Collectables: little Japanese gems

Welcome to the new world of classic collectables: small-capacity Japanese bikes built between 1957 or so and 1975. Fresh interest in this class shouldn't come as a surprise. Most Australian riders over 40 inevitably owned one and many will have fond memories of a wild youth on a bike which was both reliable and (relatively) fast. While Japanese bikes flooded the showrooms at the time, there was considerable resentment expressed by "traditional" riders who were mentally married to England and all it stood for. Older Australians, in particular, had vivid memories of the Second World War and were shocked that younger citizens could so willingly embrace bikes produced by a recent and savage enemy. The baby-boomer generation (lots of babies were born in the late 1940s and early 1950s after the diggers returned from the war) had no such misgivings and, despite sometimes racist sledging about the origins of the bikes, bought them in great numbers.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT, SPANNER?
Around 70 - 100 separate manufacturers of motorcycles in Japan during the 1950s quickly consolidated into the four we know so well today (no, I haven't forgotten Bridgestone - more on it later) and Australia was the first country in the world to get exports from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha. The early Japanese bikes were all about transport: they were built with low maintenance and reliability in mind, not necessarily speed and handling. The pace of engineering development was staggering, though, and Japanese-manufactured bikes improved so quickly that they dominated the market by 1970. From the introduction of the CB750 in 1969, Japan started to focus on 500cc-plus bikes leaving a 15-year legacy of smaller capacity bikes which faded quickly into the background but which have now become the object of new interest among first-time collectors.

One reason for this is price. Many of these bikes were parked in sheds when owners moved up and there are thousands of them still available in fixed or fixable condition. Prices start at "free to a good home" and stay below $5000 even for the excellent original condition or fully-restored versions of the most desirable models. Running, original condition examples of the bikes identified below will range from $500 for the little ones up to $2500 for very good condition larger capacity models. Prices above $2500 usually indicate work or some restoration has already been carried out. As a guide, two recent ads priced a 1973 Honda CB250 which boasted the same owner for 32 years and a claim of showroom condition at $2000 and a fully restored '70 Suzuki T250 for $3,500. At the lower end, I recently sighted a Yamaha AS2 125 street scrambler which was complete but not running for $350. Articles like this one in national magazines (and, believe me, you'll read plenty more in the next ten years) will start to inflate prices so right now is the perfect time to get involved.

WHICH BIKE?
One of the most satisfying collecting experiences is to locate a model of bike with which you have a personal history and this isn't a bad place to start if you're looking for your first "classic". Remember courting your girlfriend on your 1968 Honda CB250 or your similar vintage Yamaha DT1? Plenty of examples of both models are still out there waiting for you. If you're starting from scratch and on a budget, have a good look at the biggest sellers of the time. These will include the ubiquitous Honda 90 and its stepthru range, Suzuki's A100 and its Yamaha equivalent. The large sales and continuous product availability means engine parts in particular will be easier to source. The overhead cam engine which Honda developed for its 1964 - 66 stepthru range, for example, is remarkably similar to the engine in Australia's top selling bike last year, the CT110. Some Japanese engine designs have production runs which span over 20 years.

As with all older bikes, the key purchase issue is completeness. While mechanical problems can generally be fixed, un-dented tanks, sidecovers, guards and other bodywork can be very difficult to replace. You'd describe as a bargain a clean, straight, complete Honda CB250 available for $1000 which was parked in the shed many years ago because of a burnt exhaust valve or a blown head gasket. The fewer of a particular model that were sold, the harder it will be to find body parts. The best buys will be in original or close to original condition, not heavily modified.

TWO-STROKE OR FOUR-STROKE?
This period of history saw two-strokes flourishing and Japan nailed the old problems of overheating, unreliability and short service life, largely by introducing various forms of direct oil injection which replaced the need to pre-mix oil and petrol. Bikes like Suzuki's 1966 T20 Super Six were as fast as just about anything else on the road at the time, regardless of capacity, and, unlike the non-Japanese options, they could be fast day after day. A Suzuki 315cc twin actually crossed the line first in the 1972 Castrol Six-Hour production race against all comers. It was subsequently disqualified because, depending on who you believe, its horn had been removed to aid air flow or it had non-standard porting. Whichever, it was an eye-opening performance. Another two-stroke, the first Yamaha RD250 in the country, won the 250 class. Single-cylinder two-strokes from the period were a little easier to maintain than the twins but the downside with air-cooled two-strokes is that performance can deteriorate quite dramatically as the top end of the engine wears. A rebore, pistons and rings for the twins would last about 30,000km and would restore original performance. The particular appeal of air-cooled two-strokes is that nobody makes them anymore; they had their golden age in our period of interest and will become increasingly rare and interesting. The four-strokes were as they have always been: slower but more stable in their performance delivery and in most ways easier to ride. If you see the two designs as an engineering war, there's no doubt the four-stroke won.

BEST BUYS
It's personal opinion here, but I can't bring myself to admire the styling of the early Hondas with their pressed steel, leading link forks and boxy angles. The breakthrough for Honda came with the still beautiful 1963 CB72 250. It had clean lines, telescopic front forks and allowed the words "Honda" and "handling" to be used in the same sentence. In my humble opinion, it's the pick of the entire crop.

Elsewhere in the Honda range, the overhead-valve 50cc engine which powered the 1958 - 1964 stepthru range makes this stepthru the pick of the stepthru collectables, although there's nothing wrong with the post 1964 overhead-cam engine and these models will be easier to find. Through its history of getting the world onto two wheels, the Super Cub will remain one of the most significant bikes of last century but will always be inexpensive as, at last count, 22,000,000 of them have been produced and they're still being manufactured (yes, the same design) in 11 countries. Parts? No problem. Another gem in the range was the CB400F which quickly became a cult bike internationally. Honda got the styling just right and it will be forever pretty.

The pick of the Suzuki range is the T20 250 from around 1965 onwards. These two-strokes were technically sophisticated, blindingly fast and very good looking. The T250 was replaced in 1973 by the GT250 which is also well worth considering, as is the aforementioned Castrol Six-Hour winning 315 which was marketed as the T350. 1968 saw the introduction of the Cobra, a 500cc twin which became slower over the years until it faded away as the GT500A/B of 1976. These are terrific bikes to ride and the pick of them is probably the T500K of 1973 with its drum front brake and still slightly wild port timing. Out of left field, consider the 125 "Stinger" with its advanced styling and powerful but peaky engine.

Kawasaki is something of a poor cousin in this group as it didn't start getting active in Australia until 1966 and its early range of bikes had relatively dated styling. It sold just 63 bikes in its first year. The 250 disc-valve A1 model was introduced in 1967 and these early 250 two-strokes are certainly worth considering but are harder to find than similar bikes from Yamaha and Suzuki. Styling-wise, the 1970 A1 is a treat for the eyes. The triples are also interesting, particularly the 250 and the 350 but are harder work. The H1 500 from 1969 fits our classic age range but is already firmly established in the general collectable class and misses out in the "riding pleasure" part
of our classic definition. As they say in Star Trek, it might be riding pleasure, but not as we know it, Jim.

Given the visual appeal of its race bikes from the period, Yamaha's road range had cluttered and angular styling. The bikes themselves were, however, among the best performers. The early ( late 1960s) 125 twins were faster than they had any right to be and a 250 YDS-3 onwards in the garage would be a good conversation starter. The first of the 350s, the R1 (yes, there was an R1 before the current superbike) was a particularly civilized ride with strong torque as well as plenty of power. The air-cooled RD series of 250s and 350s (culminating in the RD400) are well worth a second look. The RD400 had softer tuning but is the pick of the range for riding pleasure.

Yamaha didn't really get four-strokes right until the XS1100 and the smaller four-strokes can comfortably be avoided. Spare a thought, though, for the Yamaha SR500 which didn't appear until 1978 but is, along with the XT and TT500, among the best of the classics available.

The only other Japanese manufacturer that had an impact in Australia was Bridgestone which produced good bikes but eventually decided (under considerable pressure) that its future lay in tyres rather than motorcycles. The 350GTR of 1967 was a particularly nice bike and Bridgestone came close to outselling Yamaha for third spot in the NSW market. Nationally in that year, it had 7.2 percent of the market. Bridgestone bikes are rare today and parts supply is more difficult than with the other four manufacturers.

A sub-category of this collector class should include the period race-bikes. They're much rarer, you can't ride them on the road and they're likely to be vastly more expensive. But if anyone offers you a running Yamaha TD2 (or anything up to a TZ350) or a Kawasaki A1R or a Suzuki TR500 for a good price, don't say no until you've talked to your bank manager. If anyone offers you a Honda 250 Six for under $2000, contact me immediately at the MT office!

DIRT SQUIRTS
The secret is already out on vintage Japanese dirt bikes but there are still some good buys in the less popular road/trail category.

Yamaha's DT1 started it all in 1968. Prior to that, "scrambler" versions of Japanese road bikes were available but they were just the road bike with upswept exhausts. The DT1 had lots of ground clearance and a 19hp engine that was just as comfortable sitting on 100km/h as doing 5km/h in the scrub. It suited Australian conditions and started the great shift which now sees off-road bikes occupying the current top-ten best-selling bikes list. The DT1 is well and truly a piece of living history and is still capable of pleasant off-road performance. The other giant seller in the class was Honda's XL250 followed by the XL250S. Dirt bikes are available from all the manufacturers in the complete range of engine capacities, one of the most enduring being the TS185 from Suzuki.

FINAL HINTS AND TIPS
Buying a classic bike shouldn't be about making money. Bikes I've identified in the Japanese small-capacity classic class above will have a reasonable jump in value in the next ten years but will then settle down. It's about pleasure and involvement, not dollars.

Collecting and restoring are not the same thing. If you fully restore, say, a Honda 450 twin, you'll never get your money back. If you clean up and straighten a tired original on a budget and then ride it regularly, you'll get pleasure you can't put a price on. Old bikes need to be ridden regularly to stay in shape. If you leave a two-stroke for any length of time, the engine seals will harden and leak next time you ride it, requiring in some cases a complete engine strip and a separation of the crankshaft. Don't get carried away - a couple of working classics is more fun than a shed full of half-finished or unfinishable projects. Let your friends ride your bikes - it spreads the word and it's a welcome gesture of trust. If you buy a classic, kiss your family goodbye - you won't be needing them any more. Lastly, when you see an ad in MT in ten years time for a small capacity Japanese classic worth twelve grand and you remember seeing one for sale in 2005 for $500, don't blame me - I told you so and I told you first...

TOP TEN BUYS
Honda CB72 (1963)
Yamaha RD250
Yamaha DT1 250 (1968)
Suzuki T20 Super Six (1966)
Suzuki Stinger 125
Kawasaki A1 250 (1970)
Honda 50 Stepthru (1958 onwards)
Suzuki T500K (1973)
Honda CB400F (1974)
Yamaha DS6 250

CONTACTS
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (02)49731852. www.vjmcoz.org
This web site has lots of information on contacts for parts and information on older Japanese motorcycles. It's a good club too - make sure you join.

WHAT'S A "CLASSIC"?
Our working definition will be a Japanese bike under 500cc manufactured between 1957 and 1975 which is capable of providing its owner with riding pleasure and involvement. This isn't as all-inclusive as it sounds as there are plenty of bikes from the period that fail because they are either too ugly (Honda C71 Dream), too badly designed (Yamaha XS/TX500) or for which insufficient parts are available for practical (pleasant) restoration (Bridgestone 175). One of the really nice things about this new class of collectables is that many of them are still useful and practical transport in 2005. If they're in reasonable mechanical condition you'll be able to put up plenty of reliable kilometers to rallies, events and even daily work if that's where your inclination takes you. Some of the smaller stuff would be dangerously slow on freeways and in capital city traffic but if you live outside the city limits, there's no reason in the world why you can't tool around town on your Honda C92 Benly.