Topic: 750 K4 in Tony Foale frame

[RupertB]

Hello all - first time I have ever registered on any forum of any sort, so first of all the main reason for being here - I have just bought a 750K4 1974 engine in a Tony Foale monoshock frame, and the whole lot is in really poor condition having lived outside on and off for about 15 years. The story with the bike is that it has a Yoshimura 810 conversion and a close ratio gearbox - won't find out till it gets stripped down and it will only be a bonus not a necessity. The idea is to make a tasty cafe racer out of it, with no sidepanels in order to show off the monoshock. Much info will be needed as ideas come and go, but the biggest one at the moment is bodywork - anyone out there done or own anything similar? I plan a rear hump to take the battery and electrical bits if possible, but I presume it won't take a standard-fitting tank as the Foale frame has the oil in the top tube with an oil cap in the way. So, any info out there? Also any ideas on light alloys and light discs/calipers in standard yokes? It is just so much easier to shave weight off the bike than it is to diet!
Now the dull intro stuff - I am in northern England and this is my first Honda since a 500/4 in 1980. My other bikes are all Italian - 2004 Ducati ST3, 1977 Guzzi Le Mans and 1979 Laverda Jota.
A good collection, especially as I have a wife and 2 kids - one at University and the other completing 2 showjumping horses. No wonder I am permanently broke. If anyone wants to help my finances you could always buy a book I wrote, but to plug it on first posting could get me struck off here and I don't want that!
Safe riding all, and fingers crossed someone can give me some info.

[scunny]

welcome, sounds like a good find. we like pics.

[vanillagorilla]

Welcome! The tank will probably take some searching on your part. You may end up having to take some measurements and have a custom piece built. Someone here has a good recommendation. I have seen race tanks with s similar frame, but I have no idea where they came from. Sounds like a cool bike and a nice addition to a sweet collection! Wonder what it would cost to get a frame like that... Pics! Sooner the better.

[RupertB]

Thanks folks - I have managed to upload a 2.5MB photo which makes the bike look better than it is, even though it is wearing a home-made tank that came with it, it has never been used, is well made, but looks like it was designed by the same bloke who designed Herman Munster's head. The bodywork is also unused but in my view looks well out of character, and under it was a horrible piece of tubular frame to support the rear of the bodywork. The frame add-on is going in the bin soon, as are the two vile 'streetfighter' spotlights which not only had no bulbs in, they didn't even have any wiring!
What I don't understand is why I can't now upload a 1.6MB photo. Probably something to do with having owned a Norton for 26 years....

[scunny]

to post a large pic you have to put it up on photobucket or similar and link it here.

[scottly]

Welcome!
You appear to have good taste regrading bikes!
Pics posted here have to be downsized to 256k or less.
Be sure to visit the racing and high performance section of the forum...

[HedNut]

Do you have?? Or will you be starting a build thread!?  I'm terribly interested in your bike....as it comes together.... gives me simple pleasure watching other projects materialize into tarmac butterflies of vengance and serenity.... 

Love it man!  If you do already have a project build...please point me in the direction!!

[vanillagorilla]

tarmac butterflies of vengance and serenity.... 

Someone had been hitting the bong this morning... 

[RupertB]

......interesting turn of phrase from Canada there. At least it wasn't pseudo-French like some of them come out with.
Anyway, on a more positive note - I bought the bike on a whim from a friend a few weeks ago for £500. The last 4 cylinder Jap I had was a Hayabusa a few years ago, and before that it was a 500/4 Honda which I bought in 1980 and sold about 2 years later to buy a Norton Commando which I owned for 26 years before it went to pay for a horse for my daughter. Hey ho. Always liked the 750/4 but as a 70s teenager I have other stronger memories in my garage - the Jota and Le Mans 1. (There is a point to this - be patient please!)
The LM1 was restored from near dereliction after it spent almost 25 years in a barn in South Wales before I bought it unseen off ebay and found that not only was it original but it had less than 4,000 miles on the clock and effectively no wear in the engine. I think that gave me the restoration bug so the Honda was just so tempting as a means of getting another project and a bit of a blank canvas to boot. Foale frames were another 70s memory, so as a relatively cheap outlay I reckon it can be tinkered with until I find some way of getting some money together to do it up. I am notas stupid as I look by the way - I can rip apart but rebuilding of moving stuff I send to NBS near Stafford. www.motorcycleservicing.co.uk - Guzzi genius but can tackle most stuff if you talk nicely to him.
I did contemplate robbing a bank but none of them have any spare money at the moment either...
So for now it is a matter of strip down and dream.
There was a rumour that the 750 had a Yoshi 810 conversion and a close ratio gearbox - well the pistons are 64 diameter which looks like an 810 I think, they are also stamped 'STD' which is nice. Haven't got to the gearbox yet but fingers crossed. The wheels turn out to be Henry Abe ones which is a bonus but may change the original plan to go for CR750 stying, and the exhaust looks like a Yoshi 4 into 1. How it will end up I don't know, but someting to show off the monoshock is favourite at the moment. We'll see... Pics coming soon.