This isn’t one of those little Rotec radials used by Jesse James or JRL Cycles, these pieces are from a full size aero engine. The 2 cylinders, with a bore of 5.125″ and stroke of 4.625″ yield 191 cubic inches (3130cc) and mate to a crankcase designed by Ian himself. He designed the patterns, a local foundry made the casting.
Everything was built by Ian in his garden shed. He designed and built the boardtrack style hardtail frame with sufficient size to hold the engine while keeping it proportioned so someone can actually ride it. I like the aero touches like the nose art, applied by local artist, Jennie Persak and if you look closely, you’ll even see a pitot tube for the airspeed indicator. How cool is that?
The bike looks pretty neat but it’s the engine that catches your eye, I think the heads, especially, look great. Is the bike practical? Not really, though it certainly looks rideable, it’s just one of those projects that starts when a builder comes up with an idea and sees it through. Anything with an engine that looks that good gets a thumbs up from me.
Warbird 191
Norton Kawasaki 2 Stroke
one of our regulars, sent along this photo of a featherbed framed Kawasaki triple. The featherbed frame has seen a lot of engine transplants, singles, twins of all types and Triumph triples, among others, but I can’t recall ever seeing a Kawasaki 2 stroke triple. The Kawasaki triples were not known for their handling, well, actually they were, it just wasn’t the kind of notoriety they were hoping for, putting one of these into a featherbed frame makes for an interesting mix.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen a Japanese/British transplant, there was this Yamaton, a Yamaha engine in a Norton frame, at Mid Ohio this past summer.
SYMBA Honda Cub Replica
According to Steve from TheScooterScoop, SanYang Motors of Taiwan or SYM, is going to bring the SYMBA, a Honda Cub replica to the USA. SYM used to be part of Honda of Taiwan before it split, another part of that split became Kwang Yang Motor Co or KYMCO. The SYM scooter looks like an exact Honda Cub clone. No specs or price are available yet but if you’re familiar with the Cub, you’ll agree, this looks like the same machine.
This isn’t some company that just decided to replicate the Honda Cub, SYM made the Cub for Honda for 40 years so they probably have it figured out. I don’t know what arrangement they must have with Honda but I would think this is being done with Honda’s knowledge and permission.
I wasn’t familiar with SYM until I read Steve’s post, evidently it’s big overseas and they’ve been battling with KYMCO for the Asian scooter market and it also has some connections with Hyundai Korea for the manufacturing of cars in Taiwan. SYM is also connected with Bombardier Recreational Products and the Kinetic Motor Company in India. Its USA presence is small right now but growing.
For all of the many Honda Cub fans who miss this little machine from years gone by, you may get a chance to own one again, or for the first time, in the near future. I’ll be curious to see what kind of reception this receives over here.
Thanks to Steve from TheScooterScoop who left a couple of comments over here about this yesterday.
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