Honda-SOHC

Well done for buying the bike from Peter and keeping it in the forum 'family'. It's very pretty bike with a lot spent on it and restored to a very high standard.
The yellow ones are of course the fastest, it's been well documented on here 🙂. Sometimes they are capable of 150mph+ in the right hands, downhill and with a force 10 gale behind it, I think I read it in a magazine somewhere........🤔.
Enjoy it over the summer and beyond.

Talking of Spitfires.............I am a volunteer tour guide at the Battle of Britain Bunker in Uxbridge, Middlesex.
This was the home of Number 11 Group Fighter Command. The Air-Vice Marshal was Sir Keith Park, a New Zealander who was a WW1 fighter ace. The Air-Chief Marshal of RAF Fighter Command was Sir Hugh Dowding who was also a WW1 fighter ace. Between them Dowding and Park perfected the Air Defence of Great Britain using the plotting system that became known as The Dowding System (and is still used to this day in modified form).

RAF Fighter Command was split into four control groups when it was formed in 1936, these being 10, 11, 12 and 13 Groups. No.11 Group looked after the airspace of London and the South East and was located 60ft below ground at RAF Uxbridge and is the only surviving control bunker left. Everything in the bunker is original apart from the green lampshades (they went over to fluorescent lighting later in the war) and the Tote Board. The Control Room set up as it was at 11:30am on Sunday 15th September 1940; this is now known and celebrated every year as Battle of Britain Day.

My uncle was stationed at RAF Kenly in Surrey and was ground crew servicing the Hurricanes that flew from the base. Kenly was under 11 Group Control. 
I flew in a 2 seat spitfire in 2022 from Biggin Hill, another airfield under 11 Group Control. The aircraft I flew in has a history having shot down a ME 109 during the D-Day landings in June 1944. It was converted to a 2 seat training aircraft just after the war. To say the experience was unforgettable would be an understatement! We flew from Biggin Hill to Folkestone where we did a low pass, full 360 around the RAF Fighter Memorial below to the amazement of the visitors looking up! The aircraft had a full cockpit layout in the second seat and I was allowed to fly it for 10 minutes despite having never flown! On the way back we did some rolls, absolutely amazing. Pilots said you didn’t fly a Spitfire; you wore it as it fitted around you.

Expensive, yes, very, worth it, absolutely to be flying in a piece of history and to remember not only my uncle but also the 2900 pilots of ‘The Few’. 545 of these brave men died during the Battle of Britain, another 600 were burnt or wounded in their aircraft during the battle and another 800 of those ‘Few’ died in other theatres of WW11. The average age of a Fighter Pilot during the Battle of Britain was between 18-24; the average age of the WAAF’s who were sending them into battle via the plotting table at Uxbridge was also between 18-24. Not a single pilot in the RAF knew the control bunkers existed during the war, all they knew was they were told to fly to a vector and the Luffwaffe would then suddenly appear!

I was at a bike show 20+ years ago and a stall there was doing a special offer on custom made ear plugs. I bought a set and this involved having a wax poured into my ears and when it had set they pulled it out. This was the mould they used to make the silicon ear plugs. They asked me if I wanted solid plugs or ones with a tiny hole down the middle. The solid type were recommended for clay pigeon shooting whilst those with the tiny hole were for bikers. I opted for the tiny hole type. They told me to come back in 2 hours to collect them.
I wore them home on the bike, massive difference. Although a lot, lot quieter the addition of the tiny hole allowed me to still hear the engine and enough background noise to determine what was around me (as in emergency vehicles). I wear these some earplugs to this day, never leave home without them.
The trouble with hearing loss is it's so gradual you don't realise it. The job I used to be in on the railway required me to have a hearing test every two years and one of these tests involved hearing a distant train whistle from 25 seconds away (enough time to allow you to get off the track and into a place of safety). Countless people failed the test because they didn't hear the whistle.
A simple way of testing your hearing is to sit in a pub or restaurant with a group of friends and if you have to lean in to hear someone properly it's an indication you have hearing loss in the mid bandwidth, the most common form of hearing loss.
Wind noise in a crash helmet without ear plugs does serious long term damage to your hearing.

The last I heard was TTR400 only sells his horseshoe to DSS simply because the cost of P&P is too expensive to make it viable to post individually.

If your chrome is the original parts get them replated. More expensive than buying pattern but at least you know they fit and they are original (and in most cases made of thicker steel).
I used Ashford Paters who aren't based in Ashford but in Crayford, S. E. London. They are by no means cheap but with Chrome work you get what you pay for. Every part they get in goes through the same process, they are meticulous. Send a photo of the parts you want plated (with a ruler next to it so they get an idea of size) and they will come back with a quote within a couple of days. They are always happy to discuss on the phone AFTER you have received the quote (not before).
I used to use a guy in Hayes, Middlesex but like all other platers he lost his environmental licence. Having found Ashford Platers I wouldn't go anywhere else.

The F2’s had a bit of a reputation didn't they Bryan. Wasn't it down to Honda changing the valve angle in order to fit bigger valves and try to keep up with Suzuki and their dohc 750? All the Honda engineers and designers had been seconded to the car division leaving the old 750 languishing with little or no ongoing development. The changed valve angle put a strain on the valve train as well. The F2 was nothing more than a stop gap until the dohc KZ750 was ready (and the CB900).

Google, I asked the question 'How are Honda rectifying the 1000 Hornet engine oil consumption issues' and that was the answer. I had heard the same thing on a youtube post a few weeks ago.
Of course the information a manufacturer releases to the press can differ from real life, just ask KTM who blamed the owners of their bikes for the terrible cam wear that was proved to be the result of poor design, manufacture and QA of the parts and still they denied it.
From what people are saying on Pistonheads it would appear Honda Japan are maybe failing to get the message across to Honda UK. If Honda fail to act and address this issue quickly their reputation will only go one way.
If it is down to pistons and rings that would be very bad news considering Mr Honda himself made his name making piston rings in the 1940's/50's and founded the Honda company as a result.
As an aside, where is the 1000 Hornet engine made? You never know these days as motorcycle manufacture is so global along with everything else, for instance I thought the new Norton V4 engine was UK manufactured but no, it's made in India. Back in the day of the old Norton V4 (Stuart Garner era) I was told the engine was designed in the UK but made in China along with the never to be seen Atlas 650 motor.
When you consider how engine design and manufacture has evolved since the days of rattly 500/750 twins and the level of sophistication where it is now it only takes a bad batch of something to bring it all down and especially as news travels so fast these days. Back in the late 70's I used to take a litre of oil with me when out on my 250CSR Matchless, it would burn through or throw out 1/2 litre every 100 miles! 

From the interweb......
Honda has initiated a global recall for affected CB1000 Hornet and SP models to address excessive oil consumption caused by out-of-specification pistons and piston rings. The manufacturer is implementing a permanent fix by replacing the faulty pistons and piston rings to resolve the issue.Affected riders are being contacted directly by local dealerships to arrange for the corrective engine service