PP Brighton Bike to be auctioned in UK..On Facebook spotted by James Harrington

[ashimotok0]

Interesting ! thanks for the heads-up  link James.

[ashimotok0]

Interesting in this comment that this person says he once owned the green pp bike.

[4pots1969]

Thank you for sharing... I think it will be very very hot ... The sale is likely to reach a record

[Steve Swan]

Interesting in this comment that this person says he once owned the green pp bike.

i find it increasingly annoying and tiring these bikes are referred to as "prototypes."  unless i misundertand, which is unlikely, the bike Mr. Dodge is referring to is not the "green" bike.  Mr. Dodge owned the blue-green late pre-production, vins CB750-2113/CB750E-2113 which he sold to Mr. World which Mr. World sold on ebay.

regarding "prototype"  WHAT prototype?  other than the dictionary definition, in the case of CB750 motorcycles produced before March 15, 1969, WHAT DOES PROTOTYPE MEAN?  imho, anyone who uses the word prototype to describe machines produced before 3/15/1969 is better pitied than censored.   ARRGGHH!

what is so difficult or challenging to refer to bikes built before 3/15/1969 as:

Early Pre-Production - one is known to have been produced

Late Pre-Production - four were produced

there were numerous factory mules before the pre-production bikes, Bob Jameson said perhaps a many as 50.

so this must mean that perhaps 55+ "prototypes" were built.

[ashimotok0]

http://online.handh.co.uk/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/83/

I wonder if  the green PP bike was  the one featured in this 1969 edition of BBC TV Programme  'Wheelbase' (a forerunner to 'Top Gear' ) Lord Denbigh the 1st owner of CGU 7H  was on the programme and I believe Alf Briggs of Honda UK was possibly riding the bike. It was broadcast on 28th February 1969.  Evidently the bike was previously shown in Holland with strict instructions not to run the engine but when it arrived in the UK,  Alf started and rode it (this could be Honda folklore though for all I know ...I read it in a book). Alf Briggs was a respected member of Honda UK and ran the Service Department in Nottingham in the 1960's  and a close friend of Mr. Honda since the very early 1960's.

The German bike featured was a Munch Mammoth .

[Steve Swan]

http://online.handh.co.uk/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/83/

I wonder if  the green PP bike was  the one featured in this 1969 edition of BBC TV Programme  'Wheelbase' (a forerunner to 'Top Gear' ) Lord Denbigh the 1st owner of CGU 7H  was on the programme and I believe Alf Briggs of Honda UK was possibly riding the bike. It was broadcast on 28th February 1969.  Evidently the bike was previously shown in Holland with strict instructions not to run the engine but when it arrived in the UK,  Alf started and rode it (this could be Honda folklore though for all I know ...I read it in a book). Alf Briggs was a respected member of Honda UK and ran the Service Department in Nottingham in the 1960's  and a close friend of Mr. Honda since the very early 1960's.

The German bike featured was a Munch Mammoth .

Ash, what you write of the green late p-p is very interesting.  boy!! if you could find more information, if that 1969 film is available, any other writings of the day, that would be quite something if you were able to verify that bike was the green one.  that is the only bike of the four late p-p bikes not accounted for. 

[Steve Swan]

perhaps it is timely and appropriate to again post pictures of the 4 late pre-production machines.

the Brighton bike being on the auction block is a big moment in CB750 history.  hopefully the new owner of the Brighton bike will share it with us.  i was disappointed when the blue-green bike disappeared.

[Steve Swan]

while i'm at it, a couple pics of the early p-p bike.  in the pictures of  the early p-p bike in the Mojave desert, Bob Jameson recalled his time with the machines.  They were in Death Valley which is -279 feet sea level and rises in areas to 6,000 feet with,as i understand it,  3% to 5% grades for 40 miles.  Jameson told me the engineers who came from Japan with the early pre-prod bikes ordered riders to ride up and down the grades in each gear wide open to try to destroy the engine.  Jameson told me the engine on the Honda was smoking by the end of the testing, but had not failed.  You will note the #1 exhaust pipe is quite blue.  

[Steve Swan]

and of course THIS bike, of which we know little about.  what is profound in the letters from Japan to Bob Hansen, they are dated mid 1968, and Honda already had their sights set on having a production CB750 entered at Daytona for 1970.  no wonder Honda became #1, the King of Motorcycles.  As Einosuke Miyachi prophetically stated about Honda's new model, "...I believe it is an epoch-making machine..."  Other than the 1885 Daimler Reitwagen, I believe the CB750 is the most significant machine in motorcycle history.

[Steve Swan]

and then here are a few pics of test mules.  note the one picture of the Japanese rider, the side panel of the tank appears chrome.  and what appears to be the same bike, discussed in 1969 December CYCLE WORLD, "Report from Japan."  i remember getting VERY EXCITED reading this article as a 17 year old boy.  what is interesting is the report makes direct reference to various chassis parts being CB450.  also interesting in the CYCLE WORLD article, the author states "...the frame is obviously closer to a test bed, than a production unit."

[benjixt]

Hi There,
it's will be interesting to havemore pic and NOW VIN# AND ENGINE#

Interesting Bike!

Benji

[ashimotok0]

http://online.handh.co.uk/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/83/

I wonder if  the green PP bike was  the one featured in this 1969 edition of BBC TV Programme  'Wheelbase' (a forerunner to 'Top Gear' ) Lord Denbigh the 1st owner of CGU 7H  was on the programme and I believe Alf Briggs of Honda UK was possibly riding the bike. It was broadcast on 28th February 1969.  Evidently the bike was previously shown in Holland with strict instructions not to run the engine but when it arrived in the UK,  Alf started and rode it (this could be Honda folklore though for all I know ...I read it in a book). Alf Briggs was a respected member of Honda UK and ran the Service Department in Nottingham in the 1960's  and a close friend of Mr. Honda since the very early 1960's.

The German bike featured was a Munch Mammoth .

Ash, what you write of the green late p-p is very interesting.  boy!! if you could find more information, if that 1969 film is available, any other writings of the day, that would be quite something if you were able to verify that bike was the green one.  that is the only bike of the four late p-p bikes not accounted for. 

I am pretty sure the BBC will have wiped the tape Steve but I will make investigations. It's interesting that Lord Denbigh was on the programme. It was filmed at the Lord Montagu of Beaulieu Estate I believe. Perhaps if I ask David Silver, he can get his buddy James May, who presents for the BBC to ask  if there is any trace or info. Worth a shot ...  I will keep you posted.

[4pots1969]

There was in my opinion two pre-prod Candy gold and this one is the English, what has become the one presented in France in this photo?

[ashimotok0]

http://online.handh.co.uk/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/83/

I wonder if  the green PP bike was  the one featured in this 1969 edition of BBC TV Programme  'Wheelbase' (a forerunner to 'Top Gear' ) Lord Denbigh the 1st owner of CGU 7H  was on the programme and I believe Alf Briggs of Honda UK was possibly riding the bike. It was broadcast on 28th February 1969.  Evidently the bike was previously shown in Holland with strict instructions not to run the engine but when it arrived in the UK,  Alf started and rode it (this could be Honda folklore though for all I know ...I read it in a book). Alf Briggs was a respected member of Honda UK and ran the Service Department in Nottingham in the 1960's  and a close friend of Mr. Honda since the very early 1960's.

The German bike featured was a Munch Mammoth .

Ash, what you write of the green late p-p is very interesting.  boy!! if you could find more information, if that 1969 film is available, any other writings of the day, that would be quite something if you were able to verify that bike was the green one.  that is the only bike of the four late p-p bikes not accounted for. 

I am pretty sure the BBC will have wiped the tape Steve but I will make investigations. It's interesting that Lord Denbigh was on the programme. It was filmed at the Lord Montagu of Beaulieu Estate I believe. Perhaps if I ask David Silver, he can get his buddy James May, who presents for the BBC to ask  if there is any trace or info. Worth a shot ...  I will keep you posted.

Ha ha Steve ..you were named as Steve Shaw in this

[ashimotok0]

Amazingly, this is still live: (Vic's Blue-Green pp)

http://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=331120055291&t=0&tid=10&category=80647&seller=sandcast2&excSoj=1&excTrk=1&lsite=100&ittenable=false&domain=ebay.com&descgauge=1&cspheader=1&oneClk=1&secureDesc=0