Topic: Would I be wrong...? First response arrived, favorably!

[grcamna2]

I'm glad the response is favorable;keep that steam-kettle stoked !   

[newday777]

Ok, here is the sign-up sheet...

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeMgfTftM5XD-zd-fEUZJpMZLpBUZET91Q5Tgl5MolOCn7Kgg/viewform



It includes only forum name, first name and email... Let me know if I should add/delete any of the criteria.

Signed up

[Don R]

 I filled it out, could not be easier. I  mentioned I will be buying parts for these bikes and prefer genuine Honda. 

[desertrefugee]

Same

[Alan F.]

Ok, here is the sign-up sheet...

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeMgfTftM5XD-zd-fEUZJpMZLpBUZET91Q5Tgl5MolOCn7Kgg/viewform



It includes only forum name, first name and email... Let me know if I should add/delete any of the criteria.

Signed up

Thanks for including that link so I didn't have to dig deep for it. I'm in.

[Kevin D]

Signed up, thanks for your efforts.

[ekpent]

Signed up, thanks for your efforts.

Me too and I echo Kevin's comment.

[TwoTired]

I tried to sign up though that link.  But, must have a google account, it appears.  I simply can't agree with their EULA.  I can't see why anybody would, actually. 

[samm_j2]

Signed up!!!

[goodtryer]

I tried to sign up though that link.  But, must have a google account, it appears.  I simply can't agree with their EULA.  I can't see why anybody would, actually.

I just made a throw-away account. It'll only be used for this sign-up list. You'll get all the news you need from here. No need to ever do anything with the gmail/google account.

[Greyhound]

Hmm you shouldn’t need a Google account to sign up 

I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on.

[TwoTired]

I tried to sign up though that link.  But, must have a google account, it appears.  I simply can't agree with their EULA.  I can't see why anybody would, actually.

I just made a throw-away account. It'll only be used for this sign-up list. You'll get all the news you need from here. No need to ever do anything with the gmail/google account.

I prefer to throw away Google.  They can track IP addresses, and then own everything you create or post.  And then they have throughout time your agreement to do so they can use in court.

F--- that!

[HondaMan]

In Japan, wandering around Osaka, Hamamatsu, and other cities I saw things that surprised me. There is a wild mix of industrial and residential that I have never seen in North America. A chemical supplier on an otherwise residential street?

I found what were apparently family run "factories" the size of a two car garage or so producing motorcycle clutch or brake cables with relatively simple tools and solder pots. Lacing wheels. Making wiring harnesses. Larger shops with a couple of injection molding machines making various very identifiable bike parts. My local friend (I do not speak Japanese) asked at one place and they said they were making parts for new motorcycles.

So not every part comes from a huge factory. Obviously, castings come from a foundry... abut I did see one small foundry making small sand cast aluminum somethings in a mixed neighborhood, fumes pouring out of the furnaces and pour line. I did not see anything like an engine casting plant, those would be in a manufacturers factory somewhere I assume.

There was one place assembling carbs for small engines but the kind I've seen on small utility engines, not bikes.

This was summer, so they were working very visibly if not out in the open.

Hopefully some of the parts we would like to have still have the specs and any special tooling still available. I think there are plenty of small shop entrepreneurs there who will make anything they can.

Right you are, and this was just how the 750 (among others) was made! The major electrical parts came from TEC and Hitachi, and one similar example I know was about the alternator rotors. The 'home-builders' (for lack of a better term?) got the 2 halves of cast, machined rotors to mount in a jig that was precisely made by Honda to preserve alignment. They home-builder welded them together, cleaned up the welds and balanced it to 10,000 RPM, right out in the open (no guards!). I could just feel OHSA vibrating in place over those...

The major manufacturer then did a quality check against the parts, and rejected ones were returned to the home-builder to do whatever they might do with them. They were billed for the parts sent to them and paid for the good ones as received. Kinda sounds like America, circa 1950s, to me...I knew lots of these "contractors" (as we called them in USA) who either made the desired parts outright to spec, or assembled and tested them to a contract. I worked in several such 'piecework' factories in the Chicago area during my high school years there, making things like thermostats (for cars and boilers), flow-control subsystems for hydraulics in heavy equipment, and even General Foods' Coffee Service office coffee kits for the many office workers "up front" in those operations. Seems to me, it's a good time to start doing that again, right here, right now?

[grcamna2]

That will be bringing more work into our USA and we can do quality control of our own. 

[MauiK3]

Signed up!

[Jimcg]

I signed up too, even though I own a CB650Z which was not among the models listed. I know they were never as popular as the others but if there is a chance in your further communication to add the 650, Mark, I (and I'm sure others) would very much appreciate it!

I rathter spend extra time at work to earn some more money to afford original Honda maintenance parts (carb boots, cam chain parts and such) than buing cheap crap.

Many thanks Mark for starting and pulling this project! 

/Jim

[grcamna2]

I signed up too, even though I own a CB650Z which was not among the models listed. I know they were never as popular as the others but if there is a chance in your further communication to add the 650, Mark, I (and I'm sure others) would very much appreciate it!

I rathter spend extra time at work to earn some more money to afford original Honda maintenance parts (carb boots, cam chain parts and such) than buing cheap crap.

Many thanks Mark for starting and pulling this project! 

/Jim

Yes,please include the 650 

[hawaiikid]

 I signed up Mark.

[camera7]

Signed


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[HondaMan]

I got another response, this time it appears from a Japanese person - based on the sentence structures. I think it's getting closer to Honda.

Here's that repsonse:
Thank you for submitting your web form to American Honda Powersports Customer Relations. We understand you would like to see Honda manufacture ignition parts (points and condensers) for the CB750K, CB750F, CB500K, CB550F, CB550K, CB40F, CB350F and CB250F four-cylinder, single overhead cam motorcycles. We will document your feedback for further review

Thank you,
AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC.
Amanda
Powersports Customer Relations
Case # 12404816

When you contact Japanese business firms it is common for them to quote back to you a portion of the correspondence that you sent so as to politely indicate that they read your communique'. In this case, the Points Plate item is about halfway through the e-mail I sent to Amanda (although it is #1 on my personal list!). I also know, from watching what has gone on, that the TEC Points Plate Assembly reappeared in 2010 likely as a strike against the cheap imitations made in China that have crippled so many of these bikes, giving Honda a black eye. Daiichi Japan has been fighting a running battle with an imitator in China who stole their logo and entered their market unauthorized: you might remember that for a time there were some GOOD Daiichi parts available - those were from Daiichi Japan - and this company was widely used in domestic Japanese cars. (I still have some of those).

They don't like China messing with their image and market, either.

[ekpent]

 Good news for folks that the ball is still rolling.

[MauiK3]

Persistence will pay.

[Greyhound]

Indeed glad to see that things are moving along!

[HondaMan]

Also in the past: when the first ACK came from Honda and the first parts [re]appeared, I contacted American Honda again later (and was shocked to find they still remembered me!) to ask for pipes for the 750 and 550. I think it was after that when the repops appeared, which came from Japan. I bought a set of those for my own 750 (I can't remember the vendor) and while the #2 pipe fit isn't perfect, it was close enough that a bit of filing at the footpeg boss and a shim washer between the pipes got the exhaust crossports to match up. Word was, the #2 pipe's original stamp mold was broken and lost, and the new one was made by someone new to the game.

The 350F even got some for a while, too - wish I'd bought some, but didn't have my 350 then...

[ekpent]

It seems that towards the end of the time that you could still actually get 750 pipes from Honda there seemed to be a little problem with some dodgy chrome. I remember member Johnie in WI having to get 2 or 3 of a certain # pipe from his dealer till he found one that he thought was acceptable. Some with some not so good chrome mayhave been making it ti E-bay as well.