“Tour de Garages” –  Post 4: A Mighty CBR 250

Richard, you were bang on , the year too! I am impressed!

This is a 1988 Honda CBR 250; a mighty 'little' bike, built for speed. This lightweight 250 cc bike has 4 cylinders ...Not your average starter bike! (Ken thought if I could actually get to it, in the non collection, and could sit on it, in the non collection ... my feet might even touch the ground, but this one has a bit too much power for me.)

 

 45 hp with maximum speed about 110 mph (that's 177 kph. Holy little lightning Batman!")

 Next ....

 "I'm sexy and I know it ... check it out, check it out!"

“Tour de Garages” - Post 3: The Matchless - They've come a long way ... baby!

 

 

 

Ken bought this motorcycle as a basket case with about half the parts in 1978. This project of love and perseverance started around 2001 and is today 100% restored. No wonder it's the pick of the litter.

 

 

Bob – you were very, very close. (And now I know what a compression lever is too!) According to Ken,“Matchless and AJS were essentially the same bike (like Chev/Pontiac or Plymouth/Dodge)," but, he says, "there was an essential difference between a 1950 Matchless and the same year AJS."

 

Ken’s Pick of the litter is a 1950 (British made) Matchless G80S - the "S" stands for rear suspension. Early bikes had no shocks but this one did (second thing I learned on this part of the tour - there are twin and mono shock styles of modern bikes.) Even with the addition of these new shocks this one must have been a rough ride with the "candle stick" design (notice how thin it is and how straight up and down.) The Matchless also had springs under the seat ... I expect they left them on to add comfort to the ride while the engineers figured out the bugs with the new shock design. They've come a long way ... baby!

 

 

 

 

Matchless mass produced these bikes post WWII as an afordable form of "family" transportation - just add a side car for Mom and the kids.

For Ken, it's his pick - for sentimental reasons.

Ken's tip (if you're planning to start a restoration project): "My friend Ron gave me the best advice before I started putting it together, he said, put the whole bike together in any way with all the old stuff you can find, then you can see the whole bike assembled and you can figure out what you need.”

 

And parking is a little tight ... but here's the next challenge .
 

You're kidding me ... this thing is how many CC's?