Post a picture of your Vintage Honda Twin!

Okay, so I don't have it anymore, but I do have the street legal "replica" of it now, so here's the inspiration for the LRM back in the day (when I was younger and slimmer)

OES7Zqa.jpg
 
Man, I'd like to see that Ghia in its orange color, that had to be cool.
This is the only pic I could find. I had just painted it(1st time with a spray gun) and hadn't put the chrome trim back on yet. The original orange was slightly yellower, this was before the internet and I didn't know original color when I was trying to match it. Was a fun car, I drove it to Colorado and then back to Martha's Vineyard back in the day.

1732731192807.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is the only pic I could find. I had just painted it(1st time with a spray gun) and hadn't put the chrome trim back on yet. The original orange was slightly yellower, this was before the internet and I didn't know original color when I was trying to match it. Was a fun car, I drove it to Colorado and then back to Martha's Vineyard back in the day.

Those things are so cool. I'd post a pic of the one my Dad bought and refurbed back in the '60s, but this is a Honda twin pictures thread :) so back to our regularly scheduled program already in progress
 
Okay, so I don't have it anymore, but I do have the street legal "replica" of it now, so here's the inspiration for the LRM back in the day (when I was younger and slimmer)

OES7Zqa.jpg
Love it! The underslung tank is cool, looks like a speedway bike.
 
Love it! The underslung tank is cool, looks like a speedway bike.

Thanks Dale. My Dad welded that up out of sheet metal and used the neck of a 1 gallon paint thinner can, with the screw-on cap, as a filler neck and cap. Initially I had him paint it candy red, yes candy over silver base on that tank, and later the American flag paint. That was only possible because he told me if we cut out the top motor mount section of the frame, he'd build a tank for me that would fit in right above the engine. I think it held about a half gallon, and it had one piece of 1/4" tubing coming out of each back corner to feed each carb with inline petcocks for shutoffs. The only failing on that bike was the rear brake. daddy cut the stock pedal short and welded it together, but I didn't understand the leverage factor and left the brake rod in the standard hole location. The short pedal didn't generate enough foot power to overcome the lack of leverage and I didn't know enough to drill a new hole for the brake rod in the arm closer to the pivot to male up for it, so the rear brake was pretty weak.
 
Dad ... I like those pipes ... am looking to do something veryn similar on my 500T build ... may I ask where you got them? Thanks Bill

You certainly can ask, but the chance of you finding a set is pretty slim. I got very lucky and a new member at that other forum asked if anyone had an alternator rotor for his 450, so I sold him one from a spare engine. Here's what happened later.
 
Taken last Friday, riding toward home, to dinner, the family and weekend.

1732731394603.png

Yesterday, I it was time for a 3000 km check (I rode 9000 km this year), so checking valve gap, point timing and gap, tire pressure, oil level, chain slack and a bit of cleaning for the third time this year.
Next weeks, the weather will be good, so I'll add another 1000 km or so (to work and back is around 120-180, depending on the route I take. Most of the time the long route anyway.....)

These are my favourites:

Route to work:
kaart heenweg.jpg

and back home:
terugreis.jpg

In the morning the sun is on my right side, and shines over the water, in the evening the same, but the other way around. The picture is taken the way back.

Here is an other one, also taken on the way home:

1732731481817.png

I think I can ride 12000 km this year, before the winter starts. So next year I'll start with 00000 on the odo, and start all over again :)

Btw, the valve clearance was 0,01 mm to large for both exhaust valves, and I did set them from 0,05 to 0,04 mm. Intake didn't show any difference in clearance since last time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
1981 CM 400 Custom with 1,920 Miles.

1732731576266.png
 

Attachments

  • thumbnail_IMG_1050.jpg
    thumbnail_IMG_1050.jpg
    95.5 KB · Views: 24
  • CM 400 Custom.jpg
    CM 400 Custom.jpg
    85.3 KB · Views: 32
  • thumbnail_IMG_1049.jpg
    thumbnail_IMG_1049.jpg
    114.5 KB · Views: 27
Last edited by a moderator:
^^^Beautiful bike! Clearly was stored inside for most of its life, even the break-in sticker on the speedo glass is not weathered. (y)
 
You certainly can ask, but the chance of you finding a set is pretty slim. Here's what happened later.

That's a very cool story. Ever find out of they were the originals? btw: saw you found a solution to the bending licence plate with the backplate. Mine did the same thing and I ended up buying a thick stainless plate to mount the licence plate to. probably real close to your solution.

That bike of yours sounds mean and awesome too!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
That's a very cool story. Ever find out of they were the originals? btw: saw you found a solution to the bending licence plate with the backplate. Mine did the same thing and I ended up buying a thick stainless plate to mount the licence plate to. probably real close to your solution.

That bike of yours sounds mean and awesome too!

Thanks, but you've heard it before at the Meltdown show. I prefer this video above of the best run of the night at the eighth mile in Clearwater from last year, the baffles are out and getting beat by a late model 650 Ninja doesn't hurt at all. TBH, I can't tell if the pipes are the same brand but they are the same size and style so I felt pretty lucky to get them from David. As for the license tag plate, it's just a piece of thicker aluminum but I found long ago that bolts at all 4 corners makes as much of a difference as the plate itself. I know this engine doesn't have the same output as my drag bike did back in the early '70s, that head was ported more radically and I probably caught lightning in a bottle back then with a perfect mix of parts and porting, plus this bike weighs about 40 lbs or so more in street legal form and I weigh about 35 lbs more too. Weight is a horsepower killer.
 
I meant this one. Lawd almighty.

And if you've seen all the versions of it over the years, you'll know why I've called the bike The Chameleon... so many iterations, all without hacking it up to get there. He's done a tremendous job with it and even more amazing is that he's had it since it was new. (y)
 
Okay, so I don't own it anymore (traded it in on my first new bike literally 50 years ago this year) but I enjoyed having this one back in the day. My Dad bought it frozen up and basically junk for $35 and turned it into this

FArkiIf.jpg
 
Thanks, Tom, I scored a set of scrambler fork legs in between the first and second picture.

I thought it look just a little different but I wouldn't have realized if you hadn't said anything, can't say I've ever seen both CB and CL near enough together to know the differences. I was just getting into bikes when these were fading out of the daily riding scene at the Honda shop where I started, and I only worked on a couple of 160s back then.
 
This is My other 160:
Re-pop exhaust, looks just like the real thing.

Hard to say which one looks better! That's a nice pair of bikes Mike, even the little mudflap and the taillight lens are shiny (y)
Man, you've been keeping these things secret for a while now... I mean, I saw them in your signature at that other forum, but never any pictures of them
 
Hard to say which one looks better! That's a nice pair of bikes Mike, even the little mudflap and the taillight lens are shiny (y)
Man, you've been keeping these things secret for a while now... I mean, I saw them in your signature at that other forum, but never any pictures of them
Yeah, I've got a fair amount of junk to keep track of.

1732732050575.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Cool and unique job, and a nice tribute to our Air Force. While it isn't from a vintage Honda, the bike would be vintage today. The owner who paid my Dad to do this job passed from a brain tumor only a few years after it was finished (it took a month to do) and literally left the painted parts to my Dad in his will.

Liquid flag3.jpg
 
Fresh pic of mine from a ride today. Beautiful fall day in north Alabama, sunny and around 80°.

2-B8786-AD-D52-E-435-A-AE9-C-1-A0-B3-A1-C8-DD8.jpg
 
Classic beauty, I always liked that color. My Dad had one exactly like it while I was in high school while I had the CL450K4.
 
Looking forward to spring... that's May in this part of the world. Give me lots of time to do some gentle maintenance.

Your bike is interesting in that I've never seen anyone paint the fenders on the later version, yet it looks good that color. Never thought about it and wouldn't have guessed it would look decent, but it gives the bike an older feel to go along with the nice polished parts. Not to be critical, but the non-OEM taillight is the only thing I don't care for... but the change in the way it's mounted goes along with the old-school look of the painted fenders. (y) This early CB350 taillight would look good on it with its current scheme IMO

350tl.jpg
 
Your bike is interesting in that I've never seen anyone paint the fenders on the later version, yet it looks good that color. Never thought about it and wouldn't have guessed it would look decent, but it gives the bike an older feel to go along with the nice polished parts. Not to be critical, but the non-OEM taillight is the only thing I don't care for... but the change in the way it's mounted goes along with the old-school look of the painted fenders. (y) This early CB350 taillight would look good on it with its current scheme IMO

View attachment 5041

Yeah, I hear all of that. I was unsure of the color until I got it on the driveway. It does lend an older feel to the whole thing, which I kind of like. It has definitely grown on me.

I'm not a strict OEM guy though.

I agree - that tail light is a little too 'Rudolph the red nose reindeer' for me. And yeah - that light (cb350) would look great! More motorcycle, less 'cute'.
 
That's an aftermarket version which I'm proof of doesn't last on the vibes our engines produce. An OEM version of that light would look great but they are hard to find in good shape and of course, pricey if you do. Yeah, the color and painted parts combo on your bike has grown on me too and I'm just looking at pictures
 
That's an aftermarket version which I'm proof of doesn't last on the vibes our engines produce. An OEM version of that light would look great but they are hard to find in good shape and of course, pricey if you do. Yeah, the color and painted parts combo on your bike has grown on me too and I'm just looking at pictures

Well, when I get my ass conditioned, the border opens and I feel like driving 2500 odd miles, you can have a look in person and take it for a rip. (y)
 
Damn that's beautiful.

Actually replying to Oldiron64 's K1

His bike is one of my favorites. The toaster tank is such a great piece of period recognition, and to me it represents the era that Honda was in when I started riding. Though I'd love to have a Bomber, if I had to choose between one of them and a K1 it would be the K1.
 
Back
Top Bottom