All these years down the track – 50 to be exact – it’s difficult to overstate just how bold and perhaps even bizarre the arrival of Honda’s first Gold Wing truly was.
It might as well have been a spaceship with a great hulking engine and odd layout, leaving people gobsmacked.
It wasn’t that the Gold Wing was actually using alien tech. To a large degree it took no big engineering risks, but what was brave was the packaging and positioning.
When the M1 project was first mooted within Honda, the intention was to come up with a new sports or general purpose bike, something that would leap-frog the firm’s wildly successful CB750 series and Kawasaki’s convincing one-upmanship in the shape of the Z-1/Z900 series.
Famously, the M1 prototype ran a 1500cc boxer six, a configuration that wasn’t to see the road until much later, with the release of the GL1500 series in 1987.
The company changed focus, and its ambitions, to a boxer four touring model, aimed very much at the USA market and coded as project 371. Project leader was Shoichiro Irimajiri, who had an impressive background with the company’s two- and four-wheeled competition products.
The USA market was so important, Honda was to manufacture later series Gold Wings at its Ohio plant from 1980 to 2010.
Aside from the big 999cc boxer four (the first liquid-cooled mass-production motorcycle four-stroke out of Japan, by the way) it was the packaging that got a lot of attention.
For many the most interesting feature was the fuel tank was now located under the seat (hence the need for a fuel pump), while the dummy ‘tank’ housed an air-filter, electrics and a demountable kick-start lever.
That lot added up to a 84hp (62kW) package that weighed (for the time) a formidable 265kg, albeit with much of the heft carried low. A 1975 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide weighed in at closer to 340kg, albeit with panners and screen. It claimed 58 horses (43kW).
This is a hugely important model in Honda’s history, and the nameplate is still going. As a classic bike, they have the additional appeal of being a very comfortable and reliable ride – two things beyond the reach of many classics! AllMoto.com
1997 Drysdale 750 V8
Donington Auctions – Lot 33
Date: November 8, 2024
Sold for: $73,850
Visit: doningtonauctions.com.au
Conceived and built by Melbourne engineer and motorcycle enthusiast Ian Drysdale, the Drysdale V8 is an extraordinary example of engineering ambition and ingenuity. Blending advanced engineering, motorcycle passion, and innovation, the Drysdale V8’s development in the late 1990s and early 2000s placed it among a niche group of rare, high-specification motorcycles, recognised for its audacious design and groundbreaking technical specification.
The engine is 749cc V8 with a 56 x 38mm bore and stroke, 32 valves, four overhead cams, and a flat-plane 180-degree Ferrari-style crankshaft. Revving to over 17,000rpm, the Drysdale V8 produced around 120 horsepower at 16,000rpm with a smooth, high-pitched wail that echoed the characteristics of high-performance cars rather than traditional motorcycles.
Australian industrial designer and motorcycle enthusiast Duncan Harrington designed and fabricated the striking one-piece fibreglass bodywork.
1947 Sunbeam S7 500 Tandem Twin
Donington Auctions – Lot 25
Date: December 8, 2024
Sold for: $14,900
Visit: doningtonauctions.com.au
Blending innovative engineering and distinctive styling, the Sunbeam S7 was one of the most idiosyncratic British motorcycles introduced after World War II. BSA acquired Sunbeam in 1943, and looking to emulate pre-war German designs, it engaged Austrian-born Erling Poppe to design the S7.
Inspired by the pre-war BMW R66 and wartime R75, the S7 represented a shift from conventional motorcycle designs of the era. Seeking to combine luxury and refinement, the S7 was noted for its unconventional mechanical layout and smooth performance.
The 487cc longitudinally mounted, overhead camshaft, inline twin-cylinder engine, represented a significant departure from the more common British parallel-twin configurations. This engine produced 25 horsepower at 5800rpm and drive to the rear wheel was by a shaft.
Sunbeam billed the S7 as “The world’s most magnificent motorcycle” and at £222 it was one of the three most expensive models on the market in 1947.