Cb175

[Seeker]

I was going through old photos of my Dads and found this picture of me looking very serious on my new CB175 K4 (1972). This was before I started crashing it - there were many incidents before the rubber side stayed down:



(yes, my Mum liked to knit)

[Craig380]

I absolutely love that colour scheme on the smaller CB twins, and the twin-carb bikes sounded fantastic when revved. Was the redline at 10,800 or something like that?

The CB175 was a RARE sight when I was growing up (in Hull), there were more CDs than you could shake a stick at of course, but most sub-200cc bikes were the Suzi GT125/185 and the Yam RDs. The DT and TS trailies were popular too.

[Craig380]

Whereabouts were you living at that time? In Hull, where I lived 'til I was 18, I don't recall there being a Kawasaki dealer until 1976 (when the Hull Kawasaki Centre opened), so there were very few Kawas around ...

It was mainly Yam and Honda twins, and the Suzi twins and triples. The 380 was especially popular (probably because they looked a bigger bike compared with the CB360 and RD350 / 400, and Suzuki imported a boatload of unsold 380Ms from the US and sold them at a discount in the UK)

[Sir Trev]

Nice jumper











Sorry, could not resist.

[SV650rules]

That is a nice looking bike, much better than anything in its class that our bike makers were producing ( BSA Bantam anyone ?) - did it have the original hard nylon Japanese tyres ? (apparently Japanese roads have a much grippier volcanic ash / shellgrit surface and the tyres were OK in Japan, but not on our roads).

[Craig380]

Originally Posted by Seeker

In Cleethorpes. One friend bought an H1A second hand (don't know where from), another friend bought a new H1E (might have been an F) from a bike shop on Corporation Road in Grimsby. Calling it a dealer would be a stretch - he serviced the bikes on the footpath outside the shop, his shop window/show room only had room for one bike. Found this on Kawasaki UK Heritage:
"In this first year of official distribution, Kawasaki had just fifteen road bike dealers in the UK who sold 1230 units in 1974 from a range comprising just six models."

Hull had a couple of bike shops like that, as well as the big dealers like Ken Blakey's on Anlaby Road (Suzuki, Yamaha, BMW) and the Honda dealer on Beverley Road whose name I can't recall. When the Honda dealer got one of the new Gold Wings in, we used to ride our pushbikes just to gaze in awe at it through the window.

[glang]

Memories eh! Now you go to a MC dealers and theres no one under 50 looking through the windows....

[Talking Heads]

Originally Posted by glang

Now you go to a MC dealers and theres no one under 50 looking through the windows....

No need, the internet has made bike showrooms fairly redundant.
People under 50 are still interested in bikes, but they look at them on their phones and do their own product research via the internet rather than going to dealers to hear a sales pitch.

[SV650rules]

Originally Posted by Talking Heads

No need, the internet has made bike showrooms fairly redundant.
People under 50 are still interested in bikes, but they look at them on their phones and do their own product research via the internet rather than going to dealers to hear a sales pitch.

Still think bikes look better as a physical thing rather than a 2D picture on a tiny phone screen, also people want to do their research of many things online but still expect a dealer (or shop) to be there to go and look at things and try things 'in the flesh' (so to speak). Although I researched the new SV online in late 2015 I wanted to see, hear and try one at a dealer (even though I had to ride to Wales to the dealer (loverrrrly ride though).

Millenials don't think anything exists unless they can see it on their phone..... it is their world and their reality.

[Biker Biggles]

I had a CB175 round about that time as well,the red one and it replaced a BSA Bantam.Mine wasnt totally reliable though,giving battery charging problems(new alternator) and it broke a gearbox selector.
So I bought a Ducati 250 Desmo!