vintage "back-in-the-day" fiberglass tank

[Dick Eastman]

I saw one recently, the owner said it was aftermarket when superhawks were still being produced, and thought that it was a "FGB" or "FTG"or some such alphabet-letter aftermarket company. The tank is very nice, with a stock petcock ass'y; the sides have somewhat of a nice looking "scallop" to them.
Can anyone here shed some light on this, and perhaps what it may be worth?
Secondly, I picked up a transmission cover that is chromed, rather than the silver paint - did Honda make both?

[bikedoctor99]

Hello Dick,

The glass tanks that were available in the day were usually a road race accessory and almost always utillized a bump seat, rear sets and clip on bars.
These tanks also were used on bikes with hotrod motors as sport bikes-- remember, there were sport bikes at the time.

The riding position/posture was very similar to what the factory race bikes used.
This worked well for the suspension and tires of the time.

The tank scallops were functional- imagined screaming down a track at full gallop, bumping over every surface imperfection and pinching the tank with your knees while squeezing the tank with your elbows to get to the next corner quickly, then braking and accelerating- repeat and repeat.....

Remember that ethanol will leach all the resins out of that tank, ask me how I know.

Price? After my first disaster with my 1965 fiberglass tank 5 yrs ago a replacement tank cost around $450 for my cb77 ex race bike and that one is showing the effects of current gas even though it was internally coated.

btw Honda never made fiberglass tanks, the Honda factory production race bikes had aluminum tanks.
That accessory industry, handmade aluminum tanks in England, indirectly helped coin the phrase "cafe racer" (I hate that term).

Seems that the best way to preserve the glass of my 1966 tank (cb160 race bike, built it in '68) is to use 110 or 112 octane race gas and drain the tank after every ride, tedious but it works.

[Dick Eastman]

Thanks - your reply conjured up vivid memories of when these machines were modified for track use! I saw a cb77 [72?] race bike back in 1968 in Dayton at a m/c show - along with a Moto Guzzi 500cc V-8, complete with dustbin fairing. I believe the Guzzi was the same one that won a championship in '57. It was at that same show that a booth offered sound recordings of Mike Hailwood screaming around the Isle of Man on his 250 and 350 Sixes - wished I would have bought one of those!
Have you posted pics here of your race bikes?
I read the gas thread here recently, and never realized that ethanol had an adverse affect on resin. I would think that there is available some type of coating that would be impervious to ethanol. The only one I had to use one time was POR-15, and didn't have the bike long enough to evaluate long-term use.
As a side note, I did have to remove moderate rust from my one SH tank, and found an effective, inexpensive way that worked quite well. I put a quart of Works toilet bowl cleaner [$1.44/qt at Menards box store] in the tank along with a pound of black oxided dry wall screws [did not use nuts/bolts/screws that are zinc-plated] and gently rolled the tank around for about 5 minutes [ be sure to remove and seal petcock bung first]. Then drain and rinse several times with baking soda/water solution, then water and dry - was going to seal, but no rust so far. The Works has 9.5% hydrogen chloride in it, btw - wear gloves.

[modelman]

bikedoctor99,

Why do you hate that term??

That accessory industry, handmade aluminum tanks in England, indirectly helped coin the phrase "cafe racer" (I hate that term).

Back in '63' my 'local' was the Ace-cafe on Londons north-circular road, I & a few pals were members of the 69 club & we used to put a record on the big glitzy american juke-box, run outside, fire up our Bonnies & hurtle-off down to the iron-bridge & back again before the record finished, needles to say, I never did, maybe I should have had a CB77!!

This might be where the phrase 'cafe-racer' came from.
Get those clip-ons, I have a back-ache just looking at them now!!

[bikedoctor99]

Honda knew the advanage of "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" and provided dealers with the CYB parts and Pops Yoshimura made a valid business with his speed merchant parts including race pistons, valvetrains, cams and race crankshafts-- much of which was hand made and off the top of his head- no computer assisted designing for him, he knew what he was doing.


I believe that Honda also made Yoshimura's parts available to thier dealer network and there was a time that well prepared CB77's ran at the front of their classes and won, but 2 stroke technology was developing as well.

Guzzi V8, omg! I had an Isle Of Man video that featured an onboard lap with Bill Lomas at the controls and his narative- very touching story and great mechanical sounds, probably still available from Duke Video ( Geoff Duke coincidentally raced for Guzzi and was world champion for them)!

They only won a few races because of lack of funding and developement and on agreement the Italian factories quit grand prix racing except for MV who recognized an exclusive opportunity and ran with it.

I also wish that I had purchased those Schofield records even though they were expensive $2.99 for a young teen.
The good news is that I've come across those recordings when googling IOM, when you hear them you can almost visualize the riders howling past 15 feet away and you can hear ( Murray Walker) voice radio's comments and discriptions.

I haven't posted any pictures (computure illerterate), but I should have a friend do it for me.
I recently "finished" my cb160 race bike, new motor with lots of modern upgrades and was actually planning to attend race school and compete this weekend (USCRA) at the NJMP events, how ever I aggrevated my sciatic nerve two weeks ago and have a marked decrease in left foot strength, temporary setback.

I'm registered for a track day in two weekend so I'll be able to dial in the bike and myself.

There is a two part coating (can't remember the mfr name), but ethanol is just plain nasty. Will have to clean up the tank for a repaint when I'm inspired.

[Dick Eastman]

OK guys, were giving away our age here!
I agree, the term 'cafe racer' is from the riders across the pond, racing from one cafe to the next [I've heard 'pub racer', as well, but cafe seems to have stuck, so as not to give a bad image to the folks].
My first bike was a '66 Superhawk, with reverse-cone megaphones, and re-jetted, and it gave my girlfriend's brother a good run from light to light, against his TR6.
I would be interested in the availability of race recordings on CD of the 50's/60's race bikes. I do remember Honda had a 125/5 cylinder, that turned something like 22000 rpm - would love to hear that, as well as Mike Hailwood's 250/350 sixes. The Guzzi V-8 had an awesome sound, too, as it was only 500cc.

[G-Man]

Maybe in the USA those bikes should be called "Diner Racers" or "Big Mac Racers"?

Duke Marketing on the Isle of Man are offering the complete set of the Sound Stories recordings.

http://www.dukevideo.com/prd9953/TT-Aud ... CD-Box-Set

G