby Pete Boody

This year we have many greatevents to look forward to and partici-pate in. Many of the Field Represen-tatives are also planning some superevents in their areas. Each and everyone should be a worthy thing for us todo and to also enjoy. It makes sensethen for all of you to contact thehard-working Field Representative inyour area to find out what may be go-ing on. It is very difficult for anyonehere on the Board of Directors toknow every Rep’s planning and ifyou find that he/she does not yet havea plan for a ride, a social gathering orlocal rally, why not suggest to yourRep that you would be interested ingetting one going. All of our Repre-sentatives are folks like yourself,who have 8:00 am – 5:00 pm jobs andwould be most appreciative if youwanted to plan an event. It does notneed to be anything more than justgetting together with fellow VJMCriders to go to a local restaurant for a

meal. It can also be anything thathelps to promote VJMC, such as agathering at your house for “springtune-up day.” Simple, easy and fun,without rules or hard work, you canenjoy gatherings such as these and

continue the spirit of the VJMC.The VJMC National Rally will be

held September 7 – 11, 2004, and forthe second time it will be held in OakRidge, Tennessee. This year we willstart a little earlier so that our Tennes-see friends can join in on the first dayfor the fun and campfire. In 2003, weenjoyed rides, field events, a swapmeet, bike show, and a good old fash-ion Pig Roast and Bluegrass Hoedownon the Lake. This year will be evenbetter, as we will have the PigRoast/Hoedown on the Lake at a loca-tion that is closer than last year, a moresophisticated bike show, campfires,seminars, a repair tent, and a time for“storytelling.” If you haven’t regis-tered for the special Hoedown andAwards breakfast events yet, all youneed do is go to www.vjmc.org, click

on the Rally mascot “Homer,” andthen click on the registration logo.Simply print the pages, fill out theform, and send it to the registrationchairperson along with $45.00 foreach person who plans to attend. Thisyearly event is the only National Rallyfor VJMC that is ours and not shared.If you can attend, please make yourplans early and come to Tennessee,where the riding is always great and

all of the folks are friendly.We are underway with a member-

ship drive and soon we will be putt-ing on another one. Our goal is tohave 2004 members by the end of theyear. What this means to us is that wecan continue our efforts to bring youevents like the National Rally andhopefully offer additional regionalevents that are close to you. What youcan do to help is this: if your member-ship is due, renew it. By your contin-ued participation, we will attain the2004 and a lot more. It shouldn’t beso tough to do, and with your help we

will do it!

From the Editor: A spring fever issueby Karen McElhaney

Local Rides

Jack Delaney suggests that VJMCmembers who are traveling across thecountry would benefit from havingother members send suggestions forgood local rides and places to see. Forthose members who would like tocontribute suggestions, send them tous for inclusion on the web site and inthe magazine.

National Rally

The organizers of the 2004 NationalRally would like your input regardingthis year’s event:

Since the National Rally is the weekfollowing the Labor Day weekend,

would/are you considering bringingchildren with you? If the Rally hadactivities for children, would this in-crease your interest in attending?

Would you be interested in meetingthe Saturday before the Rally to ridethrough the Smoky Mountains (orother scenic area) prior to arriving inOak Ridge on Tuesday/Wednesday?

Contact Scott Timoff [email protected] or PeteBoody at [email protected] input.

In this Issue

By April, most of us will be chomp-ing at the bit to get out and ride. Tem-per your enthusiasm for a fewminutes, though, because you’ll wantto spend enough time indoors to read

everything in this issue. In it, we havepart 2 of Mike Baker’s essay on theBarber Motorsports Museum, BillSilver tells us what it’s like to ride onthe often unpredictable Hawaiian ter-rain, and Ellis Holman offers a techtip on balancing carburetors intwin-cylinder bikes. Greg Bastek,who is currently writing a book onthe subject, gives us a history lessonon Hodaka motorcycles. Rick Darkeshares impressions from his recenttrip to the Honda Collection Hall inTochigi, Japan, where the world’smost extensive collection of Hondaproduction and racing motorcyclesare on display. The April cover de-picts three of the museum’s earlyDream models: (left to right) 1951

See Editor, page 4

4 www.vjmc.org


Dream E, 1954 Dream 4E, and a1955 Dream SA. Everything you al-ways wanted to know about buyingtires for your vintage velocipedes canbe found in Mike Baker’s compre-hensive treatise on the Great RubberSearch. Sean Quinn shares the funfrom this year’s International Motor-cycle SuperShow in Toronto, MikeVachon provides an amusing restora-tion tale, and Floyd Ratliff, our newVJMC Chapter Coordinator, explainshow to start your own local chapterand why you should do it. Whew!That’s a lot of stuff! I hope you enjoyit.

Members’ Bikes

Dale and Don Eccles, Hodaka deal-ers from 1972 until the companywent out of business, have rebuiltseveral bikes over the past couple ofyears. Shown here is a Hodaka Acethat they originally sold new in 1973.It was traded in, sold again, and aftera number of years, was bought backby Dale and Don. The brothers kepteverything they had left from thedealership except the bikes andwould be glad to help anyone who is

restoring a Hodaka.

February Issue CoverPhoto: 1967 Honda CB450

K0 Police Special

Scott Timoff writes that he has re-ceived several inquiries about thebike featured on the February mag-azine cover. Common inquiries in-cluded, “Is that yours?” “Wheredid you find it?” and “I didn’tknow Honda produced one!” Scottshares this known history of thebike:

Honda made a leap into the largerdisplacement motorcycle marketwith the introduction of the CB450 inAugust 1965. These bikes began to

arrive on U.S. shores in early 1966and were quickly nicknamed the“Black Bomber.” But despite theirrevolutionary engine and frame de-signs, the CB450 fell far short ofHonda’s sale expectations.

In a further effort to promote their43-hp power plants, Honda pro-duced the CB450 Police Special.Honda sent an initial shipment of25 of these bikes to major metro-politan area dealers with an expec-tation that police departmentswould be dazzled by their perfor-mance and reliability. Boy! Werethey ever wrong! The PDs wantednothing to do with these Japanesebikes as they predominately sup-ported the “American Iron”Harley-Davidson. These bikessimply sat on the dealer floors (ormore likely cluttered up the backroom) and along with their streetcounterpart were a total flop.

A Honda dealer donated Scott’sparticular bike in 1967 to a Mid-western university engineering de-partment for student study. Afterall, the vertical twin engine with

those unheard-of torsion-bar valveclosures and constant velocity car-buretors mounted in a singledowntube split-wishbone framewas the buzz.

Engineering students dismantledthe bike and engine, studied its con-tents, and reassembled it once again.After an undetermined number ofyears at the university, the bike be-came privately owned for a period ofabout five years when an overseascollector of police motorcycleslearned of the bike and purchased it.In 2002, after some 25 years, it be-came available once again and Scotthad it shipped back fromacross-the-pond, as our Europeanfriends call it.

The bike arrived without exhaustpipes or turn signals and with abouthalf of its various police components.The engine was crated separately as ithad been taken out and sent to a re-storer prior to Scott’s interest in thebike. This was done to ensure the in-ner workings were in tight mechani-cal order. The odometer showed amere 41 miles and the tires still had

Editor: February cover bike attracts interest

Continued from page 3

A 1972 Hodaka 100B restored by Don and Dale Eccles.

www.vjmc.org 5


their nipples on most of the surface! Scott found furtherevidence of its history with an unusually abundant num-ber of paint chips in and around the engine cradle area. Inaddition, there were self-cut rubber washers placedthroughout the bike wherever a painted part met metal.Scott reports that much to his surprise, these fixings wereonly finger-tight or lightly wrenched.

Scott dismantled the bike and rubbed out the majority ofthe paint to a presentable luster. He had the color matchedand painted in the chips by hand. The fuel tank is the onlyreplaced part because of a leak that appeared last year.Scott was surprised to locate many of the police parts inHonda’s inventory, some of which were the last ones listed.Calling contacts and searching eBay found others. No partshave been re-chromed or excessively polished. Scott hastried to preserve the bike’s “survivor” appearance by doinga lot of hand cleaning as opposed to restoration. He recentlyacquired a pair of hard cases made for the ‘67 CB450 andhopes to have them installed this season.

The bike now has about 285 miles on it and is fully oper-ational. Scott says that it is a joy to ride in local paradesand vintage events. He has displayed it at a couple ofshows where it has taken 1st and 3rd in its category. VJMCmember Jerry Boody took the cover photo while out on aride at the 2003 National Rally in Oak Ridge, TN.

WWW.TIMSCBX.COMWe Specialize in Japanese Bikes

•RESTORATION•ENGINE OVERHAUL

•CARBURETOR REBUILD

World’s No. 1 Supplier of•NOS•OEM•AFTERMARKET PARTS

FOR THE HONDA CBX

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6 www.vjmc.org


VJMC chapter membership benefits

by Floyd Ratliff

I believe that some of you may notknow about VJMC Chapter 1 “FirstVolunteers of Tennessee.” I also be-lieve that if you did, you just mightwant to get involved withlike-minded folks and start your ownChapter. I am going to do my best totell you what being a member of aVJMC Chapter is like and what it hasdone for me as well as what a Chapterpresence could do for you.

I have ridden motorcycles practi-cally all of my adult life and I havealso been a member of a good manyclubs and organizations. About a yearago I acquired a 1976 HondaGL1000. My plan was to do a com-plete restoration, and I knew that lo-cating the parts was certainly aconcern. While looking throughsome motorcycle magazines forsources, I came across an organiza-tion called VJMC. I joined the clubthinking that maybe I could findsome of these old parts that I neededand instead found out that VJMCstands for a great group of peoplededicated to the preservation of vin-tage Japanese motorcycles!

Shortly after I received the club in-formation package, we found outabout a VJMC group in Knoxvillethat had meetings on the fourth Satur-day of each month at a local restau-rant. Our home is about 55 milesfrom Knoxville, but on a rainy Satur-day night we decided to see what thisgroup was all about. We arrivedearly, found the meeting room, andshortly afterwards the friendliestgroup of folks came into the room.We just sat back out of the way andsort of watched and checked themout. Each member made an interest-ing study as we watched them eat andtalk about motorcycles and going onrides, both fun things to discuss. Thegroup then began talking about start-ing a Chapter. Well, to make a longstory shorter, my wife Denise and I

liked what we saw and joined thegroup. That was last November.Since then we have only missed onemeeting and that was because we hadto make a trip out of state. We haveenjoyed being members of thisgroup!

Shortly after that the Chapter knownas Chapter 1 “First Volunteers of Ten-nessee” was formed and chartered.We went from there and elected ourofficers. We had a treasurer but not alot of cash for him to take care of, soone of our first priorities was to getsome money into the pot. During ameeting in January, we were asked ifour new Chapter would like to host theThird Annual VJMC National Rallyin Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Withoutany hesitation, we all agreed to helpwith this important VJMC event andto make it successful.

In the spring, Denise and I hostedthe first Chapter “Spring Thing” inMadisonville at our home. It turnedinto a ride on the Cherohala Skywayand cookout, complete with burgers,chicken, and all the fixins to go withthem. Some friends even came fromas far away as Michigan. We put up adonation jar to help cover expensesand to add money to the treasury.

It wasn’t long afterwards that the lo-cal American Cancer Society asked usto join one of their Relay for LifeTeams and to put on a bike show andtrophy run. This was an all-day activ-ity with lots of fun, food, five bandswith great music, and good times. Intotal, this team raised around $4,500and it all went to the American CancerSociety. This fundraiser helped us aswell, because for its involvement, arti-cles about Chapter 1 appeared in thelocal papers in Knoxville,Madisonville, Etowah, Athens, andChattanooga. All of a sudden, peoplestarted hearing about this great clubknown as VJMC and the things we do.

Our Chapter meetings are held onthe fourth Saturday of every month.We have a lot of members in the Oak

Ridge-Knoxville area and severaldown Madisonville way, so for con-venience we meet at the Dinner Bellin Lenoir City, a more centralized lo-cation. However, we do changearound periodically just so things donot get old. Our Chapter ChristmasParty was held at the home of Peteand Venita Boody. It was a potluckdinner; we exchanged gag gifts andjust had a great time.

The whole idea of forming a Chap-ter is to have fun. A chapter is like anextended family, not a club meetingwhere you think, “Oh shoot, I’vemissed that meeting that I had to go totonight.” It’s more like grab yourwife, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend,or just a friend and let’s go to dinnertonight. We always set our meetingsto start about 7:00 p.m. but we getthere about 6 p.m. to have a goodmeal and just talk. We have our meet-ings as close to 7:00 as possible; wefollow the Chapter By-Laws and forthe most part, an informal RobertsRules of Order. The most importantthing is to get our business accom-plished and this happens in about anhour. That’s what it is allabout–having fun. We all enjoy go-ing to the meetings, the company ofgood people, talking VJMs, and agood meal.

Recently I was appointed as VJMCChapter Coordinator, and of coursemy main job is to help you get aChapter started in your area. If thereis anything that I can help you with,for instance, “how to” information oradvice, please contact me [email protected]. I will do ev-erything that I can to help you. Thatmay also include a trip to your area ifthis will help. My goal is to help formas many Chapters this year as possi-ble, and if possible, I would like tomeet all of the VJMC Field Repre-sentatives in person. I know thatChapters are good for VJMC and thatthey can also make your membershipin the club a lot more enjoyable.

www.vjmc.org 7


Calendar of eventsApril

18Mid-South Motorcycle Swap

Meet, Dyersburg, TNDyer County Fairgrounds from

9am-4pm. Vintage & classic Euro-pean-British-Japanese only (Ameri-can scooters Okay). Information:Mike at 731-445-4979 [email protected]

www.midsouthswapmeet.com

19th Annual Classic & VintageMotorcycle Swap Meet and Show‘N Shine

Largest Classic & Vintage SwapMeet and Show in Western Canada &North Western States. 10:00 am to4:00 pm. South Delta RecreationCentre in Tsawwassen, British Co-lumbia.

Information: Todd Copan at (604)299-0020 or [email protected]

Website:www.classicbikeswapmeet.com

24The Kansas City Area Members

Ride and MeetRide will start at 10 am at the Pow-

erhouse Restaurant and Brewery inParkville MO, junction of Missourihighways 9 and FF in downtownParkville (North Kansas City area)and just across the border from Kan-sas. Information: Ben Bacon (913)

894-6612 or ben.bacon2crbusa.comWe are planning a Saturday ride

each month this year through the endof the year. E-mail for additional in-formation.

May

1Georgia’s Largest Vintage Japa-

nese Motorcycle Show & Swap Meet9:00 am – 4:00 pm, WOW Motor-

cycles, 508 Cobb Parkway N (Exit

265 off I-75, on US 41N)Information: (678) 576-4258

1-217th Annual Motorcycle Swap

Meet and AuctionJapanese / British-European Motor-

cycles and Parts. Auction SaturdayMay 1st at 1 pm; Swap Meet bothdays.Vendor space $30.00. SetupFriday night. S-K Service Downtown

(off Hwy 20) Hatley, Wisconsin.Information: 715-446-2225

2

Holly (Spring) Vintage Motorcy-cle Rally, Downtown Holly, MI

British, European, Japanese andVintage Motorcycles will be on dis-play from 9:30 am. to 4:00 pm. TheHolly Area Chamber of Commercewill block off all roads leading intothe downtown district for a fantasticVintage Motorcycle event. TheVJMC has a prime location for ourclub table and bike display. AllVJMC members are invited to attendand encouraged to bring a bike for

display.Information: Scott Timoff at (248)

338-9320 [email protected]

14 - 16Lake Erie Loop- N.E Ohio“Cannonball run” type event cover-

ing almost 650 miles, starting in N.E.Ohio, going west through Detroit,MI, east into Canada to Buffalo, NYthen back to N.E. Ohio.

Information: (440) 865-6272 [email protected]

15

Vintage Japanese MotorcycleDay, Etowah, NC

Come join the VJM Club for a ridein the mountains of North Carolina.Get your vintage bike out and meetothers while riding a 140 mile loop,including 60 miles of the Blue RidgeMountain Parkway.

Information: (803) 328-0605 [email protected]

Regional VJMC DayThis date is recognized throughout

North America as a day for all mem-bers of the VJMC to gather on a localbasis.

Information: Scott Timoff at (248)338-9320 or

[email protected]

June

19 - 20

Grattan VJMC Rally, Grattan,MI

Michigan’s premier event. Held atthe Grattan Speedway (10 miles NEof Grand Rapids) in conjunction withthe AHRMA vintage races. By show-ing your VJMC Membership Cardyou will receive a 50% savings on thegate admission for a full weekend ofracing.

Information: Scott Timoff at (248)338-9320 [email protected]

20

1st Annual Longest Day RideLeave Shari’s, Oregon City,

OR,10am. 3.2 miles south of I-205exit 10, “Park Place / Molalla”, on SR213, in Berry Hill Shopping Center.Leave Korner Post restaurant, De-troit, OR, at 12:30.

Tom Shoenberger at (360)944-1862 or [email protected]

OVM website:www.oregonvintage.org

25-27

Hodaka Days 40th

Anniversary

Celebration

Athena, OregonCelebrate 40 years of Hodaka mo-

torcyclesInformation: Paul at Strictly

Hodaka (401) 364-3427 or

[email protected]

8 www.vjmc.org


A ride to remember: coast to coast on a CB77Because 2004 marks the 45th anni-

versary of American Honda, EdAbdo has decided to ride a 1960s vin-tage Honda across America.

Ed’s longtime friend, MikeKrzemien, suggested that Ed neededsomething like a CB77 Super Hawkfor the trip. He also offered to ridealong with Ed, offering to make it“just like the old days when you livedout here and we rode together all thetime. In fact, we can make this acoast-to-coast journey; we’ll start atthe Pacific Ocean and end up on the

Atlantic shores!”Ed says that finding a CB77 Super

Hawk was a lot easier than he had ex-pected. He bought an unrestored1965 model from a friend with only10,886 miles on it.

The bike was in good condition, andafter adding fresh gas and hooking upa set of jumper cables, the engineturned over, fired up, and idlednicely. Ed took everything apart andrepainted the frame, side covers,tank, and fenders. He also replacedsome components, including tires,steering head bearings, fork oil, andclutch plates. Ed put about 600 mileson the bike in preparation for the trek.

Ed notes that although the bike ranwell, it needed a top-end overhaul.Disassembly revealed that the cylin-ders were in good condition but inneed of honing. Ed replaced pistonsand rings as well as intake and ex-haust valves. He replaced the camchain and welded the cam sprocketbecause some have been known toloosen up on the mounting rivets. Thelower end was still in great shape,thanks to oversize ball bearings.

Final touches included new rearshocks, as the stock units lacked anysort of damping, plus a set of bar-endmirrors to replace the stock units.With the bike was set to go, Ed set thefollowing trip route. You can meet upwith Ed and become part of the Ride

to Remember!May 29: Ride to Remember begins

in Torrance, California

Ride to Remember begins at Ameri-can Honda’s North American Head-quarters in Torrance. Forinformation, contact Ed Abdo at(310) 783-3788.

June 1: Ride to Remember stop:Phoenix, Arizona

Ride to Remember visit to Motorcy-cle Mechanics’ Institute in Phoenix.MMI will hold an open house for theirstudents and any Honda Riders Clubof America (HRCA) Members thatwould like to stop by. A seminar willbe held to discuss Honda’s rich his-tory and the trip in general. The semi-nar is scheduled for 12:00-1:30 pm.Contact Hontech Chief Instructor EricBartosky at MMI for information at(800) 528-7995, extension 1327.

June 3: Ride to Remember stop:Farmington, New Mexico

Ride to Remember stop at SunCountry Cycles in Farmington, for anafternoon cookout and visit in the lateafternoon. Contact Keith Jones for

more information at (505) 325-4195.June 7: Ride to Remember stop: To-

peka, KansasRide to Remember stop in Topeka

to visit Honda Sport. Mark Rigginand his crew will promote a vintagebike display. For information, con-tact Mark Riggin or Wendy Renyer at

Honda Sport at (785) 862-1053.June 8: Ride to Remember stop:

Blue Springs, MissouriRide to Remember stop at Dells

Honda in Blue Springs . Rich Wotenwill have some vintage Hondas ondisplay. Contact Rich at (816)229-0300 for more information.

June 9: Ride to Remember stop: Jef-ferson City, Missouri

Ride to Remember stop at Larry’sHonda and Power Equipment locatedin Jefferson City. Contact Larry orTravis for more information at (573)

893-3209.June 10: Ride to Remember stop:

St. Louis, MissouriRide to Remember stop at Dave

Mungenast Motorsports in St. Louis.Spend the afternoon at their Museum

where many vintage Hondas will ondisplay! Dave can be contacted at(314) 894-1330.

June 11: Ride to Remember stop:Litchfield, Illinois

Ride to Remember stop at NiehausCycle Sales Inc. in Litchfield, locatedon the infamous Old Route 66. BradNiehaus will have a display of vin-tage Hondas. Contact Brad at (800)373-6565.

June 12: Ride to Remember stop:Indianapolis, Indiana

Ride to Remember stop at DreyerHonda in Indianapolis. One of thefirst Honda dealers in the UnitedStates resides in Indianapolis. Con-tact Missy Dreyer at (317) 248-1403.

June 15: Ride to Remember stop:Pickerington, Ohio

Ride to Remember stop at the AMAMuseum 13515 Yarmouth Drive, inthe mid-morning.

June 19: Ride to Remember stop:Norfolk, Virginia

Ride to Remember stop at Honda ofNorfolk. A cookout with Dave Hunterand friends will officially complete thegoal of traveling from “Sea to ShiningSea” on vintage Hondas! Contact Dave

Hunter at (757) 857-0107.June 20: Ride to Remember stop:

Asheboro, North CarolinaRide to Remember stop at Cycle

Center in Asheboro in the afternoon.Spend time with David Lambeth andfriends. Contact David at (336)629-2092.

June 21: Ride to Remember stop:Monroe, North Carolina

Ride to Remember stop at IronHorse Motorcycles in Monroe andvisit with Mike Heafner and the folksfor a great time and vintage bikeshow. For more details on this stop,

contact Mike at (704) 283-9467.June 22: Ride to Remember final

stop: Honda HootRide to Remember final stop at the

Honda Hoot! The ride officially con-cludes here. During the festivities,the riders will hold seminars to dis-

cuss the trip.

www.vjmc.org 9


Membership ApplicationNew _______________ Renewal ______________

********************************************

Name: ______________________________________

Address: ____________________________________

_____________________________________

City: _____________________ State: ____________

Zip/Postal Code: ___________ Country: __________

Phone: ______________________________________

E-mail address: _______________________________

Preferred Make(s): ____________________________

Preferred Model (s): _________________________

Signature: _________________________________

Date: _____________________________________

Yearly dues: $25.00 (USD) for North America; $41

(USD) outside of North America. Please send your

check or money order made out to VJMC along with

this application to:

Bill Granade13309 Moran Dr.Tampa FL 33618-3011

Tire and size and rating info decodedby Mike Baker

Aspect Ratio: The “Aspect Ratio”of a tire is the ratio or relationship ofthe tire casing cross section height toits cross section width. For example,in a tire with an Aspect Ratio of 85,the tire’s height is about 85% of thetire’s width. “Low Profile” tires aretires having an Aspect Ratio of lessthan 80. The Aspect Ratio of a tire isoften included in its sidewall’s sizemarking. For example: in a tiremarked 130/90 16; “130” is the cas-ing’s width in millimeters (mm);“90” is the Aspect Ratio of the cas-ing, or this tire’s casing is about 90%as tall (117mm) as it is wide(130mm); and “16” is the tire’s diam-eter in inches.

Directional Arrows: Where a tirehas directional arrows molded into tire,the tire must be fitted so that the arrowfollows the direction of intended rota-tion. If these mounting instructions arenot followed, road handling and tirewear may worsen, and/or damage to,and failure of the tire can occur in ex-treme circumstances.

Guidelines for use of inner tubes intubeless tires for most brands andtypes of motorcycle tires (alwayscheck with your tires’ manufacturer):

1. Almost all TL (tubeless)/TT(tube-type) sidewall constructiontires can be used with an inner tubewithout decreasing the speed range(see below).

2. No tube fitment allowed on radialtires!

3. The tire manufacturer must agreeto the use of an inner tube in a tube-less tire if the use of an inner tubewould increase the temperature of thetire during riding.

4. On tube-type rims and wheels,most tubeless tires can be used withan inner tube (except as stated abovefor radial tires). However, check withthe tire’s manufacturer before doingso. If you use an inner tube in a tube-less tire you have to take a higherspeed indexed tire than that youwould normally use. Please note thatthe maximum speed for tubeless tiresfitted with an inner tube is 210 km/h(approx. 130 mph).

See Tires, page 10

10 www.vjmc.org


For example, if the bike normallycalled for a 100/90 - 18 56H ratedtube-type tire (“H” being the speed rat-ing), a 100/90 - 18 56V TL (“TL” be-ing tubeless and “V” being the speedrating, which is higher than an “H”speed rating) with an inner tube couldbe fitted. See table for speed ratings.

If new tires are fitted, new innertubes must also be fitted.

If new tubeless tires are fitted, newvalves must also be fitted.

Tire Identification: The tire identi-fication number/markings gives in-formation on:

The tire width (in inches or mm).The ratio or aspect ratio: height/ width.The registered maximum speed.The rim diameter.The tire load.The tire type.Examples of how to decode a tire’s

identification numbers/markings:3.50 - 18 62P TT reinforced3.50: Tire width is 3.5 inches.-: Diagonal casing construction.18: Rim diameter in inches.62: Load index (see table for further

information).P: Speed index, symbol for regis-

tered maximum speed (P = 150 km/h,approx. 93 mph).

TT: Tube-type reinforced, meaningincreased tire load capacity.

150/70 B17 69H TL150: Tire width in mm./70: Ratio of height to width (70%

of 150 mm = 105 mm).B: Bias belted (construction type).17: Rim diameter in inches.69: Load index (see table for further

information).H: Speed index, symbol for regis-

tered maximum speed (H = 210 km/h,approx 130 mph).

TL: Tubeless.180/55 ZR 17 (73W) TL180: Tire width in mm./55: Ratio of height to width (55%

of 180 mm = 99 mm).

Tires: A guide to understanding ratings

Tire Size Conversion Chart for Front Tires:Motorcycle Street Tire Sizes (Approximation)

Metric Inch Alpha

80/90 2.50, 2.75 MH90

90/90 2.75, 3.00, 3.25, 3.50, (3.60) MH90 thru MJ90

100/90 3.25, 3.50, 3.60, 3.75 MJ90 thru MM90

110/90 (3.50), 3.60, 3.75, 4.00, 4.10 ML90 thru MN90

120/80 4.10, 4.25, 4.50

120/90 4.10, 4.25, 4.50 MN90 thru MR90

130/90 5.00, 5.10 MS90 thru MT 90

Tire Size Conversion Chart for Front Tires:Motorcycle Street Tire Sizes (Approximation)

Metric Inch Alpha

80/90 2.50, 2.75, (3.00) MH90

90/90 2.75, 3.00, 3.25, 3.50, (3.60) MH90 thru MJ90

100/90 3.25, 3.50, 3.60, 3.75 MJ90 thru MM90

110/90 (3.50), 3.60, 3.75, 4.00, 4.10, 4.25 ML90, MP85, MN90

120/90 4.00, 4.25, 4.50, 4.60, 4.75 MN 90 thru MR90

130/80 5.00, 5.10

130/90 5.00, 5.10 MS90, MT 90

140/80 5.50, 6.00

140/90 5.50, 6.00 MU 90

150/80 6.00, 6.25 MV85

150/90 6.00, 6.25 MV85

Note: Values given in brackets are possible, but not recommended.

Tire Size Conversion Chart: Motorcycle StreetTire Sizes (Approximation) Using The American

Alpha-Size Indication

Alpha size code Size in inches Alpha size code Size in inches

H 3.15 R 4.50

J 3.50 S 4.75

L 3.65 T 5.10

M 3.75 U 5.60

N 4.10 V 5.90

P 4.25

Note: (This is just another sizing system to help add to the confusion.It is usually found on cruiser style tires.)


www.vjmc.org 11


ZR: Radial construction.17: Rim diameter in inches.(73): Load index.(W): > 270 km/h.TL: Tubeless.Load and speed index in brackets al-

lows higher speed than 270 km/h. Theload needs to be reduced accordingECE and ETRTO (these are Europeanregulatory agencies, like our DOT).

MT 90-16 T 71H TLM: Motorcycle.T: Symbol for tire width, T = 5.10 in.90: Ratio of height to width (90% of

5.10 in. = 4.59 in.).16: Rim diameter in inches.T = Rim contour.71: Load index (see table for further

information).H: Speed index, symbol for regis-

tered maximum speed (H = 210km/h,approx 130 mph).

TL: TubelessAn example of an older type of

identification would be 130/90 H16,which is identical to 130/90 - 16 67H.

Abbreviations to Know WhenShopping for Tires:

RWL: Raised White Letter.BLK: Black Wall.WW: White WallSW: Slim White WallWWW: Wide White Wall

D.O.T.: Department of Transporta-tion. “D.O.T.” must be stamped ontires or they are not certified as legalfor use on U.S. roads.

Tire Size Markings: Motorcycletires are manufactured in a number ofdifferent countries with differing re-quirements in terms of load, dimen-sions, and speed ratings. This hasresulted in the use of various sizemarkings and coding systems. The ta-bles on these two pages give guide-lines to the relationship betweenthese various size markings. How-ever, these tables do not imply ex-act comparisons.

Tire Size Conversion Chart For Front Tires:Motorcycle Knobby Tire Sizes (Approximation)

Metric Old Metric Inch

60/100 90/80 2.50, 2.75

70/100 90/90 2.75. 3.00

80/100 100/80 3.00, 3.25

Tire Size Conversion Chart For Rear Tires:Motorcycle Knobby Tire Sizes (Approximation)

Metric Old Metric Inch

80/100 80/90 2.50 thru 3.60

90/100 110/90 3.60 thru 4.10

100/100 120/80 4.00, 4.10

110/100 130/80 4.00 thru 4.50

120/100 140/80 5.00, 5.10

Top Sustained Speeds Based On Speed Rating

Speed symbol J K L M N P Q R S T U H V Z W Y

Speed (km/h) 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 240 >240 270 300

Speed (mph) 62 68 75 81 87 93 99 106 112 118 124 130 149 >150 168 186

Tire Load Carrying CapacityBased On Load Index (LI)

LI lbs. kg LI lbs. kg LI lbs. kg LI lbs. kg LI lbs. kg

19 112.7 77.5 36 181.7125.0 53 299.4206.0 69 472.4325.0 85 748.6 510.0

20 116.3 80.0 37 186.1128.0 54 308.2212.0 70 487.0335.0 86 770.4 530.0

21 119.9 82.5 38 191.9132.0 55 316.9218.0 71 501.5345.0 87 792.2 545.0

22 123.6 85.0 39 197.7136.0 56 325.6224.0 72 516.0355.0 88 814.0 560.0

23 127.2 87.5 40 203.5140.0 57 334.3230.0 73 530.6365.0 89 843.1 580.0

24 130.8 90.0 41 210.8145.0 58 343.0236.0 74 545.1375.0 90 872.2 600.0

25 134.5 92.0 42 218.0150.0 59 353.2243.0 75 562.5387.0 91 894.0 615.0

26 138.1 95.0 43 225.3155.0 60 363.4250.0 76 581.4400.0 92 915.8 630.0

27 141.7 97.5 44 232.6160.0 61 373.6257.0 77 598.9412.0 93 944.8 650.0

28 145.4100.0 45 239.8165.0 62 385.2265.0 78 617.8425.0 94 973.9 670.0

29 149.7103.0 46 247.1170.0 63 395.4272.0 79 635.2437.0 95 1003.0 690.0

30 154.1106.0 47 254.4175.0 64 407.0280.0 80 654.1450.0 96 1032.1 710.0

31 158.4109.0 48 261.6180.0 65 421.5290.0 81 671.6462.0 97 1061.1 730.0

32 162.8112.0 49 268.9185.0 66 436.1300.0 82 690.5475.0 98 1090.2 750.0

33 167.2115.0 50 276.2190.0 67 446.3307.0 83 707.9487.0 99 1126.5 775.0

34 171.5118.0 51 283.5195.0 68 457.9315.0 84 726.8500.0100 1162.9 800.0

35 175.9121.0 52 290.7200.0

12 www.vjmc.org


Interested in Old Motorcycles?Join the Antique Motorcycle Club of America! The largestorganization in the country devoted to antique motorcycles.Membership includes an 88 page quarterly magazineloaded with feature articles, and a free Want Ad section.Sign me up!Name ____________________________________Address __________________________________City ____________________ State ____ Zip______

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Tech Tip: Balancing carbs with TWINMAX

by Ellis Holman

One of the tuning items that can re-ally affect an engine performance iscarburetor balance. Many peoplecomplain about vibration of a twin.When properly balanced, vibrationcan be significantly reduced. I no-ticed this when balancing the carbson a Honda CB450. The owner wasconcerned that the engine had a se-vere problem. When its carburetorshad been properly balanced, the bikewas very smooth. What I am reallytalking about here is ensuring thatboth carburetor slides (or butterflies)open and close precisely at the sametime. Engine noise, as well as perfor-mance, can be affected by carburetorsthat are not balanced correctly. Thetraditional methods of visuallychecking to see if slides or butterflies

are moving in unison can be timeconsuming and not always accurate.Feeling the exhaust pulses at the ex-hausts on scrambler-type bikes usinga single muffler can be impossible.Our English cousins have come upwith a better way. It is called theTWINMAX system. Adventure Mo-torcycle Gear imports it into the U.S.for those of us over here.

A note here is in order before goingthrough the mechanics of setting car-buretors with the TWINMAX. Bal-ancing is the LAST thing that is done.It cannot be accurately done if valvesare misadjusted or the timing is off orthe carburetors are dirty. So beforeeven thinking of using theTWINMAX system, make sure thatthe bike has had a complete tune-upand it is running properly in terms ofignition timing, valve settings, etc.

Start by zeroing the TWINMAX bal-ance meter. To do this, connect onetube to each cylinder and place theTWINMAX where you can easily seeit. Select a cylinder and then turn thesensitivity to MAX. Turn theTWINMAX on and adjust the ZEROknob so the needle on the balance me-ter is through the center of the “0”mark. The knob is very sensitive andsmall adjustments make a big differ-ence. When the meter is zeroed, turnsensitivity to MIN. Start the bike andlet it run at idle. If the bike isn’t alreadyat operating temperature, let it reachoperating temperature before proceed-ing. Balancing the carburetors maytake a bit of time, so to help keep thebike from overheating you may want toput a fan in front of it to push air pastthe engine. Of course, if the bike won’tidle or it has an erratic idle, that must becorrected before proceeding.

www.vjmc.org 13


On most of our bikes there is not a referencecylinder, so check each cylinder and use the onewith the least deflection from zero as the refer-ence cylinder. Next, adjust the idle/slow speed(or throttle stop) screw, NOT the idle MIXscrew! Watch the balance meter and adjust thescrew until there is equal deviation around thezero point. Blip the throttle slightly after makingscrew adjustments to ensure that the throttle issettled. Repeat this for the other cylinder. Checkbetween the reference cylinder and the other cyl-inder to make sure that the settings are matched.

With the idle running balanced, we need to bal-ance the carburetors on throttle opening. Startwith the sensitivity set near its mid-point. Gentlyrun the engine up to 3500 RPM and note the me-ter. If there doesn't seem to be much deflection,increase the sensitivity. Adjust this using the ca-ble adjuster at the top (or side in the case of CVcarburetors) of the carburetor. Remember to backoff the adjuster(s) at the twist grip. Work betweenthe two carburetors, trying for the same amountof deflection on each carburetor as the throttlesare opened and the engine is accelerating, NOTwhen the throttle is closed and the revs are drop-ping. Sounds simple, eh? In practice, it takes a bitof patience going between the two carburetors toget them balanced properly.

I used the TWINMAX on my 1968 HondaCL175 that I had just finished restoring. It tookme about 20 minutes to get the throttles balancedon the bike. Scramblers like the CL175 are diffi-cult to manually balance because their exhaustscome together in one muffler. That makes feelingfor the exhaust pulses nearly impossible, so a toollike the TWINMAX really helps out. Another lit-tle “gotcha” with using the TWINMAX system isthat you have to have someplace to connect thevacuum tubes. Most of the vintage Japanesetwins aren't equipped with ports. The good newsis that TWINMAX supplies a selection of adapt-ers. You can drill and tap the intake runners onyour bike and use the adapter supplied byTWINMAX. Remove the adapters when not us-ing the TWINMAX. Take short screws of the ap-propriate thread and seal the vacuum ports. Giveit a try. You 'll be amazed at how much smoothera twin can be with the carburetors dialed in.

Balancing the carbs on a vintage twin-cylinder bike, using the TWINMAX sys-tem.

Quick Tip of the Month“When re-lacing a spoke wheel, alwaysstart with and completely install the in-side spokes on both sides of the wheel

before installing the outside spokes.”

14 www.vjmc.org


by Mike Baker

Editor's Note: Part 1 of this articleappeared in the February issue.

The new Barber Motorsports Mu-seum building encompasses five-sto-ries; 144,000 square feet (over80,000 of those dedicated to exhibitspace); a 65 seat multi-media theater;conference rooms; a gift shop; and a5,000 title library that also includesback issues of 50 motorcycle maga-zines and 650 video titles. There isnothing left in the new museumbuilding’s design to remind you ofthe old facility's utilitarian metal ex-terior. We are talking clean, modern,adventurous architecture here, withan intriguing “Moto Sapiens” sculp-ture to greet you on approach fromthe parking area. This imposingsculpture is one of many art installa-tions dotting the park's grounds. Theart of the motorcycle and motorcycleracing meet art that represents theirart. These pieces are a thoughtfultouch that gives this road-race track afeel that is much less sterile than thetypical track environment that I amfamiliar with in the U.S.A. Anotheraesthetic bonus is that the visitor hasa view of the track and the park sur-rounding it through huge floor-to-ceiling windowed areas on everyfloor.

Though the new museum buildingand its environs are fabulouslychanged, the machines it houses are,thankfully, the same. But one of themost daring and appreciated changesmade at the new museum is howthese same machines are displayed.At first glance, when you see thedozen or so bikes and the racing carheld in the main entrance’s well-lit,glass-fronted hall, you think it is thesame old stacked Plexiglas dis-play-box theme greeting you. Thenyou realize that the Plexiglas barrierhas evaporated and the bikes are opento viewing in the new museum build-ing’s well-filtered air. Entering the

museum proper you find you can nowwalk up to and around almost all thebikes and cars on display, gettingtruly up-close and personal withthese dream machines. Many of thebikes on display are now secured topedestals of several different designsand materials, but you could easilyreach out and touch them (pleasedon’t; as it should be, touching is ano-no). The display pedestals haveengraved plaques naming, dating,and describing the bike they mount;not all of these plaques are yet inplace. Many more of the bikes, andalmost all of the cars, on display sitwith tires and center, race, orkickstands firmly planted on the mu-seum’s concrete floor.

The museum’s four display floorsare connected by a sweeping rampcurving upwards from the secondfloor to the fifth. The spiraling rampputs me in mind of a strand of DNA’sdouble helix that binds together themechanical genetic code of the mo-torcycles and automobiles filling thefloors it connects. And there is arhyme and reason to a majority of the

display areas. The display groups onmost floors are divided based on ten,twenty, or thirty year wide blocks oftime, depending on how quicklythings were moving in the technolog-ical evolution of the automobile andmotorcycle.

But there are display areas that aredefined by specialty rather than era.Two of these areas greet you as youwalk past the ticket counter and giftshop into the museum proper. On theleft is a large display area filled withlong rows and groups of road-racingmotorcycles that encompass manymarques, years, and sizes. I wouldguess most of these race bikes datefrom the late-fifties to the present. Onthe right another generous area ishome to several open-wheeled racingcars, probably of Lotus design. How-ever, the top floor seems to be an areaof the museum that is presently acatchall. It is filled with wonderfuland desirable motorcycles from noparticular era, though they seem to bemore modern than antique, and withno particular specialty. The new mu-seum is still a work in progress. I un-

Barber Museum keeps bike history alive

A middleweight Honda howler. This desirable CB400F, in 1976 yellow-tankedcolor-scheme, finds a comfortable perch in the museum’s 60s and 70s display area. Withtheir slick shifting six-speed transmission and electric smooth four-cylinder motor, thesebikes beg to be revved.

www.vjmc.org 15


derstand that much of what is ondisplay is intended to change andfluctuate, as bikes presently in stor-age are rotated in and some now ondisplay are rotated out. I also imaginein the future the museum will holdspecial exhibits or spotlight certainmarques.

A few weeks ago I was doing somehands-on research for this article byrevisiting the museum and taking lotsof photos of its contents (rough work,eh?). While asking some inane ques-tion or other of the very friendly andcooperative employee at the ticketcounter, I noticed a long-time motor-cycle mechanic friend, KennyBrogan, coming down the ramp to-wards me. I had heard through thegrapevine that Kenny, the lucky soul,had come to be working at the mu-seum. So, I was not surprised to seehim in the museum, wearing a BarberVintage Motorsports Museum logoon his polo shirt. We greeted eachother and I congratulated him on hisgood fortune. When I asked how heliked it, he said he was really enjoy-ing being at Barber’s, and I repliedthat I would be ecstatic too, if I wascoming to work at this gear-head’sparadise. He asked me if I would liketo the see the bottom floor of the mu-seum, as he was going down there to

clock-out for the day. As before,when chance and friendship hadgiven me an exceptional opportunityat the Barber Museum, I said, “Youbet, let’s go!”

This brings us to the museum’sbottom floor, or “Basement” as theycall it. It is not a display floor opento the paying public, but it is a floorwhich is largely on display to them,because much of the Basement isvisible to museum patrons from thefloors above. The whole centralarea of the museum, encircled bythe ramp-way, is open. Like muchof the Basement, areas of the otherfour floors are visible from thosefloors above or below. This designelement gives the new museumbuilding a very open, uncluttered,and airy feel, yet overwhelms youwith the sheer numbers of bikes andcars you can see from many spots onany floor. We boarded the mu-seum’s huge glass-sided elevatorand started down. The elevatordominates the center of the museumand can move people and all thepretty toys displayed within fromfloor to floor. It will quietly andgently transport up to 24,000pounds of anything that will fit(most any car or light truck), glidingbetween floors supported by a very

tall hydraulic ram, not the usual ele-vator’s cables and pulleys.

We exited the huge elevator andstepped into the Basement and, asKenny showed me around, I was awe-struck by the quality and quantity of thecollected mechanical goodies and thesupport facility that has been put inplace to meet their needs. The firstfloor or Basement is the restoration andteaching floor and storage floor. How-ever, the cars and motorcycles stored inthis floor’s open central area are easilyviewed from the floor above. On thenorthwest end of the Basement, over-looking the track, rows of toolboxes,topped with worktables, surround sixmotorcycle and two automobiles lifts.The northeast side of the basement istaken up by metal machining equip-ment, including a brand newhandy-dandy CNC machine that willcarve most anything you tell it to andeven sign it if you want. There arerooms off to the southwest side of theBasement housing parts washers, beadblast cabinets, the paint and bodyshops, and others crammed full of carsand bikes, presently in storage. Afterhaving seen all the wonderful mobiledisplay pieces on the upper four floorsand most of the Basement, I was think-ing I could no longer be easily sur-prised, but Kenny opened another dooron the southeast side of the Basementsaying casually that this was just beingused for storage right now and theremust have been two hundred more mo-torcycles in there! My mouth silentlyformed one word, WOW! Thanks forthe special tour Kenny!

So here are some of the cold, hardnumbers involved with George Bar-ber’s hot collection. I believe thereare presently over 800 motorcycles inthe collection. I am pretty confidentthis is the largest motorcycle collec-tion in the world. I know it is the larg-est collection in the U. S. There areover 50 automobiles in the Barbercollection. These automobiles in-clude the largest assemblage of Lotusracing cars in the world, at least 23presently. Of these 800 motorcycles

Among the rarest of the rare beauties. One of three 1960 Honda RC161 250cc GrandPrix machines believed to exist graces this Barber display. The museum owns two!

See Museum, page 16

16 www.vjmc.org


and 50 cars, I estimate about 400 motorcycles and about30 cars are presently on display. As mentioned before, ve-hicles stored in the Basement will be rotated into the pub-lic display area as some of those upstairs are rotated out.Some vehicles may be on loan to other exhibits. So, therewill always be a good excuse to come back and visit thismuseum’s fantastic collection. Since his 1988 beginnings,Mr. Barber now has two world-class collections, aworld-class museum to display them, a world-class GPtrack to play with them on, and a world-class setting for allof this to call home. Mercy me, all right here in lil’ ol’Birmin’ham, Alabam’! Thank you, George Barber!

With 125 marques representing 17 countries of origin,there is something here for everyone, no matter what theirmotorcycling obsession. For the VJMC members, Japa-nese bikes are very well represented from the entrancehall of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum through-out the museum. You are greeted by Honda’s CB92,CB77 (street and race), CX500Turbo, and, I believe, anRS125, as well as a Yamaha YCS3 “Catalina.” Of course,there are plenty of Japanese road-racing bikes in the col-lection. For example, there are more than enough Yamaha

TZs, in various displacements, to equip several racingteams. I believe the Barber collection is in possession oftwo of the three Honda RC161s left in the world (they sella really super poster in the gift shop that is a photo of thisbike’s exploded engine, its internals all neatly laid out forthe world to puzzle over). Japanese street bikes are instrong evidence in every time frame from the ‘60s up tothe present. There are some very special bikes that most ofus have never seen in person and lots of the regular onesfrom the Japanese “Big-Four” that we owned, grew upwith, and came to love and sometimes hate. There are afew gaps here, but they will probably be filled in withtime. To quote “Big Jim” Folsom, an infamous scoundrelof an Alabama Governor, of which we’ve had more thanour share, “Ya’ll come!” You won’t be disappointed!

When you do come, you can check things out in advanceat their websites, www.barbermuseum.orgorwww.barbermotorsports.com. Here, you can get informa-tion on museum hours, entry fees, directions, project in-formation, history, contact information, answers tofrequently asked questions (notice the one answering theall-important question of “How many Harley-Davidsonsare in collection?” Wouldn’t you know?), upcomingevents, links to track info, etc. The Motorsports site iswhere you want to go to get info about the track, its ame-nities, events, tickets, and such; but both sites share quite abit of information and have links to one another.

There are plenty of motels and hotels in the area sur-rounding the Barber Motorsports Park from the way tooexpensive, to the way too dangerous. I would suggest theHampton Inn at 3910 Kilgore Memorial Drive inIrondale, Alabama (an eastern suburb of Birmingham)205-956-4100 or 1-800-426-7866. It is fairly new, rea-sonably priced, close to the Motorsports Park and theB’Ham Airport, and there are plenty of restaurantsnearby, some of which are actually very good (call ore-mail me for information on the good ones).

There is also a neat place to camp or stay in somesemi-rustic cabins on a great stretch of blacktop, about ten(mostly) scenic miles from the Barber Motorsports Park.It is the 29 Dreams Motorcycle Resort at 53707 StateHighway 25 South in Vandiver, Alabama 35176. You cancall them at 205-672-0309 or on the web atwww.29dreams.com. It is the brainchild of two good fel-lows who love bikes and wanted to have a fun place formotorcyclists to gather and stay in the Birmingham area.If you do not mind roughing it a bit, I think you will like ita lot. Be sure to book in advance, 29 Dreams is often filledfor race weekends or reserved for club events. Feel free tocontact me with any reasonable questions about the Bar-ber Vintage Motorsports Museum that these web sites andthis article have not answered: Mike Baker at

[email protected]

Barber: Museum is worth the trip to AlabamaContinued from page 15

www.vjmc.org 17


Check out the classifiedssection of this issue for

dozens of bikes, parts, andmiscellaneous items wanted

and for sale.

18 www.vjmc.org


Honda history: At home in Japan

by Rick Darke

It’s mid-morning on December 5th,2003 and I’m walking the narrowstreets of a rural village in the moun-tains north of Kyoto with my wifeMelinda and our Japanese friendShigeto. From the bottom of the vil-lage, a familiar staccato grows stron-ger until the postal delivery driverfinally turns onto our street, passingus on a bright red Hondastep-through barely changed in de-sign from the first models a half cen-tury ago. The day before, as weweaved through downtown Kyoto’srush-hour traffic, Honda cycles of allsizes passed within inches of our win-dows. Chevrolet may be the heartbeatof America, but in Japan that honorbelongs to two-wheeled Hondas.

My work with plants and land-scapes has taken me to Japan manytimes since 1985. Although studyingHonda history has never been mymain purpose, each trip has providedopportunities to learn more about thebackground of the motorcycles I’veridden since high school. I startedwith a 1964 Honda CA100 50ccstep-through and graduated to 160s,305s, and finally the 175s, 350s and450s that were my sole transportationin college days. Chrome and candycolors, spoked wheels and springbreezes, and the camaraderie of otherenthusiasts are all part of the satisfac-tion of collecting and restoring thesevintage machines, but I also find a lotof pleasure in understanding howHonda motorcycles fit into the linkedhistory of Japan and the U.S.

It is surprising to me that no signifi-cant book about Soichiro Honda (thename is pronounced “s�hee-chee-d�h”) has yet been written.A true giant in 20th Century interna-tional industry, Honda’s founder wasapparently too interested in havingfun with his inventions to be botheredwith arranging for the type of officialbiography so traditional among hispeers. The nearest thing I’ve found is

Masajiro Ikeda’s 1993 book SoichiroHonda: The Endless Racer. Trans-lated from Japanese by KazunoriNozawa, this small paperback is a bitquirky but is well worth reading for

the insight it provides into Honda’scharacter. A man of exceptional vi-sion, creativity and stamina, Hondaretained a youthful, infectious enthu-siasm throughout his life as described

Top: The morning mail arrives by Honda in rural Kita village in Miyamacho, Japan, whichis internationally renowned for its surviving wealth of thatch-roofed traditional houses.Bottom: In police use in Kyoto, this Benly CD125T sports chrome tank panels and clas-sic lines.

www.vjmc.org 19


in multiple recollections by Nozawaand others who knew him personally.Though hard-drinking, hard-driving,and meticulous about his machinery,his gregarious nature andapproachability earned him virtuallyuniversal respect and admirationamong employees. A well-traveled

man with a broad understanding ofculture and commerce, he was savvyenough to understand that “Benly,”which in Japanese means “conve-nient,” had the familiar ring of“Bentley” – an automobile marquethat was then well-known interna-tionally for fine machinery.

Convenience, quality, and effi-ciency continue to be major factors inthe popularity of Honda motorcyclesin modern-day Japan. In addition tothe ubiquitous step-though types stillfavored for daily commuting, Benlymodels in various sizes from 50cc to125cc are the standard for many busi-ness purposes. They’re encounterednearly everywhere, on sidewalks andstreet corners, with front or rear bas-kets or luggage racks appended. I’vealways liked the lines of thefull-fendered, toaster-tanked Benlys,and in December I stopped more thanonce to admire Benly CD125Ts sit-ting outside local “koban” (policestations) and wished there was a con-venient way to take one home withme.

One of the personal highlights ofmy most recent Japan trip was thechance to visit Honda’s CollectionHall in Tochigi, a couple of hoursnorth from Tokyo. Although it is pos-sible to get there by a combination oftrain and bus, the schedules are infre-quent and somewhat inconvenient forforeign travelers with limited time.When my friend Norio Ueda sug-gested that he and his wife could takeus there by car, I jumped at thechance. Norio lives in a western To-kyo suburb, and although he is nowenjoying a successful second careerin landscape design, he first spentmore than 30 years with Honda, bothin Japan and in southern California.Automobiles were the focus of hislater years, but when he joined Hondain 1968 he was involved with motor-cycle research and development, andplayed a small role in the originalCB750 project.

The Honda Collection Hall is partof a huge corporate complex, gener-ally referred to as Twin Ring Motegi,which includes multiple speedways,road and dirt tracks, a hotel, and othertourist facilities. The official museumof Honda Motor Co., Ltd., the Collec-tion Hall stunningly presents and in-terprets over 350 restoredmotorcycles, automobiles, power

Top: In 1946, before he officially founded Honda, Soichido Honda sold engines such asthis one, rebuilt and adapted from WWII surplus military transmitting equipment. Bottom:A 1952 Cub F with the classic red engine and white tank stands in front of other earlymodels including a row of Dreams and Benlys.

See Japan, page 20

20 www.vjmc.org


products, and racing machines. Mostof these are Hondas, but to the com-pany’s credit, the collection also in-cludes well-chosen examples ofhistoric competitors’ machines in-cluding NSU, Yamaha, andKawasaki. The English-languagewebsite, world.honda.com/collec-tion-hall/ invites you to “Please feelour passion, our history, and ourchallenging spirit towards the cre-ation of such machines.” Enhance-ments to the site within the last yearhave greatly improved its ease of usefor English-language users, and it isnow fairly easy to navigate thoughthe search feature to individual pro-files with images and specificationsof machines in the collection.

Due to time constraints we breezedpast the speedways, and with theuniquely high-pitched whine ofmulti-cylinder Honda racers perme-ating the outside air, we entered thegrand entrance of the Honda Collec-tion Hall. Constructed of glass andstone and stainless steel, the enor-mous two-towered building is a fit-ting and memorable display space formachine design. The vast main lobbyimmediately hits you with a mix ofhistoric racing and production motor-cycles and cars, all meticulously re-stored both cosmetically andmechanically. Special exhibits and ashop brimming with literature are offto the sides. Although it was hard todecide where to turn first, we headedfor the second floor of the southtower, which is devoted to produc-tion motorcycles.

At home in the States in August, Iusually attend the White Rose meet inJefferson, Pennsylvania where RobinMarkey’s fabulously original D-typeDream can be seen. Even this experi-ence hardly prepared me for thesweep of Honda history on display onthe second floor. Arranged roughly inchronological order, beginning withthe first post-WWII motorized bicy-

cle conversions, are hundreds ofvintage Hondas.

Most accounts of the Honda com-pany’s origins tell the story of howSoichiro Honda adapted WWII sur-plus engines, originally designed topower army transmitters, for use oncommon bicycles - but I’d never actu-ally seen one. Now, the real thing wasright in front of me, representing thecrude but important beginnings of theHonda legacy. I began comparing se-quential models, beginning withHonda’s Model A of 1947, the firstproduction engine of Honda design,also intended for fitting to commer-cially available bicycles. A 1952 CubF stood nearby, its brilliant red,streamlined engine case contrastingwith its frisbee-like white tank. Alsofitted to a bicycle frames, the Cub Fgreatly contributed to Honda’s grow-ing reputation, and was innovativelymarketed through a Japan-wide salesnetwork of bicycle shops. Identical toRobin Markey’s, a 1949 D-type

Dream in pristine restored conditionrepresents the Honda company’s firsttrue production motorcycle. Painted arich burgundy-red with white pin-stripes, the D’s engine is a 2-stroke de-sign. Next to it in brilliant black sitsHonda’s first first 4-stroke overheadvalve production motorcycle, the1951 Dream E. The museum’s inter-pretive label explains that this engineproved its durability and reliability intrial runs crossing the steep Hakonemountains in the rain. If you’ve everwondered what these early enginessound like, check out this officialHonda Japan website featuring“Sounds of Honda:”http://www.honda.co.jp/SoundofHonda/motorcycles.htmlThe Dream E’slittle 146cc seems impossibly simpleand modest compared to modern-dayHondas, but it was a critically impor-tant step in the development of manyDreams yet to come.

Editor's note: Part 2 of this articlewill appear in the June issue.

Japan: Lessons in Honda history

The 1951 Dream E: Honda's first production OHV 4-stroke)


22 www.vjmc.org


Big Horn Reborn

by Michael W. Vachon

It started with an innocent questionfrom a co-worker after he overheardme talking about my latest acquisi-tion of a used 1981 Gold Wing. Hedecided to take advantage of my (pre-viously unknown) interest in bikingto ask my opinion about one that heowned. Now it was my turn to be sur-prised, because Paul was definitelynot someone that one would associatewith motorcycling. It turned outthough, that he had used a bike as ameans of inexpensive transportationwhile in college, but not because ofany particular affection for thingstwo-wheeled and motorized.

His first ride had been a used HondaCB175. Realizing that the machinewas too small for his large frame, hesold the Honda and bought a newKawasaki 350 Big Horn. I was a bitbaffled by this choice, as the BigHorn was known primarily as a seri-ous off-road machine that took morethan average skill to manage. Paulhad viewed the bike more as adual-purpose machine, thinking itwould be as comfortable on the pave-ment as it was prowling around thedeep woods that surrounded hishome. Unfortunately, after just over ayear of ownership, Paul had an acci-dent that left him with a fractured an-kle. He admitted that he had neverbeen able to master all the low-endtorque the big single had to offer. Soafter that, he had just leaned the bikeagainst a tree behind his house andleft it there – for nearly 10 years!

Paul’s question was whether theKawasaki had any value or if it wasnothing more than scrap metal. I saidI would have to look it over to makeany kind of judgment. I had primarilyowned Hondas, but two of my previ-ous rides had been Kawasakitwo-stroke street bikes – a 1974 400and a 1972 750 triple. Those twobikes had been both exciting andfrightening to ride – lots of power ac-companied by very little handling. I

went directly back to Hondas afterthat.

I went to Paul’s place to view thebike for myself. Sure enough, the BigHorn remained propped up againstthe same tree where Paul had parkedit years ago. Although the odometeronly showed an honest 7500 miles, Igrimaced at the bike’s overall condi-tion. Trying to be as objective as pos-sible, I began my inspection. Paul’sall-black dog, Spot (another story)had chewed off the seat. Most of thepainted surfaces had varying degreesof rust. There were also assorteddents, broken mirrors, a missing tail-light, and broken turn signals. Themotor was seized tighter than my dadon allowance day and most of theother controls were either stuck orbroken. Other than that, the bike wasfairly complete. One plus was that thefenders were metal, and althoughdented, definitely repairable.

I told Paul that as it sat, theKawasaki was not much more than aparts bike. However, if it could be en-couraged to run, it would probablyfetch at least a couple hundred dol-lars. He wasn’t interested in investingany money into the bike and askedme to either sell it for him or make an

offer on it. Thinking that it would be afun project, we negotiated a price andI dragged it home.

My wife wasn’t too happy with thisidea. We were living in a rental prop-erty at the time and only had use ofone-half of a two-car garage. Withthree bikes now in residence in thehalf garage, her car would definitelynot fit inside. I offered that I would beable to patch up the Big Horn andturn a tidy profit on it. This didn’t to-tally satisfy her, but at least now theprotesting was reduced to heavysighs and disapproving looks. I wasused to that.

Now for the dirty work! I immedi-ately disassembled the bike andpulled the engine from the frame. Thetop of the 350 single’s jug came offeasily enough and revealed a strangemixture of oil, water, and rust thatwas obviously responsible for thelack of crank movement. I cleaned upwhat I could and began sprayingdown the inside of the bore withtrusty old WD-40 over a period ofseveral days. I tried tapping the pis-ton down with a block of wood and amallet after each treatment. After afew days, the piston began to move abit and eventually freed up com-

The Kawasaki 350 Big Horn after ten years of neglect.

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pletely. I used an emery cloth to buffdown the bore, but never did removethe jug itself or inspect the pistonrings. This may have been a fatal mis-take, but more about that later.

Cleaning up the frame and variousbody parts was fairly simple, but I didrun into a number of snags. The plas-tic sight glass on the oil tank thatfeeds the two-stroke oil into the fuelsystem was clouded and the sealaround it leaked. There was no obvi-ous way to remove this piece, so I putthe tank on my list of parts to replace.The right side engine cover over theinjector pump had a hole punchedinto it. As it was not an oil reservoirtype cover, I attempted an epoxy re-pair and painted the cover black tohide the repair material. I wasn’t toohappy with the results, but it wouldsuffice for the time being.

I found it difficult to locate salvageparts for the bike and new parts

through the local Kawasaki dealerproved to be quite expensive. It oc-curred to me, though, that one of mycousins used to race off-roadKawasaki singles, so I decided togive him a call. In a stroke of goodfortune, it turned out that my aunt hadbeen threatening to throw out all thatold “bike crap” if my cousin didn’ttake it away from her basement.

My cousin and I met at his mother’shouse and went through the odds andends together. Amazingly, I walkedaway with almost everything that Iwas missing except a seat. He had aseat that had been repaired withnearly an entire roll of duct tape, butthe pan was shot and almost as bad asmy original one. I ended up striking abargain with the local Kawasakidealer and got a new OEM seat at anice discount.

The bike was now coming togethernicely. It was a struggle to get it

started the first time, but it ran verystrongly once I managed to get it go-ing without fouling the spark plug. Ifinished repainting all the bodyworkand replaced the leaky oil tank with amuch nicer unit that came from mycousin’s stash. Finally, the bike wasready for its first road test. The bikestarted up this time without muchfuss and I rolled it to the end of thedriveway, but as I was about to un-load the clutch and swing out onto thestreet, I heard a loud pop, and the en-gine quit.

No amount of fiddling allowed meto get the 350 started again. On closerinspection, I found that there was nolonger any spark. I tried a new plug,thinking the original one might bebadly fouled, but it was no use. TheCDI ignition was dead. Because anew CDI unit proved to be quite ex-pensive, I began looking for alternatesources. My cousin’s stash had noth-ing ignition related, so I began tocomb the boneyards one more time.Fortunately, someone I knew had ajunked Kawasaki 250 single and in-vited me to take it for parts.

On disassembly, I discovered thatthe 250cc engine sported apoints-style ignition system. The F9had identical castings in the flywheelarea that allowed me to mount this al-ternate ignition system, so I decidedto try it. Alas, the bike only poppedand sputtered with this setup. Iquickly learned why the CDI designwas used in the Big Horn; it had suchhigh compression that a conventionalignition was incapable of supplyingenough juice to produce a viablespark!

The original CDI unit itself was un-serviceable. The internal electronicswere cast inside a block of resin. Outof curiosity, I allowed an electronicstechnician to carve into it. He was im-pressed with the unit, but could donothing to help me either repair or re-build it. Defeated, I went back to theKawasaki shop and bought the newCDI unit.

See Big Horn, page 24

24 www.vjmc.org


After installing the new ignition, thebike was again ready to ride so I tookit out on its maiden voyage (ok, reallyits second one!). The big 350cc singlewas all buzz and torque, just as Iknew it would be. One slip of thethrottle or clutch, and the bike couldeasily tear itself from your grasp.Rumbling down the road, I couldbarely see anything in the rear viewmirrors as they vibrated like one ofthose old electric football games. Ihad to shift – a lot! First gear wasonly usable for an instant and secondnot much longer. The bike was happi-est at higher revs, but the feedbackthrough the handlebars was fingernumbing.

After several rides on the pave-ment, I decided to take the Big Hornoff road. I headed to a group oftrails I used to ride as a teenager.Unfortunately, urban sprawl hadclaimed a number of choice destina-tions. At one point, I was forced toventure through some unfamiliarpaths and ended up at the edge of amud pit about 50 yards wide. Therewere tire marks where other ridershad punched through this obstacle,so I decided to give it a try. Not real-izing just how heavy the Big Hornwas, I plunged right in. Of coursethe bike bogged down about half-way across!

I got off, but the bike remained up-right because it had buried itself sodeeply into the muck. The only thingkeeping it from sinking much furtherwas the mass of the engine case. I wasfar from any source of help and had tofigure a way to get it out by myself.Eventually I laid the bike over on itsside and just dragged it across themud pit, which sounds much easierthan it actually was! Once I was backon solid ground, I assessed the dam-age. Nothing was broken, but thebike sure looked like a mess. I had noidea what I must have looked like bythen.

Surprisingly, the Big Horn startedright up after its extraction from themud pit, and I headed back out to drypavement to get home. I certainlygot some interesting looks along theway. My wife had to hose me downoutside and bring clothes for me toput on in the garage because I wascompletely caked with mud. Thisevent scared her, though, creatingvisions of me getting killed fromfalling off a cliff or into a lake. I triedto calm her by explaining that I usedto do this stuff all the time when Iwas a kid, but she sternly pointed outthat the “kid” was now in his early30s! She again asked me about myintentions of selling the bike forprofit. She sort of had me there, be-cause I had originally told her thatwas my objective.

Being a male of the species, I de-cided to try to make this a win-winsituation for me. I put the bike up forsale, albeit at a price I was sure no onewould be willing to pay. But within aweek, I had a runny-nosed teenagerwith a fist full of cash banging on mydoor and just dying to own that bike. I

had been undone by my own scheme!The real kicker was that the kid’sname was Kenny Roberts – no kid-ding! At first I thought he was pullingmy leg, but I quickly realized that hewas serious and had never even heardof the famous dirt racer. Sadly, thatwas the last I saw of the BigHorn...but not the last I saw ofKenny.

I ran into Kenny about two monthsafter selling the Big Horn. I askedhow it was going and he explainedthat it wasn’t. Apparently, he hadblown a piston and had taken the biketo the shop for an engine rebuild. Atthat point I recalled that I had neverdisassembled the jug to inspect thepiston rings. I don’t think that myoversight led to his engine failure.After all, I had put almost a thousandmiles on the Kawasaki once I had itrunning and it had run flawlessly.Anyway, I reasoned, my cousin hadsaid that the big singles were prone toseizing.

I never knew what became of theBig Horn after that, but I do sort ofmiss that bike in some strange way.

Big Horn: A restoration story


The Big Horn in running condition after a cosmetic and mechanical makeover.

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Vintage Japanese bikes in Hawaii

by Bill “Mr. Honda” Silver

The decision to move to Hawaii wassomewhat spontaneous and I knewthat I would be giving up my bikes,parts, and mainland contacts with theVJMC world, when I moved here. Inan earlier (May 2002) “scouting trip”to Kona, I located the local Hondashop, which was in the process of ab-sorbing the local Yamaha/Kawasakidealer. The sole Suzuki dealer was inHilo, about 100 miles away, on therainy side of the Big Island. I chattedwith the “head mechanic” who was inhis late 50s and had worked at theshop for over 14 years. He had a 1964C200 and leftover bits of bikes fromthe 60s and 70s, but nothing of realsignificance. His main forte was actu-ally Brit bikes and Spanish models,but being a Honda mechanic helpedhim to feed his “vintage bike” habit.Before I left, he gave me the name ofa guy who had stopped in offering tosell a CB400F, which was in goodshape some three years before. I hungonto the note, in case I really did de-cide to move over to Hawaii…whichI did a few months later.

I have already told the story of howI got my 6K mile CB400F from aseller in Oahu, in previous VJMCnewsletters, so I won’t cover thatground again. Oddly enough, though,after I did get my red bike here, Istopped by the Honda shop and spot-ted a Blue 1975 CB400F in the ser-vice lot. Seems that Greg, the headmechanic, had use of the bike in orderto keep it alive and functional for thelady owner of the machine. A fewmonths after I got my red machine onthe streets, I was waved down by aguy in an old PU who told me that hehad swapped some work for the firstCB400F that I had heard about (rustbucket) and because his buddyowned the local powdercoat shop, hechose to powdercoat the fenders,rims and most of the body work,rather than rechrome or replace theshiny parts. So the head count on

CB400Fs is three, as far as we knownow.

While tooling around town in thepast year, I have spotted a nice 1976KZ900, 1978 GS1000, missed a 1980GS1000S that was for sale in Hilo,missed a 1965 CB160 with 3800miles on it, as well as a 1962 CA95that I caught up to one afternoon.There are a number of DOHC Honda750-900-1000s over here, most inrather tired condition. I have heard ofa 1979 CBX over here somewhere.Several Honda Hawk GT650s are incirculation, too. A few Yamaha Vira-gos, circa the early 80s, have showedup now and again. There are also oneor two CL77s, and an S65. Thatseems to be most of the 1960s Hondamachines, though. No Dreams orSuper Hawks (other than theVT1000F type). Not quite so much ofa true “vintage” machine, but cer-tainly in appearance, a 1990 GB500resides on nearby Maui with anNX650 motor stuffed into the chas-sis.

About 13 years ago, when I firstcame to the Big Island, I heard abouta CB92 over in a salvage yard in Ho-nolulu, which I did inspect. The is-land had not been kind to the machineat all, and the asking price, plusfreight back to the mainland made theproject impractical. There was a ru-mor that a CR93 had been used at theOahu drag strip back in the 1960s, butnothing of the machine is knownnow.

There are numerous challenges tomotorcycle riding in the Islands,which I can describe now…

First piece of advice: DO NOTCRASH OFF ROAD, especially onthe Kona side of the island. Much ofthis 75 x 95 mi island is made up ofvolcanic material, spit up from thecenter of the earth. If you rub againstit, it cuts like glass. If you crash downon it, it makes the experience a greatdeal worse. Even the asphalt is madefrom recycled lava, giving a newmeaning to the term “road rash.” In-

terestingly enough, there are no hel-met laws in Hawaii, so many peopleride small bore scooters around town(or large-bore Harleys) in shorts,flip-flops, T-shirts, and no head cov-erage. Inevitably, when someone hasa spill, the toll on their body is great,as well as the damage to the machine.In the year that I have been here, onlya few serious motorcycle accidentshave been reported.

There are only a few places wherepeople can wring out a really fast mo-torcycle and that is generally wherethe worst accidents occur. Just afterwe arrived, we read where a “speed-ing” motorcyclist hit one of the wilddonkeys, which tend to wander ontothe roads in the hours around dusk,on the highway. Neither survived andthe bike wound up about a quartermile down the road from the site ofthe impact.

Other highway hazards include rot-ting fruits that fall from trees thatoverhang the highway. Mangoes, av-ocados, and papayas grow wild overhere and when they ripen, they dropdown, splattering all over the roads.Mongooses, which resemble ferrets,are wild creatures, which were im-ported to kill rats. Unfortunately, noone realized the mongooses are daycreatures, while the rats only comeout at night. Unfortunately, the mon-goose population has decimated thewild bird population, eating the eggsbefore they hatch. While they arepretty quick on their tiny feet, theyoften fail to elude speeding motor ve-hicles and their flattened little bodiesspread out about a foot long acrossthe lanes.

Rain on the Kona side is relativelysparse, at about 20-25 inches a year.In certain seasons, it almost comeslike clockwork, arriving in themid-late afternoon each day. Often itis just a light sprinkle or quickshower, but there are times when a

See Hawaii, page 35

26 www.vjmc.org


The Hodaka Motorcycle Revival: The FunMotorcycles from Oregon Are Still Alive -

and Turning 40!by Greg Bastek

Quickly � name the first bike youever rode or got a ride on as a kid(okay, after the Honda Mini Trail). Itwas probably a Hodaka 90 or 100ccbike with a chrome tank, red frame,and shiny fenders, right? Probably.For thousands of motorcyclists, theirfirst introduction to the sport was viaa small two-stroke Hodaka motorcy-cle from the folks at Athena, Ore-gon’s Pacific Basin TradingCompany (PABATCO).

While PABATCO was actually thebrainstorm of Ed Miley back in thelate ‘50s, it wasn’t until a chain ofevents, including the Nixon vs Ken-nedy election that had implicationson the wheat allocations for whichOregon is famous, eventually led tothe importing of Yamaguchi motor-cycles from Japan. Other productsalso made their way back to the Ore-gon coast: boats that didn’t float, fur-niture that wouldn’t stay together andpre-fab houses that crumbled all toosoon. But those Yamaguchi motorcy-cles with the reliable Hodaka enginesthat nobody in the United States everheard of worked marvelously. Mileyimmediately saw the potential inplaces like California and Oregon.

That was 1960. It was also the startof the “Yamaguchi period” inPABATCO’s history. You see, themotorcycles themselves were actu-ally produced by the Yamaguchi Mo-tor Company using the bulletproofHodaka power plant. Within twoyears PABATCO had sold over1,000 motorcycles through a networkof only 50 dealers. Things were look-ing good for PABATCO; it appearedthat they may have stumbled onto theright product at the right time. ThenYamaguchi ran into financial troubleand Hodaka, the engine manufac-turer, lost its best customer at a time

when things were just taking off.PABATCO was left with a marketthat was on the edge of exploding, areliable and snappy two-stroke powerplant, but no frame with which tohouse it.

What happened next changedmotorcycling forever. Miley won-dered what his next move would be.Then, late one night, he and some as-sociates apparently sketched out acomplete motorcycle frame, aHodaka engine, put them together,erased this, tweaked that, and bam…say hello to Hodaka Motorcycles.

The new design was sent to Japanwhere Hodaka Motor Works agreedto make the entire motorcycle. In1964, one of the national motorcyclemagazines had this to say: “It’s notoften a manufacturer hits the rightcombination the first time around, butHodaka did it with its feistytwo-stroke… Its fuss-free perfor-mance, ability to do the job in the

rough, and all-around trail or streetversatility is without peer.” Tallpraise for a bike that almost wasn’t.

Over the next few years, thePABATCO crew had made 87 modi-fications to their little Hodaka Ace 90– refinements that resembled HenryFord’s “one good model in any coloras long as it’s black” philosophy. Orin the case of Hodaka, red. However,it wasn’t long before that philosophysuccumbed to the public’s need formore power. By 1967 PABATCO re-sponded with the Hodaka Ace 100.Soon to follow was the full-raceSuper Rat motocrosser and the Ace100 B+, which was the streetable ver-sion with lights and trials type tires.One thing remained constant duringthis time of change for the Hodakabikes; all parts for the three modelswere interchangeable. In fact,Hodaka’s own “Resonator” dealernewsletter provided details on how toturn the Ace 100 into a roadracer,

Testing the 1973 Combat Wombat 125 at the top secret PABATCO moto-operations fa-cility.

www.vjmc.org 27


motocrosser (just buy the Super Rat),trials bike, or dirt-tracker. Or the av-erage rider could leave it stock andride it anywhere. That was part of theHodaka charm: one bike with the ca-pability to do many different things.

As you might imagine, Athena, Or-egon soon became a hot spot for mo-torcycle enthusiasts, many of whomsoon ended up working for Mr. Mileyand on the payroll at PABATCO.Guys like Chuck Swanson, sales ser-vice manager; Maurice Lee, chief en-gineer from Hodaka in Japan; HarryTaylor, R&D department; Jim Gen-try, sales and service; Marv Foster,advertising supervisor; Ed Chestnut,assistant to Foster, riding, writingabout and photographing Hodakas;and Leon Wilbanks, legal and techni-cal services. That, ladies and gentle-men, was the team of talent at the coreof PABATCO.

Many people came and went andmany models of motorcycles wereproduced by the little company out inAthena in a period spanning almost30 years. There was the Ace 90, Ace

100, Super Rat 100 MX, Dirt Squirt100, Road Toad 100, Combat Wom-bat 125, Super Combat 125 MX,Wombat 125, 175 SL, Thunderdog250 ED, Dirt Squirt 80, and the 250SL. There were countless “specials”that used Hodaka motors; Bonanza,Barnt, Van-Tech, Rickman, etc.Hodakas competed in ISDT events,motocross, enduro, roadracing, trials,desert racing, hill climbing, and justabout any and every other form ofmotorcycle competition. And thou-sands upon thousands of would-bemotorcyclists cut their two-wheeledteeth on the distinctive, fun and sim-ple, chrome-tanked Hodakas. But bythe late ‘70s, Hodaka sales weredown, their bikes were dated, and theend was near. It was impossible forthe little company to compete withthe likes of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki,and Kawasaki. Sadly, in 1978,Hodaka officially closed its doors forgood. But that was far from the end…

Today, in 2004, the Hodaka Motor-cycle Revival has been going strongfor over 10 years. Credit the forma-

tion of the American Historic RacingMotorcycle Association (AHRMA),vintage motorcycle oriented maga-zines, the internet, baby boomersfeeling nostalgic, etc. But most of thecredit has to go to a guy from RhodeIsland named Paul Stannard. Aplumber by trade and an Italian sau-sage maker by marriage, Stannard al-ways loved the bikes from Athena.He started collecting them to ride andenjoy in the ‘80s, then at the urging ofhis wife, turned his passion into abusiness in the early ‘90s. His com-pany, “Strictly Hodaka,” was bornout of the same ideals as PABATCO:keep it simple, keep it affordable, andkeep it fun. Strictly Hodaka consistsof a large shop housing Paul’s vastparts and bike inventories, a museum,and a workshop where there is alwayssomething interesting on the lift. Asif that weren’t enough, a website(www.strictlyhodaka.com), keepshim busy responding to technicalquestions, orders, and Hodaka chat-ter.

The idea for an all-Hodaka eventseemed like a natural to Stannard andformer Hodaka employee, HarryTaylor; tell the Hodaka people thatthere will be a homecoming of sorts,back in Athena where it all began,and they will come. They did – andthey still do. Hodaka Days, now in its5th year will be celebrating Hodaka’s40th anniversary in 2004. HodakaDays consists of three days of benchracing, a swap meet, fun trials,motocross and field meet events,Hodaka service seminars, Hodakabike show, and an-all Hodaka paraderight down Main Street in Athena. OnJune 25th, 26th, and 27th, the Hodakafaithful, including several membersof the original PABATCO cast, willconverge on Athena where they willeat, sleep, and breathe Hodaka forthree straight days.

Indeed, after 40 years, the fun mo-torcycles from Oregon are still alive -and kicking.

Editor’s note: Information on theHodaka Days event can be found atwww.strictlyhodaka.com

Ed Chestnut hoisting a 1973 Dirt Squirt 100 for the ad department. Yes, he really held itoff the ground!

28 www.vjmc.org


International Motorcycle SuperShow report

by Sean Quinn

January 2, 3 and 4 were the dates ofthis year’s International MotorcycleSuperShow, now in its 28th year,held at the International Centre on theoutskirts of Toronto. The VJMC hashad a presence at the show since 1993when Rick Seto was given a smallpiece of floor space only big enoughfor 3 motorcycles. Rick worked theshow for about ten years, but nowbusy with other commitments, foundhimself soliciting someone else totake on the organizing responsibili-ties. So I volunteered.

Planning the show starts in the fall,when the show organizers are look-ing for a commitment and a guessti-mate of the number of bikes they’llhave so that they can start allocatingfloor space to the various clubs thatparticipate. I, in turn, have to canvassto see who’s interested in coming outfor the year. We have a small diehardcore of regulars but I thought thisyear I’d try and get in touch with allthe VJMC members in Ontario to seeif there was any interest from mem-bers I’d never met before, and see ifwe could get a few more bikes outthis year, figuring sometimes all youhave to do is ask, right? Wrong. I gotin touch with Ellis Holman, VJMCmembership chairman, and askedhim to send me the email addresses ofall the Ontario members in his data-base, which I then used for a massmailing.

Out of the 25 or so addresses listed,more than half of them weren’t valid,a half dozen of the remainder werethe aforementioned diehards, andthere were a couple of responses fromthose that were left. Luckily, though,Scott Timoff, the Michigan field rep,saved the day (weekend!) by contact-ing me to say that he would be inter-ested in bringing along a couple offriends and some of their bikes for theshow. Great, now I had a dozen bikesconfirmed, so we were on for theshow.

The show opened at 10:00 am onFriday January 2, and it was obviousthat it was going to be a busy day;some people were in line for 30 min-utes to get in. It didn’t hurt that it wasunseasonably warm outside (about45- 50°) and that a lot of folks wereon holiday, so with the day off, whynot head down to the show? Jim

Townsend had sent some extra oldmagazines that we put on the table assamples. I also had on hand almost200 photocopied membership appli-cations and I put a bunch of motorcy-cle memorabilia in a display case justfor show, including old owners’ man-uals, some motorcycle model kits,and a few books. But the main attrac-

Top: A 1970 Suzuki T125 Stinger. Bottom: A 1978 Honda 400

www.vjmc.org 29


tion of our display, of course, was thebikes. There were Scott Timoff’svery unusual ‘67 Honda CB450 Po-lice Special, and fellow MichiganiansBill Champion and Bev Pylman’ssuper sharp 1967 Hondas - a CL160and a CL77. You don’t see CL77svery often, but this year we had twoof ‘em! Next was Phil Hall’s immac-ulate 1965 CL77 and 1964 SuperHawk, followed by Jennifer andKatie Close’s 1978 Honda 400. Thegirls apparently share (more like fightover) the bike, which was the young-ster of the group.

And no, this wasn’t a Honda-onlyshow. Brian Burke always shows upwith something different everyyear, and this time was no excep-tion. Brian brought along a ‘70Suzuki T125 Stinger recently re-stored in vivid lime green and abright orange ‘72 Yamaha DT2.Bernie Thornton showed off hisfine example of the “firstsuperbike,” a 1973 CB750. AlBenvenuti revealed his “still-un-der-restoration” 1966 SuzukiTC250; this one had a few guessing.I took along the ‘74 Kawasaki 500triple that I had finished restoringthis past summer. Rounding out thedisplay was Jeff Gifford’s 1982Suzuki GS1100, Robert Caldwell’s1983 Honda NS250, Steve Palmer’s1972 Kawasaki S1 250, and BarHodgeson’s very nice 1966 CB160.

We manned the booth in an ad-libfashion, but Phil, Scott, and I werethere every day and pretty much allday. I gotta tell you though; it can bepretty hard work at times, talkingabout motorcycles all day! Some ofthe stories get to be quite familiar:“Hey that was my first bike!”"I gotmy motorcycle license/passed mytest on a bike like that." “Where doyou guys get your parts?” “Who re-stores your bikes?” And the alwayspopular, “Got one of those - had oneof those.” Another common questionis, “How much is my YamaSaki orHondaZuki XYZ worth?” The an-swers to this one can be visibly disap-pointing to some people, as a lot ofthem must figure that they have reallyold or rare pieces of machinery. Theyforget that some of these machineswere sold by the boat load. And lestwe forget, there are always the, “Isthat bike for sale?” and “Do you wantto buy my YaHonSuzAki?” One ofthe things I concluded after talkingabout my bike over the weekend isthat there are quite a few Kawi triplessitting in the back of garages justwaiting to be restored. Conversationsoften ended with, “Yeah I’m gonnaget mine done like that - someday!”

The crowds eased off after suppertime but the next day we found outthat Friday had been the show’s bestopening day ever. And Saturday waspretty much “deja vu all over again!”

Of course “working” the show isalso a great way to see the show. Theshow takes up about 300,000 squarefeet and boasts new bikes, vintagebikes, show bikes, racing personali-ties, accessories galore, and tons ofclothing, as well as about 70 club andassociation displays covering everyaspect of motorcycling from vintageracing to amateur Trials to singlemarque owners groups to weekendcruiser clubs. Everybody seems tosuccumb to at least one good deal overthe weekend; for me it was a new pairof Joe Rocket waterproof pants.

Sunday wasn’t as busy as the previ-ous days but was steady nonetheless.Scott had been doing such a stellar jobselling VJMC memberships that bySunday we were teasing him aboutwrestling people to the ground in orderto sign them up. It wasn’t that we’dused all the membership applications tosign people up, but the 200 we had onhand on opening day were almost allgone, and by lunchtime Bill and Bevwent off in search of a copy shop sowe’d have enough to last us the day.

Late in the afternoon the show orga-nizers held their awards ceremony, andout of the top five awards in VintageAsian Restored class, VJMC memberstook the top four spots! Bev took 4thplace for her CL77, Scott netted 3rd forhis Police Special, and Phil walkedaway with 1st and 2nd for his CL77and Super Hawk. Way to go, Phil!

By the close of the doors on Sundayevening, there had been nearly 60,000visitors to the show! It felt as if I’dtalked to half of them as I was begin-ning to feel a little tired and ready tohead home, but I’d had a great timejust the same and was already thinkingabout a couple of ideas for next year’sshow! Maybe I’ll start the planningjust a little earlier next year, and hope-fully some of the new members will beinterested in sharing some of theirbikes with the rest of us by bringingthem down and displaying them. On afinal note, if any of you (Ontariomembers?) haven’t updated youremail address with VJMC please do,so that when I send out an invite this

fall, you’ll be on the list!

A 1974 Kawasaki H1.

www.vjmc.org 31


ClassifiedsRemember that a ‘Vintage Japa-

nese’ motorcycle is 15 years or older(cut-off for this year is 1989) and, ofcourse, Japanese. Please be awarethat ads may be edited to conservespace. Don’t feel reluctant to usepunctuation and proper case one-mailed ads.

Be mindful of publication dead-lines. Ads are due by the 20th of themonth in which a newsletter is issuedfor the NEXT newsletter. For exam-ple, ads for the June newsletter willbe due to the editor by April 20th.

Send all ads to:Gary Gadd3721 Holland St.Ft. Worth, TX., 76180(817) 284-8195or e-mail: [email protected]

For Sale

Bridgestone

For Bridgestone Sport 60, a fewitems: One pair of tank badges - oneis excellent, one is good. No cracks orwarps. $50/pair. One right hand sidecover - a few dents; needs paint; hassport 60 emblem in good conditionand the knob. $50. A few other parts:headlight/speedo housing; needspaint. Headlight (no bulb). Rubbercarb cover - still flexible but has asmall tear on bottom. Not too bad. In-dividual sale or make offer for all.

Hans Bertelsen, (425) 254-9424,Seattle, Washington;[email protected]

Hodaka

1973 Hodaka Wombat 125. 1,285original miles. Runs and looks great.Stainless tank and fenders. No dents

or dings. $1,400 obo.John McFarland, (309) 762-5280,

Moline, Illinois;[email protected]

Honda

For 1959/60 Honda C71/76250/305cc: have parts for dry sumpDreams. Some NOS; some goodused. May trade for stuff I need.

David Livingstone, England;[email protected]

For 1963 Honda CB93: disassem-bled engine. As far as I can tell theonly thing missing is the pistons.There are two new cylinder heads,new cylinders, gaskets, etc. TheCB93 was not imported into the US,but looked identical to the CB160.This could be combined with aCB160 rolling chassis to make arather unique, rarely seen Hondavariant. I’d like to get $100 plus ship-ping for these parts.

Ellis Holman, (317) 876-0126, In-dianapolis, Indiana;[email protected]

1968 Honda CA175 Touring.Black, cylinders inclined forwardfrom vertical, tank emblem & sidecover emblem HONDA 175.6-VOLT ELECT. 4-speed ,drivechain fully enclosed; excellenceshape; original parts; 15927 originalmiles. Elect. start (not working); runsgreat; no smoke; garage kept. Boughtnew. Only one owner. Asking $2000.Buyer pickup.

Kay Burke, (570) 748-5689, LockHaven, Pennsylvania;[email protected]

For 1968/73 Honda CB450: NOSparts. Two Pistons 13101-292-030,$40 each. One right carburetor BlackBomber 16100-283-000, $180. Fourgrommet; 17245-292-010, $3 each.One thread, clutch lifter22810-292-000, $40$. One fork,right gear shift 24211-292-020, $30.One breaker assy 30200-292-671,$40. One switch assy, starter35300-292-003, $40. One regulator,pointless 31400-292-670, $100. Two

side cover emblems S/CS 65C-YF-1308815; $25 each. Onetune-up kit 06050-292-000, $35. Onetaillight assy 33700-268-601. Allprices are parts only, plus shipping!!

Volker Wolff, Germany;[email protected]

1970 Honda 350. $1,200 Canadian.Ed Vaillancourt, (905) 728-7861;

[email protected]

Honda parts bikes, 200cc to 900cc,years 1970 to 1982. I have no com-plete bikes. I am located in south cen-tral PA, 40 miles north of theMaryland line. Thanks to all. Need

parts, these are the bargains.Stephen Horton, (717) 532-6147,

Roxbury, Pennsylvania;[email protected]

For 1974 Honda MR50: rubber bitsfor AC generator, air intake and carbto airbox boot. Reproduced to exactlook and fit.

Dan Gray, (240) 793-2000;[email protected]

1976 Honda TL125 Trials.STREET LEGAL, excellent condi-tion, clean title, $1295 obo. Picturesavailable on request.

George Yates, (949) 290-7555;[email protected]

Honda TL125 frame with swingarm, rear shocks, chain guard, motormounts, triple clamps. No title, veryclean. $275 obo.


1976 Honda CB200T. Orange,2700 actual miles. Very clean origi-nal. Ride it home. $995.

Steve Kasten, (715) 446-2225, 100Clark St, Hatley, Wisconsin, 54440

Honda CX500/650 TURBOPARTS. Front turn signals, right sidemuffler, tank, good to excellent con-

32 www.vjmc.org


Classifiedsdition; sold separately or packagedeal.


1978 Honda CB750F2. Black, 5500orig. miles, stock except for cafe fair-ing, Jardine 4/1 canister exhaust,lower bars, everything is there-nodents/scratches. Last of the first gen-eration 750 fours. Clean title, $1895obo. Pictures available on request.


1980 Honda CB900C CUSTOM.Steel/blue, A-1 condition, 40K pam-pered miles, recently serviced, newtires, paint/chrome/plastic excep-tional. Jardine chrome 4/1 exhaust,no rust - a beautiful example of a clas-sic cruiser, clean title. $1,750 obo.


1983 Honda CX650T Turbo. 20Kmiles, new stator, perfect condition.Never down or abused, adult owned,near show condition, always garaged.No paint fade or rust, a must see ifyou’re into turbos. Clean title. $4,495obo. Pictures available on request.


Official good used Honda partsmanuals: C201-1966, CA110-1966,CA102-1966, CB250/350/350P/CL250/350-1971, CL72/77-1965,C72/CA72/CS72/C77/CA77/CS77-1964, CL160-1966, CA160-1967,C110/115-1966, CB/CL125-1967,C110/115-1962, C102/CD105-1963,CB92-1964, CD/CB/CL175-1967,CL450-1968, CM91-1967,CT200-1966, S/CL90-1970,CT90K4-1971, C105T-1963. $15US each plus postage.

Rick Millard, (902) 835-3886,Nova Scotia, Canada;[email protected]

Honda owners’ manuals (printdates): CB750-K2, CT70-80,CB350-1975, CB450-1968,C70-1981, CB750K-1981, C92/95-?,CB550F-1974, S65-1965, C65-1965,C50/65-1969, CL160-1966,C100/102/105-1964, CB500-1972,CBX-1980. $15 US each plus post-age.

Rick Millard, (902) 835-3886,Nova Scotia, Canada;[email protected]

For 1960/67 Honda 250/305cc: TheTRIO is now complete. All of my250-305cc Honda RestorationGuides are revised and available onlyon CDs now. Page count runs from400 to 500+ depending on model andincludes parts manuals and owners’manuals. I can add my $30 EngineRepair Guide to any of theCA/CB/CL restoration guides for anadditional $15 when ordered withRestoration Guide.

Bill Silver, (808) 325-1655, KailuaKona, Hawaii;www.vintagehonda.com

Kawasaki

1973 Kawasaki H1. Green, all orig-inal with only 8731 miles. In verynice shape and runs excellent; titled.If you’re looking for a nice exampleto ride, this is the one—$2500 firm.See pics at www.bradsbikes.net.

Brad Powell, (678) 576-4258,Marietta, Georgia;[email protected]

1974/75 Kawasaki Z1-B. Lowmiles, all original including pipes andpaint. Motor is stuck from sitting ingarage since 1983. 1975 is 90% com-plete with low miles and good motor.Both bikes for $1800 obo.

Eddie Porterfield, (770) 962-5787

1981 Kawasaki KZ1300. Twofull-dressed tourers, green, complete.Newer tires 11K & 35K miles. NOT

CRASHED! Must sell due to illness.$2000 for both.

L T Elliott, (860) 443-6335,Waterford, Connecticut;[email protected]

Suzuki

For 1965/68 Suzuki T20/X6,Honda CA72/CA77: have quite a lotof both NOS and good used parts.

David Livingstone, England;[email protected]

For 1983 GS1100E: Front fork as-sembly in very good condition. $75.Karen (865) 576-6633,

[email protected]

Yamaha

For 1961 Yamaha YDS1: Yamaha“factory kit” road race gas tank. Thistank fits YDS1 and YDS2. Asking$500.

Art Everhart, Marysville, Califor-nia; [email protected]

1966 Yamaha YL1. Please Note!!Yamaha YL1 Twin Jet 100 ClubWebsite @ http://twinjet.us. aka -Twinjet.US.

Steve Swan, (970) 442-4432;[email protected]

1972 Yamaha R5C. Clean original(Bates black fairing, new pistons).Ready to ride or show. $995.

Steve Kasten, (715) 446-2225; 100Clark St, Hatley, Wisconsin, 54440

For 1973 Yamaha TX750: parts. Ti-tled frame with harness, engine,gages, tank, seat. Engine not stuckbut is missing carbs and exhaust. $75takes all or will trade for Honda 360or Kawasaki 900/1000 parts.

Craig Prez, (734) 285-3267, 13261Drake, Southgate, Michigan, 48195

www.vjmc.org 33


ClassifiedsMiscellaneous

PRESTON PETTY FRONTFENDERS. New, white, 9 total.These are the very first and originalplastic fenders! $100 for all.


Video Tapes. #1: 1966 Honda Fac-tory Tour, 1964 Suzuki Factory Tour,plus 1970 Honda’s 1st Daytona200-miler win, $20. #2: 1959Greenhorne Enduro and 1964Jackpine Enduro plus 2 indoor shorttracks on concrete from the 1970’s,$20. #3: 1954 Triumph Factory Tourand 1958 BSA Factory Tour, $20.Tapes are one hour or longer. Priceincludes shipping.

Jim Minnis, 210 S. Madison St.Princeton, Indiana, 47670;[email protected]

Motorcycle trailer. Fits two large orthree small bikes. $1,200 Canadianobo.

Ed Vaillancourt, (905) 728-7861;[email protected]

Motorcycle magazines: 200 misc.issues 1972-2000. “Cycle,” “CycleWorld,” and “Motorcyclist.” $300takes everything and includes ship-ping within U.S. Also: I’m seeking

pre-1968 “Cycle” issues.B. Samms, (208) 664-4462;

[email protected]

Japanese bikes: My son and I haveabout 14 -15 older bikes. Dirt, street,enduro, etc. 1967? Honda CB160,very good shape; lacks fenders andseat, $300. 1973 Honda, CB500[4-cylinder], good shape, has paper-work, runs okay, $400. Also haveHonda CB200, complete good shape$? We just got a 1975 Yamaha DT

250 [enduro/on/off?], very niceshape runs good; we want an ideawhat it’s worth?? Thanks for any in-terest or estimated value on our bikes.Any questions about other bikes wemight have feel free to call or e-mailus.

Dave Condon, (607) 829-5318,Oneonta, New York;[email protected]

Parts: I have a small hobby that hasgrown and now I have surplus parts.Mostly Kawasaki A7, H1, SuzukiGT550, Yamaha RD350, and someother odd items. Please call or e-mailif you have any needs.

Wade Traughber, (615) 459-9054,Smyrna, Tennessee;[email protected]

1960s-1980s Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki. Original, low miles. HondaDream, Benly, Superhawk, CX500D,

34 www.vjmc.org


ClassifiedsGL650I, FT500, VT500, CB1.Yamaha RD250, Daytona, 650SP.1980/83, Suzuki TS185. Fair prices.

George Keith, (631) 475-4236,Long Island, New York;[email protected]

Wanted

Bridgestone

Bridgestone 350 GTR for restora-tion project. Any condition consid-ered. Prefer the older chrome tankmodels but any year is acceptable.Also looking for engine side coversand air cleaner case for Bridgestone

350.Dave Isacco, (440) 352-0081,

Chardon, Ohio; [email protected]

Honda

For 1959 Honda C71 250cc: needany and all parts. Thanks.

Joe Hinesly, (573) 737-2181;[email protected]

1960/64 Honda CB92 124cc twin.Looking for leads on a running bikeor a restorable basket case. These aresomewhat rare as Honda producedonly approximately 24,000 units ontheir production run. Can do a cashdeal or a trade combination involvingfour pristine and fully restored bikesincluding a C110, CB160, CB77 anda GPz 750 R1. There is nothing topurchase for any of these bikes – theyare all runners and all in A1 condi-tion. Any information appreciated!

Chal De Cecco, (530) 268-9490,Grass Valley, California;[email protected]

1961/68 Honda CB77. Looking fora Superhawk - either the CB77 orCB72 model; preferably white orblue in color and in excellent condi-

tion. If you have such a bike pleasesend me an email.

Christine Tebbetts, (603) 528-7723,Gilford, New Hampshire; [email protected]

1965/69 Honda S65. Preferablywhite in color and in excellent condi-tion. If you have such a bike pleasesend me an email.


1967/68 Honda P50. Prefer onewith cosmetics that are good to excel-lent condition, and in running condi-tion. If you have one, send me anemail at [email protected].


For 1968 Honda CA77: need tworear shock absorber/spring units.

Bob Hall, (205) 792-0056, 1514Skyland Blvd E, #108, Tuscaloosa,Alabama, 35405;[email protected]

1969/70/71 Honda CB350K2/CB750 K1. Greetings fellow suf-ferers! Anyone out there with a niceHonda CB350 K2 and/or CB750 K1for sale, or information leading to theapprehension of one or both, pleasegive me a holler, and thanks in ad-

vance!Reade Whitwell, 206) 935-9183,

Seattle, Washington;[email protected]

For Honda 360: need front brakecaliper, top triple clamp, seat, tank,air boxes, and side covers.


Kawasaki

For 1966 Kawasaki B8, looking forNOS or used parts including: Brakepedal, part #43001-006-10; mufflerassembly, part #18001-009; speed-

ometer, part # 25005-031; left handengine cover, part # 14031-004.

Neil Geldof, (8610) 529-0636,Connecticut; [email protected]

1969 to 1975 Kawasaki H1 Triple.Looking for clean original example.Must have original paint and lowmileage!

Larry, daytime (917)771-7100/evenings (212) 753-2075;[email protected]

For 1972/75 Kawasaki Z900. Look-ing for parts and complete bike.Email or call with information.

Steve, (260) 244-5011, ColumbiaCity, Indiana; [email protected]

For 1974 Kawasaki Z1 900cc: needkey #754. Also need piece on bottomof seat that goes into the seat lock.


1975 Kawasaki H2 750cc triple.Want to buy a good example. Prefermaroon and red color. Also lookingfor good to fine condition ‘83KZ1100. Must be original black withred/gold decals. Will also pay topdollar for good to fine example of ‘65thru ‘’67 Honda CB-450. Finder’sfee available for locating any or all ofthese bikes. Also considerCB/CL305s and early CB750 Hondafours. Bonus paid if near Scottsdale,AZ.. Thank you.

Jeff Murdoch, (480) 948-3292;[email protected]

Looking to buy ORIGINAL Hondarepair manuals, used or NOS. Willpay fair price or may trade Hondaparts if needed. No CDs or copiesplease. E-mail please.

James D. Nold Sr, Dallas/Ft. Worth,Texas; [email protected]

Rikuo

For 1939 Rikuo or Kurogane Type97 1274cc: need Misubishi magdyno

www.vjmc.org 35


Classifieds

Attention all members: If you move, changeaddresses or change e-mail addresses, please

notify the membership chair as soon aspossible. This is important.

and inlet manifold for Rikuo type97(1939). I believe Kurogane areidentical; will buy or have parts toswap also any technical info or pho-tos needed.

Ken Hopkins, 61-247364443, Syd-ney, Australia;[email protected]

Suzuki

For 1967 Suzuki B100P 118cc:looking for a complete exhaust sys-tem in good to very good condition.

Anton Frank, 08-8281-1810,Adelaide, South Australia;[email protected]

For 1986 Suzuki GSXR 750: needfront fender (can be ‘87), horn, chainguard, oil cooler, triple clamps, seat,rear fender/taillight, petcock lever,misc. nuts/bolts, possible parts bikeconsidered.


Yamaha

1962/67 Yamaha YJ1/YJ2/YG1/YL1/YL2. Complete or parts.

Joe Rybensky, eves (704) 843-1126days (704) 567-7797, Waxhaw,North Carolina;[email protected]

For 1977 Yamaha U7 (MF3-D),need plastic center cover, leg shield.

Bob Hall, (205) 792-0056, 1514Skyland Blvd E, #108, Tuscaloosa,Alabama, 35405;[email protected]

Miscellaneous

Looking for anyone wanting to ridein the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Wouldlike to plan some local rides as well asstate-wide rides. Please e-mail and

let’s ride!James D. Nold Sr, Dallas/Ft. Worth,

Texas; [email protected]

thunderstorm crests the mountain be-hind the city and the rain comes downin buckets for 10-15 minutes. Inkeeping with the possibilities, I havea rain suit strapped to the back of myseat, in case of potential downpours. Iinstalled a NOS CT200 front mudflap to the rear edge of the frontfender, which directs a lot of wateraway from my legs on rainy roads.

There are also sections of the islandthat seem to have perpetual winds,causing highway riders to appearcanted at 10-20 degrees from verti-cal, as they compensate for thecrosswind conditions. I have noticedquite a few large-displacement ma-chines with odd wear patterns on thefront tires coming into the shopwhere I work. Invariably, the wear onthe left of center side of the tire ismore pronounced than the other halfof the tread pattern. A combination ofthe highly crowned roads, the lava as-phalt, and the crosswinds all conspireto wear out that side of the tire first.

Many of the roads follow the topog-raphy or ancient dividing markers onthe island. Consequently, few roadsare very straight or flat. Roadwork inlava is quite challenging, so some-times you just have to go with theflow of the landscape, resulting inlots of twists and turns, which can bewonderful experiences for motorcy-clists. Because a lot of the island’spopulation is spread out across thelandscape, there are few regularlyplaced highway lights for nighttimeillumination. Those who choose mo-torcycles as primary transportation

need very good headlights, as well asfull-function brakes on both wheels.

I have already installed one of thosenew LED taillight bulbs, whichswirls around in the ON position andpulses ON and OFF during braking.It is a great attention-getter for thosewho are following too closely. Thefront 35/50 watt light is another story,though. Narrow focus, dim outputand a rather clumsy HI-LO switch onthe left side are less than confi-dence-inspiring during nighttime rid-ing here. The smallish headlight bulbassembly is difficult to source, espe-cially in aftermarket brands, and theelectrical system is probably not up tothe task of running much more light-ing up front.

The CB400F still has the OEM sus-pension, and with 8500 miles, it isless than plush or really efficient atabsorbing the myriad of potholes,dips, and other irregularities found onHawaiian roads. A set of quality af-termarket shocks and a bit heavierfork oil may lessen the bouncing ef-fects and improve the ride quality ofthe machine.

P.S. Nov., 2003

Since starting this story in Aug,2003, I had a nagging back injury andwas forced to release the bike andbuy an ‘88 Toyota Celica convert-ible, which was a recent import fromCalifornia. Rust-free, new top, and27 mph, it is a “reasonable” substitutefor my CB400F, for now.

Who knows what lies ahead for mein the way of vintage Japanese bikes,though...

With much aloha, Bill “MrHonda”Silver.


Hawaii: A variety of challenges for riders

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