11-29-2016, 03:19 PM
Got this delivered today, this afternoon early. Had a chance to go over it carefully and correct a few setup issues, very minor, some hose and electrical routing wasn't quite right.
I pulled up the tank after unbolting the seat, this thing is literally built like a truck. In Asia the folks get as many as four or five people, whole families on this bike and bikes like it, and they make 'em to stand it. The gas tank is very thick steel, the seat pan is steel, not plastic, and it is bolted directly to the frame. The frame is thick-wall steel with very robust and well-done welds throughout, incredibly overbuilt. The engine is a Honda design, just beautifully done, with a Keihin CV carburetor. It was a wonderful feeling to roll on the throttle and experience that lush CV carburetor response, so smooth, it tames your hand as many know. No EFI bike I've ever ridden feels as good as a well-sorted CV carbureted machine. Have not ridden it yet, just pulled it into the driveway but plenty of torque, no issue getting it off the clutch.
All the bits are authentic as you'd expect to find on a new 1970's bike of this type. Big dual gages, actually nicer than the ones on the CB, the bezels are polished aluminum, really easy to read. It uses a typical internal cable-drive speedo, and electric tach. All the engine parts and mounting bolts, nuts, and plates are really robust and well-assembled and finished, with that solid quality of a good tool like a WWII Jeep. It's not a beautiful piece of visual art but all the parts fit together very well. Cad plating and brass washers are liberally sprinkled about, a very good corrosion protection strategy. Castle nuts abound. The chrome is nice, seems very thick and durable.
The fenders are polished stainless steel, formed the old-fashioned way with rolled edges. All the headlight mounts, headlight bucket, key mount assembly, and so on are chrome-plated steel. The exhaust pipe is double-walled chrome with a nice torpedo-styled silencer. It's pretty quiet. Pipe is low-slung and solidly mounted.
This thing to my eye and judgment is very much a real 1970's bike as if one discovered it in a crate stored somewhere. It's not made to look classic, it actually is a classic.
The kickstarter works perfectly, fires right up the first kick when warm. Electric start is nice but the kickstarter just gives one that very cool appearance after belting a few espressos at the local hangout. You are bound to get an audience on that as they are very, very rare these days.
I am going to try to find someone to make me some shocks; Works Performance is close by and I know they can get me all set up, along with fork springs. I'll bet Racetech can cure the unbelievably springy forks, too.
The spoked wheels are really well-made, rugged and in real-world sizes (18" front, 17" rear), it's not a mini-bike in that regard.
Might ride it tomorrow.
I pulled up the tank after unbolting the seat, this thing is literally built like a truck. In Asia the folks get as many as four or five people, whole families on this bike and bikes like it, and they make 'em to stand it. The gas tank is very thick steel, the seat pan is steel, not plastic, and it is bolted directly to the frame. The frame is thick-wall steel with very robust and well-done welds throughout, incredibly overbuilt. The engine is a Honda design, just beautifully done, with a Keihin CV carburetor. It was a wonderful feeling to roll on the throttle and experience that lush CV carburetor response, so smooth, it tames your hand as many know. No EFI bike I've ever ridden feels as good as a well-sorted CV carbureted machine. Have not ridden it yet, just pulled it into the driveway but plenty of torque, no issue getting it off the clutch.
All the bits are authentic as you'd expect to find on a new 1970's bike of this type. Big dual gages, actually nicer than the ones on the CB, the bezels are polished aluminum, really easy to read. It uses a typical internal cable-drive speedo, and electric tach. All the engine parts and mounting bolts, nuts, and plates are really robust and well-assembled and finished, with that solid quality of a good tool like a WWII Jeep. It's not a beautiful piece of visual art but all the parts fit together very well. Cad plating and brass washers are liberally sprinkled about, a very good corrosion protection strategy. Castle nuts abound. The chrome is nice, seems very thick and durable.
The fenders are polished stainless steel, formed the old-fashioned way with rolled edges. All the headlight mounts, headlight bucket, key mount assembly, and so on are chrome-plated steel. The exhaust pipe is double-walled chrome with a nice torpedo-styled silencer. It's pretty quiet. Pipe is low-slung and solidly mounted.
This thing to my eye and judgment is very much a real 1970's bike as if one discovered it in a crate stored somewhere. It's not made to look classic, it actually is a classic.
The kickstarter works perfectly, fires right up the first kick when warm. Electric start is nice but the kickstarter just gives one that very cool appearance after belting a few espressos at the local hangout. You are bound to get an audience on that as they are very, very rare these days.
I am going to try to find someone to make me some shocks; Works Performance is close by and I know they can get me all set up, along with fork springs. I'll bet Racetech can cure the unbelievably springy forks, too.
The spoked wheels are really well-made, rugged and in real-world sizes (18" front, 17" rear), it's not a mini-bike in that regard.
Might ride it tomorrow.