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For those who like old Motorcycles.


DDolfelin
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Nothing so esoteric I'm afraid - Mrs H's little Honda street scrambler (1982) at a VMCC track day a few weeks ago. 'no honest Debs, I didn't take it on the track' (oops....eeekk....).  The TZ350 behind belongs to my mate Chris who as we speak is at Bonneville with his 300bhp Hayabus/Thundercat/Turbo nutter b*astard 600 going for the 600cc 'gas' world speed record.  And look closely - in the background is a real MV triple....

 

attachicon.gifP1070862-2.jpg

 

What is the Honda exactly? It doesn't look as off-road as an XL and I don't remember anything else scramblerish being native to the UK at the time (apart from maybe the FT500, of which I think I've only ever seen two outside captivity) so I wondered if it was a grey import.

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What is the Honda exactly? It doesn't look as off-road as an XL and I don't remember anything else scramblerish being native to the UK at the time (apart from maybe the FT500, of which I think I've only ever seen two outside captivity) so I wondered if it was a grey import.

I saw one yesterday at Cromford steam rally! The sheet explained that a delivery intended for Australia turned up in London. A hundred bikes intended for the outback were sold in Britain they have an extra low gear so they could be used to herd sheep or cattle. That is what the sheet said, Neil might have a different answer.

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I saw one yesterday at Cromford steam rally! The sheet explained that a delivery intended for Australia turned up in London. A hundred bikes intended for the outback were sold in Britain they have an extra low gear so they could be used to herd sheep or cattle. That is what the sheet said, Neil might have a different answer.

 

Half correct!  The Australian thing is an urban myth rumour - not true, as the Aus versions had a single seat and other differences.  There was IIRC something like 260 imported as an experiment, blue or white (we have one of each) the Aus and Euro versions also got silver.  It is a CL250SC, UK model, not an import.  They were sold off cheap in '84 and most got despatched into the ground.  I did have all the detail at one time as Debs worked for a Honda dealer back then, and we got all the info from Graham Sanderson at Honda UK.  We have owned the blue one from new, it was a wedding present to ourselves, and bought the white one so we could keep the blue un for best.  It has won several awards at shows, but we don't bother now and use it instead! 

 

The exhaust systems are stainless replicas as the originals are unobtainable, we do have a set put away though!  The stainless ones are indistinguishable from the originals other than sound, they were deliberately made a bit throatier. 

 

The bike is basically a CB250RS deluxe, so it has an electric start, but is in XL250S state of tune, 22 hp not 26 of the RS.  It does have a crawler gear, released from an additional lever on the clutch lever which allows you to change 'down' from first into super-low.  Never use it.

 

We have another in bits as a spares hoard, and I know of one other on the island but it is a mess.  There is a guy that comes to the TT sometimes on a blue one, he nearly fell off when he saw us out on both of ours, his face was a picture!  There are 15 left registered in the UK.....he didn't ever expect to see another!  We have had some very silly offers for them, but all our other bikes would go first, these will stay as long as we can ride.

Oh Pat - I've had 3 FT500's!

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Is that a later YPVS motor in an earlier Elsie frame?

Yep....it's  hybrid. always preferred the look of the original LC, the valve motor goes better though! Must have had at least 25LCs/Valves over the years.

 

This one looks reasonably stock but there's plenty of different bits.

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Yep....it's  hybrid. always preferred the look of the original LC, the valve motor goes better though! Must have had at least 25LCs/Valves over the years.

 

This one looks reasonably stock but there's plenty of different bits.

I agree, the original LC was much prettier than the later, YPVS model, and that's a more interesting colour than the originals. Over 25 is going some! So, how many of those did you crash or blow up then?

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I agree, the original LC was much prettier than the later, YPVS model, and that's a more interesting colour than the originals. Over 25 is going some! So, how many of those did you crash or blow up then?

probably over 25.....more if you count multiple blow ups!

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So, a typical Yammy hooligan then! I've always stuck to boring but reliable Hondas myself...

They blow up too .....2 x NSR250 (MC18 and 21)

                                 1 x NS400R  

If you haven't blown a two stroke up you're just not trying hard enough!

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They blow up too .....2 x NSR250 (MC18 and 21)

                                 1 x NS400R  

If you haven't blown a two stroke up you're just not trying hard enough!

That's why I switched to Jawas... if you haven't blown up a JAP, you probably haven't managed to start it yet...

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If you haven't blown a two stroke up you're just not trying hard enough!

Indeed, here's the result of me thinking I could tune an Ariel Arrow. It was 1966 and I was only 23. The following day I espied a series C Vincent Rapide inside a local dealers and after a purchase and fitting of a new piston, I traded the 62 Arrow in part exchange for it.

post-276-0-38210600-1478620407.jpg

 

I had realised something was amiss with Arrow because only one exhaust pipe was smoking!

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A friend of mine had a "tin hippo", terrible thing!

 

The scariest twostroke I ever had was a grasstrack Bantam, complete with George Todd head, dramatically reprofiled ports and expansion chamber. The Three-speed gearbox with the huge, long gear-lever was like poking a knife around in a bag of ball bearings, and whatever gear you were in could be relied upon to be the wrong one.

 

Fast, frantic and prone to violent seizures we had several "offs" before selling it out of self-preservation!

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They blow up too .....2 x NSR250 (MC18 and 21)

                                 1 x NS400R  

If you haven't blown a two stroke up you're just not trying hard enough!

Honda's better at making 4-strokes. Those NSRs were great when new and expensively and correctly maintained, but were too fragile when in the hands of the cash-strapped hooligan fraternity!

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