Best Sound ever!!

Besser geht´s nicht - very nice!

The ultimate humiliation: when Soichiro Honda and Hisauchi Sekiguchi
showed up on the Island with their quaint little multicylinder racers
the British press had a field day. The sneering pinnacle was reached
with a cartoon of bamboo motorcycles. HAW HAW HAW. Honda cleaned their
clocks that year and every year thereafter, with the cordial support
of Yamaha and Suzuki. The year I raced the TT Bill Ivy did the first
lap on a 125 Yamaha Four. So much for the world-beaters.

What about (small cc) 2-strokes 4-8 cylinders? Ever seen these?

Yamaha had 125 fours and 250 fours, Suzuki had 250 fours, Jawa had 250 and 350 fours I think, Bill Ivy was killed one one of these.

I once test-rode on an unrideable Kawasaki square-four 125 stroker, at the Akashi Factory. It produced around 38hp but that only came on between 13,500 ~ 14,000rpm. Below the power band there was only a dull burr from the engine. When you hit the power it snapped on viciously. You had to quick-shift to hit the next gear properly.
No power valves or other electronic doo-dads to broaden the power band. And as this was 1969, Kawasaki had only a hazy idea of what frame design and suspension should be like. The tranny was about 12 speeds as I recall; you spent most of your time shifting up or down. Kiwi GP rider Hugh Anderson used to complain bitterly about having to "row along" on the little Zukes - same limitation.
Real scary on wet, slick, bumpy turns, when the power popped on. Skinny tires too didn't help.
As for the asshole Ivy (personal experience) he was apparently killed when his "porridge pot" helmet flew off and he conked his noggin on a stone kerb, er, curb. I think it was actually during a parade lap that the stroker seized up.
Ivy was the one who set the first 100mph lap on a 125 at the TT, riding a water-cooled square four Yammy. Pretty much unnerved everybody as I recall. Some folks figured he was the very best GP rider ever, but he was a detestable little twerp. Never get ahead in today's PR-drenched MotoGP world of nice pretty boys with wide smiles.

When ever I went to europe for a big vintage meeting I often ran into Knobby Clark, I always asked him if he was going to write a book, Last year at Spa he told me he was writing it. From what he said its going to be very informative about all the inner workings of the works teams. For those who dont know who Knobby is he was the first white guy to go to Japan and work on the very exclusive Honda GP bikes, He became one of the most talented men on the scene,( Like a crew chief today) It promises to be a good book and it should be available very soon, He now works in the eastern us working on rare exotic cars, I have lost his number, Does anyone know how I can contact him,? I had promised him a holiday in Canada

" ...
I remember the 50cc strokers had like 14 speeds, they sounded like bees going past, If I am correct they had a funny set up for the gears, like 3 or 4 ratio,s on the left twistgrip and in those ratio,s 3or 4 on a foot change, I guess it was a nightmare for the riders, with a powerband of as little as 300 revs, In the IOM it was thought even a cloud going between the sun could cause the mixture to change and seize the motor. Sounds extreme but these early days with the 50cc it was very far out and very high tech. Its a long time ago and my memory plays tricks but can anyone enlighten me if Im wrong. Today you can get a replica of Honda 6,s. Honda 4s are a dime a dozen(250cc 4cyl road engines from Japan) Moto Guzzi V8, Manx Nortons, Anything you want but at a price of course. But funny enough no strokers and compared to 4s they should be easier to make..I am thankfull that I experienced the sixties as the most exiting ,exotic and inovative period of GP racing ... "