Honda

Reader Ride. A Portland Oregon Custom Cafe.

Phil Writes in:

Hi,
  My name is Phil G. and i live in Portland Or. I would like to share some pics of my 71 cb750. This has been my project for the last 2 1/2 years. I would like to sit here and tell you that i did it all myself but i have to give credit were credit is due. While the over all concept and design of the bike was all me there are a few very important elements to it that would not have been possible without help from some very talented friends of mine so i have to say thanks to Sam Hill for welding the custom oil tank and the 5″ stretch into the fuel tank, and to Sean Smith for laying down the beautiful black paint, Paul Burdette for the stage 3 port job and general engine building help, Ginger Mccabe of New Church Customs for the seat pad, and to Deon Staffelbach for the awesome photography,other than that i pretty much did everything myself.
  here is a list of mods and custom parts
     engine bored out to 850
     stage three ported head
     super flow valves
     webcam 63a grind
     cyclex super rods
     balanced and lightened crank and rotor
     under cut tranny
     all new bearings and chains inside
     cr 29 carbs
     custom aluminum oil tank
     stock fuel tank stretched 5″ with knee dents
     custom rear sets (modeled after dunstall rear sets from the 70’s)
     custom s.s. muffler
          Anyway, thanks for looking
                  Phil

 My pleasure Phil.  Thanks for sharing!

Reader Ride. Sweet Honda Hawk GT.

Jack Michaud Writes in:

Hi,
My dad turned me on to your blog. Nice stuff! Here’s a pic of my 1989 Honda Hawk 650GT. Why Honda gifts this market segment to Suzuki I’ll never know!

I couldn’t agree more. This bike was years ahead of the SV and they gave just up on it too soon. Damm shame.

Interesting Reader Submittal. VF500 Magna Tracker.

Paul Robinson sends in a pic of his interesting build.

Hmmm… There’s a lo of potential here. I never thought of these bikes as tracker material. There’s a million of them out there too at affordable prices. Just saying..

Reader Ride From Spain! A Honda CM400T Street Tracker.

This may be the nicest CM400T on the planet. Damm that is cool.

I’ve said it here many many times. You do NOT need big money or big engines to build fantastic bikes. And here we have another excellent example of that. This beauty was built by Mario Trigo Salorino wo writes in:


Hello, my name is Mario and I write from Spain. I’m a fan of your blog for a long time. Always show the style of bikes that I like. It is a daily appointment required.


I want to show a personal project I recently completed. It is a Honda CM400T, base uncommon, has been done by me and some friends. I do not define his style, bobber, track, brat … is a modest project but I’m very happy with the result. Major changes are, handlebars, handlebar switch, repositioning of the electrical components and battery box, exhaust, rear set, clocks, modified original seat and paint job. Appear on your blog would be a reward for my work. I hope you like.


A greeting and continued with this great blog. Muchas gracias.


PS. Sorry for my English.

Your English is fine Mario It’s an excellent build. I am labeling at a Street Tracker but you’re right it has elements of other styles in it as well.  ! Thank you very much for sending in these great picture!

Reader Ride. Morocco Wanderlust.

Francesco Veneziani writes in:
Hello
Thanks a lot for the countless moments of deep inspiration or simple daydreaming thank to your blog
 Here a couple of shots of the morocco trip in 2008
Pippi looking at road ahead down from Imilchil to the Todra Gorges
The plateu going up toward the Djebel Sangro
Just south of the Plage Blanche, desert’s ships, animal and mechanical
Congratulation for your job.
Thank you for the excellent Pictures!

Update: (missed a good pic) Very Nice Low Budget Chop From the Netherlands.

More proof that you don’t need big money or big horsepower to build a cool ride.

Bjorn Writes in:

He hello my name is Bjorn I’m 20 years old and I’m from the Netherlands. I’m a regular visitor of your site. And i love it especially the frequent updates i digg. I have a picture of my motorcycle as well, hopefully you like it.

I bought it as a stock Honda shadow vt600 but right from the start i knew I was going to chop it. Because i dont like stock stuff in general. I bought this Honda because i wanted a vtwin but because of legislation here in the Netherlands you cannot ride a bike with more than 25 kW (34 hp) if you are under 21 years old. since i was 19 at the moment i had to buy a bike with this power restriction and this bike has 34 hp stock.
I tried to make as much of the components myself from the handlebars to the stainless steel exhaust, sidecovers and everything in between, because i didn’t want to buy shit out of catalogs because everybody can do that. I could use the lathe and mill at my school to machine parts. And my little brother is a welder so he helped me out with that. Lots of time went into making a foot clutch and a tank shift. It worked in the end but after some test riding i found it to dangerous to drive here in Holland with the million roundabouts, so i changed it back to stock controls. I also had an open exhaust but i found it to loud so i tried making a muffler with a design like i had never seen on a other bike. It works very well actually. Also made my version of a sissybar.

I use it as my daily driver to school, work, friends you name it. i now you didn’t ask for this whole story haha, but me personally, I’m always interested in the story behind a bike. At the moment the bike is nearly done, the riding season here is at its end so i can put the finishing touches on it like a muffler decoration and new pegs. I cant wait to start a new project.

greetings from the Netherlands!

Bjorn

 

Not Sold in the U.S….. So where the heck IS the new CB1100?

It’s been off the radar for so long that I forgot about it.  Come on Honda!

Mike Skelton RIP. Stellar Reader Ride. Honda CBRXX.

I recieved notice from Mikes wife today that he had passed on August 5’th.  Mike contributed the CBXX in this post below.  I didn’t know him personally.  I think his wife was just being thorough by notifying everyone in his e-mail list as to not miss anyone.  From his obituary it sounds like he lived a life filled with motorcycling and good friends.  Godspeed to you Mike and sincerest condolences to his family and those who knew him.

His obituary reads as follows:

Michael Roy Skelton, 53, passed away at his home in Conyers, on Thursday, August 5th, 2010. Funeral services will be held at Rockdale Baptist Church in Conyers at 11:00 AM on Monday, August 9, 2010 with Rev. Mark Walker and Rev. Dane Skelton officiating. Interment will follow at Lawnwood Memorial Park. An elegant motorcycle rider, having a great passion for sport touring, Mike acquired a broad network of riding partners, planning and executing intricate routes from the Smokies and Blue Ridge all the way to Canada, making Tail of the Dragon seem like Sesame Street. Mike is survived by his wife Laura Woodyard Skelton, his step-daughter Angela Chambers and granddaughter Alaura Kilgore; mother, Stella Brown Skelton of Decatur, GA, brothers Rev. Dane Skelton, of S. Boston, VA and Warren Skelton of Panama City Beach, and their families. He was preceded in death by his father, Schafer J. Skelton, Jr. The family will receive friends on Sunday, 2-4 and 6 to 8PM at Horis A. Ward’s Rockdale Chapel. The family request that in lieu of flowers, please honor Mike’s memory by making a donation to The Salvation Army, Rockdale Baptist’s Ministry to Lakeview Estates, 1295 Smyrna Rd SW, Conyers 30013 or any charity of choice benefiting children in need. Horis A. Ward’s Rockdale Chapel 770-918-8851.

 Sounds like a life well lived.

The original post below.  He certainly had the right tools for his craft.

I got these pics of this outstanding CBRXX from reader Mike Skelton and it got me to thinking about how this bike was one of those victims of bad timing. Honda Developed this bike in it’s usual way. Look at a bike segment and attack it with cutting edge quality. In this case they were essentially responding to the Kawasaki ZX11 that was the hyperbike king at that time. The problem was that while this bike was an outstanding leap forward it was a temporary victor. Kawasaki and Suzuki leapfrogged this machine (and each other) with 2 versions of the Hyabusa and ZX12 and ZX14 leaving this bike a distant memory in the stat sheet wars. And what a shame that was because this bike could have really defined it’s own niche had it been given just a bit more time take old.

Anyway this all leads me to what I’m getting at. I think I’m going to start a regular feature about unsung, overlooked and under appreciated bikes ffrom all eras, sizes and brands. It won’t be every day but I’ll try and get one in every other week or so.

Aaaaannnnnyway… Mike writes about his beauty of a ride:


I purchased this bike new on 4/2/2002 from the dealer where I worked. Nothing like getting a new bike off the truck and out of the crate!


It is a CBR1100XX that I sport tour on, purchased for my 45th birthday. I have upgraded the suspension with Race Tech fork mods, a custom built Penske shock, Braking Wave Rotors and DP HH pads. Other mods for long distance are VTEC VFR handle bars, Grip Puppies, and the rare (in the US) factory panniers available in Europe and Australia. The bike also has Speigler braided SS brake lines and GPS. I also installed Canadian market Super Blackbird decals.


I usually ride between 100-500 miles a day and the 139db air horn hidden under the fairing has saved me from getting hit several times! The bike currently has 62461 miles on it and my favorite place to ride is the Cherohala Skyway (www.cherohala.org) that runs between TN and NC.


Really enjoy the site!


Thanks again,
Mike Skelton

Random Vintage Honda Racebike From Daytona last March

There’s a lot of these I’m yet to post… at least I don’t “think” I’ve posted this one yet…

Beautifully Sculpted Bodywork on this "Espresso" Honda Cafe..

From the Toronto Mods Vs Rockers… Thanks Jim…