Neale
Nice to hear from you. Any more pictures of your special?
G
Japan Meets Britain
Hello G-man,
I just cannot find any more photos of the Honton, I didn't take many as colour film and the processing was quite an expensive pastime in the ' good old days ' !!! I did have some taken in Scotland and the Isle of Man , but they appear to vanished into the dreaded black hole. I've just read some more posts about the bike and I can confirm the same engine did indeed cover well over 50,000 miles as the bike was our only transport for work and play, the front forks had gaiters fitted. The frame,forks,petrol tank,oil tank, toolbox ,seat and rear mudguard were the original from the Norton 500 single , the oil tank was hollowed out from the rear to hold the ignition switch and rectifier etc. The rear chain-guard did cause me a few more grey hairs as the clearance to the frame tube was quite close , so I made quite a few versions and in-between different versions I run the bike without a guard. The 350 kit I think was either Hepolite or Wesco , I did modify the engine quite a bit to make it a bit more reliable and improved the usual faults. All the best for now, Neale Neale
Thanks for that. The bike just looked so right. The engine filled the frame very nicely and the whole thing just looked so 'right'. I bet it would be very expensive to replicate that bike now. Thanks 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
I'll second that -- from that one photo, the bike did look so right, and I'm glad to know that the melding of Japan and Britain into one machine wasn't such a crazy idea after all. Or was it???
Like you, I've had my fair share of heartache with chainguards -- I think I'm on my fourth -- and even this latest one is starting to have some clearance issues. It's starts off fine and dandy, but then after a few months the clearance changes, and I'm back where I started. Almost feel like cutting a notch out of the shock! Thanks Neale for the post here, and I'd be interested to read about any other info/experiences regarding your creation. Actually, I'd love to know why you considered this 'marriage' in the first place? Was it considered to be a radical idea back then? Oh yes, and about that 5-speed transmission -- I noticed that you still had the kickstart on there. How did that all work out with the 5-speed? I had to lose mine when I did the NOVA conversion.
Honton
HontonHello Vince,
I may have just replied to your message in the wrong part of the forum ! Anyway , the Honton was built due to the fact I liked the handling of my Norton single featherbed framed bike , but the electrics were poor as was the performance of the engine, the lights were dismal and made riding at night down the unlit lanes very ' interesting'. My Honda CB72 I liked but was really too small in size for two-up riding for any distance , so it came to me during a pub visit that I should put the two bikes together. I tried to get the balance the same as the Norton --- with the single cylinder engine--- by using bathroom scales, one under the front wheel and the other under the back wheel , then aligning the back wheel sprocket with the Honda engine sprocket. On the engine I bored out the cylinder to take 350 liners , with 3 thou projection of the top spigot ,so as to stop the oil leak from the area of the spark plugs, the top engine camshaft sprocket I welded to the advance/retard unit , due to the flimsy rivets that usually hold it in place. I modified the oil feeds to the gearbox to try and give the gearbox a longer life , the rear chain-guard and cable runs gave me the biggest headaches , the small things really give the most problems !! I used the kickstart during the winter months when there was ice, frost and snow about as the charging system really is at best rather marginal , the 5 speed box was , I think , a genuine Honda job that I bought at a very cheap price off someone who was trying to get it to work on his racer, ( his loss equals my gain !! ). When I started to use the bike I got quite a bit of grief of the older people who accused me of disgracing the Norton name using a rice-burner engine and was an insult to servicemen who had experience of Jap atrocities. I will have to have a look in my loft to see if any more photos are there of the bike. I have attached , I hope, a photo of my CB77 that I restored a few years ago All the very best, Neale
Re: HontonHmm...wonder if they would've felt the same way if you put the Norton engine in the Honda frame?
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