transfusion

heh, been doing that for years now, it works just not when people are watching me. I'm a bit shy when I fly... Now some people think I'm insane for riding a 30 y/o Honda GL1000, slowly rebuilding a 1972 Suzuki T-500 (better than those Yamahas) I also ride the wifes brand new 2009 Kawasaki EX250...damn thing is a giggle and a half. I have been known to pass a gaggle (12) Honda CBX's on twisty mountain roads here in Montana and ride for stupid lengths of time. That isn't insane, that's as much fun as taking a new plane for it's first flight.

-- Keith

heh, been doing that for years now, it works just not when people are watching me. I'm a bit shy when I fly... Now some people think I'm insane for riding a 30 y/o Honda GL1000, slowly rebuilding a 1972 Suzuki T-500 (better than those Yamahas) I also ride the wifes brand new 2009 Kawasaki EX250...damn thing is a giggle and a half. I have been known to pass a gaggle (12) Honda CBX's on twisty mountain roads here in Montana and ride for stupid lengths of time. That isn't insane, that's as much fun as taking a new plane for it's first flight.

-- Keith

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I still love motorcycles too. Problem is, my body doesn't. Too rickety and weak to enjoy a decent sized motorcycle (my 800 is barely manageable - by me). But my favorites were always 350 to 500 cc Gran Prix type street bikes anyway. Too bad they stopped importing them.

The wife likes it much better when I forego the motorcycle for running a model engine or flying a model. I wonder why?

I just can't bring myself to sell my faithful Kawasaki VN800 Classic. I love that thing. It actually sounds better than a Harley Vee-Twin at idle. Yes, this is subjective - but true.

Ed Cregger

here in Montana

CBX? You mean that shameless copy of the Benelli Sei that Honda tried to claim as their own innovation (six years later)? I think I've seen three or four of them in my life. You passed 12 of them in one place... on a twisty mountain road where that bike would be at its absolute worst? Did they SELL 12 of them? ;-)

Good luck with the Suzuki project. A buddy of mine had one of the later GT380 triples and then the water-cooled GT750 triple. I always loved two-stroke roadrace and street bikes (I raced a Yamaha RZ350 in WERA competition for a couple of seasons) and wish they'd make a comeback. Emission rules killed them, but there are new ways to improve two-stroke emissions... the marine outboard motor industry made some interesting breakthroughs (high-pressure direct fuel injection, IAPAC, catalytics, etc.). Everyone should get the chance to experience that two-stroke street bike rush.

Good flying, desmobob

actually iirc correctly HONDA raced the 250cc 6cyl 4 stroke before Benneli built the Sei. I could be wrong...it was before my time.

I've seen more than the dozen I saw. As for at their worst, only place that bike is worth a damn imo in a straight line with no hills, no dips, no curves and for damn sure no curves of any kind. Not even a gentle chicane that a mini-van could handle at 90mph.

I need it and I know it. Hell I not only have to build the injector lines from scratch I've got to de-rust the fuel tank, oil tank and buy a new oil tank sight glass (plastic actually). I MIGHT brace up the swing arm to reduce flex not sure if I will or not. It is most assuredly NOT going to be a resotoration. Considering either MX or Clubman bars.

All is in flux and will likely change as I make it up as I go along.

-- Keith

European motorcycle makers like Gilera, Moto Guzzi, BMW, MZ and MV Augusta were very successfully racing several different multi-cylinder (2, 3, 4, 6,

Gilera and MV Augusta absolutely dominated the Grand Prix racing "Golden Age" of the 1950s with their overhead cam transverse fours almost 20 years before Honda released its "unprecedented" CB750. MV ran a six-cylinder version in the late '50s.

Honda didn't start fielding GP race bikes until '59 with a 125 twin. Their later multi-cylinder bikes were very certainly nothing new. Their ability to produce them in quantity at low cost WAS.

Good flying, desmobob

It was unpresidented because they put a I4 750 on the market not the race track iirc.

Yeah, but nobody did it in a more ballsy manner than Moto Guzzi, A V8

-- keith

That would be "unprecedented."

Interesting... your defense of the CBX not being a shameless copy of the Benelli Sei was "actually iirc correctly HONDA raced the 250cc 6cyl 4 stroke before Benneli built the Sei." The Europeans had been to the track and to the market with 4- and 6-cylinder bikes before Honda.

Soichiro Honda was a genius, but no one can deny that the company relied heavily on copycat designs for their early success.

Good flying, desmobob

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