Topic: Period sohc Pro Stock project .

[BPellerine]

it will feel like an old pair of shoes by the time it is done Greg ,what you think is not to your liking now will grow on you ,looks good to me!.bill

[Greg H]

I like the speed shop logo on the top!
Cheers , I'm sort of happy with it, but I'm not sure about the font I chose for the SPEED SHOP part of it . If I was designing a logo for a  business today, I think I'd have tried to convey a bit more movement into it . I'm pretty sure that the guy who used to sign write my helmets etc back in the day would have come up with a much better one . And  like Bill says , It'll grow on me , I suppose . 

[Greg H]

I've managed to locate a really nice stock K5 motor for the right money, and I'm so desperate to get involved and use the bike next season , I'm even prepared to go racing with a stock motor fitted . I'll just fit the ard mag and Winning exhaust system and  run it and enjoy it( I suppose 14sec quarters are better than nothing  ) whilst I'm building the "proper"  motor. I suppose, at least It'll give me the opportunity to check whether the bike goes and stops in a straight line  .   

[MCRider]

I've managed to locate a really nice stock K5 motor for the right money, and I'm so desperate to get involved and use the bike next season , I'm even prepared to go racing with a stock motor fitted . I'll just fit the ard mag and Winning exhaust system and  run it and enjoy it( I suppose 14sec quarters are better than nothing  ) whilst I'm building the "proper"  motor. I suppose, at least It'll give me the opportunity to check whether the bike goes and stops in a straight line  .   

Just getting control of your adrenaline, controlling reaction times, stagiing deep, staging (not deep), launching, controlling wheelspin or not, on and on, has nothing to do with your engine. Go for it!

[BPellerine]

when you get to the mag setup I can give you an easy way to set it up not very tech like but it works!bill,you could always throw in an f cam or some other mild cam.

[Don R]

 A little stock motor experience will be a good thing.

[Greg H]

I took delivery today of a pair of repro instruments and a couple of genuine Honda sidepanel badges off David Silver spares . The Tacho and Speedo look like a couple of really nice peices, and when fitted should help to give the bike the correct period look that I'm looking to achieve . The earliest pics I can find of the very first 750 Honda Pro Stockers show them sporting stock gauges . Obviousely later on people ripped off the heavy stock items and replaced them with lightweight tachos , along with lots of other mods as the series developed . My effort is a reasonable facsimile of an early "K" model 750 , and although some details wouldn't be  correct in the eyes of some purists , I'm working on the principal that if it looks like a Honda Drag Bike, It sounds like a Honda Drag Bike and it goes like a Honda Drag Bike , it is a Honda Drag Bike .
   

[BPellerine]

nice stuff greg ,wonder if they had any after market tachs etc for the racers back then?bill

[Don R]

 The K2 drag bike I bought had a drag specialties small tach and 400F handlebars. i'm not sure what was the last year it was raced though. The PO was married several times and now he's gone. The photos and trophies all went away with the exes. His old buddies say it was all a blur. You'd think there would be one pic left somewhere.

[Greg H]

Bill , most racers replaced the original instruments with something like a Krober Tacho (like I did) or just dispensed with instruments altogether .
Don , I'm currently pondering over whether I should run this bike for a while and then do a MK 2 version ,on which I'd be  fitting such things as lighter instruments , raked frame , braced swing arm,longer wheelie bars  etc etc  . Or (my prefered option) build another sohc Honda drag bike, but this time base it on one of the earlier twins.
 

[BPellerine]

version 1 is pretty nice!what do you mean by "braced swingarm"?I just kind of remember some bikes with big tachs on them but maybe that was for solid state ign,just think it would be cool.bill

[Greg H]

I suppose that I'm biased Bill , but yeh I think that it's looking pretty good to  . Bare in mind that when I talk about braced swing arms etc , I have been here before , and it's obviouse to me that the combination of a sticky 7ins M/T rear slick and the long swing arm , and stock mounts  ( although I did tig a 3mm plate onto the outside of the swing arm mount for added rigidity )will result in an "interesting" ride . You know 30/35 years ago I wouldn't have given a s**t , cos it was all part of the fun back then . But  I'm a lot older and a little bid wiser ( I think ) now, and the thought of lurching down the strip doesnt have the same appeal as it once did  . When I talk of bracing the arm I mean doing some triangulation between the arms and also adding a brace to the outside( drive side) to an extended swing arm spindle. The thing that got me thinking of this was I know where there are a couple of stock frames , and I figured I could do the mods to one and then just transfere most of the bits off this bike onto the modded frame , resulting in a Mk2 version . Regarding the sohc twin I fancy basing it on a cb250/400 . They have the upright barrel and head ,which with the right exhaust should result in the barrel chested look I'd be after , also I'm thinking parts won't command the sometimes extortionate prices asked for the earlier twin and 750 stuff . I've tried to include a couple of(not very good) pics of what I mean by braced swing arm .

[BPellerine]

ah I see now kind of a precursor to the clubfoot,looks very strong!love the old pics you have.bill

[Greg H]

I used to have a Kawa H 2 P/S bike which had a FBG braced swing arm which also doubled as an air tank for the air shift , something this current bike hasn't got . I'm not sure if air shifters had been invented back in the early seventies , but they certainly werent allowed in the very  first P/S class . They where more akin to the Hot Rodded bikes which people rode on the street , very low tech , just like mine  . I don't know about you Bill, but I've been fortunate to own some of the bikes which are considered by many to have been the iconic bikes of their time .And I've also  ridden some of the modern stuff , and they are incredible , with their traction control, launch control , and every other sort of control you could wish for . But to me they're not in the true spirit of what a motorcycle should be , which is , two wheels , a frame with an engine in it , some basic controls , oh! and of course somewhere to sit  . Thats why I love the early P/S bikes , yes they where alot slower than more modern stuff ( I learned a long time ago that faster doesnt necessarily equate to "Better") and they could be a bit lairy , but isn't that one of the main attractions of riding  motorcycles . 

[Greg H]

A couple more pics out of one of my old books for you Bill 

[Greg H]

In case you're interested Bill, the pics are out of a book called MOTORCYCLE  DRAGRACING by MIKE GRIFFIN ISBN 0-931472-15-6. I bought the book many years ago from John Woolfe Racing over here in the UK . Mine is a well used ie tatty  example now, which was , and probably still is, the best book ever written on the subject . I also have a copy of
Motorcycle Drag Racing : A History by John Stein , which is a superb book ,full of really great photos, but deals with the history of the sport , and isn't a "how to " book like Griffins .

[BPellerine]

although not racing I am attracted to the vintage aspect of the old hotrods,bikes that could be ridden on the street,and looked kinda mean,I have been through restos but am finding this more fun ,but costly and had to learn to wait for the things you really want,they seem to pop up when you least expect it,old books are hard to find.bill

[Greg H]

Thats  the main reason that I've decided to try and go with a stock motor to help and get this bike up and rolling . Looking back in hindsite  ,I should have started picking up stuff for the motor earlier , cos it's taken longer than I anticipated getting hold of the Hi Po stuff that I need . I reckon I could have easily built 2 Z1/Z1000 based Kawa powered drag bikes in the same time that it's taken to build just the one Honda . 

[SF]

Subscribed excellent build

[Greg H]

Thanks for the support SF . It's been a long-ish build ( 2yrs plus now) but I'm slowly getting there .

[BPellerine]

yes Greg I have used a stock engine as sort of a test bed for the parts I could get on it to get a feel for how they work,I would guess that the big bits you need are rods and pistons to get started,big dollars for a build as big as you want,which is why I stuck with an 836 once you go over that it seems the cost goes up big time,in hindsite I don't need a bigger motor but wanted to do it for my enjoyment,I may never know its limits but I will have a cool bike to me.put that stocker in there and have some fun!bill

[Greg H]

Bit of a lame post this one  .Nothing new to report . The motor I was after is no longer available . I'm still on the lookout for a good stock motor though. I'm busy knocking up an engine stand and collecting bits for the "big motor" , which I'm going to be building over winter . I needed to move stuff around in my workshop today , so took a couple of pics of the bike when I had it outside .

[BPellerine]

Greg your bike really looks "right" to me and could have come off the pages of one of your old books!now that I get a good look at it I like the seat looks good on your bike.bill

[Greg H]

Thanks Bill  . I'm very happy with the "look" now. I only found out that there were 5ins slicks available after I'd bought the 7incher and sorted out the rear rim to suit . I think that the narrower rear would have looked better ie more period correct , and been more than adequate . However , we are where we are. You never know Bill , it may be better utilised in a stiffer/longer frame . First , I really need to get a motor sorted out for this incarnation ,before I get started on a Mk 2. Greg . 

[BPellerine]

its gonna be killer with an engine in there,you could try and get a set of the rc steel rods like I have with the bigger bolts and bushed ends,Frank aka dragracer runs them in his big inch motor and might be a little easier on the wallet.bill