Vince, yes it is staked in those two spots, and it's nothing like unscrewing a bolt from the fender. Chrome away Vince, I think the damper looks great!
davomoto
Japan Meets Britain
Well I finally got the call from Dave Brunson to let me know that my paintwork will be ready tomorrow -- Hooray! Just in time for the next big snow storm! Everything else is ready to go, and John seems to think that the bike might be done by the end of next week.
Of course, all I have to do now is to dig out a path from the driveway to the shed in the backyard! I envy you for several reasons. That beautiful bike, fantastic photography and you ability to get out and about on it so often.
I still have several months of 'shed-time' before I get to ride one of my 'projects'. I thought you might be interested in the attached photo of British racer Dave Simmonds on his featherbed framed CR72. I've lifted this out of Mick Walker's wonderful book on Japanes production racers. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TB2v ... 72&f=false Enjoy that first ride when the snow clears. G
'60 C77 '60 C72 '62 C72 Dream '63 CL72
'61 CB72 '64 CB77 '65 CB160 '66 Matchless 350 '67 CL77 '67 S90 '77 CB400F
Well I envy you guys over in the UK -- every time I open the pages of Classic Bike and see photos from the latest autojumble, Pioneer Run or event at the Ace Cafe, I want to be there!
Thanks for the great photo -- it must have been really interesting in the UK back in the '60s when all these great bikes were around. Can't even imagine how Honda, Yamaha etc were perceived by motorcyclists and dealers when they were first hitting the streets back then. As well, why don't people in cable-knit sweaters and smoking pipes stand around bikes any more???? We need a pipe-smoking, cable-knit sweater-wearing, standing around bikes revival! One of the reasons why I can put so many miles on my bike is because this is the only bike I have. I have several friends who have multiple bikes, and they divide their mileage up among their 'fleet'. But I prefer to focus all my attention (and $$$) on one machine. Helps to at least keep that part of my life relatively uncluttered, and can then devote my attention to the really important things -- like exotic helmets, Belstaff jackets, period accessories, and all that other fun stuff! We're expecting up to 18" today on top of the 28" of snow we already have....oh joy.  Yes - I was thinking that the motor was a little far back, too. Aesthetically that motor should have been in a Seeley chassis, but Colin probably had't got around to it by then. I imagine that the motor has probably been reunited with it's Honda chassis by now. It wouldn't be very collectable in a Norton frame. Just not original, 'old boy', it will never do. I always feel guilty about destroying history when I restore a bike. We pay homage to Soichiro Honda but what about all those youngsters that made him rich then modded the 'bikes to their own liking?
I was at the Newark (UK) Autojumble (swapmeet?) on Sunday and managed to pick up a 'perfect' CB72 barrel with incredibly rusty liners in it. Lucky for me I have just sourced some STD NOS liners. I also managed to increase my CB72 speedo collection. Not much early Japanese stuff at 'jumbles in the UK these days, you have to go to VJMC events for that and then the guys 'know' what everything is worth. Just off to pick up my newly acquired CB77 project tomorrow. A dream come true for me ever since I was lucky to have a quick go on my brother's CB72 in about 1974. He holed a piston, gave up on it and sold it, I was heartbroken..... Mind you his '69 CB250 seemed to go quite well too. Roll on Spring G '60 C77 '60 C72 '62 C72 Dream '63 CL72
'61 CB72 '64 CB77 '65 CB160 '66 Matchless 350 '67 CL77 '67 S90 '77 CB400F
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