VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB MAGAZINE FEBRUARY … · description of the photo. Good luck! Send...

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VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2005

CONTENTSPresident’s Column. . . . . . . . . . 3

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

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

Better Living Through Chemistry . . . 6

Product Review:Motorcycle Consumer News . . . . . 7

2005 National Rally Information . . . 8

Organizing a Vintage MotorcycleShow, Swap Meet, And CharityRide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Herbert the Rat . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Honda SL70 K0:The First True Mini-Cycle . . . . . 16

My Time At The Honda Store . . . . 18

Every Bike Has a Story . . . . . . . 20

The Honda Trivia Game. . . . . . . 26

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

This issue’s web password is:chemistryEffective February 1stUse lower case

Mission Statement

The Purpose of this organization is to

promote the preservation, restoration

and enjoyment of Vintage Japanese

motorcycles (defined as those greater

than 15 years old) and to promote the

sport of motorcycling and camaraderie

of motorcyclists everywhere.

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 DirectorPete Boody(865) 435-2112, [email protected]

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

WebmasterJason Bell(972) 245-0634, [email protected]

Cover LayoutJason Bell

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

2005 Vintage Japanese MotorcycleClub. All rights reserved. No part of thisdocument may be reproduced or transmit-ted in any form without permission.

www.vjmc.org 3


From the President: TWO National Rallies?by Jim Townsend

As we head into 2005, many thingsare changing. Many of us view changeas bad, but in our case, change is forthe better. You will notice that wehave changed presidents again and Iam once again heading up the club.My thanks to Pete Boody for injectingsome needed ideas. Pete will onceagain be hosting the Eastern NationalVJMC Rally and will be on the Boardof Directors handling the commercialadvertising for the magazine.

Notice how I slipped in that word“Eastern” ahead of National Rally?One of the changes is that we have atleast three of our field representativescurrently working to set up a new“Western” National Rally! That’sright! We are planning on having tworallies this year if everything worksout. This is not beyond the prelimi-nary planning stage at the moment asI write this. But by the time this mag-azine reaches you, we should havesome more definite plans. Keepchecking the VJMC list at Hyperrealfor-up-to-the-minute details of bothrallies and also keep checking ourweb page at www.vjmc.org forin-depth reports on both rallies.

In the coming months we will be add-ing new members to the Board of Di-rectors. Just this last November weadded John De Beck, field representa-tive from Wisconsin, to the board. Johnhas lots of new ideas to help us im-prove the club and I am sure we will behearing more from him in the future.John had an article in the Decembermagazine. He is quite active in sportsprograms for teenage girls and has a lotof organizational skills which he bringsto the club. Our bylaws allow us tohave as many as 15 members; we cur-rently have 10 on the board.

If you haven’t checked out our webpage lately, you are in for a surprise.Board member and webmaster, JasonBell, has been doing a super job ofkeeping our web page current andlooking really good. In there you will

find an events page where all theevents reported by your field repre-sentatives are listed. Sometimes ourfield representatives really get dis-couraged because of low attendanceat our events. If your field representa-tive is hosting an event in your stateor area, try to attend. Now if you are atypical member and just haven’tgone, you will be pleasantly sur-prised. I can guarantee that you willmeet some really nice people that arewilling to help you with your projectsand provide helpful advice, too. Thelast time we had a little get togetherhere in Indiana, two guys met whowere only living a couple of blocksapart and didn’t know the other wasinto Vintage Japanese bikes!

Where is the club headedthis year?

I ask myself that question from timeto time and I can say for sure we areheaded in the right direction. Increas-ing the size and geographic distribu-tion of the board, two NationalRallies in the works, increased sizeand participation at the Mid-Ohioevent this coming summer (more onthis later), more local events thanever before, continuing participationat Daytona, and our continuing in-crease in member participation atevents are all pointing us in the direc-tion of a better club. I can’t leave outthe greatly improved magazine underthe guidance of the editor, KarenMcElhaney and a continually im-proving web page by Jason Bell.

One thing we really need to do is in-crease our numbers. We are reallyjust a bit short of getting to the pointwhere the VJMC is a nationally rec-ognized organization. We have allheard of ABATE, the Gold WingRiders club, and others, but theVJMC? We are not really widelyknown and sometimes all you have todo is mention that there is such a clubas ours and people immediately wantto know more and join us. If we get

more friends into the club, our com-mercial advertisers will support themagazine better; we will be betterable to buy some of the rare stuff weneed because we see the ads; themagazine will get more outside reve-nue; less of the dues funds will go tosupport the magazine and free upfunds for our field representatives topromote more local activities for youand me.....and on and on. It is just onebig circle that keeps getting biggerand better!

With all this in mind, the board hadsome recruiting brochures printedwhich promote the club. These are re-ally good looking brochures that youwill be proud to hand out to yourfriends. One line in the application inthe brochure is where you put yourname as “referred by.” We not onlywant to know who is joining, but wewant to know who recruited them.Bill Granade, our membership chair-man, will keep track and when he re-ceives an application with your namein the “referred by” column, you willbe credited for it. When you recruitfour new members, your membershipwill be extended for another full year!This is easy, too. Go to anevent—Daytona, Cycle World show,Mid-Ohio Vintage Days, the Interna-tional Motorcycle Show in Toronto,etc., and help the members there manthe booth and hand out brochureswith your name on them. Sign themup on the spot, if possible, but getthose brochures out to your friendswho may not know about us. Let peo-ple know we exist! And get a freeyear’s membership. Ask your fieldrepresentative to send you some bro-chures or pick some up the next timeyou see your rep.

Want to be famous?

Here’s how: write an article for themagazine. Technical articles are al-ways wanted. Travel articles of inter-

See President, page 34

4 www.vjmc.org


From the editor: Cover photo contest upcoming

by Karen McElhaney

In this Issue

This could very well be consideredthe Honda SL issue, considering con-tributions from Randy Marble (smallbore SL models) and the continuationof Mike Vachon’s story about the dis-covery of his rather unusual SL350.Ellis Holman uncovers more wonderchemicals for the vintage bike enthu-siast in Part 2 of Better Living throughChemistry. Mark Leslie recounts abone-chilling rescue of a neglected1968 Honda CL175 from its frigidresting place in British Columbia andTroyce Walls entertains (infuriates?!)us with an account of his days spent ata Northern Alabama Honda shop inthe early 1970s. And for those doingsome planning for warmer weather,John DeBeck presents an almoststep-by-step guide to organizing a vin-tage bike-related event.

Cover Photo Contest

August, 2005 represents a milestonefor VJMC it’s the first anniversary ofcolor in the magazine. To commemo-rate the event, VJMC is sponsoring acover photo contest. So send the editoryour best bike-related photo. Be cre-ative! The winning photo will appearon the cover of the first color anniver-sary edition of the magazine. The con-test is limited to active members only.Submissions should be high resolu-tion photos (portrait rather than land-scape orientation is preferred) andmust be received by June 1, 2005.Digital photos are appreciated. Alsosend your name, address, and a shortdescription of the photo. Good luck!

Send all entries to:Karen McElhaneyVJMC Editor2206 Duck Cove Dr.Knoxville, TN [email protected]

Members’ Bikes

Don Berger, a retired Portland, Ore-gon firefighter, sent us a photo (be-low) of his favorite bikes, both oldand new. Don’s first big dirt bike wasa brand new 1966 CL77. Who couldforget the look and sound? Of course,he uses Snuff-or-Nots! Don hasowned several bikes over the years,accumulating many off-road miles.While this near-museum-quality re-stored Scrambler is ridden on sunnydays only, the CRF230F takes care oftrail riding quite nicely. Don says thisphoto represents 37 years of rock ‘nroll on a Honda!

Cover Photo

Randy Marble’s trio of HondaSL70s graces the cover this month.Randy is an expert on Honda’ssmaller SLs. You can visit his web

site at: www.marblesmotors.com

Don Berger with his favorite bikes: left, his 2004 Honda CRF230F and right, a 1967 Honda CL77 305 Scrambler.

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Calendar of eventsApril 2005

3018

thAnnual Motorcycle Swap Meet, Hatley, Wiscon-

sinJapanese & European motorcycles, scooters, and mo-

peds. Largest swap meet of its kind in the area. Held atS-K Service in downtown Hatley, WI (between GreenBay and Wausau on Hwy 29).

Info.: Bill or Steve at (715) 446-2225

May 2005

7Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Swap Meet and Show,

Kenton, OhioLocation: 322 Decatur Street, (Woods Cycle Shop), Kenton.Show includes three categories: Best Original, Best

Original Restoration, and Best ModifiedEntry fee for bike show to be $5.00 and judging will be

by popular vote.A 20 x 20 foot swap meet space will be just $10 by ad-

vance reservation which will admit two persons. Generaladmission will be a very reasonable $2.00 per person.

Hardin County is about 60 miles northwest of Columbus.

Info.:Ken Carlson (Ohio Field Rep.)16344 Rt. 309Kenton, OH 43326

August 2005

13-14Motorcycle Rally, Lancaster, OhioSecond annual bike rally. VJMC members and vendors

are invited to attend. Event will be held at the LancasterFairgrounds.

Info.: Sam Phillips: [email protected];www.mtpleasantbikers.com

13-142

ndAnnual Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club of

Wisconsin 2005 State Meet, Vintage MotorcycleShow, Swap Meet, Auction, and Charity Ride, DePere,Wisconsin

Sat 8AM-8PM; Sun 8AM-5PMPresented by Nick’s BMW, VJMC-Wisconsin & North

American Youth Sports.On the grounds of Nick’s BMW, 2246 Mid Valley Rd.

(West Frontage Road of US Hwy 41) DePere, WI 54115.All makes and models welcome at the show. Free food

and drink for all charity riders after the ride at Nick’sBMW.

Proceeds from all events benefit the North AmericanYouth Sports Women’s Athletics College ScholarshipFund and the Nicholas Eng Memorial ScholarshipFund.

Live entertainment * Clinics * In-house specials andpromotions * Motorcycle riding games * Door prizes

For more details, ride registration, swap meet spaces, oran events schedule, contact NAYS at 1-800-787-3265 orNick’s BMW at 920-347-9144

September 2005

8 - 10VJMC National Rally, Oak Ridge, TennesseeEvents: Bike show with $$ first place prizes, fantastic

new bike rides, huge swap meet, field events, rally ban-quet, evening campfire gatherings.

For vacationing members: Smoky Mountain MotorTours; two-day trips with overnight accommodations,Tennessee River Boat Tour, Mystery Tour & DinnerTour, other local attractions available

Info. Pete Boody, [email protected], (865) 607-8179, (865) 435-2112 or contact the national rally staff [email protected]

The Antique Motorcycle Club of America

You MeetThe NicestPeople...

OnVintage J apanese Motorcycles

At Oley, PAThe Perkiomen

ChapterNational Meet

April 29-May 12005

For information contact:Doug Strange

(610) [email protected]

The Antique Motorcycle Club of America

6 www.vjmc.org


by Ellis Holman

Editor’s note: Part 1 of this seriesappeared in the December 2004 issueof the magazine.

In the previous installment of BetterLiving through Chemistry, we talkedabout some products to protect yourbike that have been around for awhile. In part 2, we’ll look at some ofthe newer wonder products such asS100, HondaBond, and YamahaCarb Cleaner.

Sta-bil ensures that engines starteasily after storage and all yearround. Sta-bil prevents the forma-tion of gum and varnish in fuel sys-tems or gas cans. It eliminates theneed to drain or dispose of fuel. Oneounce treats 2 1/2 gallons of gas.Sta-bil is great for storing yourscooter during the winter months. Italso good to use in the tank whenyour bike is being actively ridden.The modern fuels we are using canstart to deteriorate in as little as oneto two weeks. Sta-bil will help en-sure that this doesn’t happen.

Speaking of Sta-bil, another fuelsystem treatment that works to keepcarburetors clean and functioningwell are the injector/carburetor clean-ers. One of the best is ChevronTECHRON Concentrate Fuel Sys-tem. It’s unbeatable at cleaning theentire fuel system and restoring per-formance lost to deposits. It also re-duces engine knock and ping causedby combustion chamber deposits. Itworks in one tank of fuel while youride. Add one ounce per gallon ofgasoline to a nearly empty tank andrefuel.

Yamaha Carb Cleaner is another ofthe fuel system wonder tools. TheYamaha part number isACC-CARBC-LE-NR. Craig Faithdetailed the use of this cleaner in hisarticle found on our web site techtips section. To summarize Craig’sexcellent article, use the cleaner asdescribed in the instructions for

lightly gummed-up carbs. For moreheavily gummed-up carbs, Craig de-scribes soaking the carbs in a 50/50mix of cleaner and water for 15 min-utes at a near boil. As with many ofthese cleaners, make sure you usethem in a well-ventilated area; forpractical purposes, that means out-doors.

S100 Engine Brighter comes in asmall 4.5 oz. can for around $7.95. Atfirst this seems to be a lot of money,but if you have plastic parts that haveturned grey with age this stuff ispriceless. It works well on blackpainted engine cases, too. I first triedit with a CB750K1 air cleaner casethat was nearly perfect but had turnedgrey. The S100 gave it that factorynew look. Best of all, it didn’t requirea second application. I’ve tried it on avariety of surfaces like switch hous-ings, engine covers, and plastic chainguards. All of them returned to a nicefactory-like black surface.

As noted in part one, Mother Na-ture, if given a chance, will start rustgrowing on many parts of our motor-cycles. In times past (and still today),rust removal was a mechanical pro-cess that involved blasting, wirebrushing, or sanding. Those tech-niques are still valid but there are alsothings such as Eagle One’s Chrome& Wire Wheel Cleaner that can help,too. Chrome & Wire Wheel Cleanercontains powerful cleaning agents(which are actually mild acids) for-mulated especially for chrome-platedsurfaces. Simply spray on a cool sur-face, let set for 30 seconds, and washoff. It’s so effective that it will evenremove surface rust from chrome-plated rims. Do NOT use this producton spokes that are cadmium plated.Another application for this productis in making carburetor bodies looklike new. When you spray it on a dirtycarb body, let it set for 30 secondsand wash it off, the carb will look likenew.

Another tool to combat rust comesto us from JNJ Industries heir

EVAPO-RUST Wipes. JNJ Indus-tries, Inc. offers the cleaning powerof their EVAPO-RUST product in aneasy to use, disposable wipe at thebench top. These unique wipes workagainst rust in two distinct ways.First, as a rust remover through wip-ing, rubbing, and/or wrapping; andsecond, as a rust inhibitor by leavinga protective coating on a clean area toprevent additional rust from formingfor up to 4 weeks, depending on heatand humidity.

Yamabond, Suzukibond, Honda-bond, and Toyotabond are all madeby Threebond. This sealant is a me-dium viscosity, semi-drying syn-thetic rubber elastic sealer for use onall engine case surfaces. This prod-uct is resistant to all chemicals andhas a temperature range of -40 to 302F. The sealant is perfect for makingsure that the engine crankcases donot leak any oil. This type of sealercan be used on the Honda SOHCfours head gaskets which are notori-ous for weeping and seeping oil. Aquick word here about a relatedproduct, but one which should beused with great care: there are manytypes of room temperature vulcaniz-ing (RTV) silicone sealants on themarket today. Many people aretempted to use them to seal gasketmating surfaces. Take care if you do.Many RTV silicone sealers are notformulated to resist oil and heat. Ifyou e overly enthusiastic in applyingthe sealer, it will be squeezed outwhen parts are put together. Thesealer can then migrate inside the en-gine and can cause damage by plug-ging oil passageways.

Although the Loctite line of prod-ucts dates back to 1953, two of theirnewer products that are very useful tous are Threadlocker and #271 Stud &Bearing Mount. Threadlocker can beused in areas where we don’t wantthreaded fasteners coming apartand/or need sealing. There are threetypes of Threadlocker. The red typeThreadlocker, which has the most ap-

Better living through chemistry

www.vjmc.org 7


by Jim Townsend

If you want to buy a coffee maker ora new car, where do you go for thestraight, unvarnished facts? Onething for sure is that you don’t con-sult with the car maker or the adver-tising for the coffee maker. Of coursenot. If you do, you know that the only“information” that you will receivewill be the positive spin,stretched-to-the-limit advertisingcopy. If you want the truth with allthe real facts, you consult the only in-dependent source, Consumer Re-ports.

Okay, now suppose you want to buya new motorcycle jacket, helmet, orsome other article of clothing or ac-cessory. Where do you look? Sourcessuch as Cycle World, American Mo-torcyclist, Motorcycling—hardly.These magazines all live on advertis-ing and cannot irritate their advertis-ers without jeopardizing theirincome. You might find a nice adcontaining some specifications, butnot the whole truth that describes allthe warts and problems of the newest,latest zoom machine.

So just where do you go? ConsumerReports doesn’t test bikes or jacketsor anything related to our hobby.There is really only one source for thebiker, and that is a little known publi-cation called Motorcycle ConsumerNews. This magazine has no advertis-ing, so it doesn’t owe anyone any-thing. If a bike has warts, the Newswill tell you. If you want to find outthe problems concerning the Motor-cycle Safety Foundation, the News

spills the beans. Are BMW andHarley Davidson standing behindtheir products? Motorcycle Con-sumer News can tell you. The pub-lishers owe no allegiance to anyorganization or company and cantherefore tell the truth. This magazineis the Consumer Reports of the mo-torcycle industry.

But that isn’t all! Motorcycle Con-sumer News also contains articles byexperts on motorcycle design andthere is currently a series of articlesabout safer riding by David Hough(who wrote the book ProficientMotorcycling: The Ultimate Guideto Riding Well). Got medical prob-lems? There is a series by an MDmotorcyclist about the varioushealth problems that riders face. Ofcourse there are trip articles andsome of the other fare that more pop-ular magazines have, too, but eventhey are intended to make you abetter motorcyclist.

All this good stuff isn’t cheap. Mo-torcycle Consumer News dependssolely on subscribers for income andthe cost can’t be discounted. Sub-scription fees are $41 for one yearand $61 for two years, but the fee iswell worth the money.

You can visit the magazine’s website at www.mcnews.com. For sub-scriptions, call toll free (800)365-4421 or send your name and ad-dress to:

Motorcycle Consumer NewsP.O. Box 55661Boulder, CO 55661Tell the publishers that you read

about it in the VJMC magazine!

Product review: MotorcycleConsumer News gives ridersinfo on bike-related issues

plicability to motorcycles, has thefollowing characteristics:

• Locks threaded fasteners againstvibration loosening

• Ideal for nut and bolt applications6mm to 20mm

• Prevents threads from rusting andleaking

• Is removable with hand tools foreasy disassembly

• Has a temperature range of -65° to300° F (-54° to 149° C)

Stud & Bearing mount, as the nameimplies, is used to retain studs andbearings. This product can be partic-ularly useful where a stud may bepartially stripped or have damagedthreads because of vibration. It is alsouseful for retaining bearings whosemounting bores have become wornwith repeated removal and reinstalla-tion. Parts retained with Stud & Bear-ing mount must be heated to allowdisassembly.

With many of our machines, electri-cal repairs are often called for to re-pair frayed and chaffed wires. Acommon way to do this is with shrinktubing and electrical tape. One of thetough places to get to is the stator wir-ing. StarBrite makes a product calledLiquid Electrical Tape. This productmakes repairing motorcycle electri-cal systems much easier. Connec-tions can be sealed to keep outmoisture, and unlike conventionaltape, there no worry about the LiquidElectrical Tape loosing adhesion andcoming loose. Ed Haashas written atech tip about his experience with thistool. You can read more about it at:http://vjmc.org/techtips/tape.htm.

Quick Tip ofthe Month

“Always follow the manufac-turer’s recommendations whenchanging antifreeze in wa-ter-cooled engines. Silicatescontained in standard coolantcan cause leaks to occur in ro-tating seals.”

Check out the classifieds section of this issue for

dozens of bikes, parts, and miscellaneous items

wanted and for sale.

8 www.vjmc.org


2005 National Rally informationLocation: Oak Ridge, TennesseeWhen: September 8, 9, & 10Events: Bike Show with $$ First

Place Prizes, Fantastic New BikeRides, Huge Swap Meet, FieldEvents, Rally Banquet, and EveningCampfire Gatherings.

For Vacationing members:Smoky Mountain Motor Tours;Two-day trips with overnight accom-modations, Tennessee River BoatTour, Mystery Tour & Dinner Tour,and other local attractions available.

For the 2005 VJMC National Rallyin Oak Ridge, Tennessee, we wantedto put together the best of the eventsand happenings for previousyears—bring these back once moreplus add to it a wonderful variation ofgreat new offerings. The NationalRally in Oak Ridge will center onyou, our members. The events listedabove are just some of the highlightsof the total fun package that can behad if you decide to join us in Sep-tember.

We are currently working onall-new bike rides that will take usinto areas that most of you have neverseen before: places such as PowellValley where the escarpments areshear vertical rises from the valleyfloor, Elk Valley where you will betreated to a glimpse into our Tennes-see past, or a ride to the more modernlandscape, such as 18 of the world’slargest power-producing windmills,and many more places.

During the last several years, thebike show has attracted some of thebest vintage Japanese motorcycles inthe nation, and this year we will offera Concurs-style judging of the OEMOriginal Class. Members who havecarefully preserved their bikes orwho have meticulously restored themto original condition will have the op-portunity to show them off in thisevent. The first place winner in this

class will be awarded a $100 bill.For the last two years we have of-

fered a swap meet of sorts. This yearwe will combine our efforts with a lo-

cal vintage club and there will be ahuge offering of vendors for yourshopping pleasure. Please feel free tobring your “stuff” and add to the vari-ety of items to be sold. Swap spaceswill be available exclusively for

members, so let us know early if youplan to bring items.

There will be no need to pre-registerfor rally events this year. For 2005 wewill have a “gate fee” for daily visitsor an “all days fee” that will include

Top: Getting ready to ride to the Mini-Dragon at the 2004 National Rally. Bottom: Settingup the bike show at the 2004 National Rally. There were over 65 entrants on the strip.

www.vjmc.org 9


the three days of the rally plus therally banquet. These fees will be easyon your pocketbook and provide ad-mission to any event that is happen-ing on each of the rally days. Thisway, all member should be able to en-joy the rally. Of course, should youdecide to make early plans and youwant to prepay for the days that youwill attend, please contact PeteBoody at 865-435-2112 or [email protected].

All paid attendees will have achance to win the drawing for a 1972Yamaha AT1 125cc trail bike. Thissweet little bike will be the grandprize for 2005 and is similar to theones in the October VJMC magazine.

Are you planning a Tennessee vaca-tion near rally time? Tennessee haslong been one of the finest places tovacation, and this year we will beable to help you make plans to do justthat.

Chapter One and the rally staff areable to offer planning assistance withmotor tours (bike or car) into andaround the Great Smoky MountainsNational Park. These trips will in-volve two days of touring and the listof “off the beaten path” routes willinvolve places like Bald River Falls,the back roads and streams of TheTrail of Tears route, The Beach,where you can munch on the greatestchilidog in the country, CherohalaSkyway, Ocoee National Forest,Ducktown copper mines (visiblefrom the space shuttles), and so muchmore.

In addition, we can help you tomake plans to take a riverboat cruisedown the Tennessee River. Tours in-clude a mystery cruise, a dinnercruise, or just a cool cruise to see thewonders of the river. For those morefamiliar with East Tennessee attrac-tions, we can help with visits toDollywood, Gatlinburg, NewfoundGap, Clingmans Dome, and more,which all within a day’s ride.

If you are interested in joining us forthese wonderful days of fun and excite-ment, call or email the 2005 VJMC Na-tional Rally staff at 865-607-8179 [email protected].

The roads through the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains are beautiful in Sep-tember. All of the planned tours will be suitable for all sizes of bikes. No need to worryabout luggage; it will be at the hotel when you get there.

10 www.vjmc.org


by John M.C. DeBeck, WisconsinState Representative

Last winter, I began toying with theidea of starting a vintage bike show andswap meet in our area. The Green Bay,Wisconsin area is not known as a ha-ven for a lot of old bikes, but there is alarge population of the typical Harleys,cruisers, and sport bikes. It made methink that many of the owners of thesevehicles, especially the older set, had tostart their riding careers on other bikes“back in the day,” and that perhaps afew of them still had other rides sittingin back sheds, basements, garages, andother nooks and crannies of their es-tates. Having moved back here in 2000after being away for nine years, I hadalready done a lot to find out who wasinterested in old bikes. I had visitedmost of the area dealers and met a fewmechanics and other staffers who had afew in their possession, and throughmy VJMC membership, had foundsome others. But it still seemed likethey were only a few among thou-sands. Would starting a vintage showeven be worth my time? Well, after ahugely successful event in August2004, I will share with you the steps Itook to create what has now becomeour annual VJMC state meet!

First, of course, is to choose a date,time, and location. Much of the servicework on my fleet of 50 vintage bikesthat I am unable to perform myself isdone by the fine staff of Nick’s BMW inDePere. John Eng, the service manager,and Pete Beyer, his chief assistant, areboth really into these machines, and willwork on all makes and models. This isone of the few dealers in this area thatactually welcomes old bikes into theshop. Many other dealers have put amoratorium on working on anythingolder than say, 1980, and have drivenaway business. I approached Jim Eng,John’s dad and the owner of Nick’s,with the idea of hosting an event. Jim re-

sponded with a resounding “Yes!” Johnand his wife, Wendy, had already toyedwith the idea of doing something like it,but without the knowledge or time to or-ganize it by themselves, had shelved thethought until now. Picking a date waseasy, because it was just a matter of de-ciding what worked with everyone’sschedules.

Although we began with a two-dayevent, I would recommend that newevents start with just a single day un-til the event grows to the point wheremore time is needed. In our case, Sat-urday was huge, but we had concernsthat Sunday would be a dud since themajority of events are historically onSaturday. Nonetheless, a lot of atten-dees came back for the second day,and though the crowd was not aslarge as the first day, attendance wasgood and people were still comingeven as we wrapped up!

Location, Location, Location

We are very lucky! Nick’s BMW isright alongside US Highway 41, oneof two main arteries into the city.Thousands of cars pass by daily, andthe dealership is ideally located be-tween two major exits. Hundreds ofmotorists stopped to see what washappening during the event. It wasfun to watch anyone riding by on amotorcycle! Inevitably, heads wouldturn, and we’d see blinkers going onas riders approached the off ramp todouble-back and visit us. Try to hostyour event in a prominent placewhere you will be visible!

Promotion

This, of course, is what takes themost time, and depending on yourmarketing methods, requires the mostmoney. In our case, I was fortunate,because the only promotion costs I in-curred were for a few phone calls, gas-

oline, paper, and copy services. I be-gan by producing 500 posters onbright orange, 11” x 17” paper that astandard copy machine would accom-modate. Always put the five W’s(who, what, where, when, and why)on your posters, and include any spe-cial event information, such as clinics,guest appearances, door prizes, andother pertinent information that wouldhelp draw people to your event.

Determine a target area for yourevent. In our case, this ranged fromWisconsin’s northern border withMichigan, south to Fond du Lac, andwest toward Wausau. Lake Michiganformed the eastern boundary.Roughly, a one- to two-hour radiusfrom Green Bay was our target area.

After determining the area of inter-est, I made a list of every new andused bike dealer and bike salvagedealer within it. Then I made a list ofany establishment that was consideredto be “biker friendly” within that sameradius. I spent the better part of fourdifferent days traveling to each ofthese organizations to ask if theywould prominently display a poster ortwo about our event. I was not turneddown once. Many took extras to postin other locations. I rolled up severalhundred miles and kept Amoco inbusiness, but I had the hunch that itwould more than pay off in the end.And since the weather was good onthree of the four days, it also gave mean excuse to ride! I also cross-pro-moted the event with a friend of minewho does an women’s motorcyclecharity ride. She put up our posters,and we put up theirs. This saved ustime and money, and in 2005, we aregoing to extend this effort by havingmembers of both groups take a differ-ent section of our promotion area andhit it hard with posters and literature.

I sent a press release to every majordaily and weekly newspaper in thestate, as well as to most television and

Organizing a vintage motorcycle show,swap meet, and charity ride

www.vjmc.org 11


radio stations. Being involved insports as a profession, I know manyof the sports editors and directors, soasking them to put in a good word forus was not a problem. I was able tosend the press releases for freethrough a service that my firm uses topromote our youth basketball events;again saving us money.

Signs and banners are great promo-tional tools as well if you can affordthem, but make certain you check theordinances in your area. We put up alarge banner in front of Nick’s, rightalong the highway next to the frontageroad, so all the passing motorists couldsee it. But we were limited relative tothe size and height of the sign, so makesure to check restrictions in your area!

I also attended a host of other char-ity motorcycle rides and bike shows.Some were even outside our ownpromotion area. I distributed a smallversion of our poster and my businesscard to everyone at each ride. I actu-ally made a bunch of new friends thisway, and lo and behold, found manypeople who still had vintage bikes!Some of the shows and swap meetsthat I went to were quite worthwhile,because the vendors complained tome about the dearth of meets in ourimmediate area, and several of themwere ready to sign up for a boothspace on the spot! A little bit of leg-work was proving to be valuable,plus, I was having fun doing it!

Swap Meet

The best ways to get vendors toyour meet are to:

• Ask them.

• Word of mouth.

• Visit other meets.

• Do your research.

I simply asked people I knew whowere involved with motorcycling aspart of their business if they would beinterested in showcasing their wares atthe event. Painters, chromers, motor-cycle literature vendors, parts dealers,synthetic oil distributors, leatherjacket and boot dealers….the list ofpossibilities is endless! Most busi-

nesses are looking for new markets, soif they receive an offer, are willing totry it at least once. I also charged only$20 for the swap space for the week-end, to make it affordable and to getmore people involved. Plus, all of theproceeds went to charities that we hadchosen upfront, so the fee was actuallytax-deductible for the vendor.

Some vendors had heard about theevent by word of mouth, and somecame because I had spoken to them atother shows. If you can’t get out to anevent, do your research! Try to get alist of vendors from other localevents. Vintage Days in Ohio, for ex-ample, has a vendor list in their pro-gram. You could contact all of thevendors in that program from yourown state, and maybe even from yourneighboring states as well. You havethe power to create your own marketand to restrict the types of vendorsthat you will accept at your event.

Charity Ride

We set our charity ride entry fee at$10 per person, and $15 if ridingtwo-up. All riders received a freemeal after the ride. People love to eat,and if they know there is a “freelunch,” they tend to show up indroves. However, some prep work isinvolved to make sure a ride goes offsmoothly.

First, plan your route. Determinehow long you want it to be. I’d rec-ommend keeping it away from a ma-jor city because it is easier to keepeveryone together when you don’thave stoplights to negotiate and youwon’t have to deal with a lot of traf-fic. You may want to enlist the aid ofa police escort or someone to blocktraffic in a heavily congested area.Speak with your local authorities af-ter you tentatively plan your route.They may have suggestions regard-ing places to avoid or local laws tofollow. While some departments mayprovide free escorts, most requirehourly fees for each off-duty officer,and this may be something you willwish to avoid because of cost. None-

theless, the authorities appreciate be-ing notified of the ride, just in theoff-chance that someone were to callto report “a band of 100 hooligan rid-ers that just roared past my house!”

We sponsor two rides now – one forany kind of bike on Saturday, and onefor vintage bikes only on Sunday.The first ride is longer (usually75-100 miles), takes place at normalhighway speeds, and meandersthrough some scenic territory. Thevintage ride is shorter (usually about50 miles) and takes place along a sim-ilar scenic route, but has a maximumspeed of 50 MPH. Both rides have amidpoint stop for about an hour. Butmake certain to arrange these stopswith the chosen establishments in ad-vance! This allows them to haveenough staff to handle the crowd, andoften they will make an extra effort toaccommodate you if they have ad-vance warning. Many restaurants willoffer beverage discounts, and in onecase, one offered food for us at a dis-count as well. For some of these littleestablishments, this is a bigmoney-maker, so they will cater toyour crowd in anticipation of gettingreturn business the following year.

Make sure to have a “sag wagon”–especially for the vintage rides! Moreoften than not, someone will developa mechanical problem along the waythat will require more than just someminor roadside repair and duct tape,and once again, it shows your con-cern for the stranded motorcyclist ifthere is a truck there to haul themback to base camp. In my case, whenI forgot to turn off my fuel petcock atour first refreshment stop, thefriendly sag wagon driver located meto tell me that I had a pool of petro-leum coagulating under my bike andthat I might want to check it out! Iguess it’s time to check out my carbs!

Before the ride, do a dry run. Ask afew friends to accompany you tocheck out the route. It may sound likean unnecessary step, but it helpsavoid potential problems such as roadconstruction or even unplanned de-

See Organizing, page 12

12 www.vjmc.org


tours. Maybe you have to cross a ma-jor highway that is busier thananticipated. Perhaps a stretch of theroad is rough enough to do in the sus-pension on your bike. It’s nice toknow all of these things in advance,and all of your co-riders will appreci-ate it! Even if all is perfect, it stillgives you a reason to go on anotherride with your friends, so take advan-tage! Make sure to prepare a map togive to all of the riders marking theroute, turns, and mileage betweeneach turn in case someone has to stop.

Give each rider a pass to the food tentfor their free meal afterward. Makesure you have enough workers for yourevent, especially right before the ride tohelp people get registered and lined up,and also to help vendors get situated intheir spots. Sometimes, your workerswill need to act as “traffic cops” andsteer people in the right direction. Forhelp, I use the parents of my highschool basketball players, as well as thegirls themselves, because one of ourcharities is a women’s sports scholar-ship fund. Some of the parents and thegirls ride, too, so it is an easy sell to getthem to donate a few hours. This is alsoa good task for your local bike club oreven a service group like the Lions orKiwanis clubs, who, usually for a smalldonation, may be willing to help workan event. We do not charge an admis-sion at our show, but if you do, you willneed staffing for that as well.

Food, Freebies, Door Prizes

It is amazing what you can get donatedif you just ask nicely! Wendy ap-proached several of the local grocerystores and was able to get them to do-nate food. Some individual vendors alsodonated products. Sam’s Club is also agood place to get large quantities offood at a discount. We sold hot dogs andhamburgers throughout the event, aswell as soda, water, and chips. We’ve

also served pizza, candy, nachos, pop-corn, and doughnuts. Ice cream bars area great seller on a warm day if you havea freezer. Wendy made barbecue sand-wiches, beans, potato salad, and dessertsfor everyone in the charity ride. You canprepare these items yourself, or just getthem from your local deli. Unsure ofhow much food we would need thisyear, we opted to be conservative. Bigmistake! We ran out of food on Satur-day at 1 p.m. and had to send John and apickup truck for more!

Both Wendy and I solicited donationsfor door prizes. Here, I have found thatthe quantity of door prizes seems to bemore important than the type of prize.We had over 70 awards, from tee shirtsand hats to mugs, food gift certificates,cases of soda, boots, rain gaiters, andmore. Many local bike dealers and anumber of our swap meet vendors do-nated items. But I also scoured up afree trip to Las Vegas and three daysfree motorcycle rental as a grand prize!If people know there is a likelihood thatthey will go home with something,they will stay around, so give awaydoor prizes every day if the event lastsfor multiple days. We sold a ton ofdoor prize/raffle tickets at $1 each orsix for $5. I had some of my basketballplayers carry them around all day andsell them to the crowd, so have somelabor for this task.

Bike Show

There are a lot of ways to organize abike show, but this is what I have foundto be most successful. First, our awardsare all “People’s Choice” awards. Ifind it somewhat sad that some showshave so-called “experts” who inspectevery nut and bolt to see if they are cor-rect as far as originality. This, I feel,has driven a lot of people away fromvintage bike events, because it is al-most like telling them, “Your 1974Hondayamazuki is no good becauseyou changed the seat.” Ever think thatmaybe the guy had to change it because

he has a bad back, but still wants toride? So the people attending the showare given a ballot when they walk inand are asked to vote on their favoritebikes. We also have three classes: Jap-anese, European, and American. Welike all old bikes and do not discrimi-nate against nationality! All bikes en-tered must be at least 15 years old, butcan be in any state of repair. We figurethat the average vintage bike lover isgoing to vote for what is appealinganyhow, so there is no bias in judging.The entry fee is $5 per bike, which alsogoes to charity. Awards are given at theclose of the show on Sunday. Trophieswere donated by the firm that makestrophies for my basketball company.Perhaps this is another way to find apotential sponsor for your event if youapproach a trophy company in yourarea. We awarded trophies for firstthrough sixth place in each class.

Depending on how you park thebikes in the show, have some sidestand plates ready! Not everyone has acement parking lot! We cut a big sheetof plexiglas into five-inch squares anddistributed them to everyone as theyrode in. Our volunteer labor pickedthem up for reuse after the show. Ifyou want to get really creative andpromote your event, find a localscreen printer to put your show’s logoor information on the plate and allowguests to keep them. Even better – putthe dates of the next year’s event onthem as a reminder, if you can planthat far in advance! We started plan-ning for our 2005 event the week afterthe 2004 event closed.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Maybe you would like to have enter-tainment at your event. We hired a localband to play after everyone returnedfrom the charity ride, and they playeduntil the last soul had left. Wendy knewa local biker who had a great sound sys-tem, and he loaned it to us use it at noexpense, which we used to make an-

Organizing: How to plan a successful show

Continued from page 11

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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

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Herschel Benkert, OwnerSince March 1962

Offering Domestic and Internationaldealers' parts inventories with shipments

arriving on a regular basis

Our inventory is always changing

nouncements, play music, line up theriders, and award door prizes.

Put together a one-page schedule ofevents for your show and make itavailable at the registration table. Itmay motivate attendees to stay aroundlonger or to come back later if they seesomething of interest on the schedule.

If you don’t have enough toilets inor near your facility, you may want toconsider renting some portable units.These are relatively cheap, and beathaving lines inside a building (espe-cially on a muddy, bad weather day!)and will eliminate complaints.

I set up a block of rooms at a nearbyhotel for those who attended from out-side the area. Since our show landed ona Green Bay Packers home game week-end, rooms were at a premium, andcosts were very high, so I was glad wehad blocked them early. Some guestsmay wish to camp, so you might want toinvestigate nearby camping facilitiesand publish their rates as well.

If you have a multiple day show, orpermit set-up the day before, you maywish to have security for your show.This can be an additional expense ifyou hire a security firm, but perhapsyour volunteer staff can take turns pa-trolling the area, especially overnight.

We have made it a policy that allcharity riders, vendors, and bike showparticipants sign waivers of release forinjury and against any loss or damageto property. Depending on the size ofyour event, you may also wish to con-sult with your local insurance agenciesabout liability coverage for the event.These may seem like minor issues, butit is better to be safe than sorry.

Several tech clinics were also of-fered, this year presented by the staffat Nick’s BMW, but these could bedone by any bike experts who wouldbe willing to share their expertise.Many people are happy to share theirknowledge, but are afraid to volunteerit in fear of stepping on someone’s

toes. Ask them! There are a lot of rid-ers who are not even familiar withhow to change oil or even a sparkplug, so don’t think that a clinic has toaddress a massive engine rebuild! As amatter of fact, I have found that someof the simple, most important generalmaintenance topics are the ones whichare best received, along with generalrestoration tips for vintage bikes.

Make sure to set up a booth to supportyour own local club or state VJMCgroup! It is a wonderful way to meetpeople, sign up new members, and pro-mote the sport of vintage motorcycling.A tent with your club or VJMC banneron display is a plus, because it drawsattention to you, and for your staff, is agreat shelter in case of foul weather!

Finally, make sure to treat your vol-unteer staff well! They should be pro-vided with free food and beveragethroughout the day, and make sure tothank them at the end for a job well

done!

14 www.vjmc.org


Herbert the Rat

by “Mad” Mark Leslie

Just how far and how much troublewill someone go to for an old Japanesemotorcycle of dubious value and notmuch historical interest? Pretty farand lots of trouble, it turns out. Okay,there are undoubtedly a few scatteredmotorcycle nuts out there who do careabout these old leftovers, and I’m evi-dently one of them. This is a story of afrigid British Columbia “weekendfrom hell” that I recently experiencedwhilst retrieving a 1968 HondaCL175 KO, now known as Herbert R.Honda—a.k.a. Herbert the Rat. Read-ers may recall that Ellis Holman wroteabout his CL175 KO in the October2004 issue of the VJMC Magazine, soI will therefore refrain from going intothe exquisite details of bike rejuvena-tion, especially since Herbert cur-rently rests unrestored in a corner ofmy garage with a drip pan underneathto catch his oozing body fluids. Butthis story could be about any old bike;it’s just interest and enthusiasm thatcounts, plus some ignorance and goof-iness tossed in for good measure. Or,if one were to believe my lovely wife,folly and foolhardiness for a dirty oldmotorbike.

I named the bike Herbert before Ieven saw him, a replacement for mybeloved CL160 which had been lostto a barn fire many years ago. TheCL175 still had the sloper motor, butsported a bigger displacement and afive-speed gearbox instead of the160’s four-speed transmission! Afriend had told me about her parents,who had a motorcycle for sale at theirnow-empty house in Eagle Lake,British Columbia. Eagle Lake wasabout 740 miles one way (mostlynorthward) from the safety of myhearth and home in Portland, Oregon.Although in Canada, the bike still hadan Oregon title and its original Ore-gon license plate from 1968. So I pur-chased the bike, sight unseen, whenshown its photo in the Honda ID

Guide Book. “It looks just like thatexcept it’s used, of course,” vowedmy friend. Wow, a family heirloom,purchased new by Grandpa Harold“back in the day,” still in the family,and it looks just like the bike in thephoto! I admit that my enthusiasmgot the best of me. But heaven helpme, I still fell in love with the bikewhen I first saw him, even though Iimmediately named him Herbert theRat because of his, ah, non-mint con-dition. I reasoned that he obviouslyneeded to be rescued, especially since

it gets to 40° below zero way up in thefrozen north come January. CouldHerbert survive yet another Canadianwinter? He wouldn’t have to. I wason a mission.

I left home at 3:15 a.m., alone in mypampered, low mileage two-wheeldrive Toyota Tacoma pickup on Satur-day, the 30th of October, 2004. I madegood time to Williams Lake, a reason-ably-sized resort town about 620 milesnorth of Portland. I made such goodtime, in fact, that I decided there shouldbe enough daylight to make it to EagleLake (a desolate area about 120 mileswest of Williams Lake), get the bike,and be back to Williams Lake beforedark. This is snow country, but so farthe snow was limited to the sides of theroads, and the forecast was for cleardriving conditions.

I was doing well on Canada Hwy.20 heading west to Eagle Lake Roadwhich was muddy gravel; so far sogood. But when I turned off onto thenext country road, I was terrified tosee that I was immediately encased insnow, including the road. “Why had-n’t I put sand bags in the back of mytoo-light-in-the-rear 2WD truck,” Ifumed? I should have stopped andput on my tire chains in the middle ofthe road, but I thought that I’d be insomebody’s way and figured that Icould make it without them, since mydestination was nearby. But then theunthinkable happened – I lost tractionand ran off the road into a ditch. The

left rear tire was buried in mud, myprecious little truck was listing left-

ward at a 45° angle, and a big bouldersat just in front of the left front tire.Aaaaack!

I put on my motorcycle riding suit tochain up. I just climbed down and bur-ied my hands and arms in the mudaround the left rear tire. I’m not ex-actly sure how I got those chains on,but finally I did it. It was still daylightthen but was getting darker. I got afew big rocks and downed tree trunksand branches and threw them into themud around the rear tires. But I stillcouldn’t get out of the ditch. Unfazed,I decided to use my latticed motorcy-cle ramp for additional traction.

Somehow, this enabled me to getgoing. Although I was still in theditch, I was finally moving! I barelyavoided the boulder, gently gunnedthe engine, and with the left rearwheel feeling like it was being pulledback into the ditch by a sinister un-dertow, managed to just barely getback to the center of the road. Evi-dently, experience from all thoseyears of dirt biking and mud racingyears ago had finally paid off. Alonebut safe in the middle of the road, Ilooked around and saw total wilder-ness – nobody around anywhere, justlike a scene in Jack London’s “Call ofthe Wild.” A bald eagle was circlingoverhead. The eagle had seemed in-terested in my plight, perhaps think-ing I’d be an easy meal after a while.I’d never seen one so up close andpersonal. I was awestruck; it was sohuge and majestic. The scenery wasbreathtaking and beautiful beyondbelief in its wintry isolation.

But I was near panicked after my or-deal with the ditch. I could easily havestill been stuck there with a cold night-fall approaching and nobody to rescueme. Even my cell phone displayed ahelpless “no service” message.

Slowly and carefully, I drove to myfriend’s parents’ house. Once there,though, I discovered that I couldn’t

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get the truck down their long drive-way because of the snow. I was afraidthat I’d pick up speed skidding downthe lane and smash into this beautifulhome, scared that I might even crashthrough it and come out the other sideinto the lake! Wouldn’t that be a niceending to my trip? Since that didn’tsound too good, I decided to slitherdown the driveway on foot.

At the bottom of the driveway, Ifound Herbert, right where he wassupposed to be. I yelled out, “Her-bert, after all this, you’re a rat!” Iquickly surmised that, although Her-bert had a silhouette similar to the onein the Honda book, thereafter the re-semblance quickly faded. But thegood news was that the motor turnedfreely and everything was intact, al-beit dirty and greasy. Amazingly, theseat had no rips or tears. The fuel tankand side covers had long ago been re-painted in some hideous shade of in-dustrial orange. I shuddered at thesight. I told Herbert, “I’ve come along way to rescue you, you rat!” Ipushed him up the slippery laneslowly, haltingly, painfully. Gaspingfor breath, I thought I could be hav-ing a heart attack at the tender age of55. But I finally made it to the truck,struggled to load Herbert into it, andtook a few photos. I decided that itwas time to get the heck out of there. Ididn’t dare stay the night because itwas starting to snow again. Evennow, the truck was barely gettingthrough the snow – with chains – be-cause the front bumper was pushingthe white stuff like a snow plow onthe deserted road.

When I got back to Canada Hwy.20, which was clear except for someintermittent black ice, I removed thetire chains and headed back towardWilliams Lake and the promise of anice, cozy motel room. But it wasdark now thanks to my lengthy delay,and I’d been told that there were deer,elk, bear, and moose in the densewoods surrounding the narrow road. Ithought I was going slowly enough,but about half way to Williams Lakea big mule deer walked directly in

front of me. I didn’t dare swerve be-cause of the black ice and ditches onboth sides of the road, not to mentiona possible ravine. So I hit the deerbroadside – kind of picked it up andcarried it along the road before it slidoff to the left. Luckily, my air bag didnot deploy. Thankful to be in onepiece, I came to a stop, then wentback for the deer. I thought that Imight have to slit its throat with theknife in my tool kit to put the poorcreature out of its misery. (I’ve sincelearned that deer don’t like this throatslitting business and can kill a personwith their hooves; but I’m a city boyand not a hunter, so how would Iknow?) But to my total surprise, thedeer got up and ran off into thewoods. Although difficult to imaginethat it wasn’t mortally wounded, itjust wouldn’t do to chase a deerthrough the Canadian woods in thedead of night. I felt awful.

Walking back toward the truck, Idiscovered to my horror that the radia-tor was badly damaged by thecaved-in grille and was leaking. Iyanked the radiator away from thecooling fan and tossed busted frontend parts into the truck bed. I had toget out of there. Luckily, I had fourgallons of water with me because Ineeded to add water to the radiator ev-ery time the temperature gauge toppedout. I didn’t want to blow a head gas-ket from the heat. My heater and de-froster quit working. Finally, aftermany stops, I finally made it to Wil-liams Lake with the last of my water,got a motel room, and spent the night.

The next day was Sunday and,amazingly, a Canadian Tire Storewas not only open, but their servicedepartment graciously fit me in be-tween their regularly scheduled cus-tomers. The store had a radiator instock which sort of fit the truck. Theystraightened out the front end withsome kind of “jaws of life” contrap-tion which was enough to get thedamaged radiator out and allow themto install a new one. It wasn’t a per-fect fit, but it was close enough with alot of extra effort on their part. I was

out of there in four hours and headedsouth to Cache Creek, B.C. I stoppedthere before dark and spent the nightin another motel.

I woke up before daylight to rainmixed with snow and feared that theweather conditions might worsen.But luckily, I drove out of this fairlysoon except for the heavy rains andhigh winds which hounded me therest of the way back. I made it homeon Monday, November 1st, about3:15 p.m. I immediately unloadedHerbert from the mud-caked,smashed-up truck used an air hose todry him off, and turned on the shopheater. At least he’d be warm and dry.I parked him next to my HondaCBR900RR and Suzuki TR750 roadracer. I got the distinct feeling thatHerbert was in shock but was veryhappy to be out of Canada and backin Oregon.

Although I had encountered bigtrouble on this 60-hour road trip, Ihad made it home in one piece, andI’ll always be grateful for that. Thetruck’s front bumper, grille, left frontfender, radiator, and hood weresquashed but the damage was thank-fully covered by insurance. I can onlyhope that the deer wasn’t hurt asbadly as I had thought or at least thathe didn’t suffer for very long.

Later, my wife showed me a quotefrom Marquess of Halifax (whoeverthat is) which sums up my little ad-venture well: “Folly is more oftencruel in the consequence than malicecan be in the intent.” Folly or not, itwas wonderful to be home. I hadtempted the gods and fate and some-how had won. I had overcome adver-sity. I had accomplished my missioneven though a mule deer and mytruck were its casualties.

Someday, perhaps fairly soon if Iget motivated, Herbert will be re-stored and won’t be Herbert the Ratanymore. He’ll proudly be Herbert R.(for Ralph, his previous owner)Honda. But for now, at least he’s freeafter nearly two decades of toughduty on the back roads of the snowy

north. Herbert is home at last.

16 www.vjmc.org


Honda SL70 K0: The first true mini-cycleby Randy Marble

Trail riding has been popular formany years, but it took the HondaMotor Company to bring it to Amer-ica in big numbers. In 1968 Hondabrought the Z50 to our shores, fol-lowed by the CT70 in 3-speed and4-speed manual clutch models in late1969. These bikes were designed tofit in the trunk of a car and easily un-loaded to hit the trail. These bikeswere very well designed and lastedthrough the years, although shorttravel suspension and small wheelslimited what could actually be donewith them.

The answer to these issues began ar-riving in the form of the Honda SLmodels, and began appearing inHonda dealerships in April of 1969with the SL90, followed by theSL350 K0 in August 1969. Both ofthese bikes were basically built onexisting frames from previous mod-els and were heavy and a compromiseat best. These models used enginesfrom the popular CL 90 and 350s andretained the gearing from the streetbikes. In May of 1970, Honda intro-duced the SL100 K0 and SL175 K0models which had redesigned light-weight frames and vertically orientedengines. The SL90 lasted only onecalendar year and was essentially re-placed by the SL100. Between theSL90, SL100 K0, and SL350 K0models, Honda sold almost 100,000of these bikes through 1970. Withthis popularity, Honda saw fit to in-troduce other models to fill in thegaps and to compete with the upcom-ing models from the two-stroke con-tingents from Kawasaki, Suzuki, andYamaha.

1971 saw minor changes to theSL100 K1 and the introduction ofthe SL125 K0, which had a 21-in.front wheel and quite a bit moretorque than the 100 model. TheSL175 came back as the K1 modeland had a larger gas tank and smallerseat to increase riding range. The

SL350 K1 introduction saw a newlyredesigned double downtube frameand it had shed 50 pounds. With newgearing, it was a much better trailmachine.

Last, but not least, in early 1971,the first SL70s hit the Honda show-rooms and for the first time, onecould own a miniature version of the

larger trail bikes. The bike had ahopped-up 72cc engine with manualclutch and 4-speed gearbox. Plus,the shift pattern was 1 down and 3 uplike the big brother bikes. The cam-shaft, bigger carburetor, larger di-ameter tires, and free flowingexhaust made the SL70 much fasterthan the other 70cc bikes from

Top: A 1972 Honda SL70 K0 (serial no. SL70-1075074) purchased from an originalHonda dealer. The bike was never registered or sold and was reportedly never ridden.Bottom: A 1972 Honda SL70 K0 purchased from the original owner. This bike has thehighest serial number of any K0 that I’ve found so far, SL70-1084757, indicating that itwas the 84,757th bike built of the K0s.

www.vjmc.org 17


Honda. The rage was on and Hondasold almost 80,000 SL70 K0s in theU.S. alone, making it the most popu-lar selling SL model ever. This onemodel outsold any other Honda SLby a two to one margin.

Honda’s run was phenomenal andunmatched by any other motorcyclemanufacturer at the time. In 1972,Honda decided to decrease thechrome content of the bikes andchanged the look by using smoothtanks and large decals. This obvi-

ously didn’t set well with the publicand sales severely decreased, evi-denced by the fact that less than17,000 SL70 K1s were sold in1973. This set the stage for the de-mise of the SL lineup and it waseventually replaced by the XL mod-els.

There seems to be two kinds of peo-ple that enjoy the motorcycle hobby:those that know nothing of the HondaSL70s and those that are old enoughto remember it as the first true

mini-cycle. I fall into the latter cate-gory, and was enamored from thefirst time I saw the bike in advertise-ments in cycle magazines.

In the summer of 1971, my cousinJohnny was riding my 1969 Z50 K1and crashed it beyond repair.Through this adversity, I somehowsaw the silver lining and convincedmy mom that I needed the just intro-duced Honda SL70, which listed for$495. After a trip to Fred’s MotorCompany in my hometown ofOkmulgee, Oklahoma, we had ashiny new Light Ruby Red one in thebumper carriers of the family Plym-outh.

In 1970, my folks had purchased aplot of land near a lake developmentwhich had miles and miles of dirtroads and many opportunities for offroad riding because new roads werebeing cut to add new lake homes. Itwas easy enough to follow the shoreline of the lake for miles, and this en-vironment provided a great opportu-nity to hone my riding skills. I canremember loading everything up onFriday after school and heading to thelake where I would burn through gasfrom morning till night on the SL70,until we had to return home onSunday evening. I have no idea howmany miles were on the bike in theend, but I will always remember thebike as being perfect. One of my fa-vorite memories was the time thethrottle cable broke on a Saturday af-ternoon and no Honda shop was openafter 12 noon. I rode the rest of theweekend with my left hand on theclutch lever and handlebar and myright index finger pulling the carbslide up and down! I don’t know howI survived but it does show just howmuch I loved riding.

When I turned 14, I went back tothe Honda shop and purchased thespeedometer and horn kit for the lit-tle SL, which made it street legal. Ithen went straight to the DMV andpassed my driving test and was ableto legally drive back the bike toschool. I kept this bike for a couple

Top: The magneto side of the engine on SL70-1075074. Bottom: The Speedometerfrom SL70-1084757, showing 1,650 original miles.

See SL70, page 24

18 www.vjmc.org


My time at the Honda store

by Troyce Walls

A lot of what I have to offer here cancause two diametrically opposed reac-tions, assuming egotistically that there’sany reaction. One reaction should be in-dignation that such things are admitted,and the other can be understood as acompliment to the manufacturer. Weweren’t perfect at that little Honda store,but the product almost was.

For the years of 1971-1973 as summeremployment I found the most abso-lutely perfect position that someone ofmy predilection could imagine. I lovedmotorcycles, and although motorcyclesmeant a lot of things, and brands to me,being in a small town in north Alabamameant that motorcycles mostly meantHonda. There were the occasionalAmerican and European bikes around,but they were way out there size- andmoney-wise and beyond the ken of oursmall, financially destitute circle.

So, anyway, I waltzed into the lawnmower cum Honda Shop one day, inearly summer 1971, looking to buygaskets for my younger brother’sCL90. While paying for the gaskets Iasked if there might be a possibility ofemployment at that fine institution. Theparts lady suggested probably not, butthat I should present the question to thestout fellow standing over there smok-ing the cigar, a.k.a. the owner.

To my question, the owner respondedwith, “Nah, we’re full up, but what doyou have in mind?” I replied that I wasgoing to college at the University ofAlabama down in Tuscaloosa. That’sall he needed to know; I was hired onthe spot and foisted off onto one of hissatellite shops much nearer my home.One must understand the significanceof college/university loyalties in TheSouth to understand why where I wasattending school made a difference.Had I said, “Auburn” for example,things wouldn’t have been the same.No reflection, insinuation, allegation,or endorsement meant toward eithercollege here; it just so happens that theowner was a typical rabid fan/alumnus.

The first day the head mechanicgave me a set of metric sockets whichI own to this day, a few open/closedend wrenches, and showed me mybooth (my very own!) with a CL70already sitting there in the middle.

“What am I supposed to do to this?”I inquired. “It won’t run,” he said.

Turns out it had no compression tospeak of–in retrospect, not an entirelyunimaginable situation for an OHC 70,and needed an upper end rebuild. Thework took me about two days, and I gotit right, but not before lots of questionsand contained trepidation. I was reallyworried that I couldn’t work on just anybike that came in there, and that theywould find that out, and that I wouldhave to go back to work in the BushHog assembly plant I had worked forthe summer before. We had established“book” rates for jobs like the CL70 one,and the book time to rebuild the top endof a horizontal OHC single was about2.0 hours or so, I think (please, saveyour letters) and I had taken two days.Call it the beginning of a steep learningcurve. Now, to beat my own drum a bit,by the end of my tenure I could rebuildthe top end of a 350 twin–we sold a lotof ‘em, and a lot of ‘em were abused–in45 minutes less than book time. It’s allabout time and experience.

Another model often submitted forour magic was the vertical single cyl-inder, OHC, 100cc bikes; SL, CL, andCB varieties. The one major and re-curring problem with these bikes wasthat the cam rode directly in the alumi-num alloy head. You see, if the oil wasallowed to go too low, or neverchanged, or both, eventually the camwould wallow in the soft aluminum,further reducing oil pressure, andmaking ignition timing a very iffyproposition since the points cam wasattached directly to the end of the cam-shaft. We had literally boxes of 100heads with the same failure. Con-versely, these failures never mani-fested themselves in the bikes withmeticulous owners.

Apparently, the 450cc models were akind of break point, i.e., some 450s andsmaller were sold in much greater num-bers to a significantly less careful cus-tomer base. These were the folks whojust wanted the sorry thang to run, andnot be bothered with the rest of it, in-cluding proper maintenance. A properlytuned and maintained 350 twin couldrun back and forth across the countryuntil the operator died of old age. Butmostly, they were just blasted about thecountryside WFO, dipsticks be damned.Other 450s and larger bikes, the 500sand 750s, were bought by riders ori-ented to the machines as motorcyclists.And it must be said that the very capac-ity of the larger machines meant thatwide open was usually a bit too fast formost situations. Therefore, we mostlyrepaired the little stuff.

The little satellite shop was in a townwith a population of twenty to thirtythousand, although the surroundingcountryside was, and is for that matter,fairly densely populated all the way upinto Tennessee. There was no lack ofcustomers in the years I worked; indeed,we couldn’t keep up. On a typical Satur-day we would sell one CB750, two450s, three to four CB350s, and a vari-ety of smaller stuff like CB/CL 100s,Z50s, CT70s, and so forth. Saturdayswe put new bikes together in the limitedspare time we could find between newand recently sold bike servicing. Therewas no time for engine rebuilds,tune-ups, and such on Saturdays.

We kept no dry bikes on the show-room floor; they were wet, charged, andready to go so the customer bought thevery bike he sat on and chose. Any littleproblems, ranging anywhere from tinyinsignificant scratches in the clear coatto potentially bad engines were includedin the price. And the manager of theshop sold every bike at AmericanHonda’s suggested retail. I mention thatbecause often prospective customerswould come in and inform us of Hondasselling for discounted prices over atJoe’s Lawn and Garden or whatever in

www.vjmc.org 19


the next town. Our manager didn’t care;he had the area and saw no need to com-pete with remote dealers, and didn’t.The prospective customer usually be-came a fully committed one anyway,grumbling the whole time until we stuckhim or her in the seat of the new ride, atwhich point the frowns turned to smiles.

Here’s where it gets a little interesting,at least to any readers here who hap-pened to be customers of that shop (andI’m sure there were probably others likeit) back then. Normal procedure follow-ing assembly of a new bike included atest or checkout ride, generally done onan isolated two-mile long stretch ofcountry road directly behind the shop.The checkout rides were supposed to in-sure the new bike was ready for deliveryto the customer. Somehow though, I be-lieve our bikes, especially those of thehigher performance ranges, were morethoroughly “checked out” than Ameri-can Honda may have intended. For me,a CB750 needed to leave a black streakof rubber for a certain distance in first,with as small as possible a gap to thestreak left by second, which needed tobe at least five to six feet long. They justweren’t right otherwise. Of course,sometimes I had to test them two orthree times to get an acceptable average.One of my more prominent memories isof one of my fellow mechanics doinghis test of a CB750. He left the shop lay-ing the rubber stripe, slapped the rearbrake just enough to provide a rear slidethrough 90º to orient himself to the roadwith the front wheel cocked into theslide direction, then proceeded to fullytest the motorcycle’s rubber-laying abil-ities in the normal manner without everputting a foot down. The rest of us felt itwas a commendable performance.

Someone once brought in a YamahaDT-1 for a new rear tire, which natu-rally had to be tested for trail-worthinessonce the tire was installed. Taking thebike to the other end of the two-milestraight where we had found a very con-venient off-road area left behind by roadbuilding efforts, I managed to find my-self with too much speed going into acorner and ran off the path into a ditch,tweaking the front end. Now, thinkingback, it makes me cringe that I would

take such liberties with a customer’sbike, but at the time it just didn’t seemimportant. Fortunately, that time I wasable to loosen the triple tree bolts andstraighten up everything.

The very first Elsinore to arrive at theshop was a CR250. Being the first mod-ern two-stroke to be delivered into oureagerly awaiting hands, it was quite anovelty and got a lot of attention. Wecouldn’t get it to run, though. Finally,the Honda regional rep showed up andarmed with bulletins and manualshelped me to rearrange the timing andso forth back to factory specs. He did sowith an amused demeanor, not choosingto admonish me for having changed ev-erything to a completely out of whackstate in my naive attempts to make it go.Having finally gotten it fired up, I pro-ceeded to test ride the new bike acrossthe parking lot with the rep attentivelystanding by. At the time, the actual un-derstanding of power band characteris-tics of highly strung two-strokes wasstill a bit out of reach to me. My previ-ous experience was mostly with my oldAllstate MoPed, and an hour or twoaboard enduros like the DT-1 or plod-ders like the Allstate twingle I had rid-den in high school. I killed the enginetwice before I really wound it up anddumped the clutch just a bit too quickly.The CR stood on its back wheel whilearcing across the asphalt parking lot,tearing the rear fender in the process. Istood yet where the event had begun,observing the burbling, finally dyingbike lying on its side with my hands onmy hips, mouth agape.

I glanced at the Honda rep and hesaid, “Kinda pipey, isn’t it?” with asmile on his face. “What?” I said, inmy usual clairvoyant manner.

For lunch at the Honda shop wewould select a bike apiece and go to thelocal fast food chain store, eat in five orten minutes, then ride to a park by thelake and get a little stoned. We wouldride back to the shop, put the Deep Pur-ple “Machine Head” cassette in thedeck, fast forward to “Smoke on theWater,” turn up the volume to 10, andgo to work on our unsuspecting Hondapatients. Imagine getting away withthat now, or admitting it, anyway. But

it was the early ’70s and things werelooser then. It was the beginning of theend of the much ballyhooed age of in-nocence for yours truly.

A few years ago, when I first began torealize that people seemed to be findinga lot of nice stuff in old closed Hondashops, I tried to call my own little oldHonda store, with visions of NOS SuperHawk and Dream tank badges, muf-flers, and seats floating in my head.Many of these items were still there onthe dusty back shelves when I had lastventured through the parts room in1973. But that little shop had been longclosed, a victim of the dramatic drop inmotorcycle sales seen across Americaafter the wonder years of those innocentearly ’70s. And what a time it was.

Some of this may seem to be conflict-ing, i.e., complaining about the lack ofmaintenance by my customers whileapparently abusing the very machinesthey bought and used. I can’t defend theabuse. I can only say that one of thoseold Hondas with the right amount of oilin the engine (or tank in the case of theCB750) almost couldn’t be broken.

I tore down a 350 twin one after-noon that had been “making aracket,” according to its rider.

One cylinder was fine, but when Ilooked down into the other I saw asmooth silver ball about 15 mm in di-ameter lying in the dished-in top ofthe piston. The entire chamber waspeened and shiny and the head of theexhaust valve was missing. At thatpoint I started to become aware(something that only grew over theyears) of the extraordinary engineer-ing and execution of design incorpo-rated into those fine old machines.

So hopefully, American Honda won’tcome looking for me if this obscurework should ever come to their notice.After all, I’ve been telling this story nowfor years and there’s got to be some kindof statute of limitations that should takecare of me in that respect. I don’t smokedope or abuse Hondas anymore, unlessriding my fat ass on one of my stepthrupushrod 50s could be considered such,but I certainly remember how it was,most of it anyway, and regret amazinglylittle of it. Thanks for your attention.

20 www.vjmc.org


Every bike has a storyby Mike Vachon

I started the search for my off-roadbike with the usual resources: VJMCclassifieds, local ad listings, and justplain old networking with my cyclefriends. Off road bikes probably seethe highest levels of abuse and I soonlearned that finding a vintage dirtbike was not going to be so easy. Cy-cles that old were either barely candi-dates for parts-bikes or darn nearmuseum pieces that had been ridden afew times then tucked away and for-gotten. The bikes that fell into thefirst category made me leery becauseof the unknown final cost to make thebeast road/trail worthy once again.The “well preserved” models werefetching what the market would bearfor price (deservedly so), and it didn’tmake sense to select one of these justto beat on it. So I kept looking, be-lieving that the right bike could befound.

One day, a co-worker who wasaware of my search threw a classifiedguide at me and said he thought therewere some bikes in there that I wouldbe interested in. I flipped through andsaw a listing that caught my eye – notbecause it was the “right” bike, butbecause the listing had an error that Icouldn’t figure out. The ad was for a1979 SL350 Honda. I knew the SLseries ended in the ’72/’73timeframe, so either the year waswrong or the model was incorrect. Ithrew the guide in my truck and pro-ceeded to forget about it for a coupleweeks. By the time I had realizedwhy I had saved that particular maga-zine, I figured the bike had been longsince sold.

My curiosity was still pretty strong,so I decided to call anyway. Come tofind out, the bike was as yet unsoldand, yes, the ad was incorrect – ap-parently a misprint. The bike was in-deed an SL350, but the woman Ispoke with thought the bike was a ’73or ’74 model. She said she was notsure, and knew very little about the

Top: The original model Honda released in late 1969 SL350. Bottom: The aftermarketgas cap unit. This may have been manufactured and distributed by the same companythat made OEM caps for Honda.

www.vjmc.org 21


bike itself other than the fact it wasred. The woman could not verify ifthe bike was in running condition orwhen it was last run. But she recom-mended that I at least take a look at it.The tough part was that the bike waslocated a good four hours away, butsince my work location was aboutone-third of the way in the same di-

rection, we planned a meeting that Icould make after work.

I was apprehensive about keepingthe appointment. The lack of infor-mation was troubling and I wasn’tsure that it would even be worth thebother without knowing a bit moreabout the motorcycle. I had severaldays to think it over, but when the

meeting day rolled around, I headedout anyway. I purposely brought lesscash with me than was being asked inthe ad as a preventative measure frombuying something that was probablygoing to just be a disappointmentanyway.

It took a while to find the smallneighborhood that sat just off a busyhighway. Once I located the rightstreet, the rest of the directions weresimple, because it was the next-to-lasthouse on a dead-end street. The samewoman I had spoken with on thephone answered the door. Since nobike was visible in the yard, I assumedit was either in the basement or in ashed. Instead, she directed me to thehouse next door, which confused me.The woman explained that the bikewas actually part of an estate sale. Thehouse next door had belonged to herbrother and she was the executor orthe will. She then gave me a bit ofbackground about her brother. He hadbeen a machinist by trade and was intomotorcycling. He had died recentlyafter a brief illness.

Initially there had been a total of fivebikes and the other four had soldquickly. This last one had been diffi-cult to sell and she was unsure why.Now my curiosity was piqued. Westepped into what was a drive-in base-ment garage. It was poorly lit and verycluttered. There were numerous oddsand ends and various car and motorcy-cle parts scattered about. As I peeredinto the very back of the garage area, Ispied a small bike pointing its head-light in our direction. The womanmanaged to turn on some additionallights so I could at least see the rest ofwhat had caught my eye.

The first surprise was the quarter far-ing wrapped around the headlight. Myfirst reaction was “This can’t be anSL!” A closer examination provedthat I was wrong. The bike rested on ahomemade metal stand and had norear wheel or drive chain. As I lookedthe bike over I was amazed and con-fused at the same time. The faring wasnot the only thing that was certainly

Top: The electronic ignition. The maker is uncertain, but it works flawlessly! Bottom: Theair filters. Straight-through velocity stack style intakes were replaced with these low re-striction Emgo units that fit well under the OEM side covers.

See Every Bike, page 28

www.vjmc.org 23


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24 www.vjmc.org


of years before graduating to aKawasaki F7 175, and many morebikes after that. The little Hondawas always my favorite bike andwas the impetus for the collectionthat I now have and the develop-ment of my website;www.marblesmotors.com.

Fast forward to a few years agowhen I decided that I would searchfor an SL70 like I had as a kid. At thattime, I was an eBay novice and knewnothing of purchasing or shipping.After a bit of looking, one popped upand without hesitation or investiga-tion, I bought the bike. It arrived atmy house and this was my first lessonin “pictures do not always tell thewhole story.” I eventually took thisbike apart and performed an amateurrestoration, but more than I can ex-plain, this set off a fire of collectingother SL70s and even the larger SLsof that same era.

I now have restored quite a few ofthese bikes and have several in myliving room on display along with afew other bikes. The Honda SL70K0 was available in Light Ruby Red,Aquarius Blue, and Summer Yel-low. Even though there are no spe-cific production numbers by color, itis clear to see that the red ones werethe most popular, followed by theblue, with yellow being the toughestto find. These bikes are a perfectblend of big bike looks, small bikeweight, and enough power to pull anadult. I use these bikes for swapmeets, car shows, and pit bikes, andcontinue to have people ask for themfor many purposes. But the mainpurpose at this time is that they gracemy living room as art work. I’ve as-sembled a web page that may assistyou in your restoration project. Youcan visit the page at:www.marblesmotors.com/SL70__Restoration.htm.

I specialize in the SL models thathave the single “sail” stripe on the

gas tank and lost interest whenHonda went to later models whichhad cheaper production costs withless chrome and huge decals on thetanks. With the high productionnumbers for the SL70s it is easy tounderstand why then can still befound in garages and barns. Theglobalization of the market forused parts has caused a severe in-

crease in price for the items that areno longer available for the bike,and have therefore pushed theprice of the bikes up to as much as10 times the original price in 1971.I guess that if you looked at infla-tion over 33 years, they aren’t sucha bad deal. And by the way—Ihave met quite a few nice people ona Honda!

SL70: Honda's work of artContinued from page 17

Top: The clutch side of the engine on the SL70-1075074. Bottom: The fuel tank, show-ing original Honda tank badges.

www.vjmc.org 25


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26 www.vjmc.org


The Honda trivia game (answers on page 29)by Bill "Mr. Honda" Silver

1. Name at least four versions of the Honda 250-305Super Sport machines.

2. What year did the first CL72 appear in the U.S.?3. Which model was released first in the U.S?4. Name at least FIVE DREAM models, sold in the U.S.5. When did the CL77 first appear in the U.S.?6. How many digits are in the 1965 Honda 250-305cc

serial numbers?7. What are the parts designators for “Accessory Parts”

for the CB72-77?8. What is the “product code” for the CB72 and CB77?9. What is the product code for the CB92?

10. What is the product code for the Honda Cub C100?11. What was the racing version of the CB92?12. What was the replacement model for the CB350?13. The CB350 and CL350 were replaced by CB360T

and CL360T and what other model?14. What was different on the CJ360T from the

CB360T? Name 5 items:15. What years were the CB360, CL360 and CJ360 sold

in the U.S.?16. What models replaced the CB360T?17. What is the special feature about the CB400A?18. Name all the Automatic versions of Honda motor-

cycles.19. When did the 750-900cc DOHC engines go on sale in

the U.S.?20. How many valves are in a CBX engine?21. How many camshafts are in a CBX engine?22. How many ignition coils are in a CBX motorcycle?23. What suspension change was made to the 1980

CBX?24. What was the product code for the first CBX?25. How many turbocharged motorcycles did Honda

produce?26. Name two changes were made to the MT125RII?27. When was the Z50A imported into the U.S.?28. When was the Z50AK1 made into a street legal

machine?29. What year was the CB750K0 released in the U.S.?30. What year was the SL350K0 released?31. What year was the SL90 released?32. How many years was the SL90 sold in the U.S.?33. What bike replaced the SL90 in 1970?34. When was the CT125 first sold in the U.S.?35. How many years was the CT125 sold in the U.S.?36. What significant engine design change was made in

1976 to the 100-125cc 4-stroke singles?37. How many ccs are there in the CA95 engine?38. How many ccs are in a S65 engine?39. How many ccs are in a CB350 engine?40. How many ccs are in a CB400F engine?

41. How many ccs are in a C105T engine?42. Name all of the “Elsinore” models.43. Name four special features of a CB450D?44. What is the other “name” for a CB450D?45. What year did the CB450 feature a hydraulic disc

brake?46. What was the last year of the CB450?47. What replaced the CB450K7?48. How many years was the CB500T produced?49. How did Honda make the CB450 444cc engine into a

CB500T 498cc engine?50. Name Honda’s 500cc street bikes up to 1990.51. Name the Honda HAWKS.52. When was the NIGHTHAWK name first used on

Hondas in the U.S.?53. Name 5 NIGHTHAWKS.

54. Name the 700cc Hondas, sold in the mid-1980s.

55. Name the variations of the CB750s.

56. How many ccs were in the CB750 OHC engines?

57. What color was the engine in the CB750F2?

58. Name the Honda V-Fours sold in the U.S.

59. Name the models of the V-Fours of the 1980s.

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28 www.vjmc.org


Every bike: What a bargain!

not stock hardware. The handlebarswere a pair of stubby “Z” bars that hadbeen flipped over to resemble a pair ofclip-on bars. The front fender was astreet-type fiberglass model thathugged the front tire, which had astreet style tread. The forks were obvi-ously not stock; ditto for the rear-setfootpeg assemblies. The exhaust wasa custom-fabricated two-into-one ex-pansion chamber. I noted that the con-dition of the main body parts wasnothing short of pristine. The gas tank,side covers, rear fender, and seat werein excellent shape with no sign of adent or scratch. Her brother had beenwell on his way to creating an interest-ing vintage racer.

At this point, my mind was turningover the possibilities. Of course, thiswas certainly not the bike I had beenshopping for, but there was a definiteattraction in what I was seeing. I ex-amined the bike even closer. The IDtag confirmed that it was indeed anSL, but it had been manufactured in1969, making it a K0 model. Therewas no way to crank the engine. Theprevious owner had modified the350’s crankcase so as to remove thekick-start lever and shaft. There wasno trace of a battery and turning theengine over via the gearbox was outof the question since the drivelinewas nonexistent. Without knowingthe extent of the modifications madeso far, I couldn’t even be sure the bikewas complete.

Apparently my reaction showed visi-bly as the woman commented that ev-eryone made that “face” when theylooked at this cycle. She asked if therewas something seriously wrong with it;something that would prevent her fromever selling it? I explained that the mo-torcycle was not exactly what I waslooking for. I did note that it was an in-teresting bike, but there was some ques-tion as to the viability of the engine andwhat might be required to complete thereassembly of it. She asked if I would be

interested if the price were lower. Thatset off the mental calculator inside myhead. Without skipping a beat, I madean offer that was less than half of theasking price. Now it was her turn tothink things over.

She then asked me a surprisingquestion, “Are you just going to junkit?” The question caught meoff-guard, as I had no indication thatshe had any interest in what becameof her brother’s project bike.

Top: The rear brake assembly. This configuration was used with the rear-set peg unit.The correct assembly was difficult to figure out without any documentation. Bottom: An-other shot of the rear-set peg unit. The kick start lever has been removed.


www.vjmc.org 29


“No,” I replied honestly. “There arecertainly enough parts here such thatthe bike could be completed – maybein a bit different form, but still com-pleted.” I still wasn’t sure what the endresult would look like. She seemed re-lieved with my answer and then addedanother condition to the purchase.

“Alright, I’ll accept your offer, butyou have to take this other stuff, too.”With that she waved her hand in thedirection of a stack of boxes and mis-cellaneous parts. I took a quick in-ventory and couldn’t believe what Iwas seeing. Not only was there ametal cycle wheel-stand (used forspin balancing and truing wheels),but there were also a number of oddsand ends, specialized tools, andbooks! I couldn’t believe my fortune!

The woman’s husband arrived andoffered to help me load up. This was

no easy task, considering the lack ofa rear wheel. Among the pile ofparts, I pulled out what turned out tobe the correct rear rim (sans tire, ofcourse); further digging uncovered abolt that resembled a rear axle. Itwasn’t the correct one, but I didmanage to find something that waslong enough so at least a few threadsstuck out the other end of theswingarm. We wrestled the motor-cycle up and onto my faithful Dodgepickup and I strapped it down sotight, I don’t think a tornado couldhave moved that bike. I was scaredto death that some unexpected fall orother type of unforeseen accidentwould damage its pristine body-work.

I managed to get the bike home with-out incident but had overlooked oneminor point. When I pulled into the

driveway, my wife was very surprisedto see yet another motorcycle in thetruck. “Didn’t I mention that I was go-ing to look at a bike, Hon?” “Appar-ently not,” was the correct answer. Ibegan to recount how I had purchasedthis thing for a song and how immacu-late it was for a motorcycle of that age.For some reason, she was unim-pressed. Go figure! But the real kickerwas when she asked to hear it run.“You bought a motorcycle that does-n’t run?” Her observation, althoughaccurate, had little effect on my enthu-siasm. Where she saw a piece of junk,I saw a jewel waiting to be polished. Itold her it would be running in no timeand she would be eating her words. Iknow she had faith in my judgment,but it was her job as a dutiful spouse tokeep my ego, and my hobbies, incheck.

The Honda trivia game answers1. CB72, CB77, CBM72, CP77,

CYP77, CM722. 19623. CB724. CA71, CE71, C72, CA72, C76,

CA76, CS76, CSA76, C77,

CA77, CSA77

5. 19656. 77. CYB8. 268 and 2759. 205

10. 00111. CB92R12. CB360T13. CJ360T14. Tank, seat, taillight, 2:1 exhaust,

front drum brake, plastic frontfender, 5 speed trans, no electricstarter, tachometer or center stand.

15. CB360 1974-76, CL360

1975-76, CJ360 1976-7716. 1978 CB400T1/T2/A17. Semi-Automatic transmission

(2-speed)18. CB400A, CB450A, CB750A19. 197920. 2421. 4 separate camshafts22. 3

23. Rear swing arm pivot increasedin size and upgraded shocks.

24. 42225. TWO: CX500T and CX650T26. Cable-operated disc brake

changed to hydraulic brake,water-cooled top end, newexpansion chamber design.

27. 196828. 196929. 196930. 196931. 196932. ONE33. SL10034. 197735. ONE36. 2-piece cylinder head and 124cc

piston (previously 1-piece headand 122cc piston).

37. 154cc38. 63cc39. 325cc

40. 408cc

41. 54cc

42. MR50, CR125M, MR175,MT250, CR250M, MR250

43. Dual upswept exhaust pipes,Scrambler style fuel tank,different seat, fenders, tail light

bracket, side covers-emblems,handlebars.

44. CL450 Scrambler 450

45. 1970 CB450K3

46. 1974

47. CB500T

48. TWO 1975-76

49. Increased the crankshaft stroke.

50. CB500F, CB500T, VT500,VF500F, VF500C, FT500,

GB500, CX500, CX500T, GL500

51. CB72 Hawk 250, CB77 SuperHawk, CB400 Hawk, CB450Hawk, GT650 Hawk GT,VT1000 Super Hawk

52. 1982

53. CB250, CB450SC, CB550SC,CB650SC, CB700SC, CB750

54. CB700SC, VF700F, VF700C,

VT700C, VF700S

55. CB750K, CB750C, CB750F,CB750A, CB750SC

56. 736cc

57. Black

58. VF250, VF500, VF700, VF750,VF800, VF1000F, VF1000R,RC51

59. Magna, Sabre, Interceptor

30 www.vjmc.org


ClassifiedsRemember that a “vintage Japa-

nese” motorcycle is 15 years or older(cutoff for this year is 1990!) and, ofcourse, Japanese. Please be awarethat ads may be edited to conservespace. For large business ads, pleaseconsider a commercial ad. Don’t feelreluctant to use punctuation andproper case on emailed ads.

Be mindful of publication dead-lines. Ads are due by the 20th of themonth in which a magazine is issuedfor the NEXT magazine. For exam-ple, ads for the April magazine willbe due to the editor by February 20th.

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

For Sale

Hodaka

1968 Hodaka Ace 100. Runs good.Has been redone a few years ago. Ti-tled and street legal. Test rides wel-come. Trades?

Chris, (804) 329-5170, Richmond,Virginia, [email protected]

1973 Hodaka Wombat. Street legaldirt bike. In original, complete andgood condition - stainless steel fend-ers, black frame, and chrome tank.Also has some Hodaka optionalequipment. Pictures available. $950.

Dave, (727) 823-1515, St. Peters-burg, Florida, [email protected]

Honda

1958 Honda JC58 Benly 125cc.Unrestored original bike. Does havean NOS muffler and reupholsteredseat. Very correct and in good condi-tion. The really difficult parts to findare on the bike already so a completerestoration should not be too chal-

lenging. I also have a spare parts bikeas well if wanted. I have lots of highresolution pictures available. Call fordetails on the history of the BenlyJ-JC line. $5,500.

Ron Mousouris, (805) 684-9795,Santa Barbara, California,[email protected]

1959/69 Honda 50cc to 305cc. 25year collection of early Hondas,Dreams, Hawks, Scramblers, CB160,90, 50, etc., project bikes, used parts,rare NOS parts, accessories and liter-ature, unbuilt model kits, misc. dealeritems. $10,000 for lot ($35,000 retailvalue), or piece by piece, or trade2001 or newer v-twin (Kawasaki1500 Classic preferred).

Greg Carson, (403) 748-3000,Bentley, Alberta, Canada,[email protected]

Honda Super 90. Parting out. Com-plete engine in great shape, turnswith good compression, frame, carb,gas tank, seat, speedometer andshell, rear wheel, rear fender, rearbrake hub, shocks. See athttp://www.classicjapanesemotorcycles.com for pictures and prices.

David, (614) 871-1154, [email protected]

1966 Honda Super Hawk CB77.Black, very good condition, 22,200miles. Everything original except fora recovered seat. Starts and runsfine. Clean Ohio title. Seehttp://www.classicjapanesemotorcycles.com for pictures. $2799 obo.


For 1968/72 Honda CL175: usedexhaust systems for the CL175 K0,K4, K5, & K6. In very nice condition,not show quality. Asking $75-$100each, plus shipping.

Reade Whitwell, (206) 935-9183,Seattle, Washington,[email protected]

1968 Honda CB450 K0 (BlackBomber). Complete except for a newset of handlebars. Seat profession-ally recovered, original tank withplastic badges, etc. Titled and regis-tered in NH. Offers of $1200 or overor interesting trade(s). Picturesavailable on request. Would con-sider a pristine P50, early CB350(pre-1973), CB450 K1, MB5, EarlyDream with pressed steel handlebars or an RZ350.

Christine Tebbetts, (603) 528-7723,Gilford, New Hampshire,[email protected]

1970 and newer Honda Z50. 12Honda Z50s, ranging from bareframes to almost complete bikes,mostly 1970-73 with a few 78s andan ‘83. Some carbs, set of forks, andthree tires and wheels. Can makethree or four running bikes out ofthese. Three almost complete ‘71swith the metal tank badges are worththe asking price alone. All for$2000. Pictures are available on re-quest.

Queen City Motorcycle, (877)648-4355, Clarksville, Tennessee,[email protected]

1970 Honda CB750 K0. Manufac-tured June 1970. Candy Ruby Red;5,200 miles. Third owner; extremelynice. $5,750 obo. Original tank,paint, mufflers, seat, engine.

Chris, (203) 981-4446, Stamford,Connecticut, [email protected]

1976 Honda MT 250 K0. First yearmodel of dual-purpose Elsinore. Ex-cellent physical condition, 8.5 on a 10scale. Starts easily and runs great. Allstreet equipment intact, 2,900 miles.Clean Ohio title. See my websitehttp://www.classicjapanesemotorcycles.com for pictures. $1799 obo


www.vjmc.org 31


Classifieds1965 Honda CB160. Classic Black &

Silver. Showing 7, 050 Miles. Serial

Number B160-1080010, Engine

1027931. Very light use and indoor,

heated storage. Runs good. Very Good

cosmetics except for scratches on fork

tubes. Seat professionally reupholstered

last year in original-style black vinyl.

Current valid Iowa Title and Registra-

tion. Recent digital pictures available.

Now considering offers over $1,800.00

USD. Richard Sulik, Davenport, IA.

Phone 563-386-0070; E-mail to

[email protected].

Kawasaki

1972 Kawasaki H1. Has originalpaint and is in very nice shape. Idrained the tank and carbs last year.Mirrors are not original. Nice bikewith low miles.

Art Tanner III, (518) 789-3279,Millerton, New York,[email protected]

1975 Kawasaki KT250. Trials bike,needs some cosmetic TLC, but runsand rides good. $650. Photos avail-able via email.

Jay Wilson, (913) 362-3428, Kan-sas City, Kansas, [email protected]

1975 Kawasaki H1. Nice; lots ofchrome. 5,000 miles. New paint.Gorgeous. Runs sweet. Priced right.

Art Tanner III, (518) 789-3279,Millerton, New York,[email protected]

1975 Kawasaki H2. Last year of theinfamous H2. Bike is in very good con-dition. Runs good. Purple repaint byprevious owner looks good but not ex-act shade. Has repro decals. Originalpipes. Chrome is in excellent condi-tion. Has low bars, different grips, andaftermarket mirrors. New front andrear Dunlop tires. Everything works.Can email pictures. $3800 firm.

Buddy Cartee, (864) 415-0434,Inman, South Carolina,[email protected]

1977 Kawasaki KZ650C. In run-ning condition. 4-1 Kerker header.Good tires and brakes. Clean title; ev-eryday rider. $500.

Craig Bunty, (443) 206-0608,Conowingo, Maryland,[email protected]

1983 Kawasaki KZ1300. 6 cyldriveshaft, 30k miles. $900 obo.

Jim Hayes, 4828 Tonnelle Ave,#B39, North Bergen, New Jersey,07047

Marusho

1966 Marusho Magnum 500cc.Complete, good running, has thehard-to-find tank badges and toolbox. This is a ready-to-ride bike. Callwith questions. $2,500.

Tony Swain, (563) 650-3226, Dav-enport, Iowa,[email protected]

1967 Marusho Magnum Electra500. Very nice; all-original; 6k miles;lots of documentation. $5,500 firm.Photos at www.bradsbikes.net.

Brad Powell, (678) 576-4258, At-lanta, Georgia,[email protected]

Suzuki

1975 Suzuki T500M. Sat coveredfor 20+ years. New rings, pistons;rebored. NOS tank, o-ring chain, andtires. No rust or dents; never dropped.Original owner. Complete service re-cord. Original owner’s manual, ser-vice manual, tool kit. $1,250. Needsignition or off/run switch. Email forpictures, additional information.

William Bates, Waite Park, Minne-sota, [email protected]

1967/69 Suzuki T305. Both com-plete and box of new parts. One ranwell when I put it up last fall, butnever started this summer. The otherwas in the “disassemble and clean”’

portion of restoration when reality setin. $750 obo for BOTH!

Kenton Kelly, (740) 587-7251 be-fore 9 pm, Columbus, Ohio, Email:[email protected]

Yamaha

1971 Yamaha DT1 250cc. All orig-inal and complete. Everything works;6,674 miles. Original candy red lac-quer. Starts first kick cold. I replacedthe seat cover, but foam was perfect.Tires have been replaced. Any ques-tions email or call. Even has originaltool kit. Asking $900. Make offer.Can crate and ship anywhere in conti-nental US for $450.

Ed James, (830) 634-7504,Kerrville, Texas,[email protected]

For Yamaha TD1B or Ascot Scram-bler: NOS tachometer.

Ron, (253) 538-7914 or (253)538-7915 fax

1976 Yamaha TY250. Originalcondition, garage kept.

Nicholas White, (270) 782-7593,Bowling Green, Kentucky,[email protected]

For Yamaha Triples ‘77 D thru850SG: various parts, engine, drivetrain, elects, carb sets, brakes,wheels, seat, tanks, fork, etc. Caseguard for ’77 D as new $50, seatfair/good $50, tank for 850 special,fair/good, needs paint $60 & so on.

Al McMichael, (518) 851-3420,Craryville, New York,[email protected]

1979 Yamaha RD400 Daytona Spe-cial. Expansion chambers; streetready. $1200 obo.

Jim Hayes, 4828 Tonnelle Ave,#B39, North Bergen, New Jersey,07047

32 www.vjmc.org


ClassifiedsMiscellaneous Items

Video Tapes. #1: 1966 Honda Fac-tory Tour, 1964 Suzuki Factory Tour,plus 1970 Honda’s 1st Daytona 200miler win: $20. #2: 1959 GreenhornEnduro and 1964 Jackpine Enduroplus 2 indoor short tracks on concretefrom the 1970s: $20. #3: 1954 Tri-umph Factory Tour and 1958 BSAFactory Tour: $20. Tapes are onehour or longer. Price includes ship-ping.

Jim Minnis, 210 S. Madison St.Princeton, Indiana, 47670

For Early 1960s and up Japanesebikes: Keys. Thousands of OEMHonda and Suzuki keys, $8 apiece,which includes shipping. Thousandsof NOS parts for those old bikes instock. Just send us what part you needwith the bike model and year, or pref-erably a part number, and we justmay be able to help you out.

Queen City Motorcycle, (877)648-4355, Clarksville, Tennessee,[email protected]

1970/85 Japanese 100/1100cc.Complete salvage and parts businesswith more than 700 bikes and toomany parts to even start a list. All in40 foot storage trailers that can alsobe bought. Reasonable offers.

Stephen Horton, (717) 532-6147,Roxbury, Pennsylvania,[email protected]

Keys. We supply hard to find keyblanks for classic vehicles! We stockkeys for cars, trucks, buses, motorcy-cles and even some airplanes. Visitour web site to browse our catalogand order online, or to request helpfinding the key you need:http://www.key-men.com

Key Men - Keys for Classics, Mon-roe, New York, [email protected]

Manuals & Books. Manual for1977/83 Suzuki 400 & 450, $15 +shipping. Service and repair manual

for Honda Twinstar, $15 +ship. NewShop Manual for 1984/85 HondaV30 Magna, $30 + ship. Honda PartsCatalog for 1973 E300-300 K1, new,$15 + ship. Clymer service and repairmanual for 1980/83 Honda CB900-1100 Fours, new, $30 + ship.“Tuning for Speed” book, 1960 byPhil Irving, $15 + ship. 1946/59 BSAmaintenance and repair Small Book(D.W, Munro), $15 + ship. OwnersManuals for 1978 Honda Hawk andHonda CB 750F, $10 each. $5 dis-count to all VJMC members.

Jack Delaney, (413) 586-0564,Florence, Massachusetts,[email protected]

1970 to 1985 Hondas, 175cc to 750cc;1980 to 1986 Suzukis, 450cc, com-pletely running bikes, parts bikes, andspare parts available. See at website:www.freewebs.com/detroitcyclesales.

Dan Foukes, (586) 777-6992, SaintClair Shores, Michigan,[email protected]

Parts/Project Bikes. Mostly com-plete. 1966 Suzuki X6 250cc, $150.1966 Suzuki T10 250cc, $150. 1969Suzuki T200, $180. 1963 YamahaYA5 125cc, $100. 1965/66 YamahaYA6 125cc, $100 each. 1969 YA6,$250. (2) 1967 Yamaha YM1 305cc,$300 and $250. 1967 Yamaha YR1350cc, $700. 1967/68 Honda CA77,$400 for all. 1967 Honda CB77,$700. (2) 1967 Sears 250 and 1966125 plus more in very good condi-tion, $700 for all. BridgestoneDT175, missing engine, $150. 1968Benelli 60cc minitrail, $100. (2) 1967Yamaha JT1 60cc, $250 for all.

Phil Powell, 204 W. Main St.,Morristown, Tennessee, 37814 (east-ern TN), [email protected]

For 1958/85 Honda, Kawasaki:Keys. Over 4,000 Honda precut andnumbered absolutely genuine origi-nal keys exactly as they came withnew cycles. Send code number(which is stamped on the face of your

ignition switch or fork lock; latermodels only had the number on thekey). $5 each plus $1 postage for anyquantity, and an additional $1 forcredit card payment if desired. 50%fill rate. I also have 250 old KawasakiNOS keys and a few for Suzuki. I cancut duplicate Suzuki keys for thesame price.

Barry Sulkin, (310) 398-6406,Culver City, (Los Angeles) Califor-nia, [email protected]

I have several bikes that I am in theprocess of parting out. Some of thebikes are almost complete and othershave only a few parts left. Let meknow what you are looking for.Honda: 72 CL350, 74 CB360, 78CX500, 78 CB750A, 68 CT90, 76CB550. Suzuki: 73 GT250, 81GS850G, 77 GS400. Yamaha: 74TX500, 79 QT50. Kawasaki: 78KZ400, 76 KZ400.

Jeff Kann, (920) 730-3898,Appleton, Wisconsin,[email protected]

Many 1968/85 350cc-1000cc streetbike engines to sell. Yamaha, Honda,Kawasaki & Suzuki. I will sell themcomplete or parts. Please email mefor a list, or let me know what youneed. Prices will be reasonable.

Kevin Rodgers, (352) 344-8820,Inverness, Florida,[email protected]

Large inventory of Honda andKawasaki New Old Stock inventoryin our dealership. If you are havingtrouble finding that vintage part, giveus a call - we just might have it!www.cyclecenterofdenton.com.

J. Roberts or Kenny Martin, CycleCenter of Denton, (940) 387-3885,Denton, [email protected]

www.vjmc.org 33


ClassifiedsSuzuki/Kawasaki. My win-

ter/Spring clean-up could be yournext resto. 1971 Suzuki Titan 500ccwith extra parts. California currentnon-op. 1971 Suzuki TS90 with pinkslip title. 1969 Kawasaki C2 120ccRoadrunner; lost records. 1970Kawasaki F5 350cc Big Horn withpink slip title. 1973 Kawasaki S2A350cc Triple with California currentnon-op. 1975 Yamaha RD350 withCalifornia current non-op.

James Camack, (805) 528-3019,Los Osos, California

Wanted

Honda

For 1959 Honda CE71/CS71/C71/C76: looking for a dry-sump250/305 Dream engine in almost anycondition. Interested in entire engineor just bottom end.

Rich Sherer, [email protected]

Looking for information on repro-duction road racing metal gas tanks,seat bases, and fairings made in Eng-land for 1960s Hondas.

Frank George, (937) 382-7116,[email protected]

For 1960 Honda CB92: need frontfender, front rim, tank rubber, sidepanels, OLD style tank badges(BENLY), exhaust, handlebar hold-ers, center stand. Will consider wholeparts lot or parts bike.

Al, (261) 271-5855,[email protected]

For 1965/67 Honda CL77: needfront fender bracket - the one with 6bolt holes.

Cliff Vaught, (814) 734-0101

Honda S90: looking for a clean,original motorcycle. Black is pre-ferred, but condition is the main con-cern. I am willing to pay a reasonablepremium for good condition.

Bruce Tucker, (414) 276-2630,[email protected]

1967 Honda Key. Need key #NA099. Please email me with priceand you address if you have one.

Wayne Crawford, (518) 632-9603,Hartford, New York, [email protected]

1969 Honda SL90. Most desiredwould be a complete, good runningred SL90. Price will depend on con-dition.

Mike Evans, (520) 560-4446, Ari-zona, [email protected]

For CB160: need tank badges, han-dlebars, kick start lever, air filters.For TLR200 Reflex: need front head-light unit, and rear fender


For 1974 Honda TL125: lookingfor complete clutch lever bracket.

John F Nesbit, (717) 766-8266, 508East Keller St, Mechanicsburg, Penn-sylvania, 17055

For 1976 Honda GL1000 LTD: Ineed a seat and side covers w/em-blems, tool kit, owner’s manualcover. Also interested in any NOS orexcellent condition parts that areunique to the LTD.

Kevin Rodgers, (352) 344-8820,Inverness, Florida,[email protected]

1979/82 Honda CBX: Looking forHonda CBXs. Entire bikes dead oralive or any parts. Trying to restore 2CBXs, one red 1979 and one white1982. Any parts or bike leads appre-ciated.

Larry Conlin, (260) 417-6641,[email protected]

For 1984 Honda VT500 Ascot:need rear fender cowl. Black pre-ferred, but will take red or blue.

Joe Soucheray, (651) 288-5474, St.Paul, Minnesota,[email protected]

1989/90 Honda GB500: Lookingvery hard for a nice example- stockand including complete tool kit andowners manual. Can have it shipped,depending on price.

Paul SaintClair, (828) 254-6366,[email protected]

Kawasaki

For 1967 Kawasaki A1 250cc: needtop end gaskets or just the base gas-kets. A7 gaskets might work? Needthem to get this project going.

JER, Minnesota,[email protected]

Rockford

For 1970/75 Rockford Standard andDeluxe: I would be interested to hearfrom anyone who can supply mag arti-cles, brochures, flyers. And if you havea complete Chibi deluxe for sale evenbetter. It will be ending up in the UK.

Mike Ridley, West-Yorks, Eng-land, [email protected]

Suzuki

1968 Suzuki T200: Looking for X5Invader in good complete and run-ning condition.

Doug Strange, (610) 683-5855, 48Crystal Cave Road, Kutztown, Penn.,19530, [email protected]

For 1969 Suzuki T500: need front(one year only) & rear fenders, andseat (diamond pleat with Suzuki ingold on the rear). For 1968 SuzukiT500; need rear grab rail.

Doug Strange, (610) 683-5855, 48Crystal Cave Road, Kutztown, Penn.,19530, [email protected]

34 www.vjmc.org


ClassifiedsFor 1970 Suzuki TS250: need front

forks, upper and lower tubes as closeto perfect as possible. Also advice,manuals, gaskets etc. ThomasCurran, (802) 388-4376,Middlebury, Vermont, [email protected]

Tohatsu

For 1962 Tohatsu Runpet SportCA-2: need two-piece muffler. Thisis the muffler that the longer tailpieceremoves to leave a short megaphonestyle muffler. I need one in most anyshape. Can buy or trade for Tohatsuparts.

Ed Wilcox, (810) 629-8876,Fenton, Michigan,[email protected]

Yamaha

For 1974 Yamaha TY250: owner’smanual, factory workshop manual,

parts manual, NOS seat and mount-ing hardware, set of NOS cables.

Bob Ohman, (303) 570-9333, Den-ver, Colorado, [email protected]

For 1983 Yamaha XJ900RK Seca:need left and right oil cooler scoops,amber reflectors that mount below thescoops, and complete exhaust system.Would be interested in any or all partslisted above. Would also consider anyXJ900 Motorcycle in any condition.

Lee Waddington., (618) 544-8716,Robinson, Illinois, [email protected]

Miscellaneous Items

Motorcycle Jacket: I’m looking for amen’s jacket from the 1940s-1960s pe-riod. Small to medium size desired butwill consider large for the right jacket.

Richard Trautwein, (906)635-0356, 437 Dawson St., Sault Ste.Marie, Michigan, 49783

Looking for old minibikes: parts orcomplete bikes for project. Lookingfor most any make bike with full sus-pensions.

Grant, North Dakota, [email protected]

Looking for my license plate collec-tion: Florida “antique” and “horse-less carriage” motorcycle licenseplates. I have some Florida yom cycleplates to offer in trade or I will buythem.

Lou, (630) 375-0006 after 6 pm.,[email protected]

Looking for complete set or singleissues of “Motorcycles in Retro-spect” magazines, published circa2000-2003 (before bankruptcy ofpublisher Celtic Moon Publishing,Inc.).

Philip Thompson, Unit 3111, APOAA 34023-3111,[email protected]

est, humorous pieces, articles withpictures about your restoration pro-ject, or anything about vintage Japa-nese motorcycles are appreciated andthey will be read all over the world.We have members in Australia, Fin-land, England, and a lot of othercountries and you will be instantly“world famous.” Another way is tosubmit a high resolution picture ofyour bike(s) for the magazine. AskKaren about how to submit pictures.There you are–two easy ways to be-come famous.

You can be locally famous if yourarea needs a field representative andyou volunteer for the post. We needfield reps in Connecticut, SouthCarolina, North Dakota, Iowa, Loui-siana, Montana, Nevada, New Mex-ico, South Dakota, Alberta, Sas-

katchewan, Manitoba, and somestates where multiple representativesare needed, like Illinois and NewYork. If you live in one of theseplaces, drop me a line and let’s seewhat we can do.

What you can do

I was asked that just today by amember. Eventually, we want to endup with a club of people that knoweach other—at least who know themembers who live near each other.One thing leads to another, and even-tually, if you have an active stategroup, you might even form a chap-ter. But that is not where it all starts. Itstarts with two or three members justgetting to know each other andmaybe meeting at some local placefor a cup of coffee or perhaps a can ofsuds in someone’s garage. It’s noth-ing magic, nothing compli-

cated—just getting to know eachother and talk bikes.

Here in Northern Indiana, onething we have been doing is havinga “vintage bike night” at a nearbycoffeehouse. There are never morethan eight or nine of us at any giventime, but our numbers increase justabout every time we meet. We dothis the first and third Thursday ev-ery month. Maybe we just sit andtalk. Sometimes we watch a motor-cycle video about speedway racingor the Isle of Man or something likethat. The big thing is that we nowknow each other and have a greattime together. Maybe some day wewill go on a ride or travel some-where. It really doesn’t mattermuch, just as long as we are withfriends. And that is what a club is allabout!

Drop by some time. The shop is al-ways open.

President: Two easy ways to worldwide fame


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VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB MAGAZINE FEBRUARY … · description of the photo. Good luck! Send...

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Transcript of VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB MAGAZINE FEBRUARY … · description of the photo. Good luck! Send...