Make it and they will come?

**AllanB** · 4th April 2016, 20:21

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** · 4th April 2016, 20:32

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

**AllanB** · 4th April 2016, 20:52

Originally Posted by Motu

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** · 4th April 2016, 20:53

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

**Madness** · 4th April 2016, 20:54

Originally Posted by HenryDorsetCase

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** · 4th April 2016, 20:55

Originally Posted by HenryDorsetCase

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

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** · 5th April 2016, 10:00

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** · 5th April 2016, 10:19

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

. 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

....needed more GO !!

**neels** · 5th April 2016, 10:55

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** · 6th April 2016, 09:47

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

This is what it once looked like ...

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** · 6th April 2016, 16:06

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** · 7th April 2016, 11:05

And then it looked like this

**Scubbo** · 7th April 2016, 17:42

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** · 7th April 2016, 18:15

Originally Posted by 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.

Hiya buddy

.

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.