Honda-SOHC

Had a great day out today as part of the Ayr Classic motorcycle clubs show at the Robbie Burns Museum Alloway.

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Some wonderful bikes, gorgeous 400 four absolutely immaculate and a GPZ900 that had only done 1024 miles and looked brand new. My CBX got a lot of attention despite being filthy after riding through some terrible weather to get to the venue. Lots of requests to hear the bike running which I duly delivered  sorry nothing can beat the sound of a six through a relatively open exhaust the Harley's in the background had no chance (no offence intended  )

In all a great day, venue, people and overall weather

Hi All,

Need a little help with this as I am confused by the .gov.uk website which isnt clear.

According to the VIN plate my CBX it was built in June 1981 but the American title document simply states it is a 1982 vehicle.

So Tax exemption looks ok as the site currently says - 'You can apply to stop paying for vehicle tax from 1 April 2021 if your vehicle was built before 1 January 1981.'  it hasnt been updated yet so I can assume as my bike was built before 1 January 1982 I will be able to apply for exemption from this April.

Now the MOT guidance site https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles starts out well - 'the vehicle was built or first registered more than 40 years ago' but then when you follow the link to look at the full guidance the statement changes to - 'You do not need to get an MOT if the vehicle was first registered more than 40 years ago'. The 'built' element seems to disappear.

Does anyone know the definitive answer?

I live in a remote location so getting the bike to an MOT station in order to register it for the first time will be a challenge so hopefully the 'built' clause will get me out of this if I wait until April

Hi Everyone,

I have just finished restoring a 1977 GL1000 K2 complete with Krauser luggage and a Vetter fairing -
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So its time to move on to my next project a 1977 CB550 K3 -
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The picture above was taken the day I bought the bike last February. Its very deceptive as the bike looks to be in good condition but in actual fact it was a complete mess, engine covered in crud which was almost tar like, exhausts shot, frame covered in surface rust, bodywork heavily scratched, wheels beyond saving, seat full of splits, would not idle steadily, cam chain rattling as well as the worst primary drive chain rattle I have ever heard.

Ok so the shop I bought it from saw this mug arrive and thought, "right one here soon palm him off with this piece of crap" snigger, snigger. The thing is that I fell in love with it straight away, it was in such a sorry state it just had to be rescued, and actually on the test ride it rode extremely well and sounded amazingly good on the move and was lots of fun to ride compared to the big heavy Gold Wing.

So a deal was struck and the owner retreated with a huge grin on his face and a few days later I took delivery. What I decided to do was get her initially in a state where I could ride and assess what has to be done so I spent a lot of money on a new exhaust from DS which is actually very nice. I spent two days with every conceivable degreaser I could find trying to get the crud off the engine and the rest of the bike, she has obviously had a hard life and been stored outside and not washed over the past two decades. I stripped off and fully rebuilt the PD46A's finding all sorts of nasty bodges as I went. Bought a new seat cover and refurbished the pan. Oil change, tried to fix the cam chain tensioner but the adjuster wont budge. Fitted a Dyna ignition system and new Dyna coils. Oh and replaced the extremely stretched and dangerous drive chain.

After lots of fiddling I got a good idle and the engine runs really nice but at low RPM sounds terrible. I didnt want to ride her too much but have had some fun but now its time for the work to start. I am going to do a bare frame restoration with a full strip down and refurbish of every component so this is going to take some time, especially as I have a full house to paint in between!. It is going to be hard work as every bolt I have tried to remove has been seized.

Some pictures to show the current condition after much cleaning.

Engine casings need further clean and painting -
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Frame is covered in surface rust but nothing that looks like it needs welding -
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Wheels and spokes are beyond saving so I will replace with alloy rims and stainless spokes -
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