the honda benly - vjmcoctober/november 2005 3 order form for regalia items show your colors. let...

The Honda BenlySoichiro's Influence Lives On

Japan's Edsels

Behind the Scenes at David Silver Spares

The Honda BenlySoichiro's Influence Lives On

Japan's Edsels

Behind the Scenes at David Silver Spares

2 October/November 2005

October-November ContentsPresident’s Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Editor’s Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Calendar of Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Collecting Bikes–How to Organize an Event . . . . . . . . . 6

A Late Fall Ride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chicagoland Vintage Show Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

The Start of A Love Affair With A Vintage Honda . . . . . 10

Not-So-Great Vintage Japanese Motorcycles . . . . . . . . 12

Dreams Put on Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Anything But Convenient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The Journey–Restoring A 1972 Kawasaki H2 . . . . . . . . 18

The Search For Parts: A Visit to David Silver Spares . . . . 20

Member Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

This issue’s web password is:

footballEffective:

10/1/2005

PresidentJim Townsend(260) 839-5203, [email protected]

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

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

Commercial Advertising DirectorBob Billa(949) 588-6840, [email protected]

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

Webmaster/Cover LayoutJason Bell(214) 704-3619, [email protected]

Magazine LayoutDarin Watson(913) 244-3450, [email protected]

2005 Vintage Japanese MotorcycleClub. All rights reserved. No part of this doc-ument may be reproduced or transmitted inany form without permission.

The opinions or views expressed in lettersor articles are those of the author and do notnecessarily reflect the policy of the VJMC.The VJMC accepts no liability for any loss,damage or claims occurring as a result of ad-vise given in this publication or for claimsmade by advertisers of products or servicesin this publication.

Mission Statement

The Purpose of this organization is to pro-mote the preservation, restoration and enjoy-ment of Vintage Japanese motorcycles(defined as those greater than 15 years old)and to promote the sport of motorcycling andcamaraderie of motorcyclists everywhere.

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October/November 2005 3

ORDER FORM FOR REGALIA ITEMS

Show your colors. Let other riders know you are a member of the VJMC!

T-shirts - White 100%cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL and XXL, 3XL....................... $15.00T-shirts - Black 100% cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL................................................ $15.00

Hats - Red all-fabric ball caps, one size fits all, logo screened on front............................................................ $15.00Nylon Stuff bags (black 14” x 12” zippered w/hand strap & screened-on logo, nice, seen at rally.................. $9.00

Stickers, Large Logo, 3-3/8 x 3-3/4, vinyl ......................................................................................................... $0.75Stickers, Small Logo, 2-3/8 x 2-3/4, vinyl......................................................................................................... $0.50

2002 VJMC Calendars (nice photos, classic quality)........................................................................................ $5.00

Quantity Description Size Cost Tot al

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Add Shipping & Handling: All items sent Priority Mailing with delivery confirmation $4.50 first item and $2.00each additional item (except stickers which are mailed at $0.37) USA only. Canadian orders multiply US mail rate by1.5

Shipping Charges $ _______________

Enclosed is my check or money order for the total of....................................$________________

Ship to: Send your order to:

Name___________________________________________ Tom Kolenko, Regalia Chmn.2445 Elmhurst Blvd

Address_________________________________________ Kennesaw GA 30152

City____________________________________________ State _____ ZIP_______________

Check out theclassifieds section ofthis issue for dozensof bikes, parts, andmiscellaneous itemswanted and for sale.


by Jim Townsend

Mid-Ohio Vintage Days

Another great year at the Mid-Ohio AMAVintage Days has come and gone. VJMChad the regular setup for the swap meet,with four spaces this year. Scott Timoff,Michigan Field Rep., and Ken Carlson,Ohio Field Rep., teamed up to set up theclub site in a space in the infield of the

track. Large canopies were arranged in anopen rectangle with a smaller canopy in themiddle to show off the raffle bike restoredby the Michigan Chapter (proceeds goingto Leader Dogs for the Blind). This allowedus to have a really great show presence andhave a tent that could also be used as ameeting place.

Not only did VJMC have a great infielddisplay, but many members volunteered totalk to people and sell memberships to the

club. This is the type of cooperation weneed. VJMC gained 40 new members at theswap meet and secured renewals from anadditional 20 members. Several additionalmemberships were sold from infield, mak-ing this the largest number of new and re-newed memberships of any event in thehistory of the club.

If you plan to attend any event where theclub has a presence, don’t be afraid to vol-unteer an hour or two of your time to help.This gives us all some time to meet our fel-low members and to sign up new ones.There are still people who have neverheard of the club! Remember: when yourecruit four new members, you can get afree year’s membership. The next time yougo to White Rose, Mid-Ohio, Daytona, aCycle World show, or any other eventwhere we have a presence, volunteer tohelp sign up new members. It’s easy. Justask Dave Kukulski, Western PennsylvaniaField Rep. how easy it is! Another way torecruit members is to ask local powersports dealers to display our brochures.Remember to put your name in the “Re-ferred By” space first. It couldn’t be sim-pler!

The bikes on display at Mid-Ohio were anexcellent representation of members’ bikes;dirt bikes, street bikes, four-cylinder,three-cylinder, twins, singles, two-strokes,four-strokes—you name it and it was there.The setup in the infield was very positivelyreceived and some even thought it was thebest club display there. We were right nextto the Norton Club display. The Norton dis-play was neat; it had the bikes where theycould be easily seen, and drew a fair num-ber of spectators.

A brief club history

Years ago as it became obvious that oldJapanese bikes were being junked out, ahandful of guys came up with the idea thatwe needed a forum to exchange and buyparts and to share information that wouldhelp keep our bikes on the road. Today,there are few records that date back that far.The oldest records that we have are fromthe newsletters from about 1983 thatHeyden Shepley has graciously given me.(I also bought a stack of old newslettersfrom a past member in Illinois to fill out mycollection. I have since stashed away a halfdozen issues of each newsletter and maga-zine and have accumulated a large shelf forreference.)

by Karen McElhaney

Inside this month’s issue

There’s lots of cool stuff to keep you busyreading this month! World traveler RickDarke recently made a visit to David SilverSpares and shares his experience in search-ing their shelves for vintage NOS parts.Gordon East and John Kubicki recounttheir tales of restoring some of those dreambikes from our younger days. Ellis Holmanrecalls some, well, less-than-stellar offer-ings from Japan. Ron Mousouris and MelLambert give us glimpses into Honda’searly Benly offerings. Ron Burton tells ushow to organize an event. And finally, as isappropriate for our fall magazine, BonnieCousins tells us about an interesting lastride of the season. Enjoy!

Members’ bikes

Classifieds Editor Gary Gadd is proud ofhis 1978 Goldwing. Gary says, “I havebeen riding it daily, except for rain and ice,for the last six years. This followed a threeyear restoration. It wasn't that hard; I justwork slowly. I am working on another '78(blue in color). I usually don't do consecu-tive bikes, but I really like the way the earlyGoldwings handle.”

On the cover

Our cover this month features RonMousouris’ 1957 Honda Benly JC, whichwon Best of Show and the Grand Marshal’saward at Mid-Ohio Vintage MotorcycleDays in July. Photo credits: Bill Andrews,American Motorcyclist Association.

Gary Gadd’s 1978 Honda Goldwing GL1000.

From the President: Mid-Ohio Vintage Days

From the editor


Back in 1995, the newsletter mentionedthat “we have been to some meets thisyear so far— Vintage Days Ohio, WhiteRose meet, PA, Southern Ontario BikeShow, just to name a few.” Note that therewere no meets sponsored by the VJMC. Infact, there were no elected officers, ei-ther. The newsletter stated that the VJMCwas run by a group of dedicated volun-teers. A newsletter editor (Ron Burton),classified editor (Mark Young) and pub-lisher (Ed Theilmann) were listed. Her-bert Selbach was the membershipchairman.

So there were four guys and no officers,no meetings, no events, and a 24-pagenewsletter in 1995. Now we have a full setof officers, including a Board of Directorsmade up of 10 members, and about 60Field Representatives in almost everystate! We also put out a fine magazine infull color, sponsor a National Rally, andhave events promoted by Field Reps andmembers all over the country. In addition,we are represented at far more motorcycleshows than ever before. Membership in1995 was less than 850. The total now issomewhere around 2,100. Dues were $25per year with no discounts for multi-yearrenewals.

To really attract the attention, get noticedby the motorcycle media, and continue pub-lishing a magazine, we should have abouttwo and one-half times the number of mem-bers that we do now. That means we need5,000 or more members to really go placeswith the club. Wouldn’t you like to have aNational Rally somewhere within a day’sride of home? How about a magazine withreporters and staff writers in addition tomembers’ contributions? We need to have astaffed office somewhere so that you cancall and renew your membership, dissemi-nate information, and store our club re-cords.

Call me optimistic, but I see this happen-ing in the not too distant future. The day iscoming when we have four or five regionalNational Rallies, where we will have a paidstaff for the daily routine of the club, wewill be noticed and called on for our opin-ions, and we will be respected for what wedo. In the meantime, talk to your buddiesabout becoming a member, and keep intouch.

President: Abrief history of

the club

Calendar of eventsOctober

2Vintage Bike ShowHolly, MichiganThe restored CL160 for Leader Dogs for

the Blind will be on display and raffle tick-ets will be available.

British, European, Japanese and othermakes will be on display from 9:30 a.m. till4:00 p.m. The Holly Area Chamber ofCommerce blocks off all roads leading intothe downtown district for a fantastic vin-tage event. The VJMC has a prime locationfor our club exhibit. All VJMC membersare invited to attend and encouraged tobring a bike for display.

Info.: Contact Scott Timoff,[email protected]

15–16Westminister Regional Antique Motor-

cycle Show/Parts ExtravaganzaWestminister, MarylandA celebration of Vintage & Classic Mo-

torcycles 1900-1985. Held at CarrollCounty, 706 Agricultural Center & Arena,Westminister, MD 21157. Show hours: Sat9 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Auctionheld Sunday only at noon! Trophies, greatfood, and music!

Info.: Contact Gary Shapiro,410-876-9696, 443-340-7102

16Dallas-Fort Worth area VJMC Meet-

ingKeller, TexasThe Dallas-Fort Worth area VJMC will

meet at Up N Smoke in Kelleron the thirdSunday of each month at 1 p.m. Come outand talk bikes with your local VJMC bud-dies, and help us make plans for localevents and rides. Info.: Texas Field RepCurby Keith

16New England VJMC Cookout/Open

Garage at Christine Tebbetts’ homeGilford, NHChris Tebbetts has invited all New Eng-

land VJMC members, prospective mem-bers, and guests, to a Cookout /OpenGarage at her house. Cookout will start atnoon and end whenever! Burgers, hot dogs,

Chris’ world famous homemade chili, andassorted chips, salads will be servedmid-afternoon RAIN OR SHINE! Soda andassorted beverages will be provided orBYOB if you like. Chris’ collection of 30+vintage Hondas will be on display and therewill be plenty of motorcycle parking. Chris’collection of memorabilia will also be ondisplay. RSVP is required so Chris canplan. Please be sure you let her know byOctober 9th.

Info.: Contact Christine Tebbetts,162Morrill StreetGilford, NH 03249;[email protected] (603) 528-7723

19CL 160 Raffle Drawing & Banquet

DinnerRochester, MichiganThe restored CL160 for Leader Dogs for

the Blind will be on display and raffle tick-ets will be available.

TICKET SALES CLOSED!!!This wonderful 18-month project is draw-

ing to an end. The grand event will be heldat the newly remodeled Leader Dog for theBlind (LDB) National headquarters. Theyhave graciously offered us the use of theirfacility to hold the drawing and close outour 2005 VJMC season. This event is opento all VJMC members, raffle ticket holders,project contributors and other interestedparties. Participants will enjoy a wonderfulcatered dinner with an estimated cost at $8per plate. The raffle drawing will be held.There will be a season-ending review of2005 Michigan VJMC events.

Info.: Contact Scott Timoff,[email protected]

22Harvest Classic European and Vintage

Motorcycle RallyLuckenbach, Texas

This is a fun rally where fans of antiques,classic (that includes Japanese classics!),European motorcycles and scooters allgather together for a weekend of fun andfundraising for the Candlelighters Child-hood Cancer Foundation. Please visit ourwebsite (www.harvestclassic.org) for moreinformation.

Info.: Contact Russell Duke, CentralTexas Motorcycle Charities, AMA Charter# 8996, PO Box 141116, Austin, TX 78714

Thanks for reading the VJMC magazine!


Collecting bikes–how to organize an event

by Ron Burton

After being out of the vintage motorcyclehobby for the last four or five years, I de-cided that I needed to dive back into thingsand renew some of my old friendships,hopefully make some new friends, andlearn more about the current vintage Japa-nese motorcycle market. I knew from expe-rience that one of the best and mosteffective ways to do these things was to puton an event that would attract like-mindedmotorcycle enthusiasts in my area. Whenorganizing an event, the most importantthings to decide are what type of event tohave, where to have it, when to hold it, andhow to attract people to attend it. The eventcould be anything from organizing a ride toa particular destination, to inviting peopleto attend a local event or auction, to havinga cookout or party at someone’s house. Or-ganizing events is the kind of thing that if itturns out that you are good at it and it’ssomething you enjoy, at some point you canend up organizing events like a swap meetor perhaps even something larger like theVintage Japanese Motorcycle Show at theWhite Rose Motorcycle Club. Over theyears I’ve organized several differentevents but the ones that I have found mostenjoyable are the cookouts at my house. Acookout provides an opportunity to meetand get to know people in a comfortable, in-timate setting. It also provides the opportu-nity for people to bring several bikes toshow off or to bring bikes that because oftheir size or condition can not be ridden. Acookout is my preference for an easy-to-or-ganize local event, but all events provide anopportunity for people to meet and get toknow each other and they are very similarin what it takes to organize them.

Since I had decided that I wanted to have acookout at my house, the next thing to dowas to figure out when to have it. I’vefound that when picking a date it is best topick one far enough in the future that peo-ple have time to plan for the event. An an-nouncement two months or more before theevent helps to guarantee a good turnout.Typically, the larger the event, the more ad-vance notice is in order. When I was mak-ing my decision about when to have thecookout it was early in the spring, so itwould be a least a couple of months beforea cookout was possible. I wanted to have itas early in the spring as possible so the firstmajor factor to consider was the weather. InNew England we start riding as early asMarch but the weather remains unpredict-

able until May, and even in May things canstill be wet and cool. So I decided to havethe cookout in late May—a little risky as faras the weather, but late enough in the monthto hopefully not get rained out.

Before actually picking the date, though, Ihad to consider other things that were goingon late in May. Obviously, to have a cookouton the same day as a some other event wastaking place would not help either eventhave good attendance and if I chose to have acookout the same day as another well-estab-lished event, I’m sure that I would find that Ihad almost no attendance. To minimize thechance of conflict, I checked for other eventsplanned during the same time. The quickest,most effective way to do this was theinternet. I went online to Google and entered“motorcycle meet” with the two-letter ab-

breviation for my state and got back a groupof websites with bike meets in my area. (Ifyou live near a neighboring state you shouldalso search for meets in the neighboringstate.) But finding all the motorcycle-relatedmeets that were planned for a given date did-n’t necessarily find everything that might bea conflict for my cookout. I considered otherevents like car shows, air shows, or anythingelse that might be tempting. Also, I consid-ered how well established a competing eventwas. A car show that had been taking placefor the thirty years would be much strongercompetition than a show that was in its firstor second year. The other place I checkedwas the VJMC online calendar. The onlinecalendar lists events of interest to VJMCmembers. Once I’d checked for other events,I finalized the date for the cookout. I also de-

Top: Christine Tebbets and Eric Nachbaur discuss the weather and what they expect the turnout mightbe for the cookout. Bottom: There are always some beautiful bikes that show for even the local eventslike a cookout. This is Paul Joyce’s 1967 Suzuki X6.


cide that I would not have a “Rain Date” forit. In my opinion, a rain date is not a goodidea. When a rain date is stated and on theday of the event the sky is overcast, it hasrained the night before or the weather is inany way less than perfect, then no oneknows if the event is on for that day or if ithas been delayed to the rain date. There arethen many phone calls and a lot of confu-sion. Also, a single date with no rain date al-lows people to make plans and not worrythat the event date may change at the lastminute. If it does rain, people will still showup; maybe not as many and maybe there willbe fewer bikes, but the event is seldom a to-tal washout.

How you attract people to your event de-pends to some extent on what type of eventyou are organizing and what you want for aturnout. For my May cookout, I wanted toattract enough people interested in vintage

Japanese motorcycles to make the cookouta success but I also didn’t want to attract thegeneral public or people who were not in-terested in vintage Japanese motorcycles.Because of this, I focused my promotion ofthe event to a few key methods. The firstthing I did was to put together an informa-tion sheet for the event that included all thenecessary information; i.e., location, date,time and directions. I also included infor-mation about what guests should expectwhen they came to the cookout and what Iexpected from them. For example, I alwaysprovide all the food and drinks so no onehas to bring anything to the cookout and hasthe opportunity to ride their motorcycles. Ialso included a link to a webpage that I hadput together with more detailed informationand some pictures from cookouts that I hadhosted several years ago. If you’ve neverput together a webpage before, don’t let

that discourage you from giving it a try.With a program like Microsoft Word youcan save the information sheets as awebpage and upload it to the webspace thatis provided with most internet connections.It takes a little time to figure out the firsttime you do it, but it is well worth under-standing how to do it. When I had the eventannouncement finished I emailed the infor-mation to the VJMC webmaster, Jason Bell,[email protected], to post on theVJMC calendar page. (More informationabout the VJMC calendar page can befound on the VJMC website atwww.vjmc.org.) Posting my cookout onthe VJMC calendar page gave the event ex-posure to a broad spectrum of people inter-ested in VJMC club-related activities.

After posting the event to the VJMC Cal-endar page, I emailed the VJMC Member-ship Chairman, Bill Granade,[email protected], and requested alist of the New England VJMC membersand their email addresses. Bill was kindenough to send me a spreadsheet with theinformation that I needed. I then emailedthe information about the cookout to all ofthe New England VJMC members. In theemail I included a link to the webpage that Ihad posted. I also requested a reply frompeople that planned to attend the cookout sothat I would have an idea of how many peo-ple were coming for planning the food anddrinks and space required to park and dis-play their motorcycles.

At this point I was getting excited abouthaving the cookout and looked forward tothe response from the club members whomI had emailed. Over the next few days I re-ceived replies from three or four people,then nothing. No email, telephone calls, oranything. I started to wonder if there wassomething wrong with the date or if peoplejust were not interested! After somethought I came to the conclusion that therewere a few people that were immediatelyinterested in the cookout and respondedquickly to my email, but for most people,attending the cookout was not an immedi-ate decision and something that they wouldhave to give some thought to. Slowly, overthe next few weeks, more replies came inand I started to worry less about whetherthere would be enough people that wouldattend the cookout to make it a success.

Planning this cookout was very similar toplanning any other cookout. I made sure thatI had enough food and drinks for everyoneand also enough tables and chairs. I antici-pated that many attendees may not have pre-

Top: A lot of interesting bikes always aid in conversation and help people with common interests get toknow each other. Bottom: Even though the day was overcast and attendance was lighter than ex-pected, everyone still had a good time at the cookout.

Continued on page 9


A late fall rideby Bonnie Cousins

It seemed like the perfect combination.The middle of November and sunshine pre-dicted locally for three days. The fall colorswere brilliant here in northern Illinois. Itjust called for a last motorcycle ride beforewinter temperatures arrived.

It was a beautiful ride to Stockton, about130 miles, where we ate lunch as we havedone many times before. We used to campat Apple River Canyon State Park, so wemade a trip out there to see the changes thathad been made. Our plans were to move onto Galena for the night, ride down along theBig River the next day, and eventually re-turn home the third day.

So much for plans.As we returned to Stockton from the park,

the weather began to feel strange—kind ofdamp, but no rain in site and no smell of it,either. I can smell rain when I am riding.But by the time we reached State Rt. 20, weknew we would not make it to Galena thatday. The sun was gone and that was fogrolling in from the river. We pulled intoCano’s Truck Stop, where the drivers weretalking about how thick the fog was in thewest. They were pulling over for a while.By now it was too late to head back east intodeer country and there were no motels thatway either; there was nothing but farmland.

So there we sat, drinking coffee and eat-ing pie and thinking that we would just get aroom right next door at the Valley ViewMotel, where we had stayed many times be-fore. But then it occurred to us that therewas a reason for all the pick-up trucks withgun racks that seemed to be every-where—the next day was opening day fordeer hunting season (How could I have for-gotten; I used to hunt!). And accompanyingthe trucks and their racks were a slew of “novacancy” signs. One eats a lot of pie anddrinks a lot of coffee at times like this.

As we sat there pondering the mess that Ihad gotten us into once again, a verystrange thing happened. The motel ladycalled, saying that she had a cancellation,but for one night only. “Too foggy for thehunter to get here,” she said. You neversaw two riders move as fast as we did!Later, one of the hunters asked my husbandhow far in advance we had reserved theroom, and he answered, “About ten minutesago.”

We still were not out of the woods so tospeak, as we had to leave the next morningand the weather was still terrible then, with

visibility all of 10 feet. But we startedback east, trying to get away from the riveras fast as we could. Weather like this is noplace to be on a motorcycle, especiallywhen grain is being hauled south. Youhave not known fear until you know thereis a semi truck full of grain coming up be-hind you and you hope he sees you be-cause you can't see the bike in front ofyourself!

It was a white-knuckle ride to the nexttown of Forreston, where we were ready formore coffee and pie. We looked like wetrats when we entered the diner. The diner

folks were gracious but you could feel thatthey thought we were crazy. When wewere ready to leave the waitress asked ifthere was anything more that we wanted. Isaid, “How about sun, blue sky, and maybe70º?” We all had a good laugh, especiallythe farmers who were there. And lo and be-hold, by the time we reached the outskirtsof town, there it was and we had a beautifulride back to Lombard. I still have not got-ten to Galena, but the wheels in my mindare turning. I probably will try it again but Iwill check the weather forecast first wher-ever I plan to go.

Top: Apple River Canyon State Park when the sun was out and we were enjoying our trip. The Missis-sippi River is known for doing things to you, but we had never had it cause fog that far east before. Ihave awakened to temperatures of 19º while camping in the park, though. Bottom: This is the falls onApple River in Jo Davies County. There is so much mineral in the land that the falls are much prettier asthe sun hits them at different times.


Chicagoland Vintage Show photos

Member Bonnie Cousins reports that although the 14th Annual Chicagoland Vintage &Antique Motorcycle Show had “the smallest showing that I have been to for the NortonClub,” the bikes on display were still plenty cool.

viously met, so I also had name tagsavailable. In addition to the normal things tobe planned for a cookout, there were a fewadditional items that had to be considered.Many, if not most, of the guests would beriding bikes so I had to have a plan for wherethe bikes would be parked. Since myplanned parking area was on the grass I alsobought a couple of boxes of electrical junc-tion box covers. The junction box covers arethe perfect size for supporting kick stands,are relatively inexpensive, and can be pur-chased at Home Depot or most hardwarestores. Also, I put signs at the end of mydriveway and along the route given on thewebpage. I didn’t put up a lot of signs, butmade sure that I placed them at the major in-tersection from the main highway along theroute to my house. These were relativelysimple signs that just said “VJMC” and hadan arrow pointing the way.

When the day of the cookout finally ar-rived, I was very apprehensive. I knewfrom the replies that I had received that Ishould expect about thirty guests but thesky was overcast and it really looked like itmight rain. A quick check of the weatherverified that the forecast had not changedfrom the day before and rain was not ex-pected until very late in the afternoon, but itsure didn’t look good. Noon arrived andabout the same time my friend andlong-time vintage Japanese motorcycle en-thusiast Eric Nachbaur showed up. Wetalked for a while about the weather andhow we thought the day would turn out.Shortly, we heard a bike coming up theroad. Just as the first bike parked we heardanother, then not long afterwards a couplemore. Slowly but very surely, peoplestarted to arrive. In the end we had about 25attendees; not quite the number that I hadexpected, but a good turnout consideringthe weather. Some of the guests were oldfriends whom I hadn’t seen in several years,others were new club members, and somewere people new to the vintage Japanesemotorcycle scene. The day turned out great,we all got to know each other, talked bikes,swapped stories, and made plans for meetsto attend over the summer.

If you have any thoughts or commentsabout this article, I’d love hear them. Youcan contact me via email [email protected].

Continued from page 7

Organizing: Focusyour promotion

Top and middle: The Honda 750 looked sharp, as did the Suzuki. Bottom: Bonnie says that “The longred & yellow machine was made in Czechoslovakia. It was trailered, and when the owners started theengine, it sounded like an AK-47 rifle.”


The start of a love affair with a vintage Honda

by Mel Lambert

Some 40 years ago I discovered art; not artthat we might expect to see in a gallery ormuseum, but art that moved on two wheels... and represented freedom.

My father had always been interested inmotorcycles; he grew up during a time inpostwar Britain when bikes were a focusof male camaraderie, and a cheap andpractical means of transport for alowly-paid toolmaker with a young family.He used a 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet tocommute to his job some eight miles awayfrom our housing estate in the countrysidesouth of London. And, when the kids be-gan to need more distraction than the localcountryside could offer, he purchased aPanther sidecar outfit, followed in a cou-ple of years by a Sunbeam S8-powereddouble-adult combination. Our family offour traveled the length and breadth ofSouthern England during the late Fiftiesand early Sixties in the underpoweredSunbeam.

But my appreciation of two-wheel loco-motion changed in early 1966 when myfamily drove into London to visit with myAunt Dorothy and her son, Ian, who wasfour years older than me and working at thetime as a BBC sound technician. His veryglamorous life in London was further en-hanced by the possession of a second-handmotorcycle that, after lunch, my father, sis-ter and I were invited to check out. There,parked on its center stand in Royal Blue liv-ery was the prettiest motorcycle I had everseen. It was, my cousin told us, a 1963Honda C92 Benly. It looked so differentfrom the gangly British-made bikes I wasfamiliar with, or the fully enclosed Italianscooters.

It all seemed to come togetherseamlessly: the leading-link front forkswith their pressed-steel casings; the widesection balloon tires; the upswept chromerear-view mirrors; the sensible handlebarsweep, with controls that looked like theybelonged rather than having been added asan afterthought; the large chrome side pan-els on the petrol tank with the famouswinged Honda badge; the graceful arc ofthe seat and frame into the rear with its en-closed final-drive chain case. But thewhole was more that the sum of its parts.The C92’s engine actually looked like itwas part of the design, rather than wrappedin a pretzel of tubing like so many contem-porary designs. And where was the down

tube? Here was an engine that formed partof the physical structure, bolted at the topboundary to the frame just below the steer-ing head, and at the rear frame close to theswing-arm assembly.

It was hard to believe that the engine wasonly 125cc in capacity; the power plant ap-peared so much larger – almost like a 350with that tall, slanted appearance. Lookingcloser, I could see that the upper-cylinderarea was larger than the actual cylinderblock. I soon discovered that this waswhere the single overhead camshaft lived,and that the drive chain ran down insidethe cylinder block to the crankshaft. Theresult seemed to flow together in one har-monious block of cast iron, steel, and alu-minum, as if its designer had sculpted theshape first and then built a frame to match;what went into the engine casings was de-termined, I would assume, by its externaldimensions. (Palpable nonsense, ofcourse, but I was just 18 at the time and to-tally unaware of how such designs spranginto being.)

But my cousin had one more trick toperform. Reaching into his pocket, heproduced the ignition key, activated thechoke lever and pressed a button to theleft of the throttle grip. The engine bustinto life. An electric starter! What I hadthought to be some sort of dynamo bolted

to the front of the engine turned out to bea dedicated starter motor. Such ingenu-ity. Ian then proceeded to activate aswitch on the handlebar and, low and be-hold, what I had first identified as sidelights were front and rear turn indicators.Ingenious.

Such elegance…such form; I was in love!As it turned out, some three months later Ilocated a Honda C92 Benly being adver-tised in “Exchange and Mart,” a weeklypublication that listed previously-ownedmotorcycles and automobiles. I wrote backto the owner and, much to my surprise, heturned up the following weekend. (Neitherof us had thought to include a telephonenumber in our correspondence, of course.)My father gave the bike a careful examina-tion, and agreed it was up to snuff. But,rather than have me ride pillion with thegentleman to his home in East London, myfather insisted on driving us there in his car.Given that I had never ridden a motorcyclebefore - let alone faced busy suburban traf-fic – it was probably a wise decision on hispart.

I continued to appreciate the grace andelegance of that Honda C92 Benly as I be-came familiar with its manners andlearned to navigate it on some grand ad-ventures. But those are episodes for an-other day.

Mel’s trusty 1963 Honda C92 Benly, taken in 1966 soon after purchasing it.


We manufacture fork tubes for Japanese Motorcyclesfrom the 1950’s to 2005. Machined to match O.E.M.,centerless ground, hard-chromed. Guaranteed to fit.Large inventory. Stock length, over and under.


Not-so-great vintage Japanese motorcycles

by Ellis Holman

While Japanese motorcycles on the whole are known as verygood examples of engineering art, there are some that have beenless than glowing examples of that art. Some machines in partic-ular represented initial introductions that on subsequent modelsthe manufacturer got right. Unfortunately, those introductorymodels tended to leave the public with rather poor images of themodel.

For example, Kawasaki’s initial introduction of the Mach III500 Triple in 1969 was a very fast motorcycle. Its downsides werethat the front brake was a drum type that was barely able to copewith the acceleration and weight of the bike. This was coupledwith a frame that was a bit under-engineered around the swingarmarea. Under acceleration, which the bike had plenty of, the framewould flex, and riding fast around corners could be challeng-ing—so much so that one writer dubbed the bike the “$995 MeetGod Machine.” The bike also used an electronic ignition that wasfeared would cause problems with television reception in somecountries. In the UK at least, the bike was fitted with a bat-tery/coil/points system because of that concern. But even with allits flaws, the bike sold well. Kawasaki refined the bike in subse-quent years. It acquired disc brakes and a better (sort of) frame.The engine became less fire-breathing. At the end, it was a sensi-ble bike, almost. It was the federal Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) that sealed the Mach III’s fate. EPA’s rules onemissions brought the era of high performance two-stroke motor-cycles to an end.

1971 Suzuki TM 400 Cyclone

Suzuki's first big bore bike dirt bike was the TM 400 Cyclone. In-tended to take on the European big names like Maico, CZ, andHusqvarna, the bike was supposed to translate Suzuki’s experiencein the Grand Prix motocross into a mass-produced motocross racer.Unfortunately, the race shop did not share its secrets with the pro-duction department. The engine had a huge power spike some-where in the mid-range that often varied. The power band seemedto be dependent on engine temperature, jetting configurations, andPEI ignition performance variations. This rather unpredictable en-gine performance was installed in a frame that lacked the expectedlevels of Japanese engineering.

Front and rear suspensions were not much more than parts to linkthe wheels to the rest of the frame. The rear shocks had little damp-ing and the front forks offered little control of the front end. Withheavy springs in both the rear shocks and front forks, there was lit-tle suspension movement and little control over the bike when rid-ing fast over rough ground.

All of this lack of decent suspension and a hair-trigger enginegave the riders of a TM 400 a rather erratic ride as the bike and riderattempted to negotiate a motocross course. The Suzuki TM 400 Cy-clone was, at best, a horrible bike to ride. Racing the thing wascourting serious injury or even potential suicide. In 1971, Suzukihired Rich Thorwaldson to race the all new TM 400 Suzuki Cy-clone in desert racing. After one very quick ride, Rich came back,face white with fear, and told Suzuki to build a bike that worked.Suzuki listened, sort of. They made some improvements to thebike, but it was still a handful to ride and only the bravest (or fool-hardy) needed apply.

1973 Yamaha TX750

In 1973, Yamaha introduced what they hoped would be the fol-low-on to their very successful series of 650 twins. Yamaha calledit the TX750. While the rest of the Japanese manufacturers weregoing to multi-cylinder machines, Yamaha went its own way andproduced a 750 twin. The bike sounded very interesting by readingthrough its specifications. It was a twin-cylinder engine of 743cccapacity. It boasted a single overhead cam, dry sump lubricationsystem, and an anti-vibration system. The bike went well with 63BHP on tap. With a good frame design, it handled reasonably wellfor a bike weighing in at just less than 500 lbs. Early on it lookedlike Yamaha had a winner. Then the problems began. The anti-vi-bration mechanism turned out to be a two-way disaster. The bobweights were chain driven and were supposed to spin in oppositionto each other to cancel the vibration produced by the power produc-ing components. But unfortunately, the chain drive was not pro-vided with a tensioning device. So as the chains wore andstretched, the timing of the bob weights changed. Sometimes thisactually increased vibration. For some less lucky owners, theweights collided, resulting in damage to the engine. The otherproblem created by the chain drive was that as it stretched it wouldsaw at the insides of the engine cases. Metal chips created from thechain damage would contaminate the engine oil and lead to in-


creased engine wear and seizures. And as ifthis were not enough, the cylinder headswere prone to cracking, resulting in enginefailure. Yamaha repaired many of theseproblems under warranty and improved thebike in its second and final year of produc-tion. But by then, the public was turningaway in droves. Yamaha moved on to theXS750 triple, but that is another story.

Honda hoped that the successor to its verysuccessful inline four series of bikes wouldset the world on fire as had that company’sfirst CB750 in 1969. But the V-4 series ofbikes was rushed to production and tar-nished Honda’s reputation for reliability. In1983, Honda released the VF750. TheVF750 was a sports bike based on theMagna series of machines. Its specifica-tions were world class:

• 16” front wheel; 18” rear wheel.• Silver alloy painted Steel Perimeter

(Twin Spar) frame.• Single rear shock with two-sided alloy

swingarm.• Half upper fairing with chin or belly fair-

ing.• 360° crank; chain-driven cams.• The forks had TRAC mechanical anti-

dive mechanismsThe bike was very quick and handled well.

Honda looked to have a winner on its hands.Then the problems began. There were clat-ters in the top end, valves that could not beadjusted, and valve lifters and cams thatwore. In some cases, as little as 5,000 mileswould elapse and the cylinder heads wouldbe reduced to scrap. All those metal chipsflying about the engine would wreak havocinside it. Honda had to issue warranty recallsright and left. Embarrassed, Honda listedmany reasons for the problems:

• Improper valve clearances caused by theforked lifter and incorrect clearance settingprocedures.

• Variation in the cam-to-bearing clear-ances caused by the manufacturing process.

• One-half of the bearing was machinedinto a carrier, while the other half was ma-chined directly into the cylinder head.

• Variations of the manufacturing processcould cause wide differences in the fit be-tween cam and bearing surface.

• Wider clearances would reduce the al-ready low volume of oil reaching the bear-ing surface.

• Cam chain tensioning components.Honda made many modifications to the

bike, but they didn’t make much difference.Honda came up with a way to use a screw-driver to make the tensioner take up theslack, but this didn’t always work, either.To make matters worse, the oiling systemdidn’t begin to produce adequate oil pres-

sure until about 3,500 RPM. This meantthat the cylinder heads did not receiveenough oil to keep things working. By1986, Honda had gotten it right by revisingtheir manufacturing processes and by usinggear-driven cams. But by then the damagewas done. Many people were staying awayfrom the V-series bikes and Honda hadsome real public relations work to do. As a

side note, the Magnas of the same era hadthe same shortcomings, but as a perfor-mance model the VF series bikes wereharder driven and suffered more.

These are but a few examples of the lessthan perfect “Edsel-like” Japanese ma-chines produced over the years. Do youhave another favorite? Write the editor andtell us about your candidates!

Top: 1971 Suzuki TM 400 Cyclone. Bottom: 1973 Yamaha TX 750.


Dreams put on hold

by Gordon East

For most of us restoring collectors today,our hobbies were born out of the dreams wehad as kids and teenagers. The memories ofthose dreams still exist and the fun today isin the tangible reality that we can now actu-ally have that “new” bike—just as it wasthose many years ago. Our youth was spentreading about, window shopping for, anddrooling over many of the now vintage mo-torcycles in production during the ’60s and’70s. We all had our own wish list, and thosedreams of swinging a leg over that perfectnew bike. Reality would always kick in,though, and we’d awake and realize thatthose paces through the showroom or Cyclemagazine’s review were as close as theycame for most of us. Oh, those after-schooldays and Saturdays spent pacing the dealer’sshowrooms were the fuel of our dreams.

Growing up, most of us never gave muchthought to preservation. We’d get a new orused bike and consume it all too quickly.Those bikes were our transport, our privatemeans of exploration outside of our par-ents’ homes and our freedom of mobility.There was no time, need, or real incentivefor proper care or maintenance back then.We’d often leave them exposed to the ele-ments because the efforts to apply a coveror park in the shed far outweighed any per-ceived benefits. The path to rust, oxidation,and paint fade was barely noticeable fromone day to the next. And besides, there wasalways a new, flashy, super-duper model insome showroom that we wanted. Too badour bank accounts never allowed for thosetimely replacements.

Well, my original bikes are all gone. The’60s and ’70s machines that I had grown upwith had each fallen victim to sale, trade, ordownright destruction. I spent the next 20+years raising my family and convinced my-self that those dreams were best left tomemory. Then something happened. In2000, during a visit to Alabama, my brothergave me an old 1977 Yamaha XS650 thathad been grossly neglected and stored out-side in the elements for over 10 years. Backhome, the kids were grown, the house wasvoid of chaos, I wasn’t Mr. Taxi anymore,and the option of watching home and gar-dening shows with the wife wasn’t appeal-ing. For the six months it took me to get thatbike apart, refinished, and back together, Iwas the most content that I’d been in years.I was having fun again and knew this wasthe answer to what I needed and really en-

Top: While no particular model is a favorite, collecting and restoring Japanese bikes from the late ’60sand ’70s has been the focus. I started out with the idea of replacing the bikes that I’d grown up with inSouth Alabama. Bottom: A red 1966 S90 like the one in the foreground was the first real motorcyclethat I’d ever owned. To a kid, that really was one “Super 90.” The Kawasaki two-strokes always carrieda “bad-boy” image. Whether on the street, in the magazines, or in the showroom, these three-cylindermachines were a legend on their own. This 1970 H1 was still the fastest production vehicle made. InApril 1969, Cycle Guide tested the H1 Mach III and ran a 12.77 quarter mile at 103 mph, all from 498cc.It was listed in all the books as a Superbike. Not only did it have the fastest ET that money could buy, itran 122 mph at top speed.


joyed. It could not stop there by any means.In 2000, I started searching for a replace-ment for each one of the bikes I’d ownedwhile growing up. Today that collection in-cludes some of those prized few I’d ownedearlier, but has grown to include some ofthe dream bikes that fueled my passionsthose many years ago. You know whichones—those bikes that Cycle magazine hadsaid were the hot ticket for attracting prettypassengers and leaving your buddies be-hind you quivering, surrounded by tiresmoke. Yes, we all wanted one of those.

The hobby of restoring motorcycles has tobe just that, and be done out of enjoyment. Ihave not found any significant financial re-wards for taking an old, neglected bike andrestoring it to as-new or even to a very nicecondition. I've often found myself goinginto the red in terms of investment vs.value. These were and will remain the bikesof my dreams. The fun and excitement isnot just in the final product. I enjoy re-searching old articles and parts sources, thestudy of parts listings and diagrams, and themany months of small, strategic projectsthat give me the hour or so escape everydayinto the world where these old bikes can bereborn. No longer a means of freedom orcritical transportation, I can take six oreight months to restore one. The trick to fullenjoyment for me is to never get in a hurryand never add stress to the project withdeadlines. I simply chop up the work intohundreds of small, related task that result ina bike like the one I could only dream aboutwhen it sat on the dealer’s floor.

There are two kinds of bikes that I lookfor. The first and most preferable is the in-expensive vintage bike that needs almostnothing. I mean the ones that you can buy infar better shape than twice the money couldrestore. We’ve all seen or heard about them.For many of us, it’s especially nice havingall-original examples of these vintage bikesaround which are unmolested. They have alittle wear and tear, but are still original.The seat, paint, tires, cables, andmechanicals are all still functioning. Youcan even find some very nice low mileageoriginals that still have their original tires. Ihave three Yamahas (a 1966 YM1, a 1972R5, and a 1973 DT3) found in this condi-tion. My 1966 Honda S90, 1968 HondaCL175, and 1968 Kawasaki A7SS are inthis original condition except for tires.They’re out there for the person willing towait and can be had at significant savingswhen compared to a restoration that youmight undertake yourself.

Top: For a restoration, every part is cleaned with a degreaser, bead-blasted, and inspected. This is thetime when every crack, thread, and tab is checked and corrected as necessary. Next stop: powder coat.I prefer powder coating over paint because it is much more durable and protective. The only concern Ihave with the powder is that the frame numbers at the steering head can loose detail. Advise yourcoater to go light in that one spot. Bottom: The appearance of the engine is the second most importantpart of a bike’s appeal. Behind good paint, an engine’s detail and plumbing have the most visual im-pact. Taking the time to get it right on the outside is almost as important as getting it right inside. Newfasteners, gaskets, seals, and finished cases all come together to make your engine perform and staylooking like new. Don’t forget the plumbing—the routing of cables, hoses, and wiring were done by thefactory for a reason. Study photos and ask lots of questions. The right place for everything will give theright look. Of course, the VJMC is the right club for both novice and experienced restorer.

Continued on page 24


Anything but convenient

Story by Ron MousourisPhoto credits: Bill Andrews, AmericanMotorcyclist Association

Two weeks of eager anticipation and fi-nally my newly acquired 1957 HondaBenly JC rolled out of the Allied van. To beaccurate though, it really didn’t roll all thatwillingly. It was more or less dragged, likean orphaned mongrel dog that has come toexpect the horrified look on the face of itsnew, and disillusioned, owner.

A few years of willful abuse followed by40 more years of neglect and now this rarepiece of Honda history sat on my shopfloor. What was I thinking when I boughtthis? Could this possibly be the bike Ithought I was buying? I had restored somepretty ratty bikes before, but this one, asidefrom being rusty, dented, twisted and torn,was also missing several key parts. Andthey were parts that, at the time, did not ex-ist in the USA.

Still, there was an undeniable characterwithin this machine that the years of abuseand neglect had not totally obscured. Andthere was a sort of muted voice this old ma-chine seemed to have that whispered, “Imay be old and decrepit but I am still aBenly. The Benly J of 1953 was designedby the master himself, my father, Mr.Soichiro Honda, so look a little deeper andgive me a chance.”

And so I did just that. I took a chance onthis sad looking machine. The name“Benly” is a slight alteration of the Japa-nese word “Benri.” The English translationmeans “convenient.” At this point in the in-tersection between my life and this odd lit-tle bike, this Benly appeared to be anythingin the world but convenient.

The Benly sat in my shop for two weeksuntouched, a quiet, but annoying, reminderof my questionable judgment. Inevitably, itwas just too pathetic looking to put up withany longer and so I did what any of uswould do. I took it apart.

Disassembly revealed some interestingissues. This particular Benly had beenpretty badly abused. But there was a veiledbenefit here. It had been abused so early inits life that riding it came to a halt quickly.So, with very few kilometers on the odom-eter, it still had its original Ohtsu tires withgood tread. Many internal engine partswere almost new looking. It turned out thatwhat had put this bike out of service was apart that was weak on most early Benlys.The kick start engagement gear had

stripped, making starting difficult. Appar-ently, the Benly name was, at that time,partly a marketing tool that was, in fact, abit optimistic.

The sheet metal looked awful, but fortu-nately, on the early Benlys it is made from avery heavy gauge so it takes a lot more thanjust 50 years of neglect to destroy it. Theframe was remarkably straight. Upholstery,rubber, and plastic parts were of coursegone.

Contrary to popular jargon, there is reallynothing mysterious involved in working

with old ratty bikes and making them looknew. Most, if not all, VJMC members whohave restored a bike or two already knowthat most of what is involved is time and pa-tience, not genius or magic. But an obses-sive commitment to craftsmanship anddetail does help.

Restoration of a bike that was never soldin the USA means that spare parts are, ona local level, nonexistent. Mine was miss-ing several important parts. Of course,there are no unimportant parts in a qualityrestoration, but mine was missing some

Top: What’s in a name? Benly, then and now, means convenient. Bottom: Owner/restorer RonMousouris, hoping that somehow Mr. Soichiro Honda is also sharing in this moment.


extremely visible ones. The tail light lens,early style Benly tank badges, and the seatupholstery were all gone. The head lightwas incorrect and the handlebar switchinternals were rotted beyond repair. Themuffler was long gone and the footpegrubber looked like some remnant from therubble surrounding Chernobyl. This pro-ject was going to take patience and luck!

Luck is exactly what I found in an odd bit ofserendipity. You are simply not going to findany parts for a Benly JC on eBay. But whilelooking for some stuff on eBay for a differentproject, I found an auction for a Japanese mo-torcycle magazine. The magazine pictured inthe auction was open to a page that had agreat side view photo of a 1958 Benly JC aswell as some other Hondas of the very early1950s. I bid, I won at $5, and paid throughPayPal within about 30 seconds.

The seller wrote me back saying that I mustsurely hold the record for the fastest pay-ment in history. The seller lives in Japan butthe magazine arrived in less than a week. Icontinued writing to the seller, aka my newbest friend, telling him about the Benly I wasrestoring. About three months later I re-ceived an email with a photo attachment of apair of NOS early style Benly badges. Theonly text included was “How about these?”A month or so after that I got another emailwith a photo of a NOS taillight lens, with asimilar rhetorical question.

Since then I have found many parts andseven or eight whole bikes in Japan. So Idid ultimately locate most of the parts that Iwas missing for my restoration. A few rub-ber parts which are no longer available any-where I reproduced. I found that there isvery small but cohesive community of re-storers of these very early Hondas. Restor-ing an early Benly today is a somewhatcollaborative effort.

The mechanical details of this restorationare not all that different from any otherquality restoration. Like many of you, Ihave restored a few Hondas of the ’60s and’70s. We all know the ritual of bead blast-ing, painting, replating, and scouring eBayfor parts. But early on in the restoration ofthe ’57 Benly JC I could feel somethingsubtly different happening to me.

Honda motorcycles of the ’60s and laterare exquisite examples of Honda’s corpo-rate strength, drive, and creativity. Butthe Honda Benly J motorcycle was con-ceived and designed in early 1952. At thattime Honda had no CAD programs, noMr. Irimajiri, no sophisticated engineer-ing department, no dealer network out-

Top: The Benly enjoying a day in the sun at Vintage Motorcycle Days 2005. Bottom: Licensed, fueled,and ready to ride!



The journey–restoring a 1972 Kawasaki H2

by John Kubicki

After two years of searching Walneck’sand watching bike prices explode on eBay,I decided to try a different approach to find-ing a restorable 1972 Kawasaki H2. Istarted by entering various search terms,like “72 Kawasaki” and “Kawasaki 750”into Google.com and Dogpile.com to seewhat I could find. One day I finally got a hitin the classified section of the local paper inSpringfield, Illinois. “For sale. Kawasaki750. Complete but rough with title; motorseized. $300 OBO.” Hmm, sounds promis-ing! Fortunately for me, the seller did notrealize what he had. All he knew was that itwas a ’72 Kawasaki 750. Bingo! Because Iknew that the only 750 Kawasaki had madethat year was the H2, I felt that my searchwas quickly coming to an end!

The seller said that the bike was complete,but that it had sat outside for the last 18 years.But after our initial conversation, I informedhim that I would meet him the first thing thenext morning. I got an early start, and for thenext three hours I contemplated what I wouldfind when I arrived in Springfield. Well, tomake a long story short, I bought the bike for$200. It was missing a few minor parts, butwas indeed otherwise complete. Everythingwas badly rusted and all three plugs had beenremoved years earlier. Anyway, I figured if itwas too far gone I could always recoup mymoney by parting it out on eBay. When Irolled the bike out of the van back home, Icould see the look of doubt in my wife’s eyes.But I assured her that someday it would lookand run like new...

The first order of restoration business wasto look over the bike and take detailed pho-tos and notes on what was missing, dam-aged, or rusted beyond salvation. Since eventhe frame was fairly rusty, the decision wasmade to strip the bike down to the baremetal, and start there. As I stripped it down, Itook several hundred digital pictures alongthe way. A good digital camera withclose-up (macro) capabilities was helpful.Those detailed photos were invaluable whenlooking for parts and at reassembly time.

Joining clubs like VJMC and theKawasaki Triples Worldwide Index(http://kawasakitriplesworldwide.com)were also quite helpful. The VJMC boardwas an invaluable source of information,parts, technical help and moral support!

Another great website is(http://kawtriple.com/mraxl/). This site hashow-to articles, parts diagrams, servicemanuals, specifications, and vendors.

All parts were removed as assemblies(e.g., instruments, front end, rear wheel)and were bagged or boxed with their asso-ciated fasteners. All electrical connectorswere marked with masking tape and a writ-ten description was recorded of where eachwire was connected. As parts were re-

moved, I made a detailed list of whatneeded to be replaced, repaired, or refin-ished. That was the perfect time to send allthe chrome out to be replated. Turnaroundtime for that activity is usually four to sixweeks. (If you outsource parts for replatingand they return looking dull or pitted, have

Top: Fresh off the truck. The bike was rough but mostly complete. The perfect candidate for restora-tion. Bottom: Little did I know what was in store for me behind those cylinders and cases.


them replated! Nothing looks worse thanhaving nice shiny paint with dull chrome.)

Now the search began…..eBay, here Icome! Dealers were another great resource.Kawasaki still had some parts available that Ithought would be discontinued. I called mylocal dealer looking for the carburetor intake,and I was told that it was unavailable fromKawasaki. But then I called another dealer

and they informed me that it was still avail-able! Just because one dealer says a part is nolonger available does not make it true. Callanother dealer—you just might be surprised!

After all the parts had been removed andstored, it was time to strip the frame, center andside stands, upper and lower triple trees, andswingarm. Because of my frugal nature, I de-cided to bead blast and paint the frame myself,

but in retrospect I would highly recommendhaving this job professionally done. Withoutthe proper equipment, this can be a very timeconsuming job. Once the frame painting wasdone, I began reassembly. All those referencepictures taken earlier became helpful. The log-ical starting point was to rebuild the front andrear suspension and wheels. I could then rollthe frame around the shop.

Now it was time to dismantle/inspect/re-build the engine and transmission. Becausethe bike had sat outside for so long, the firstorder of business was to free the pistons fromthe cylinders. The cylinders had water inthem, and the pistons had rusted in place. Imade a piston and cylinder removal tool us-ing a 5/8” tap, four 5/8” coarse thread bolts,and a Craftsman gear puller (part no. 41833).Using a lot of PB Blaster and my homemadecylinder removal tool, I soaked and heatedthe cylinders with a propane torch until I fi-nally got all three pistons to move in theirbores. Once I got the pistons to freely move intheir bores, it was time to try and removethem. Unfortunately, though, the studs hadrusted and were literally locked onto the cyl-inder stud holes. The cylinders were stuck sotight (notice the vice grips on the gear puller)that I actually broke the first gear puller andhad to get a second one. Thanks, Craftsman!

After seeing what happened to my firstpuller, I understood why people sometimescrack the cylinders into two or three pieceswhile trying to remove them. So cautionand patience was in order here! I tapped allfour stud holes with the 5/8” tap about 1/2”down. (Do not tap any farther than 1/2” orthere will not be enough thread materialleft, and the bolts will easily pull out.) Itapped the holes just enough to get the boltsstarted. I then sprayed penetrant into thestud holes, installed the bolts just until theytouched the top of the stud, and heated thecylinder. I got it good and hot and turned allfour bolts about a quarter turn to try to raisethe cylinder. I repeated this process everyday until the cylinder started to move, beingcareful not to get into too much of a hurry.

Once the cylinder started to move, I tappedit back down and started raising it back up tohelp the penetrant do its job. After five or sixdays, the cylinder started to move.WoooHooo! One down and two to go! OnceI had the cylinders removed, I rebuilt the en-gine with new Wiseco pistons and rings anda rebuilt crankshaft by Damon Kirkland.

The transmission was inspected and foundto be in great shape, so no repair work wasnecessary. Once the engine was in the frame,I reinstalled the handlebars, headlight, wiring

Top: I broke the first piston/cylinder removal tool. The pistons were really stuck. Don't forget the torch!Bottom: What carburetors look like after sitting outdoors for 18 years.



The search for parts: a visit to David Silver Spares

by Rick Darke

For vintage Japanese motorcycle collec-tors, restorers, and riders alike, the searchfor parts is usually part of the fun, andsometimes part of the frustration. Hondaenthusiasts like me had it easy for a longtime because the Honda company kept anastounding number of parts available foreven the earliest models. But in recentyears, a change in corporate policy coupledwith a surging interest in collecting vintageHondas has dramatically changed thespare-parts landscape. That NOS fac-tory-painted tank for your 1970 CB450 thatwas an over-the-counter item just five yearsago from your local Honda dealer is now anincreasingly scarce commodity at even thelargest swap meets. Sit in front of yourcomputer long enough for the gas in yourtank to turn into shellac and that much-de-sired NOS part will probably show up oneBay, but rarely at a bargain price. eBay isincreasingly becoming a seller’s market foranything that’s truly in demand, and unfor-tunately buyers must consider the possibil-ity that even the well-meaning eBay sellerdoesn’t really know how to distinguish“like new” from “rusty-beyond-redemp-tion.”

With the above in mind, I’ve been sur-prised at how relatively economical andabsolutely reliable it’s been to have partsshipped across the ocean from England’sDavid Silver Spares (DSS). Specializingin Honda parts since 1986, DSS estimatesthat more than 40,000 Honda ownersworldwide ride motorcycles fitted withparts that have come through its opera-tions. The company maintains a websitehttp://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/thatallows customers to inquire by part num-ber, order by part number, or to downloadthe company’s complete (and frequentlyupdated) stock file. They’ve providednew old stock parts in truly new conditionfor a number of my old Honda projects,often at prices (including shipping) thatmatch or beat domestic sources. In a fewcases when the condition of a rare part hasbeen especially important, the DSS staffhas pulled the part from inventory andemailed a photo. Having had a number of

Top: David Silver Spares banner over office andorders building. Middle: Restored vintageHondas in front of orders counter. Bottom: Be-hind the counter, David Silver Spares staff wasbusily answering emails, responding to parts in-quiries, and processing orders. Here, Anne Milleranswers emails from customers.


such friendly exchanges, I’ve been curi-ous to know what the DSS operationlooks like and how it works. This July,while on business travel in England withmy wife, I got my chance.

Heading toward Leiston on the Suffolkcoast, ninety miles east of London, theroad to DSS leads past Leiston Abbey.Though long in ruin, this 14th-centurymonastery is popular with tourists andlocals. Despite the long history of settle-ment in this part of England, the roadsare still relatively narrow two-lane af-fairs full of sinuous curves and views toopen countryside. They’d be fabulousfare for vintage motorcycling, and theycompletely outclassed the small Euro-pean Ford we’d rented from Hertz.Though the Ford could squeeze more ki-lometers from a liter of gas than some oftoday’s big twin-cylinder motorcycles,after a week I was still convinced theshift lever was connected to the trans-mission by a rubber band. I longed for avintage CL or CB.

I called ahead to DSS and spoke withPeter Babbidge, one of the company’sDirectors. Peter welcomed my visit, tak-ing pains to explain that there wasn’t re-ally any showroom – just a hugewarehouse of parts and a sales counter.In fact, the orders department and officesare in a smartly redesigned buildingacross from the warehouse which greetsvisitors with a collection of restored vin-tage Hondas.

The DSS warehouses are located in theMasterlord Industrial Estate, a sprawlingcollection of venerable brick buildings thatonce played a role in Leiston’s signature in-dustry: the manufacture of steam engines.Stacked wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceilingwith Honda parts, the warehouse interiorsare a nearly overwhelming sight for a vin-tage collector.

While touring the warehouse, PeterBabbidge showed me one room devoted toincoming parts, including palettes loadedwith NOS tanks. The DSS staff is continu-ally searching worldwide for dealer inven-tories and other lots of vintage Honda parts.Incoming parts are carefully identified,sorted, graded, and entered into the com-puterized inventory.

In addition to OEM vintage parts, DSSoffers an increasingly diverse line of “pat-tern” parts – new parts manufactured withattention to original manufacturer’s de-

Top: One of many parts-filled sections of thewarehouse. Middle: Boxes of vintage Hondaparts on a palette. Bottom: Rick Darke (L) andPeter Babbidge, with NOS CL450K1 front fender.


tails. The CB450K0 seat is a fine exam-ple.

Knowing that I had an unrestored 1968Honda CL450K1 scheduled to arrivefrom Illinois soon after my return fromEngland, I asked Peter to check his inven-tory for an NOS front fender. The com-puter showed one in stock, and it tookwarehouse manager David Foster only aminute or two to locate it amongst theendless parts bins - quite a feat, and a tes-timony to DSS’ organization. I asked Da-vid to take a photo of me and Peter withthe fender, which would be on its way tothe USA within 24 hours.

Since UPS generally gets Leiston ship-ments to London in less than 24 hours,and to New York the day after, east coast-ers like myself are likely to receive a par-cel shipped from the Suffolk coast fasterthan one shipped from the USA westcoast. We headed for Gatwick airport aday later, but my fender almost beat mehome. An NOS fender from David Silver Spares installed on Rick Darke’s new CL450K1.

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for three years.2) Spousal membership–$15 per year with no discount

for multi-year applications. This type of membership canbe completed at any time. The membership must be for thespouse or partner of a current member or can be includedwith a sign up of a regular member. One magazine will bedelivered to that household with both names on the mail-ing label. Spousal members will have a membership cardwith a unique number such as 5226A.

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harness, switch gear, horn, and all electricalcomponents. The gauges worked well, butlooked old and weathered, so I decided to dis-assemble, clean, oil, and cosmetically rebuildthem. To reface the gauges I contacted AndreOzaki at www.reproductiondecals.com.Andre said that he would make a set of re-placement decals if I sent him the originalsto use as a pattern. When I got them back acouple of weeks later, I was amazed. Theylooked beautiful! Now I was getting reallyexcited!

I used the underside of the dial pointers toget a correct color match, and mixed twosmall bottles of yellow and red hobby paintto repaint them. What a difference thatmade! The gauges looked brand new. I thenchecked the electrical system to make surethat everything was working properly, real-izing that it would be much easier to testand perform any necessary repairs whilethe bodywork was off.

By now the bike rolled and had an engine,gauges, and an electrical system. The nextthing that I needed to address was the carbu-retors, which still contained a mixture of wa-ter and old gasoline. They were in terribleshape. I tried using carburetor cleaner, but itwould not remove the lime and scale depos-its. So I decided to try boiling the carbs in agallon pot of water mixed with two cups ofvinegar and two tablespoons of powdereddishwasher soap. I figured they were in suchbad shape anyway that I had nothing toloose. Vinegar is a mild acid and I hoped itwould remove or at least loosen the scale,and would perhaps also assist with removalof the jets. I let the carbs boil for an hour, andto my surprise, much of the scale dissolved.After most of the scale was removed, I useda dental pick to get the last of the crud out,then reboiled them in a fresh solution for an-other hour. I then rinsed the carbs with freshwater and used a toothbrush to remove anyresidue. I removed the jets and cleaned allthe passages with carburetor cleaner and re-built them with new main and pilot jets, floatvalves, and gaskets.

I installed brand new Spec II chambersthat I had won off eBay, and hoped anx-iously that the bike would run. I tempo-rarily installed the fuel tank, and three kickslater that baby was running, after eighteenlong years of silence! What a great feeling

Top: The cases were stripped, polished, and clear coated; the cylinders and heads were bead blasted.Middle: NOS turn signals, fresh paint, and a new seat cover. Looking good! Bottom: After a year and ahalf of scraping, searching, polishing, and painting, the restoration was complete. Continued on page 30

Journey: 18 years of silence ends



The second kind is the bike that you’re notlikely to find in original condition and mustbe restored from a parts or rider bike. Iplace the Kawasaki H1s and H2s in thisgeneral category. Not many of them havesurvived in original condition and thosethat have are worth the high value theirowners place on them. You’re not likely tofind one of these waiting for you in some-one’s garage in all-original condition for$1,000. These dream machines are usuallyrealized only through restoration and hardwork. Because many of the parts are dis-continued, sources include other collectors,internet research, and eBay as the placesone has to shop for the rare parts required.

My restoration process starts with adegrease and pressure wash. I then use atleast two large plastic bins for sorting alldisassembled pieces. I take extensivenotes on cable and wire routing during theteardown. I separate those parts that can berefinished, reused, rebuilt etc. from thosethat I feel are completely useless. I neverthrow away the “bad” stuff until I can besure its required replacement can be found.I’ve had items that needed to be machinedand the original part is a must for pattern-ing. As long-term preservation is now anumber one priority, I prefer powder coatto paint on everything other than the bodyparts. The frame and all previously paintedpieces get bead blasted (don’t use sand-blasting), wiped with lacquer thinner, andthen powder coated. The chrome is sent forrefinishing as needed and original or newfactory fasteners are used whenever possi-ble. In the event the right bolt or nut can’tbe found, then polished stainless fastenersare used. These are great as the heads canbe polished and the shine will far outlastthe chromed original. I will replace everypiece of rubber that I can find. Thosepieces not available are treated to acleanup and treatment of Armor All. Fi-nally, the body work is sent for repairs,fresh paint, and stripes. The seat isstripped, bead blasted, powder coated, andrecovered with the correct foam and sten-ciled cover. Reassembly usually takes sev-eral weeks and is again accomplished inmany small, related tasks. The careful at-tention to details like routing of wires, ca-bles, and hoses really comes through in theend product. I always take my time, I’vewaited 30+ years for this bike; a few moredays won’t hurt one bit.

Top: A 1974 Kawasaki H2B, Mach IV 750. This particular model is a reminder that earth tones were bigin the mid-’70s. When I started restoring it last year, the underside revealed its original “Candy BurntGold” (almost ugly brown) color. The color is not among my favorites, but the restored bike in all of itsmid-’70s glory is. This bike had 9,000 miles on it when sold as salvage to a wrecker yard. It sat exposedto the elements for years, during which time the exhaust, seat, rims, and wiring were completely de-stroyed from rust and corrosion. Virtually nothing outside of the frame, swingarm, and engine wererebuildable. Bottom: A rare 1975 Kawasaki H2C 750. The recipient of a poorly attempted restorationand many incorrect parts and pieces, this bike was acquired in 2004. One year and lots of work andparts later, it’s been restored to its current condition. This bike is special for two reasons. By 1975, I was16 and very much aware of performance. I wanted my own H2C. Simply put, I couldn’t afford one andthe oil crisis of 1974 meant that I wouldn’t have gas money, either. These 750s were a thirsty bunch andamazingly gave you only 22 mpg; they smoked, and they were loud. All of these were attributes that theEPA felt had to go. Production was halted and what resulted is the shortest number of production for theH2 in its history. Gone was the legendary two-cycle, three-exhaust 750cc Superbike, and my chancesto own a new one. Introduced just three years earlier, the 750 Mach IV trounced its competition. In a1973 test of Superbikes, the H2 ran away with honors for the lowest ET, best brakes, and fastest laptimes on a closed race course. Yes, it even beat its own bigger brother, the famous 903cc Z1. 1975 wasthe end of my 16th year and it was also the end of the Kawasaki H2 750 two-stroke.


Dreams: Hard work required


side of Japan through which to sell thenew Benly J, and very little money to riskon this new model. What Honda did havewas a set of brilliant ideas; ideas that, forthe moment, would seriously challengeHonda’s manufacturing capabilities.

So, as I worked on the restoration of theBenly JC57, I sensed the profound exten-sion of Mr. Soichiro Honda’s own person-ality that lives in every piece of thismotorcycle. You can see in nearly any ele-ment of the bike its almost cottage industrycharacter. You can see the challenges thatMr. Honda faced. You can see the oftencrude solutions to these challenges. Andyou can see the attention to sculptural detailthat characterizes these early Hondas. Fromvery early on in the Benly project I felt apersonal connection developing betweenmyself and its creator, Mr. Soichiro Honda.

I finished this restoration in June 2005. Ithad taken almost three years. I now see pic-tures of what the bike looked like when itfirst “rolled” out of the Allied van in frontof my shop but I no longer question myjudgment. It has been the most rewarding

restoration project that I have ever been in-volved with.

The first Benly J was produced in 1953. Ithad a 90cc OHV pushrod engine. It is con-sidered by many to be Japan’s first attempt ata sport bike. It has some remarkable designfeatures like an inverted telescopic front sus-pension and a single torsion block controlledswingarm that pivots in unison with the en-gine. In late 1954, the Benly J became theBenly JA. The JA received a displacementincrease to 138cc and a pair of rear shocks.In 1955 it became the JB with a displace-ment reduction to 125cc to take advantage ofnewly enacted licensing laws. The final ver-sion was begun in 1956, the Benly JC. The1956 JC had the Earles type front suspensioninstead of the inverted telescopic unit usedon previous models. Little else was changedon the JC56 and in 1957 the model becamethe JC57. Once again there was a change inthe front suspension as the JC57 incorpo-rated a leading link, but the engine continuedas a 125cc unit until the end of production in1958. Only minor changes were made to theBenly JC58 in this final year of production.It received turn indicators and a few very mi-nor engineering changes which were lessvisible.

In the process of restoring the Benly JC57 Ifound another ratty old bike in Japan that alsoneeds some attention. It is a 1953 Honda BenlyJ 90cc. In August I disassembled it. I work atan excruciatingly slow pace so it will take me ayear or so to put it back together. Right nowI’m headed out to the shop to get started. If anyof you would like more information on theBenly’s place Honda history or details of re-storing these bikes, you are welcome to write

me at “[email protected]”

Western Hills Honda / YamahaWestern Hills Honda / YamahaWestern Hills Honda / YamahaWestern Hills Honda / Yamaha3110 Harrison Avenue

Cincinnati, OH 45211 USAPhone: 1 513 662-7759Fax: 1 513 662-7912

Vintage N.O.S. Honda PartsVintage N.O.S. Honda PartsVintage N.O.S. Honda PartsVintage N.O.S. Honda Parts

www.westernhillshonda.comwww.westernhillshonda.comwww.westernhillshonda.comwww.westernhillshonda.com

Herschel Benkert, OwnerSince March 1962

Offering Domestic and Internationaldealers' parts inventories with shipments

arriving on a regular basis

Our inventory is always changing

e-mail: [email protected]

Quick Tip ofthe Month

“When removing a kickstandspring or similar item, extendthe device so that the returnspring is expanded and insertflat washers between the coils.When the spring is relaxed, thewashers will add length to thespring and it can be easily re-moved.”

Convenient: Sensing Soichiro Honda’s personality



Member poetry

That Can’t Be Me

That can’t be me.I couldn’t have hit that tree.I don’t remember the fall.

I don’t remember much at all.“Just going for a short ride,”I yelled to everyone inside,

Little did they know,I had steam to blow.

It was getting worse every day;I’m going to snap if I don’t get away.

Maybe ride, for a day or two,Air my head out, and think some things

through.Almost made it out of town,

When here comes this asshole,Flying by and screwing around.

I think to myself, “OK, make it your last,Show this kid old men do more than go

fast.”When the road started to wind,

I screwed it on,Left the punk way behind.

I’m thinking to myself, “I know I lookgood.”

Then it went dark,“I smell wood.”

--Dave Simpson, August 6, 2002

Attention allmembers: If youmove, change

addresses or changee-mail addresses,please notify the

membership chair assoon as possible.

Please address anymembership

questions to BillGranade (see page 2

for contactinformation).


ClassifiedsRemember that a “Vintage Japanese mo-

torcycle” is 15 years or older (cut-off forthis year is 1990) and, of course, Japanese.Please be aware that ads may/will be editedto conserve space. If you have large busi-ness ads, please consider taking out a com-mercial ad. Don’t feel reluctant to usepunctuation and proper case on emailedads.

Be mindful of publication deadlines. Adsare due by the 20th of the month in which amagazine is issued for the next magazine.For example, ads for the December maga-zine Newsletter will be due to the editor byOctober 20th.

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

For Sale

Bridgestone

1967 Bridgestone 350 GTR (21UO3646).Completely original. Running and regis-tered. It shifts smoothly through all thegears. It is an original paint bike, faded onthe top of the tank. New battery, new reartire and new tubes. 13K miles. The chromeon the rims is good, the mufflers-fair topoor, the rear fender-fair and the tank-poor.The inside of the tank is fair and shouldprobably be Kreemed. $800, please emailfor pictures and information. Jim Smith,(805) 968-9748 after 5:30 PST, 236Winchester Dr. Goleta, California 93117,[email protected]

Honda

For 1960/70 Honda, vintage parts. Vari-ous parts stored in my garage. Would behappy to talk to you. Tommy Wilson, (386)325-6054, Palatka, Florida,[email protected]

For 1960 Honda CB92, front fender, han-dlebar holders, center stand, tach cable,side cover, off-road exhaust. Will considerwhole parts bike. Al, (561) 271-5855,Florida, [email protected]

Restoration Guides and 250-305cc En-gine Repair guides on CDROM. Also havecopies of carb catalog, tool catalogs, acces-

sory catalogs and LOTS of other goodstuff! www.vintagehonda.com Bill Silver,(808) 323-2347, Kealakekua, Hawaii, [email protected]

1966 Honda C110, Sport 50. Fully re-stored and ready for the show. The chromeis original but 98% perfect. NOS Hondafoot rubbers. This bike is very nice andstarts on first kick. I do have pictures that Ican email. $3200 obo. Thomas, (267)718-2944, Horsham, Pennsylvania,[email protected]

1966 Honda CL77 Scrambler. Red frame,completely stock including exhaust andmuffler. $2200. Christopher, (360)357-8078, [email protected].

For Honda CD175, frames, wheels, tanks,panels, lights, indicators, mudguards, com-plete bikes, exhausts, luggage racks, untoldstuff including fairing. Andy, 0208 6702227, London, UK.,[email protected]

1970 Honda CB750 K0, sensible restora-tion with refurbished original parts andmuch factory NOS electrics, painted partsand more. Blue-green, nearly new condi-tion in appearance and operation; stored formost of ten years since completion. Detailsand photo available. $7900. John Nicksic,(970) 667-0939, Loveland, Colorado,[email protected]

1975 Honda GL1000. Teal color, com-plete carb rebuild. New paint, tires, brakes,mirrors. Original gages with no cracking onfaces. Rare Hondaline luggage rack. 60kmiles, handles, runs and drives excellent.Picture featured in international Motorcy-cle magazine in October 2004. $3500.Please contact me for additional informa-tion. Rick Jenkins, (360) 533-5937,Aberdeen, Washington

1976 Honda Goldwing. Original unre-stored condition. The bike is as it left thefactory. Yellow, paint is original, this is avery nice bike. 32k miles. Contact me forphotos or details. $3795. Ron Pruette, (248)821-8670, Detroit, Michigan,[email protected]

1977 Honda CB750A Hondamatic. Lookssuper and is in great condition. Ready toride. All original equipment, includingowner's manual, some spare parts, mainte-nance material, magazine advertisementsfrom 1977 and an uninstalled luggage rack.

Picture's by email available. $2,000. SamGoodwin, (703) 690-9440, Lorton, Vir-ginia , [email protected]

1980 Honda CB650. Excellent, garagekept, all original condition. Runs great,10,417 miles. $1800 obo. Information andphotos available. Skip Neville, (770)377-6814, Lawrenceville, Georgia,[email protected]

1985 Honda VF500F Interceptor. Partingout. I'll keep the front end and wheels buteverything else is available and in excellentshape, including gas tank, seat, top-end oil-ing kit, etc. Mechanic owned. Brent Waller,(450) 827-2462, Franklin Centre, Quebec,Canada, [email protected]

Kawasaki

1972/75 Kawasaki H2. Looking for H2sin any condition except show. Will buyparts also. Need to be in the southeast so Ican pick up. Have parts to trade or sell also.Buddy Cartee, (864) 415-0434, SouthCarolina, [email protected]

Rupp

1972 Rupp RMT 80cc. Fuji motor, com-plete, chrome needs replating. Includes asmall dealer parts inventory. $895. ClaudeCarrier, (508) 543-0490 days/(508)543-6157 eves (leave msg.),[email protected]

Suzuki

Suzuki M12-2. 50cc street bike, serialnumber 359788. Very good condition forits age. 3,296 miles but engine is locked.Also have Suzuki 150cc and Yamaha HS1.Gene, (662) 369-4542, Aberdeen, Missis-sippi, [email protected]

1972 Suzuki GT380K Sebring. 15,430original miles. I am the original owner andthis is a great example of a vintage two cy-cle bike. Pictures available upon request.Number 1 condition, $1,895 or best offer.Starts on the first kick!! N Stabile, (303)916-6805, Arvada, Colorado,[email protected]

1974 Suzuki GT750. 14k miles, $1200.1973 Suzuki GT550. 13k miles. ’73GT380, ’70 Yamaha DS6 250cc twin, ’77RD400, $900. Kawasaki 500, several bikes


Classifiedsand parts. KH400, 350 triple parts. Also ’72Honda 450cc, ’76 Yamaha XS360. Doug,(412) 481-2523, [email protected]

1975 Suzuki RE5 Rotary. Oklahoma bike.The bike was stored in a dry heated facilityfor 24 years. In great shape. I rebuilt thecarb, master cylinder, & calipers. POR15’dthe gas tank, new paint on tank & side cov-ers. Changed all fluids and then started itup! Runs & Looks great. $3950 obo. MyronFeldman, (262) 369-0694, Pewaukee, Wis-consin, [email protected]

1982 Suzuki GS750TZ. In mint condi-tion. Never been down and never beenrained on. The gages are not sun faded.28,521 miles. New tires and battery. Norestoration needed. $2200 obo. Email pic-tures and information available. Paul Pad-dock, (508) 888-4044, E. Sandwich,Massachusetts, [email protected]

Yamaha

1967 Yamaha YL1-E Twin 100. Verynice hard to find bike. Red. Runs good.$1200. Can email pictures. Jeff Andersen,(352) 799-6623, Brooksville, Florida,[email protected]

For 1973/75 Yamaha RD350, I have sev-eral parts bikes and lots of dismantled partsin crates. Ideal for the person who racesthese bikes. Located in south central PA be-low Carlisle. Stephen Horton, (717)532-6147, Roxbury, Pennsylvania,[email protected]

1973 Yamaha RD350, complete exceptno gas tank at this time. 1972 R5 (same asRD 350 except these had front drum brake& no reed valve). Both have been sitting, soyou’ll need to go through them such asclean carbs, new batteries, etc. Paint &chrome is decent on both. $850 each or buythe pair for $1,000. Claude Carrier, (508)543-0490 days/(508) 543-6157 eves (leavemsg.), [email protected]

1977 Yamaha XS650. Hard to find STDmodel ,only 5050 miles never been in theweather. Not perfect but almost! All origi-nal except mufflers and mirrors. NewBridgestone Aclade tires. Akront styleOEM 19" and 18" rims. 2 sets of roughoriginal mufflers. Pics available. $2995firm. Bill Farrell, (888) 806-1153, Salem,Oregon, [email protected]

1982 Yamaha XV920RH. Rare unmo-lested 920cc Seca. This is the Euro model,NOT a Virago. Enclosed chain drive, huge8" headlamp, 5 gal. tank, rear fender at-tached to swing arm, air adjustable suspen-sion. 8k miles, original candy red paint,new Dunlop GT501's, bike is in excellentcondition. $2500. John Bergener, (505)624-9596, Roswell, New Mexico,[email protected]

Miscellaneous Items

Video Tapes. #1: 1966 Honda FactoryTour, 1964 Suzuki Factory Tour, plus 1970Honda’s 1st Daytona 200 miler win, $20.#2: 1959 Greenhorn Enduro and 1964Jackpine Enduro plus 2 indoor short trackson concrete from the 1970’s, $20. #3: 1954Triumph Factory Tour and 1958 BSA Fac-tory Tour, $20. Tapes are 1 hour or longer.Price includes shipping. Jim Minnis, 210 S.Madison St. Princeton, Indiana, 47670

For Early 1960’s and up Japanese bikes,Keys. Thousands of OEM Honda andSuzuki keys. $8 a piece, which includesshipping. Thousands of NOS parts for thoseold bikes in stock. Just send us what partyou need with the bike model and year, orpreferably a part number, and we just maybe able to help you out. Queen City Motor-cycle, (877) 648-4355, Clarksville, Ten-nessee, [email protected]

Keys. We supply hard to find key blanksfor classic vehicles! We stock keys for cars,trucks, buses, motorcycles and even someairplanes. Visit our web site to browse ourcatalog and order online, or to request helpfinding the key you need:http://www.key-men.com Key Men - Keysfor Classics, Monroe, New York,[email protected]

For 1958/85 Honda, Kawasaki, Keys.Over 4000 Genuine Honda precut andnumbered absolutely genuine original keysexactly as they came with new cycles. Sendcode number which is stamped on the faceof your ignition switch or fork lock, latermodels only had the number on the key. $5each plus $1 postage for any quantity, andan T10 additional dollar for credit card pay-ment if desired. 50% fill rate. I also have250 old Kawasaki NOS keys and a fewSuzuki. I can cut duplicate Suzuki keys forthe same price. Barry Sulkin, (310)398-6406, Culver City, (Los Angeles) Cali-fornia, [email protected]

Wanted

Hodaka

For 1971 Hodaka Ace 100B, need rearfender and tail light. Also rear spokes for18" wheel. Ron Whitlow, (303) 466-0810,Broomfield, Colorado,[email protected]

Honda

1961/67 Honda CYP77. Is there anybodyout there who have some parts for trade orsell? Uwe, Pforzheim, Germany,[email protected]

Honda Dream 250/305. I am interested ina rider Dream, that EVERYTHINGWORKS! In the Great Lakes/Mid-Westarea. I have cash for the correctly described,very good to excellent rider. Scott Strenzel,(231) 768-5696, zoraarkus55@webtvnet

For 1965/67 Honda CB450 K0, I needseveral restoration items for a BlackBomber. I would consider a decent partsbike or advise if you have items available.Bruce, (562) 431-1016/(562) 895-8610,Los Angeles, California, bbaysinger

For 1969 Honda CB750, looking forHM300 NOS exhaust non paragraph pipes#1/ #2/ #4 for my. I have #3, I just need therest. Al Landry, [email protected]

For 1973 Honda CB500P, I am lookingfor a complete seat or seat pan for a policespecial. G Quinlivan, 00353 87 9870251,Limerick, Ireland, [email protected]

1961/65 Honda CB72. Looking for reallynice CB72. Red/silver would be nice butwill consider others. Also looking for 65-66Yamaha 305 Big Bear scrambler. Excellentcond. Blue/White preferred. I am lookingfor low mileage nice bikes or correctly re-stored bikes. Art Bensheimer, (317)835-4544/(317) 835-2057 evenings, India-napolis, Indiana area,[email protected]

For 1965/67 Honda CB450 K0, In searchof a speedo/tach combo, rims with goodchrome and exhaust. Please contact mewith any help. Tony, (215) 592-7505,[email protected]


ClassifiedsKawasaki

1973/75 Kawasaki Z900. Looking to buyused parts and complete or basket casebikes. Steve, (260) 489-2515, Indiana,[email protected]

For 1969/70 Kawasaki H1. Need one un-der-the-tank reflector bracket. Any condi-tion bracket will do, reflector not needed.Gary, (817) 284-8195, [email protected]

For 1979 Kawasaki KZ650 C3, need airbox and hardware. Bud Halfpenny, (973)650-1694/(973) 226-6666 work, P.O. Box93, Essex Fells, New Jersey, 07021

Marusho

For 1965 Marusho Lilac, mufflers, fueltank, front fender, misc. Will considerwhole parts bike. Are BMW R5 parts inter-changeable? Al, (561) 271-5855, Florida,[email protected]

Pointer

For 1963 Pointer 125cc, need chain guard.Please let me know if you have anything forthese bikes cables, gaskets, etc. Any litera-ture, manuals? Al, (561) 271-5855

Suzuki

1966/67 Suzuki X6 Hustler. Not lookingto do a major restoration. Prefer restored orone not requiring much work. I'm not that

handy. Larry Wisse, (937) 644-0035,Marysville, Ohio, [email protected]

For 1967 Suzuki T20 (TC250) X6, Look-ing for following items: Part # 68110-11000,One Fuel Tank Emblem (50mm diameter,black plastic w/large silver “S”, mountingholes 36mm apart). Part # 11361-11100, En-gine Sprocket Cover (this is the smallercover on the engine rear left side that thekick start goes through). Could use the fol-lowing if available, or will have to repair ex-isting: Part # 11351-11100, Crankcase leftcover (larger piece that mounts in front ofthe Engine Sprocket Cover). Part #68131-11001, Side Cover Emblem (metal“Suzuki” that fits on the oil tank). Part #35111-11611, Head Lamp Rim. Part #14302-11200/1, Left Muffler Assembly.Wes Tivel, (719) 593-1913, ColoradoSprings, Colorado, [email protected]

For 1975 Suzuki RE5, I need several res-toration items for s series 1 rotary. I wouldconsider a decent parts bike or advise if youhave items available. Bruce, (562)431-1016/(562) 895-8610, Los Angeles,California, bbaysinger

For 1971/73 Suzuki MT-50 TrailhopperMinibike, need NOS body parts (i.e., seats,side covers, gas tank covers, etc.) andowner's manuals. Please write &/or call andleave message if no answer. Amy Douvlos,(703) 780-8519, [email protected]

For 1975 Suzuki TS185, gas tank, rearfender, turn signals, and mirrors, preferablyNOS. Send pics and price. Brian Goodman,

(406) 449-9982, Helena, Montana,[email protected]

Yamaha

For 1959 Yamaha YA2/YA3, need tankemblems, solo seat, luggage carrier, backpart of chain guard. Please let me know ifyou have anything for these bikes cables,gaskets, etc. Any literature, manuals? Al,(561) 271-5855, [email protected]

1965 Yamaha Street Twin 250cc. Lookingfor decent, complete original, will restore ifneeded. Terry Saxlund, (206) 930-5333, Se-attle, [email protected]

For 1975 Yamaha DT125, I am lookingfor NOS or mint condition parts. Rear turnsignals, seat or factory cover, rubber footpegs, rear foot pegs. Bill Moore, (831)252-3510, Santa Cruz, California,[email protected]

Miscellaneous Items

Motorcycle Jacket. I’m looking for amen’s jacket from the 1940’s-1960’s pe-riod. Small to medium size desired but willconsider large for the right jacket. RichardTrautwein, (906) 635-0356, 437 DawsonSt., Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, 49783

Face shields for early 1970s Bell Star hel-mets. Larry Bruggeman, (303) 922-7621(fax), 520 SO. Dale Ct., Denver, Colorado,

80219

to finally hear it run! I had begun to run lowon motivation, and getting the bike to runwas just what I needed to get going again.

The next project was to refurbish the seatand bodywork, which were both in very poorshape. The Kawasaki Triples Worldwide in-dex recommended RB’s Classic Kawasaki(www.classickawasaki.com) for a repro-duction seat cover, seat foam, and a com-plete set of reproduction decals, all ofwhich are top notch. Rick Brett is a great re-source for parts (reproduction, used, andNOS) and information. Using advice froma couple of friends, I stripped, repainted,

and reupholstered the seat to look good asnew. I also stripped the bodywork down tobare metal, repaired a couple of small dings inthe tank, and repainted. Since the undersideof the front fender still had a little of the origi-nal paint on it, I used that for my color match.Unfortunately, the paint shop mixed the painta little too dark and I only noticed it once thepaint, decals, and clear coat had been applied!But the paint job turned out so nice that I de-cided to leave it alone. Quality control was abit lax from the factory anyhow!

After reinstalling the bodywork, it was timeto double check all nuts, bolts, oil and fuellines, and get ready for a short test ride. Wow!What an experience! That was definitely notyour typical Sunday morning ride. After a

couple of days getting the carburetors andtiming correct, she ran great. I have sincelogged over 750 miles with only one minormishap. During the Eastern Two-Stoke meetat Deals Gap in North Carolina, the right cyl-inder ignition pickup wire fell off during aride. Fortunately, this was quickly repairedand the bike was back on the road. Since thenthe bike has been very reliable. Everywhere Igo the bike turns heads and someone alwaysstops to tell me how they remember the repu-tation it had as a “widowmaker.” The restora-tion was a true labor of love, but moreimportantly I met a lot of great people andmade a couple of good friends along the way!Remember, it’s not always the destination,but the journey that makes it all worthwhile.


Journey: Not the typical Sunday morning ride

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the honda benly - vjmcoctober/november 2005 3 order form for regalia items show your colors. let...

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