Nastiest hack?
 

Big up for Honda
Ever since I were a young chap there has been a rusty silver motorbike sitting in my dads garage, I'd always dreamed of riding it (not fully aware of what it was, obviously). Mostly it was a storage shelf for garage junk and spiderweb holder.

I've since left home, passed my motorbike test, told my parents and they have got over it.

Being that there has been a spate of motorbikes being stolen at Heathrow I thought I'd get my ar$e in gear and commandeer the bike as a winter hack / anti trumpet theft device.

So for weeks I badgered my dad to find the keys, eventually he found them and called me up. I brought my battery pack and connected her up.

Power - check,
Lights- check,
Indicators- check,
Horn - nope, meh.

Go for ignition, and she fires!... Intermittently... on one cylinder... with the starter motor pressed, but its life, and its workable! So 'Project Dream' was born.

New fluids and filters ordered, new horn and shock absorbers as old ones were like pogo sticks.

The carbs were the big issue, I had stripped them down and after removing a small desert out of them I was confident, but alas after 3 strip downs it would appear my carb cleaning skills were not up to scratch and had to give them to someone who know what they were doing.

I sent them with bike attached off to Stu (spannerman) & Co. for their 'get me carbs working' service. Naturally they succeeded where I had failed.

So 16 years since it last saw civilisation, the superdream is on the road.

http://forums.sv650.org/picture.php?...pictureid=3720
-more pics in gallery.

The brakes are of another era, using the full allowance specified in the highway code, possibly Honda building the bike to exacting specifications.

All in all, a fairly pleasant hack, a bit of history on the road being of 1979 vintage.

A massive thanks to Mr Spannerman & Co. for their knowledge, time and patience.

Anyone else got anything older / rustier? :D

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

rusty? thats a sophisticated iron/carbon/oxygen alloy

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

Give it to kwak and his cousin, I seem to remember a thread where they polished something like that up to look really smart! Go on kwak, where is that thread?

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Trust me...that don't look too bad. Got an SRX in the back yard that looks just as bad, and it passed its MOT to run over last winter!

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OMG! My second bike!!! (well not that actual one!) Rear springs as well. Is the rear brake a drum brake?




PS my first bike was a Honda SS50 in yellow with black go faster stripes I put on the tanks. And if that mention of the word Honda is filtered I'll be cross, because a Honda SS50 was Admin2's first bike too!!

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

I have a '75 Suzuki TS250, only needs an exhaust and putting on the road for the first time ever! and shes been out in the rain for years, only a small patch of rust on her :D

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

I had a couple of Superdreams back in the day, one of them used nearly as much oil as petrol due to the rings being shot!

Not a bad bike really, perfect as a winter hack I'd guess.

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

is it a 250 or the 400.

is the fuel tank fiberglass ? if so get it checked out as my dad restored one and the tank was fiberglass and it leeked like a sieve.

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

i've got a cb400n superdream 1978 which is in good condition. father in law has plans to get it back to original colours and show it.

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Going on what the side of the bike says, I'd say its a 250 ;)

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Indeed and thank god, as its about as effective as the front brake.

It is a 250 as pat pointed out, and a steel tank made obvious by the rust!

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

not all people can see a photo which has not been posted in a thread....

but... looking at the album in Ians public profile... reviles... yes a 250.

and there still is no T in my name...Ian !

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

Good morning all.


It was a pleasure Ian. Glad to see you took heed of my warnings about old Honda brakes, & leave an oil tanker sized gap between you & the vehicle infront.

& trust me folks it really does look that good!:grin:


Cheers.

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

I would love an old project like this, mind you ive spent enough changing things on the SV so maybe that counts.....

Are you not going to get it looking good cosmetically?

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God I'm close with the SR ;) 1981, oh so close!

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My Dad said a long while ago that these were one of the worst bikes ever made. ha ha

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

Ive just been looking at a 1981 Royal Enfield 350 Bullet , really fancy a classic tbh, good luck with it.

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

Not sure I want a project .... but definately up for a winter hack that I can use and abuse .....

Should have kept my GN125 I suppose ... perfect for a short commute .....

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

I wouldn't say it was the worst bike ever, for a start there's the falco...

The bike is going to proove itself over winter, and I'll either tart it or sell it in spring.

Enfields are great, massive mpg, unlike the dream which is 1mpg better than the street, and 1000% slower. But at least it won't get stolen at work!

If when the rain stops I'll get a few pics in it's current road worthy state. ( you lucky peeps you)

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

With all the rust on the exterior, how does the inside of the tank look??

Regarding brakes, I had a 1960 BMW R69 with a side car. Mechanical drum brakes, hauling all of that to a stop, took some advance planning and a considerable amount of counter steering. Nice to have hydraulic disc brakes on today's bikes.

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

inside of the tank is pretty good I think, from what I can see from the filler anyways!

It had a nice storage tbh, in a brick garage, covered in lots of junk.

The brakes are a lot better after I had fitted new modern pads, at least now I can lock the front wheel on a loose surface!

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

I cant believe that your riding a bike thats just 3 years younger than me!

Top marks for scoring a free 250 super dream though !

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

Your dad was right.

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

it's worse than that, that bike is 2 years older than I am.

Free bikes are definatly the way forward...

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

Ah to be fair that wasn't out when he said it... No doubt he would agree with you though. :rolleyes:

Interesting to read someone else of a similar generation say that. :D

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Nonsense! They were a great bike. Or is my recollection a bit foggy? The 125 was a lot smoother than the single cylinder competition anyway, and the wheels much easier to clean than the spoke & chrome jobs most bikes had.

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I got a 1963 lambretta LI 150, 7 years older than me ;)

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My god, does metal last that long? ;)

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The 250 superdream at the time was up against the X7 250 Suzuki, the KH250 kwak and the RD250 Yam, it was seen as a bit of safe bet compared to the others and never really caught the imagination, good bikes though.

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

:rambo:

Cheeky sod

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

The 250 Superdream was a sleeved down version of the already overweight CB400N with half the brakes up front, which meant it was even more overweight, grossly underpowered and underbraked. Suzuki had their reasonable but incredibly ugly GSX and Yamaha their awful (but still better than a Superdream) XS, but Kawasaki stole a march on the lot when they brought out their mini Z1000 lookalike Z250 in late 1979, which was a marvellous little bike that went well and handled even better. To keep a Honda CB250N moving at any respectable pace required huge amounts of tachometer abuse, and they still delivered little in the way of fun - I hated them, but loved the Zs

People who owned Superdreams in their youth went on to buy a BMW R1200RT for polishing on a Sunday in betweeen break downs, and a sh1tty old BSA Bantam as a classic bike to talk about at the Golf Club. They wear leather patches on their cardigan elbows and drink real ale in pubs that play folk music; they have a wife whose name is never any more exotic than Ruth and kids named Mary and John. In short, they don't know what the word 'fun' really means.

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you think that's bad - my first bike was a CB100N

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You have my sympathy, in bucketloads.

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AND, not just that AND I had a GSX 250 - the ugly one you referred to lol - good bike though just damned ugly

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Sheeesh, he's got my number!

At least I now know what to call my kids (if ever I have any).

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Leave off, the CB100N was an excellent first bike-I still have very fond memories of my first taste of freedom on mine.

http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk...nda_cb100n.jpg

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

erm - well - mmmmm yes - mmmm - cough

this is me a long time ago in a galaxy far away - commonly known as Devon

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q37/5hort5/old.jpg

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and if I post the first then I may as well post the third

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q37/5hort5/suz.jpg

Re: Nastiest hack?
 

These photies are giving me the boak.

"Nasty" just about covers it.

Keep'em coming!;)

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My first bike was a GSX250, a silver one. Yep, it was ugly but it went everywhere and never gave me any trouble :D