CYB parts demand/rarity

fab60 · Post by **fab60** » Wed May 28, 2014 3:59 pm

Hey Gordon,

I know its off topic but just wanted to know how were these little Hondas were perceived in England? Not sure how old you are but I have been wondering how Honda did back in the Ton Up boy era. Did anyone even consider buying one or were there just a bunch of BSA's, Triumphs, Nortons, etc etc.

Cheers

Rick

malcolmgb · Post by **malcolmgb** » Wed May 28, 2014 5:58 pm

http://www.honda305.com/forums/top-fork ... 34290.html click on it to view larger
At the bottom of this page is a picture of me with my CB72 (Hawk) in 1969, as you can see it was a 'Cafe Racer', I am 64 now, 19 then.
I had friends with BSA and Triumphs who thought we were traitors, it was mostly about larger engine size, the fact these bikes were similar performance didn't seem to matter.

Sorry about stealing the thread.

fab60 · Post by **fab60** » Wed May 28, 2014 7:05 pm

Hey Malcom great pic!! Maybe I should start a new thread about this to see what others from the UK and Europe had as far as experiences with there Hondas back in the 60s era. Aka Café RAcer days.

Rick

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu May 29, 2014 2:38 am

Rick

I'm not sure about the 'Ton up' era but when I started riding bikes on the road in the '70s things were slowly moving to the Japanese way of things. I managed to have fun on British and japans bikes.

I had a Triumph T100T Daytona which was more than a match for the Jap 250s which were most popular on the roads at the time and it weighed less than a Honda CB250. My friend went from a Triumph Bonneville to a CB750 to a Kawaski H2, but I couldn't afford kit like that.

My Triumph got replaced by a Honda CJ250 and then a CB400F. The 400F had a little less "go" than the Triumph but was a little more civilised. The Honda wasn't really suited to the British continuous rainy season with both the brakes and the electrics suffering.

The oft-quoted myth of Japanese reliability was sadly lacking at times especially in our climate. Yes the engines didn't leak oil and stayed together but the finish, electrics and brakes were suspect in the '70s.

The myth came from the fact that we were getting wealthier and people could afford new bikes when previously they had to use second-hand British machines. The climate also meant that many people went straight from 'learner' 250s to cars. It was the Mini car which skittled the British bike industry rather than the Japanese.

For a bike to depend on, my Matchless couldn't be beaten. Didn't leak oil, could be started with a flat battery, very little to go wrong.....

I love my Hondas but after 50 years they have developed those same loveable quirks as my British and Italian bikes......

G