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I mean, having a hobby is one thing.. Some would say it's turning in to an obsession, whereas others would say I'm just addicted.. Mostly because I rarely say NO to a good deal.. Well, I'd call £100 cash and my old x-box a good deal.. It was like back when I was a teenager haggling to swap porn mags for beer.. haha.



Yes, yes.. I know it's not British or MASSIVE.. But, it is a twin, and it is rather old.

1975 Honda CB250G5. (Thanks Andy for the correct model ref )

Expect to see it in 'The Workshop' at some point.

I must admit I thought you were referring to the rain...

Sorry to rain on your parade, but from memory that model was from the era when Honda went a Bit Shit. IMHO, of course...

mangocrazy wrote:I must admit I thought you were referring to the rain...

Sorry to rain on your parade, but from memory that model was from the era when Honda went a Bit Shit. IMHO, of course...

Hmmm ... the era that brought us the 400/4 ......

doesent matter how shite g5,s were that's a good deal my mate sold one on ebay a couple of months back in probably worse condition to that and it made £480

Thats excellent and brings back memories. I would do exactly the same if a deal like that came up.
My mate had a 360G5 and i had a CJ360. That thing got me to Devon and back a few times.
Keep the oil strainer clean and the centrifugal filter clean and it will last forever, otherwise the head will starve of oil and the cam runs directly on the head.
New head and cam will be required if that happens.

D-Rider wrote:

mangocrazy wrote:I must admit I thought you were referring to the rain...

Sorry to rain on your parade, but from memory that model was from the era when Honda went a Bit Shit. IMHO, of course...

Hmmm ... the era that brought us the 400/4 ......

That was the exception to the rule; I badly wanted one of them - until the 350LC came out...

It was stuff like the cams running directly in the head that I was referring to. Honda did that a lot with engines of that period, and as someone who owned and stripped a CB77 305cc and saw the amount of roller bearings used in the engine, that was poor engineering.

If the previous owner(s) have changed the oil and filter regularly, and cleaned the various filters as Paddy says, you've got a bargain. If not, at that price you're probably still ahead of the game, assuming you can find the parts.

David Silver Spares will be your friend...

I had a G5 (bought quickly to replace my CB175 that had been nicked and I needed something tt get to work on).
Was a nice bike but I did have a mechanical disaster - the cam chain tensioners broke up - was a bit messy. Got that fixed and it ran well up to the point I traded it in for the 400/4.

The up-swept exhausts on the G5 did lead to an incident of hilarity. A chap I knew insisted on a pillion trip when I was going on a long journey. I really wanted to get a move on and go on my own but relented and took him.
Now this was the 70s - flares and platform heels ...... platform heels that fit over the pillion pegs and reach down on top of those upswept exhausts. Yep, at the end of the journey, he couldn't get off of the bike as his heels had melted and before getting off the bike must have cooled enough to solidify and attach themselves to the pipes. He was eventually freed by undoing his laces and slipping out of his foot-ware. The shoes themselves were eventually released by chiselling them off with a screwdriver.

A lot of marques ran the cams directly on the head, but as you say, regular oil changes with quality oil and making sure the filters are clean really does help.
I've had plenty of CB250N's (still do) so know about keeping up with maintenance. Kwak GPZ305 is another that springs to mind for weak top ends.

Not entirely sure what I'll do it. Probably use it as a local hack and see about restoring the paint work to original at some stage. Older 250's etc tend to put that nostalgic smile on peoples faces as they remember some of their first forays into motorcycling.

I had a 360 in a tasteful shade of green while my Guzzi was being kicked vaguely straight.
Christened it Horace the Horrible Honda.
Was told at the time that 1000 mile oil changes were a must if you didn't want the top end to eat itself.
Sold it for more than I bought it for to a strange Italian who rode it home to Italyland.
It was ok though, got me about fine, even took me and my gear to a couple of rallies.

It will not stop.
Be honest with yourself, you are an addict !
Thanks to similar addicts, the weird,wonderful and obscure are saved from extinction !
Long may your wives never find your cheque books

I like the weird and wonderful. It's stuff like that, as you say, will be otherwise thrown away and be forgotten for good.

I'm actually holding back on you all.. I did buy another not long back..

RGV250 (VJ21) Wolf model.


Did a crafty deal though, so no longer have it.. Infact it never made it to the garage.. I managed to move it on more or less straight away. If the sale wasn't as good as it was, I'd still have it.

The Honda looks a good buy at that price Will, but it did make me think about what I had in the same era.
It was a 1972 Suzuki T350 Rebel, which I bought in 1974 with very low miles and it cost me 300 odd pounds.
It was much more fun than the Honda, but not many around today, (I have looked).
AND
YES, I think you are addicted, but who cares, just keep telling us about them.

Given the choice between a CB250 and an RGV 250, I'd have gone for the stinkwheel in a heartbeat. But then I'm a bit odd like that...

Like I said, if the sale of the RGV wasn't as lucrative, then I'd still have it. Tripled my outgoing in less than a week. Couldn't say no.. That extra wonga bought new tyres for the 6T.