Honda-SOHC

I was very happy running my 750 K2 over 10 years or more, and then someone asked if I would sell it. Initially I decided not to, however whilst away on extended holiday in Japan I thought that  as I'd owned it for some years and enjoyed it, if it helped someone else onto a classic I would let it go.

Quite a few weeks later and back home again I contacted the prospective buyer and agreed that I would sell if asked. During that time I had expressed interest in a bike for sale on the Forum, explaining that I would only progress things if the 750 was sold. As perhaps often happens, the deal went cold shortly afterward and I decided to let things stay as they were, letting the seller on the Forum know this.

A few more weeks went by and I was talking to an acquaintance who sells quite a few classics and had a 1972 Trident for sale with 12,004 miles on it, and only 184 miles since 2009 when it was re - imported into the UK. He had also received an enquiry for a Honda 750 that a buyer wanted to add to his collection of bikes for regular use. We did a straight swap - Honda for Triumph.

The Trident was duly delivered a few days later.

It's been a very interesting time since then, with lots of issues to sort out on the Trident, all relating to running problems. It does not help that I knew absolutely nothing about British bikes when the Trident came to me, however I feel that I do now!

Finally the bike is performing as I think it is intended to, and it really is a pleasure to ride. If anyone is interested in the issues and solutions that arose, I'll happily write more, however as this is a Honda Forum I won't clog it up otherwise.

Quite a few years ago, a customer of mine (part of a car dealer group) had taken P/X vehicles in on the last day of July, for deliveries of new cars on 1st August (number plate letter change). This was quite common at the time, as it avoided taxing the outgoing vehicle for another month, money that would otherwise be lost. Quite a few dealerships (though not this one) would stay open after normal business hours, usually until just after midnight so that customers could drop their P/X off, have a bite of food etc. and then drive away their new car at one minute past midnight.

The General Manager of the branch and the sales team arrived at 6:00 in the morning to open up and position new cars for collection, only to find themselves locked out of the building and notices on the doors announcing the collapse of the business.

I knew the General Manager very well, and he assured me that he had no prior warning of any of this until arriving at work on the 1st! He too, lost his livelihood through it all.

It was always considered the gold standard for protection against corrosion for light aircraft - mine was always treated annually, using a very long perforated tube passed through the wing ribs. Spar or internal corrosion was never an issue afterward in any of the aircraft that I owned.

I use it in aerosol form on the older bikes each winter, and it seems to do the job well enough. An additional benefit is that, unlike some other products, it does not turn yellow over time.

I'm presently on an extended visit to Japan, catching up for time lost during COVID.

So far we've visited seven major cities (including Tokyo) and I've seen a total of TWO electric cars and absolutely no charging points whatsoever (I have even been to look at four filling station forecourts within half a mile of our latest hotel).

Today, my wife's sister and her husband collected us for lunch (both are Japanese). My brother - in - law has just bought a new car, as he plans to retire from work next year. It is a petrol Hyundai.

I asked whether he had considered electric, to which he looked amazed! As he said, there are no facilities at all for them, and almost all new cars sold are petrol powered, with a very few hybrids in the mix. I then asked about any plans to ban non - electric vehicles from the new car market and was told that the government had made some announcement about looking at things from the mid 2030's, however there were no further details as yet.

Incidentally, his new car has a factory fit TV in the dash panel, available for the driver to view, however it turns to sound only when the vehicle is moving, though displays pictures when stationary in traffic.

We have seen no speed cameras here at all (as usual from previous visits) and, with 21 hotel nights booked so far have not been asked to guarantee anything by credit card or other means, they simply want to know when you will arrive and when you will leave. Most of our hotels are international chains, booked locally over the internet from within Japan.

It all reminds me of how simple and pleasant life was in the U.K. only a few years ago!

Although I am sure that you are right, I can only say that over three 500/4's and probably around 60,000 miles or so between them, I didn't suffer any problems.

With the first two, bought in the very early 70's, the tyres were changed by the dealers before collection of the bike. At my request they fitted TT100's in the sizes that they thought best suited. Interestingly enough, the two (Honda) dealers involved were almost 100 miles apart and, to the best of my knowledge had no links with each other. The change of dealer for the second bike was only due to extreme shortage of the supply of 500's in those days, so when I saw one in the window whilst out for a Sunday run, I went back and ordered it on the Monday!

The lead mechanic for the dealer that I first bought from had used to attend meetings at our local Club and he also ran a 500/4 fitted with the same tyre size and type. His employer raced Honda's in the I.O.M TT at that time.

Each year I carry out a maintenance session on whichever older bike that will be used for the summer.

The sequence has long been to change the oil  and filter in year one, as well as checking chain tension and that all ancillaries work as they should. Tyres etc. are checked weekly in all cases.

In year two, I repeat the year one processes with the addition of a points/timing check, plug check etc.

In year three I carry out the previous year two processes and add in valve clearance checks, carburettor balance and cam chain tension, together with replacing spark plugs.

It is always the case that after the year three work problems seem to set in, often unrelated to the actual work undertaken. This year I found the charge rate to be low, so replaced the regulator/rectifier with a solid state unit that I bought a few years ago as a spare. The idle then became erratic, with variations of between 1,000 and almost 2,000 rpm at random - the rubber manifold between the engine and number one carburettor was leaking. Following the replacement of all rubber manifolds and the airbox to carburettor rubbers, the bike would not run on number one cylinder - this was due to a failed (new NGK) plug on that cylinder. Last time around (two years ago) the number one/four cylinder condensor failed.

Finally, we seem to be sorted out and I am looking forward the the next two years of (hopefully) trouble - free riding!

I'm afraid that the sale of Avgas to anything other than aircraft was banned a good few years ago - at one time there were quite a few race bikes running on fuel supplied by the local airfield. Now however, it has all ended - I believe because the rate of fuel duty is/was different.

In addition, Avgas still contains lead, so not much good for anything with a catalytic convertor fitted.

In general, piston - engine aircraft do not use motor fuel due to risks of vapour lock through ethanol, I understand. In some cases it was deemed possible to use motor fuel, however it involved restrictions on altitude (maximum of 5,000' from memory), measuring fuel temperature before flight and more.

I once had some replica clocks for the CB750 that were new and certainly looked the part. They were bought to fit during "down time" whilst the originals were sent to be refurbished. However, the replica tacho showed a higher red line than the ND unit and, when fitted I found that it over read by 50% or more compared to the original unit.

I removed the replicas from the bike and refitted the originals (still not refurbished) and things returned to normal again.

I still have the replicas in the garage in their original boxes, though I did remove the case from the tacho to decide whether I could fit new faces to my originals myself in the garage (I eventually thought that it was beyond my ability to make a decent job of this).

If anyone wants to collect them from Norfolk, the replicas are available free of charge.