Make it and they will come?

[AllanB]

Ducati's Scrambler has been a global hit.

What if HONDA whizzed up something similar to this custom? It would not be hard to mass produce and make road legal.

Probably not happen or happen too late - remember the USA chopper madness not that many years back (Orange County Choppers etc) - everyone wanted one. Honda finally made one - about a year after the craze died and shifted to bobbers ........

It would a hoot to fat around the city on.


http://www.inazumacafe.com/2016/03/ascot-tracker.html

[Motu]

It's called a streettracker - been tried on a few production bikes, but it's better to make your own.

[AllanB]

It's called a streettracker - been tried on a few production bikes, but it's better to make your own.



While I don't disagree I still think Honda needs to pull it's arse out and crack out some new exciting models. Probably because I remember the 80's and all the new models they cracked out. Now they just play it safe ....


And what's with the Japanese and Naked - they always detune the shit out of them. Italians don't.


PS The Ascot was always a ugly bike stock. The OP is sweet.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Plus if Blue Wang had anything to do with it, it would be 20k retail.

[Madness]

Plus if Blue Wang had anything to do with it, it would be 20k retail.

For the first 18 months, then they'd drop it to ~$12,000 in a runout sale.

[AllanB]

Plus if Blue Wang had anything to do with it, it would be 20k retail.

:brick: Hear ya. It is almost like they pick a model they think will do well then decide it must be so good it needs a premium price .......

[Black Knight]

There is some real interesting bikes available on the domestic market in Japan especially from the house of Honda-There is a CB400SS,lovely looking bike with the XR400 motor,my CL400 Street Tracker has the same motor and a great bike to ride,they re-introduced a GB400 a while back in two toned blue with black pinstripes
that was stunning,but only for one year.Also there is the new 400SM Super Motard that is sold in Oz only which looks a great bike.All this stuff is available ex Japan,I think Red Baron and others are looking to this supply market.

[swarfie]

That streettracker looks good...all except the headlight. They could've given a bit more thought to that part of the build. Strange how the original FT mag wheels come alive when painted gold:clap:. Never did much in their original black/polished ali livery IMO. A mate had an FT500 back in the day...I had an XR500A, and the FT was pretty flat in comparison:sleep:....needed more GO !!

[neels]

Following a trend is a dangerous game for manufacturers, if your time to market is too long you can miss the boat completely, the way it usually works is if you have enough market credibility you can effectively create a new trend and make your money before anyone else gets on board.

Honda have in the past been innovative, not always successfully, their offerings these days do seem to err on the conservative side.

The most important thing these days seems to be branding and convincing the sheeple that they need a thing that in reality they don't really need at all.

[Banditbandit]

http://www.inazumacafe.com/2016/03/ascot-tracker.html

This is what it once looked like ...

http://allfotocars.com/data_images/gallery/03/honda-ascot/honda-ascot-03.jpg


They were a good bike - sit on the road at 130klicks all day ... and I frequently did ... but not the most powerful machine - could be described as "gutless" ... two up into a head wind and it struggled to get passed 90 klicks ...

The 400 engine was a little better than the 500 as the difference was not the bore, but the stroke, so the 400 was a shorter stroke - seemed to rev easier than the 500 ...

This one's very pretty - but not a bike I would spend money on to modify - a trifle under-powered.

[AllanB]

Yeah but a modern version could whack out some extra ponies.

Amazing what a shot of gold did to those wheels. There is hope for those vile mags on the Bonnies after all. Paint them.

[Black Knight]

And then it looked like this

[Scubbo]

they need to bring back road legal 2-strokes --- nutts to the emissions arguments, overpopulation will cause more damage and I cant see some oil being burned being worse than all these 4wd's sitting on the motorway with one occupant for 2 hours each day.

[george formby]

they need to bring back road legal 2-strokes --- nutts to the emissions arguments, overpopulation will cause more damage and I cant see some oil being burned being worse than all these 4wd's sitting on the motorway with one occupant for 2 hours each day.

Hiya buddy:niceone:.

Somewhere on the interwebs is a re-imagined TDR 250, street tracker style, and if memory serves some fulla in the UK put an RD350 motor into a hacked Kawasaki trail bike frame to make a street tracker. Both looked great. That style and 2t character. Delish.

[pete-blen]

I hate people that draw pics of bikes that will never be built...
wish Yamaha would build this..... moden TT500 "660"

[F5 Dave]

Ahh bullshit. Where's my road legal NSR500 V twin? Anything else is just for homos.

[bbnet]

Here's a few newish bikes that might interest some:

Clevland Cycle Werks FXR - part trials, part trail, street legal - http://clevelandcyclewerks.com/fxr/

Janus Halcyon 50 - sadly out of production now, but they do have some other models in a similiar vein - http://leveledmag.com/2012/12/janus-motorcycles-halcyon-50/

I'm savin my beans for one of these next gen RDs which is almost certain to never appear: http://www.classic-japanese-bikes.com/images/yamahaRD350modernn.jpg

[AllanB]

That 660 is very nice.

I would not be surprised if the RD appears - Yamaha are on a roll with new models at the moment - must have buoyant sales and wanting to keep the momentum.

[husaberg]

That 660 is very nice.

I would not be surprised if the RD appears - Yamaha are on a roll with new models at the moment - must have buoyant sales and wanting to keep the momentum.

Not sure when but there were still being made up until at least the mid 1990's in India in original 1970s round tank design.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajdoot_350
Edit later okay up to 1989 anyway