A newy to me

[Cormanus]

I guess you guys from the US might know this well, but I just went down to the town to get a prescription and fill the tank with petrol and rode past a bike parked. It looked familiar, so I went back for a look to find a Honda 750 Four, but fitted with automatic.

I've never seen one before.

The bloke reckoned it revved to hard for him, but when he started it up it sounded very sweet to me for a 30-year old bike.

The mandatory picture follows:

 

[Randy B]

Yup, yup. 750 Hondamatic.

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

I remember those here in the US but if memory serves me they really never went over very well on this side of the pond. I have not seen one in years.

 

[Cormanus]

I remember those here in the US but if memory serves me they really never went over very well on this side of the pond. I have not seen one in years.

This bloke is selling it. His ad says all the Hondamatics in Australia were custom imports from the US. He also told me he thought they didn't appeal to you guys. Not sure they would have sold well here either.

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

I remember those here in the US but if memory serves me they really never went over very well on this side of the pond. I have not seen one in years.

This bloke is selling it. His ad says all the Hondamatics in Australia were custom imports from the US. He also told me he thought they didn't appeal to you guys. Not sure they would have sold well here either.

This bloke is selling it. His ad says all the Hondamatics in Australia were custom imports from the US. He also told me he thought they didn't appeal to you guys. Not sure they would have sold well here either.
The Hondamatic was one of those things that you have to wonder what in the world were they thinking? Seems like to me a 300-400cc or so auto would have been more appealing to the masses sort of like scooters now.

 

[the Ferret]

They did make a 400 and a 450 auto F 7 guy

I was working at Honda of Cincinnati when when these came out. Took one out for a test ride and my clutch hand kept grabbing for a clutch that wasn't there. It was a weird riding experience and yes they were poor sellers in the US

 

[ss2wheels_imp]

There is one here in Myrtle Beach, a girl rides it, she loves it! 750 auto..

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

They did make a 400 and a 450 auto F 7 guy

I was working at Honda of Cincinnati when when these came out. Took one out for a test ride and my clutch hand kept grabbing for a clutch that wasn't there. It was a weird riding experience and yes they were poor sellers in the US

Now that you mention it I do vaguely remember the 400's. I have never seen one in the flesh. They may have been ahead of their time with all of the scooters we have now.

 

[the Ferret]

There is an older guy around here that rides a red CB 450A about all year round. Open face helmet with glasses, milk crate on the rear rack, plexifairing 2. Reminds me of my dad. Just a stubborn ol guy going to ride no matter what. He's got to be late 70s early 80s or else just looks real old from being weather worn.

 

[CB4ME_imp]

There is an older guy around here that rides a red CB 450A about all year round. Open face helmet with glasses, milk crate on the rear rack, plexifairing 2. Reminds me of my dad. Just a stubborn ol guy going to ride no matter what. He's got to be late 70s early 80s or else just looks real old from being weather worn.

Should we all be that lucky to ride well into our 70s.

 

[the Ferret]

There is an older guy around here that rides a red CB 450A about all year round. Open face helmet with glasses, milk crate on the rear rack, plexifairing 2. Reminds me of my dad. Just a stubborn ol guy going to ride no matter what. He's got to be late 70s early 80s or else just looks real old from being weather worn.

Should we all be that lucky to ride well into our 70s.

 

[davidsargee_imp]

There is an older guy around here that rides a red CB 450A about all year round. Open face helmet with glasses, milk crate on the rear rack, plexifairing 2. Reminds me of my dad. Just a stubborn ol guy going to ride no matter what. He's got to be late 70s early 80s or else just looks real old from being weather worn.

Should we all be that lucky to ride well into our 70s.

Should we all be that lucky to ride well into our 70s.
That's what I'm shooting for.

 

[Scoobynut_imp]

Anyone ridden a bike with Honda's new DCT? A friend of mine has a VFR1200 with the DCT -- when I rode it I was fully expecting to hate it, but what do you know, I was impressed and liked it. The way it rev-matched on the pushbutton downshifts when in 'manual' mode was very cool. It did take a while getting used to no clutch lever. If I commuted in a big city I could easily be talked into a DCT equipped bike.

 

[davidsargee_imp]

They did make a 400 and a 450 auto F 7 guy

I was working at Honda of Cincinnati when when these came out. Took one out for a test ride and my clutch hand kept grabbing for a clutch that wasn't there. It was a weird riding experience and yes they were poor sellers in the US

I rode the 400 and the 750. A buddy purchased an orange looking 400 for a starter bike for his son. I rode it a couple of times, if my memory is correct, it had 3 gears, (might have been 4 gears). You just put it in gear and took off.

I had a neighbor that bought the 750 automatic, and I rode it once. Same as the 400, but I believe it had 4 gears. I am probably wrong on that, it was a long time ago.

The 400 had no punch at all, it was comparable to riding a low powered scooter. The 750 was better, but for a 750, it was slowwwww.

Neither bike stayed around those households for long.

 

[flynrider]

All of the Hondamatic bikes (400, 450, 750) had just two gears. There was a low gear for starting and typically you'd shift into high gear around 25 mph (and yeah, they were kinda slow).

The auto tranny used in the bikes was the same design that Honda used in their early Honda Civics. My neighbor was a big fan of them and had a Hondamatic Civic and a 750A.

 

[CA200_imp]

I once had a customer tell me he had friend with a very high miles 750A and they really made some strange sounds as they got old.