So the 1973 triumph is literally the same as the one in the video

@@virusdumb Not exactly. The 1973 Triumph Daytona 500 had twin carbs (not necessarily a good thing 😮), twin leading shoe front brake, twin instrument (speedometer + tachometer) instrument cluster.

I don't see much in the way of pre-1970s machines here but I think that the Honda CB77 Superhawk deserves a mention. It was produced from 1961 to 1966, to be replaced by the CB350. This 305 cc twin came with electric start and a good one at that. It is rated at 28 HP at the rear wheel, somewhat less than the 50 HP or so mentioned for the Triumph, but it too will go 100 mph. I know from experience in the early 70s when I rode and raced against others with Triumph 500s and other British bikes that the 305 was not outclassed by the 500 and could beat it. On top of that it is much more reliable and, of course, doesn't leak oil. The CB77 didn't kill Triumph but it is the first in the line of Japanese bikes to match or exceed its performance at a better price. And, the large twin leading shoe brakes work well, better than the Triumph's based upon your description. I enjoy your series. Thanks for your effort.

@@kshred3043 Well the 68 T100R had that as well, this is just a T100C. but yeah better brakes and also the exhaust is a bit different

You young guys need to get your facts straight, no E-Start on 500 TRI !!!

😅

They had pans under them at the dealerships. I bought the CB 500 as my first bike, $1350 new.

😂😂😂😂😂

They only leaked oil until EVERYONE flatsanded the cases and put them back together with better ( usually homemade ) gaskets. What? You didn't do that, too? Come on. Everyone did and still do it!

@@mountainmandale1587 Not on Honda's or Kawi's that I knew of.

750/4 a wise move.

Sounds like a Harley

Owning a Triumph is like having a piece of a better time

​@@asacarrick1440 I agree Ive ridden Harley Ironheads and Shovelheads, but theres nothing classier than a clean pre 71 Triumph.

That I think is where they went wrong. Their bikes were selling so they just kept turning out the same old designs without a thought that another country might come out with something better. Well that's just what happened. The other country being Japan.

Harley until recently!

Not just Triumph but BSA Norton and all the rest really....

I think that British bikes were built to a price and Hondas were more expensive but also reliable and stuff

I remember hearing that when Hondas first came to Britain a Benly 125 cost more than a British 500. But people bought them anyway because of their reputation for reliability.

I own a cb350 and the only way it can do 110 mph is if your on the downside of a very big hill with the wind at your back. Or close to the event horizon of a black hole. I don't think it was japanese bikes that ruined the british motorcycle industry, I think it was greedy shareholders not spending money to update 50 year old tooling. They could have carried on as a premium brand making a modest amount of motorcycles at a decent profit, much like ducati or bultaco or maico or husqvarna at the time.

The CB 250 up jetted free flow 2 into 1 exhaust and K&Ns flat out could just manage a true 87mph the speedo had a mind of its own. The CB 350 never made the magic 100. 98mph was as good as the average enthusiast could manage with all the usual above mentioned upgrades. That is assuming the cam chain didn't snap or eat the tensioning slippers first.. I loved and hated my CBs in equal measures

I had a CB250 and it was a great bike in many ways BUT Honda HP is not equivalent to anyone else's HP. It might have reached almost 90 mph on an optimistic speedo. It was very thirsty for its power output. The gearbox was TERRIBLE. First was way, way, way too high and the gap between 4th and 5th belonged on a race track not on the road. It was also very sticky with a pair of very short lever arms to move the gear shift rearwards. The 180 crank created chain snatch below 3000 rpm where the 175 Honda was unstallable with a 360 crank. I found an old Honda 305 dream and it was a far better bike. Much more efficient with a similar power output and speed. It only needed four gears. The handling wasn't as good. But overall it showed what went wrong with the newer Honda's. The newer honda had better handling but the engine was disappointing until I dismantled it and faired the cylinder head to the head gasket and the cylinder. Small mismatches prevented it from reaching its potential. Equally the rings in both it and a friends Honda 750 don't last as long as I would expect. But people buy on the illusion, not reality. They discover that later. I met my wife because she bought the honda 90 scooter and they claimed 60 mph top speed. It didn't do that so she came to a motorcycle rally to ask us what was wrong. Luckily she came to talk to me. And more than 50 years later we ride together every day. If the bike HAD done what was claimed I may never have met her. So I have to thank Honda for lying and selling her the wrong bike under false pretences.

He says the 500 Triumph would go 110. My Bonneville 650 would only go 110. What about the 305 Super Hawk or CB77, those were pretty fast at about 110mph.

@@michaeljoesmith3977 the T100 official top end was 91 the t110 Daytona what's 105 a very good properly setup t120 oil in tank not in frame could just pull 115 to 120 depending how it had been set up and if it had been blueprinted

So true. It just is. Reliability is everything.

@@Ian-ny6ux A bike can be as enjoyable to ride as you like, but it's not enjoyable if it breaks down.

Plastic is more reliable than wood.. wood has beauty, plastic doesn't. If function was all that was important, we'd all be chasing functional women. 😄

So you liked the single round “puck”disk on the 70’s CB750? 😖 That thing was noisy on all 4 of mine.

Reliability. The main purpose of the bike which is to get us from point a to b is what keeps most owners/enthusiasts interested. Nevermind the other means like cars or public transportation or other more reliable bikes. That is why some of us in other parts of the world bought old Honda's in the first place because it's still reliable and relevant upto this day. Otherwise what's the point if you can't ride a beautiful bike around town? We can always have other bikes in our garage but personally I'm always going to have one Honda in there. Old CB's are just legendary, good-looking and makes revving sounds just as good as any other newer bikes in this year because classic never goes out of style. As long as the parts and prices are reasonable that is. I'll stick to that.

So true. I recall the mid/late 70s in the UK, no one was even thinking about buying a British bike. They were way out of date, inferior in every way.

Kinda Like 70's GM in that regard

@leomonster1973 As I remember, they all had their issues. The Japanese vehicles were right straight out of the dealership, unlike their American counterparts that had relied on the dealers to fix the problems. This was a normal practice way before the seventies, and we didn't know better. Chrysler lean burn, the Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega, just starting the long list. The Japanese kicked our ass for sure. GM felt that whatever they built, Americans would happily purchase. You are right.The seventies were a wake-up call.

@@williamwintemberg competition is supposed to breed excellence into the competitors… The end result being that the consumer wins because his choices are better and cheaper across the board… Except in America, when the competition becomes to fierce from foreign companies, the home teams go to the government and ask for protectionist restrictions. Harley knows all about that. The older companies saw the influx of Reliable, cheap, reliable, fast, reliable, easy to maintain, reliable, Japanese bikes and didn’t plow any money into R&D to one up them…

What is this unicorn you speak of?

AND it stayed behind you..

Fair enough, that is correct, no vibes. Heavier on fuel was the tradeoff. They were like moving a barge around on the highway.

Sorta like kinda...you missed " like"

@@asacarrick1440 LOL No where I'm from we skip the like.

THIS! The Brit bikes weren't the fastest by the time the CB750 came out, but you could ride one hard on curvy roads and they just became part of you. Very unlike the Honda, and especially the Kawasaki 750, which would go great in a straight line, but kill you on a twisty mountain road. If all you wanted to do was go fast in a straight line, then get a CB Honda or the big Kaw triple. If you wanted to really RIDE hard, a Brit bike was hard to beat. I love Harleys too, but that is a different kind of riding altogether. Cruse and hear the thump as opposed to tame the windy roads on a Trumpet or Norton.

It's easier for me to choose a bike to meet my needs if I ignore such irrelevant factors as standing quarter or 0-60 times. Fuel economy matters (I have a 109Km each way commute) but I'm not concerned with power as long as it's adequate.

@@bertmeinders6758 The "thrill factor" seems to be driving so many to want performance over function. By the time the '70s came around, there wasn't a bike we sold whose drum brakes weren't adequate for safe riding and stopping distances. When the front disk brake became the norm, I felt that any brake that could make the front tire howl was good enough. Now, the quest is to have brakes that can stand up to repeated punishment which really is not necessary on a commuter bike.

Bad management killed of BSA and Triumph as BSA owned Triumph. The first trident P1 ran in 1964 and could have been in production by 1966 but management didn't want to know. Only when news of the CB750 reached management did things progress but BSA wanted there own version requiring different frame and crank cases which delayed production and put up costs. The P1 looked like a Bonneville but the design was putout Ogilve Design who came up with the slab tank and Raygun silencers which the USA hated which resulted in beauty kits being sent to the USA. The Quadrent was never a prototype as it was two Trident engines with a cylinder cut of each one and joined together, crank was pressed assembly and a overhang on one side of the frame to keep the drive in line , with a mid state of tune due to the crank assemble it did 125mph. what was being developed was the T180 of which 3 engines were built, one was tuned for racing which is now owned by Steve Brown

And then along came the Z1.....

I had that experience in an unrelated industry. Within a couple of years they had licensed in a design!

Triumph also made a two stroke engine but again triumph Management put their heads in the sand. Wanna see it go to New milton hampshire uk, sammy millers museum.

@@carolrowley9868 is this the same bike where the management asked the designer if the engine could use existing barrels and the designer said no?

Hmmm. i had a few bikes i regret i bought them.

@@drhkleinert8241 I do too, but wouldn't mind having them again for nostalgic reason.

You and me both, I often see how much some of the bikes I've owned are making on eBay now, if I'd kept them all I'd be sitting on a fortune (I'd also need a bloody big garage).

Don't beat yourself up. When I see the current prices for the Bultacos, Ossas, Montessas and Czs I owned, I can barely sleep at night.

Cool bike. I remember first seeing one 45 years ago and noting the resemblance to the CB500 though with slightly canted cylinders. They sure do sound sweet. Those were the days of the Laverda twins and triples too. Wish I could go back and relive them.

You are right on! Not just in motorcycle but in most industries as well. I had a good fortune of studying TQM from a Dr. Yoshida in college. He studied under Dr. Deming at George Washington University in the 70’s. After his involvement in manufacturing for the war efforts, Dr. Deming was ignored by the U.S. government to further TQM in the rebuilding the country. Instead, he was sent to Japan. There, he found the perfect scenario & cultural experiment in TQM. The highest honor for a company for quality product, production & manufacturing is called the Deming’s award. Dr Yoshida was the only professor, whom I know, on every weekend-sometimes the weekdays-traveling all over the US & the world consulting businesses on TQM. Thank you Gene for mentioning & recognizing the contributions of Dr. Deming. Excellent video, Bart. Function(Honda) v emotion(Triumph) is a toss-up; however, your son is right:gotta have both. Scribed. ✌🏼& 🏍

They made a 305 dream as well

England had been bombed almost out of existence, and I think maybe they were spending their money to get back in business and didn't have the choices Japan had. They should have sent MacArthur to rebuild the British.

@@algentry1 Well I'm no expert on this stuff but as I understand it Japan was pretty much bombed around the clock by the US, culminating in a couple of Atom bomb drops. After the war the US poured a lot of time and money into getting Japan back on its feet. Not so much the UK. One thing the Japanese did have going for them post WW2 was not spending huge amounts of money on the military (likewise Germany), that was forbidden while the British had to cope with a rapidly self dismantling Commonwealth of nations and its choice of its own nuclear deterrent (which was not cheap). The British also had to pay back the US for much of the war materials help they had proffered prior to 1941 i.e. from 1939.

@@dogphlap6749 - well said, also aloof management and politics played a part plus clueless money wasting on models like the Triumph Tina and Ariel 3 making Japanese bikes all the more welcome in the UK by the 1970's, the Japanese changed the whole game and made bikes fashionable again while BSA were still making the Bantam thinking about moving the spark plug to the centre of the head, the choice of 22 Japanese 125's killed that relic stone dead, thank god. It still doesn't diminish the T100 being a very fine and versatile motorcycle that could take a man round the World, win Trophy after Trophy and two Daytona 200's as well as lend itself to the basis of the Tridents and Rocket 3's which ruled the Daytona 500 for a good few years eventually competing directly with the Honda CB750 in race trim, more the stuff of immortal legend than killed by a CB500 .. unless it died laughing at the Honda's original 4 silencers? quite possible. The UK was actively involved with the Japanese, Barry Sheene won two Grand Prix's for Suzuki, Belfast university were doing race work for Yamaha and more importantly we were buying their Bikes and enjoying them, and still do after long restorations.

The 305cc Honda was also called' Dream'.

In 1975, Dave Minton said that, as when fully fuelled, the CB500 wasn't much lighter than the CB750. He said that Honda had made it a more agile bike, learning from mistakes made with the 750. Probably right.

I read that Edward Turner (designer of the Triumph Speed Twin, Ariel Square Four, and Daimler SP250 V8 engines) was sent circa 1956 by Triumph to Japan to assist a Japanese licensee. When he returned, he reported to the Triumph board that there was trouble brewing in Japan. They replied, "Oh no, dear boy, the Japanese build only small bikes. Besides, they don't know our market." I think that he made a second trip to Japan c 1959 and met with the same indifference upon his return. It was already too late.

@Alfred Wedmore Thanks for clearing that up. I never clearly understood the postwar relationship between BSA and Triumph. I do though recall reading that Turner was sent to Japan twice regarding license issues and that his British colleagues dismissed his reports of impending competition from Japan. I read this decades ago, so I've forgotten the details.

British needed a new motor long before Hondas arrived 360° paralle twin was outdated WW2 hindered development in British Auto industry across the board 1930's designs used well into post-war period Electrics on Brit bikes awful 'Damned good headlight Just dont ride at night', Joe Lucas

@Alfred Wedmore Latest paralle twin designs use 270°crankshafts

Ever try a bmw..just move your tushy it takes a turn..But my 750 would aniliate it once road openned up..i tossed my center stand it dragged scary as shit on long ramps.. Life chanes when it dragged.. Took it off that day..

The FrankenHonda!

A fad hit in 1971+ for tiny cars. At the same time US regulations emerged to cripple Detroit and British existing cars. Everything from Cutlass/Falcon up in US cars were solid and much more roadworthy in the late 60s than JapOboxes and MGs/Minis at the time. The 1965 Cadillac, Imperial and Lincolns were fantastic cars. The problem was trying to redesign a big car into a tiny car. The Vega and Pinto took drastic and stupid design shortcuts to make a $2200 and $1995 base. 4cyl engines hadn't been built in numbers in Detroit since WW2. Labor them down with cheap automatics and AC and stuff in a 20 year old gas tank design to a hatchback. All to make a car that looked like the fad. Gasoline was 38c and up to $1.40 by 79 so everyone was encouraged to buy economy boxes to save gas....but it didn't really make any cost sense. You paid $1500 more for more spartan and cramped Datsuns in 72 than a Malibu or Torino or LTD to save about $100 a year in gas. Or you could buy a Vega and get the experimental motor rebuilt every 30k miles. You see the same marketing trick used for EVs today. You spen an extra $30,000 for a car that has serious travel limitations but you don't buy gas. A car ownership lifetime of gasoline 3000 gals. Gas would need to cost $10 to even break even. Salesmanship vs Logic.

Of course that's no longer true. My Chevy Trailblazer is approaching 300,000 virtually trouble free miles. Bulletproof American dependability.

I am not sure how much complacency there was in the UK. The Japanese government created a huge (and irresponsible) local market and restricts imports, giving Japanese makers critical volume.

@@mtntime1 x2 on that one. Quite pleased with the craftsmanship on many later vehicles, particularly starting around the late '00s and 2010s. Many really improved their fit and finish during that time, Ford in particular seemed to lead the way on that.

I was thinking recently the same thing. Honda and Kawasaki are making new "retro style" bikes that look like the 1970s CB750 and Kawasaki Z1000. And I'm thinking, that's kind of strange in a way, because those bikes weren't known for their styling or good looks when they came out. They were considered when they were new in the 1970s, to look like kitchen appliances.

the 250 Sunbeam/Tigress Scooter also had an electric start which was optional.

And the Norton Electra

and MkIII Commando

@@mc2594 Not a Triumph.

'you meet the nicest people on a Hesketh'

60 hp in your dreams.750 norton made 47 hp at the wheel on dyno.. 500 would not crack 30...

@@johnoneil6206 I think he's talking an all out race bike. The Bonneville 650 was only 52hp, so if the 500 tuned was 60hp, my guess is it wouldn't be too reliable@2hp/cubic inch!!!!!!

@@johnoneil6206 Not rear wheel power, at the crank and it could be done by race tuners, probably around 48 bhp at the wheel. How long the engine lasted was another thing. BTW a 750 Combat could also be tuned to produce a bloody sight more than 47 bhp. Between 58 and 68 BHP at the wheel. Again race spec and short life expectancy.

My daily ride is a 1980 cb750 Custom survivor that I've had since the early 90s. Beautiful machine. No silly computers or fuel injection to spoil the relationship between man and machine.

Or woman and machine. My daughter has her own bike she rebuilt the carb on.

@ HH sez who? I've never seen a 450 Honda out perform a 500 Triumph. Been around bikes all my life and owned bunchs never seen that happen.

Loved my 450s, in my opinion, the 1st Honda Super Bike.

Kawasaki has the rs900.

3 wins not 30 nortons did much better

@@juanrodriguez-ry6yt I said ruled Daytona which is why they called it the Daytona. And just like Edward Turner used to say all the time nor used to spend so much money on their racing program that they never improved thier street bikes.

Trophy -1 carb Bonneville 2 carb

I was in charge of service for our dealership when the CB450 first came out, funny looking tank and all, and to me, it was already a Brit bike 'killer'. Even though it only had a four speed, it was very smooth and would rev until tomorrow. The wheelbase was a little short but that wasn't a detraction at the time. Also, I was a new rider when the predecessor of the T500 came out as a 350cc and that was in '57. Very little was changed in the design from then on.

@@whalesong999 One of my favorite things about it is the very high rev range and by 1970 it had a front disc brake and five gears. Really love the bike even if it was eventually overshadowed by the 4-cylinder models.

I had a cb450 cam chain broke after I had it for three months after a Honda mechanic had rebuilt it I got half my money back the original cb450 with a four speed gearbox shook like a paint mixer the chief 500 was not an overboard 350 with a completely new design it had nothing to do with a 350 made 10 years prior to it being constructed. You can read the road test at Cycle World did on the motorcycle and they stripped it down to the engine cases to see how well it was built you can get parts easier for a fifty-year-old British motorcycle than for a 30 year old Japanese motorcycle now you have the Triumph C range your bike is geared for on and off road. My 73 Daytona with twin carb and rode gearing tops out at over 110 that's what the police officers radar said he was cool he let me go with a warning here we just talked about the bike for 20 minutes. Read Bert hopwood's what happened to the British motorcycle industry and you will get a clearer picture of the industrial Shenanigans and down online competency that went on all through the 70s the Japanese did not compete with the British Italians or the German, they competed with other Japanese company and that is how we got the Big 4

@@frankmarkovcijr5459 Yup, your last sentence makes the most sense. In terms of being where the showrooms competed though, that was where the Brit bikes began to lose in sales, hence losing out to the "big four". Design wise, it was becoming pretty clear that there were no real upgrades for the British machines in terms of engineering. Burying the transmission output sprocket behind the clutch needed to be changed, for just one thing. While there might not be direct carry-over of interchangeable parts from the "21" to the T500, the engineering was the same. That does not mean that I disparage the Triumphs, just that they lagged behind in development that was moving so quickly. They were a pleasant ride. Ironically, our first Rocket III in late '68 came with a sort of diaper made of sheet metal with an absorbent material under the engine unit IIRC to catch wayward oil drips. Nice touch, better than our Nortons at the time. The Japanese makers had to come up from being drubbed into submission by the war and wanted to prove their viability to a changing world. The British and the Americans had no such incentive since they'd "won" and would continue with traditional ways. The paths crossed very quickly. A Harley had a 90 day/4k mile warranty in '67 as I remember; our Suzukis had 12 month or 12k mile warranties.

Practically all of the British motorcycles outside of Bemus set had and outboard clutch you don't have to disassemble the whole primary to change a fresh rocket or you do is slacking the chain off and you just take the clutch basket out and then there's 5 screws and holes the cover on and bang there's your sprocket. Let me put it this way my 1980 CX500 Honda water cooled 4-valve Wonder with Cam chains lacock 10 years at 250,000 miles before the change broke and snapped the camshaft into and then tore through the water pump my low-tech 883 Harley Sportster hash 370000 miles on it and it's still going strong. I have not touched any of the internal engine working because I have not needed to do I've had to do simple stuff like the stator work out and wouldn't charge anymore at a quarter of a million miles but it lasted a quarter of a million miles and to me that's pretty good the camshaft in my TR6 both wore out and I had to split the cases to replace them while in there any bearing or bushing that was questionable got replaced and the flood trap got replaced with a new one because she to take it almost 50 years to fill up the old one everybody who has a pre-unit British motorcycle has a b that is 70 years old or more. Outside of a vintage show I never see any of the Japanese motorcycles I grew up with in the seventies except in the show. Now I would say most everybody in America learn how to ride a motorcycle on riding a little Honda Suzuki Kawasaki Cushman whatever but once you learn how to ride you want bigger and better you want to be able to h a u l girl around with you on trips and vacations two-up with luggage a Honda 4-cylinder specially the 750 Road hottest hell and would wear out change and sprockets like tires Honda made a list of all of the 750s problems for touring and solve them all with the Goldwing. Honda did not want to go to double overhead cams like Kawasaki Suzuki and Yamaha dead because they did not want it said that they were copying their competitors the last year 750 Honda had cams so abrupt they would mushroom the valves you could only go so far with a single cam before you have to go to a twin overhead cam

And my Trident ate them alive. Every time.

I had the K1 fang machine just for fun, perfect once you open up the muffler, You could retune them and do all sort of wonderful stuff to them. My brother's Norton Commando would catch me in the corners and I would overtake him going up the hill. The roar of those puppies was delightful.

I'm with you! That said, in this case, I think the Honda even looks WAY better, too. (Btw yeah Yamaha is so great at engineering so many things!)

I have an Yamaha 88 FJ1200 my mates all have Harleys and one a Triumph speed triple. My old girl is better engineered than them all and still pulls 230 + Kph no problem.

@@kevscranes my last bike was an 84 fj1100. Awesome. Felt like an extension of my mind, you just looked at the line you wanted to take and the machine did the rest. My taillight disappeared in the distance to more than a few SDPD patrol cars.

When the Yamaha RD250 and 350 LCs came out in the early 80s, they were a marvel, game changers in performance and all sorts of ways. They virtually made all the other bikes in any class obsolete overnight. Never had Honda been so outwitted and caught flat-footed. And they had ‘King’ Kenny Roberts dominating the 500GP class as the perfect advertisement. We all salivated over those machines haha

@@MrSummerblade rd250 made all bikes in any class obsolete? Maybe if you weigh 120lbs in leathers and helmet and are racing on hairpin turns. Thats a moped for nearly anyone else.

Yes my RD350A was quicker than my mates CB500F but he was faster. As to the CB350 twin the RD blew it to pieces.

In 1978 I had an RD 400 and it was quicker and faster than my friend's 1978 Triumph Bonneville. He was pissed.

Had a Honda 450, very stylish and although I would have loved to have had a Bonnie, less than half the cost

@@real_Papa_Roach I had a CB500T which I really liked even though they were poorly rated at the time, but as you say the price and relative civility of these machines had Triumph beaten for the average person. I have a 73 Triumph Tiger 750 in my collection, it's a fun motorcycle but in comparison to the vintage Japanese bikes I own it really feels like what it is, a bike from a completely different era.

given the choice in 1973 of a Triumph Adventurer or Daytona or CB500 many purchased a Honda but with hindsight how many would change their mind now? one is just an old and somewhat boring Honda no one wants you'd struggle to give away. The 500 Triumphs are still very much alive and sought after crown jewels so the premise of the video is based on a coincidental comparison that was only there for a brief moment in time as one ended it's long and cram packed life of achievements and the other stood about losing it's grandad inspired 4-4 silencers and wobbly shocks to re-appear later in Barts garden wondering if it should cut the grass and probably hoping it gets turned into a 100% original example or a custom / bobber so it can actually have some fun and get noticed or admired half as much as the Triumph is without changing anything, a new pair of Shocks from Taiwan aren't going to cut it beyond being a usable motorcycle which it has been since it left the factory with 50,000 others in various pretty colours, at least three survived, a green one, a blue one and a gold one. Now if it was a 1975 Honda 400F or 400 Super Sport that really did hit a sweet spot then the Triumph may have run away and hid for a while but either way the Triumph has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

@@mc2594 There's definitely something to what you say, a big difference for me as a retrospective is that now my vintage Triumph is a toy to play with and enjoy on summer days, the Hondas I had back in the day were everyday transport, that makes a big difference over which one is the better choice, in which era.

Just turned 65, got a sweet R1 I ride daily, and 2 1800 vtxs', and a 1900 Raider. What age is too old? 🤔😏

About to turn 70 and still want a Bonnie even if just to look at it and sit on it and dream.....

my cb750 custom had no center chamber it ran strait to 4 exhaust tips..At a high rev it was a diffo bike.. An animal.. what a change.. Quiet at normal but damn it changed at high revs..

Nah, the CB400 Four's exhaust was better. 😉

I agree. I have a '75 CB550F Super Sport that I bought new in high school. It isn't running currently but I will bring her back to life with a complete frame off restoration before I take my last breath. I installed a set of Kerker 4 into 1 headers on the bike shortly after I bought her and to this day it's still one of the best sounding and running bikes I've ever encountered. Four years ago I bought a new 2014 CB1100 as it reminded me so much of the CB550F. It's about 100 pounds heavier with twice the power plus better brakes and suspension. I immediately installed Arrow headers to emulate the old 550. And just as I hoped it truly is a time machine taking me back 45 years as I ride the exact same roads. It will be something else to ride them back to back when I get the old girl back on the road.

@@gwilliamwallace Bet you will love the CB 550 when its done. I bought a 500 Four K last year for my first bike (dont See any mid 20 riding old bikes ;-) ), and it was a blast to ride. The sound is loud but way, way more pleasing than other bikes as it goes up rpms. Im now looking for a 350 Four or 400 Four as I want something bit smaller and less weight. And funnily the consumption was 4,5-5,5l - Thats actually really really good.

@@ETT64 i like the symmetry of the 4 into 4 better but the 400 looks and sounds also good.

That is a piss poor excuse. We in Detroit made the same excuse about Toyota. Honda made a better bike just like Toyota made a better car

@@dknowles60 I'm not making excuses, the fact is that British industry had no money for development so kept banging out the old designs based on pre 1939 technology, the Japanese had brand new machinery and factories and had billions of dollars pumped into them, there was also a culture in the UK in the 1960s and 70s of union unrest so new working practices were hard to adopt without strikes. The Japanese have taught us all a lesson in how to build modern, reliable bikes and cars.

My fantasy bike as a teenager in the early '70s

@@jbkstafford Just to torture you a little, 😀 it is a 1974 with dual disk brake front end. I also have a '74 Eldorado Police Special, also disk brake front end. As I get older I ponder when I will sell the Sport because I prefer riding the Eldorado now. Getting old stinks!

@@lint2023 I just looked up the police special. Oh my golly gosh. What a thing of beauty. Nothing like that here in Australia. I suggest mounting as artwork on your wall. Keep forever with a shrine surrounding it and candles burning.

@@jbkstafford The artwork description works well and I renewed them nicely a long time ago. I won best Italian in show once with the Sport. I've had the Sport 30 years and the Eldorado 40 years. That seems unbelievable now that I say it. I've always had a yearning to visit Australia. Best wishes from USA.

@@lint2023 haha. Sound exactly my age group. Let me know if you make it to Melbourne!

Don't forget, less reliability!