Early Hondas. (pre 'C')

[tom robinson]

Yes very interesting front forks,my guess is the section at the lower rear of the forks is a valve/reservoir dampener

Tom

[tom robinson]

Its nice to see an old bike like this being used,and not wrapped in cotton wool hidden away in a garage and used only if the sun is shinning for odd days out to pose.
Not original, but i like the wooden box/backrest,very practical

tom

[Boo]

Yes very interesting front forks,my guess is the section at the lower rear of the forks is a valve/reservoir dampener

I thoght that too. The shape of the casting reminded me of those old 'Beanco' damped door closers you'd get all over public buildings.

[Boo]

The design looks German rather than British, if it's copied from anything. Lots in common with this NSU Max.

[cruncherkid]

Post war, and trying to get their engineering industry back into gear, i'm sure the Japanese visited many places to buy up and ship away some inspiration of what the rest of the world was up to! Some blatant reverse engineering for sure, but mostly for the better.... Japanese improvements and refinements eclipsed the rest of the world of motorcycles in such a short time, and it wasn't long until they drove the style of the modern bike Arguably the same can be said about their electronics too.....clever little buggers

[Pjam]

I went there in 1999 cruncher, two things I learnt about the Japanese; they love quality and they work really hard.

[cruncherkid]

I went there in 1999 cruncher, two things I learnt about the Japanese; they love quality and they work really hard.

Lucky you!! It's one of the few countries i would actually like to visit....There is no doubting their innovation skills and pride in all their products

[tom robinson]

The headlamp reminds me of an old Ariel i used to own,like you say the Japanese,copied and IMPROVED other peoples designs,i understand that in Japan a certain percentage of profits made on any item they was manufacturing be it cameras,fishing rods or whatever,had to be spent on developing the item.
No wonder "Made In Japan" usually spells QUALITY
Our manufacturers were to busy creaming of the profits and using old fashioned manufacturing methods and ancient machinery.
The motorcycle industry in this country was a good example,bikes were knocked together wily nilly often in barns and lean too',the engineering machinery was rough and ready,very sad when you think of it,there was some fine engineers but as the saying goes you cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear when you havnt got decent kit to work with.
All the english bikes i owned leaked engine oil from somewhere or other usually the crankcase,still at the time i thought they was great.
I had a Tiger 110 that struggled to do over 100 unless i layed flat on the tank and it wasnt windy and i was going downhill and yes it was a mobile oil slick! Ha Ha a good 250 will do that nowdays
tom

[Newtsalad]

SHould we sticky this thread, keep it up top & keep it going?