As usual - that Honda is NA for North America!

At first glance my '47 Doodlebug looks very much in shape & size like the cheap small minibikes that became popular in the '60s, with aluminum B&S engines, rope-start, centrifugal-clutch and 'scrub' brakes. Close-up, mine is obviously very old-school, more expensive construction. If nothing else like that was made before my Doodlebug, it might be the ancestor of those later, cruder minibikes.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I had a trail 90 once as well. The earlier version where to change to lower gearing. You had to change the rear chain sprocket. As for todays value. A guy with a few old bikes wanted 1200 for his semi restored one at a flea market a year or so ago.

I purchased mine on a lark to putter around in a very large park area near where we lived while the wife was away. Sold it not long afterwords.

They were running a few super 90s in the local motocross for awhile then as well. There is an old unused motocross track only a couple of miles away. It is not used for any events anymore for some reason. I had not thought about it for years.

I also have a junked Yamaha 650 4 stroke twin for years. From the early 1980s. With only 14k kilometers on the original engine and transmission. That is under 10 thousand miles. It will be departing for the junkyard in the next month or so. I would like to know someone who could use at least the engine. Or the transmission. Older bikes are very rare around here now. Maybe I should pull the front and back wheels .That have Six or eight support bars for the rims first.

No ; you're not the only one who rode and (I hope) enjoyed Triumph Motos.

I owned and rode a 1976 (?) T100C 'B.I.T.S.A.' (single carby 500CC twin) for a short while, I traded it on for an M1 Garand .

I've gotten several off list inquiries about the vintage Motos for sale, the yellow one is $1,800 and has quite a bit of new parts, I just installed a new original typ seat cover .

It likes to ride at 30 ~ 40 MPH and with my lard butt on it will go 47 MPH flat out .

This has the world famous Honda AutoClutch and two speed auxiliary transmission .

I also have a much harder to find bike (I don't like to say 'rare' but it is) : a 1969 Honda CL90 with manual clutch and four speed tranny, also many new parts, $2,500 .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

My first was a Kawasaki KH400 triple 2 stroke brand new in 1977. I drove it off the showroom floor for $1049.00 out the door, put 13,000 miles on it before I sold it to a kid around the corner, who got 6 speeding tickets in 6 months.

By then it had Protopipe expansion chambers and dropped bars.

But it was a great daily driver, and it did take me from my Bay Area home to my grandparents in central New Mexico and back with zero mechanical trouble.

It would outrun any Honda 550 4 cylinder with ease, and the howl when it got on the pipes was sublime.

Bike #2 was a Suzuki GT750 waterpumper, stock pipes. I ditched the stock diaphragm carbs and replaced them with some Mikunis with slightly bigger jets.

Torque was amazing on that bike, and it was extremely quiet.

My last ride was 40 years ago this month. A buddy with his Honda CB750 and I took a month off and headed for Mexico. We got as far as Cabo San Lucas, and on the way back to La Paz, I lowsided in some twisties, slid into a clearing that had a ditch running across it.

The nose of the bike dropped into it and catapulted me over the bars, compression fracturing L2.

The tank went one way, bags another and pipes even flew off the frame..
I never saw the bike again.

It took a 5 level spinal fusion with Harrington rods to stabilize my spine, and I had to learn how to walk again...

So no more bikes after that.

Wow!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I'm sorry to hear that Nate ;

I well remember those Kawi triples ~ they didn't turn nor stop wonderfully but once they 'came on the pipe' they were rockets .

I too had to get my neck fused, I now have a titanium plate and 8 screws, I didn't think I'd ever be able to turn my head again but I can, just barely enough to drive safely .

I should stop riding but for some reason can't quite yet .

I never owned a Suzi-Q 'Water Buffalo', also a stellar Motocycle .

I did own a 1968 Suzuki GT260 ~ that being the worlds first regular production 6 speed Moto, it was a 250CC twin two-smoker and even two up was very quick if not really fast ~ I have little need for post 90MPH on two wheels, as long as I can get up to 60 or so before the next bend in the road I'm happy .

I'll be satisfied to ride as long as I can, I hope to ride into my 80's as several of my Moto friends do .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I went over the high side of a Yamaha 350 two stroke when I was in college. Took a walk on the interstate. When I came down on my foot the road tore off the heel, when I landed on my face it nearly wore a hole in my lip, and took off about half the skin on my face. There was a bright red scar for a long time on the lip. Also made hamburger of both knees and broke a thumb.

I still rode for a while after that but when I had my fourth kid one day I realized I had not plated the BMW for three years, so I sold it for $375 IIRC....today you'd add a zero to that value I suppose.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

When I rode it was in a very high population density area. I just felt after some really close calls. I had better stop doing this. Or I am really going to get hurt.

Much safer to use a motorcycle where we live now but so much time has passed. I am not immortal anymore. Traffic density is almost nil most of the time here. Rush hour traffic does not even exist as it was in the Toronto area.

I rode in a defensive fashion but it did not matter. It just was consistently unsafe as too many drivers just did not see me. It was too bad it was that way. Had I started riding in the current area we reside in I would probably still be at it.

A guy I rode with got 4k for what a driver did to him but his leg would be a long term problem. That was a sizable portion of what a house could be had for then.. I suggested that to him. He purchased a new car and blew the rest instead. Well we all were young then.

For years after and even today I go to motorcycles sales places and look around. Especially in early spring. I even saw a local ad this spring that I kind of wanted to phone about. Something also drew me to a bike auction only a few years ago. That was really a close call.

A lot of people our ages are getting hurt on their "always wanted one" motorcycles. My sister who is about 76 and her husband who is a year or two older still ride around on one of those large Harley clones. I tried to get her to ask for a Miata but no use. My BIL cannot pick up the huge beast if he falls over at a light.

They are charmed apparently as they have not been hurt yet.

I never liked those huge bikes. My 72 r60/5 weighed 376#. That seems heavy enough to me.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

That is the question .

It's Saturday so I geared up right at sunup and puttered off on the yellow Tiddler, went a few towns over to a show & shine where the bike got a fair bit of attention, I'd left it parked & locked & didn't talk to anyone about it, after a couple hours I saddled up and rode it down the hill to Burbank, Glendale and a few other nearby towns, got a hair cut and some beat cops in Glendale laughed about the "5150" on the back of my helmet (means involuntary psychiatric hold) , it was a nice 1/2 day ride .

I've been attacked whilst riding , in town, by gang members, that was in 1973, no reason, they just tried to kill us all, Billy was a Marine who liked to beat up drill instructors (a really bad/stupid idea), he stopped his Kawi 440 twin in the middle of the boulevard and put up his dukes so the cowardly gang bangers of course followed Mike and I, Mike wasn't the brightest bulb in the lamp so right after he followed me over a raised berm he stopped and shut off his bike ~ as I yelled "don't shut it off you dumbshyte !" the ('55 Ford F1) full of angry Mexicans slid to a stop and he jumped on the back of my bike, last thing I saw was them beating his bike to scrap with baseball bats...

There were many times when riding that strangers simply tried to knock me off my bike, no worries about my getting killed nor their vehicle getting scratched up, some folks are just weird/hostile/stupid .

I don't think riding is any safer to - day .

Big, heavy throbbing Motos that don't handle nor stop well are kinda foolish IMO although I certainly did enjoy riding them when I was a youngster .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

MY first was a new '74 KZ400, then up to a KZ750 in 1976. Just couldn't see a 2 stroke triple in my riding future. 20 years off raising a family, then a '91 1200 sporty followed by a new '97 FXDS. I liked the nimbleness of it and the 1340 Evo.
I had a 5 level cervical fusion C4,5,6,7 & T1. in 2004. The beginning of the end of my riding days. Rode the Eastern route to Harley's 100th in 2003 as HOG Chapter Director. Great fun except Elton John (really??) as the closing act of the event Sunday night.


My view of riding now is the same as Harry Callahan's:
" A man has got to know his limitations"

@Dynalow,

Yeah, I knew that 2 strokes were on their way out by the time I bought mine, however I've always liked machinery that was a bit different. For 15 years I drove nothing but Corvairs.

But the torque characteristics of that Water Buffalo were wonderful. If you wanted to climb a grade, just twist the throttle and do it.

My buddy that was with me on the Mexico trip was riding a Honda CB750. Two comments from him at the end of the first day's ride?

1. How come I only hear my honda and not yours?
2. Every time I have to climb a grade, I need to drop two gears.

The advantage he had over me was gas mileage. I don't think I ever broke 35 mpg on either of those bikes and he could easily get 45 IIRC. It made a difference down in Mexico. Once where the Pemex guide showed a fuel station, by the time we got there it had been closed down, with just a bunch of hungry and sketchy looking dogs hanging around. We didn't stop there.

We ended up flagging down a Nortamericano who was towing his 30 ft boat north, and he gave me the last few gallons of gas from his boat's tanks to help us get to our next fuel stop.

@Vwnate1:
I sympathize with your neck fusion..back in the day the neurosurgeon who worked on me had pioneered a few tools to make cervical surgery more foolproof..His Name was Steven Genest. Maybe you benefitted from his inventions. My ortho guy was Michael Butcher (Can't make this up!).
Both of them are still practicing last time I checked, both did a great job given the technology of the times.

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Nate Stanley
(Currently Benzless)
1985 F-250 6.9l 170K
2009 SCION XB 36.5K
2003 LS430 78K
2012 Kubota B 2320

I had a doc named butcher for my hernia repair. Heh heh!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The sound and power application of most but certainly not all two smokes was very different than how your Suzuki sounds .

I don't recall ever riding a Water Buffalo Suzuki, I have ridden plenty of older two smokers that didn't 'go on the pipe' at any RPM's, they were O.K., I didn't like the late 1960's ~ 1970's ones that were rather slam-bang in their power bands .

I've had more than one butcher for a doctor, such is the way with Kaiser, it's *very* hit or miss but tin the big picture I've done well .

My fusion was supposed to be done by a female (she was no lady) doctor, she clearly didn't want to do the surgery and made sure I knew it, when she flat out LIED to me in the first meeting I complained to Kaiser and they gave me a wonderul doctor named William something, he'd had the same surgery I needed so he understood the need to get it right, most times they go in from behind so as to not leave scars, I told him my quality of life after was all I cared about, don't sweat the scars if going in the front makes the job easier / better in any way .

IMO he did a good job, I had some sort of birth defect already in my esophagus and he didn't correct it, made it slightly worse but it's manigaeble .
One of my many hernia repairs wasn't one by the doctor at all, he never showed up so his intern did it and botched the job, I nearly bled out in post op .

That one was the old style surgery, not the modern mesh thing, it's still uncomfortable twenty years on and feels like a 4" piece of 3/4" rope under my skin...

Life goes on.......

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Yikes!

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.