Triumph's Baby Brother
Here is my good friend Steve on my "new" bike.
I got it at the recent Banbury run and it was a bargain as it came with an
MOT and tax....low milage and in excellent condition.
CD175
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Believe it or not, I have never had a second bike except bikes for despatch
riding or bikes that I have only bought to resell, so when I saw this little
Honda I just had to have it. I have fond memories of these bikes because when
I use to work at Bob Thomas Motorcycles of North London, we were of course
selling them . Two customers regularly had their 175's serviced with us...a
police sergeant from the Golders Green nick and a man that used to always
wear a long black raincoat and he would always say the same opening lines...."Two
things..."
My good friend Terry who also worked for many years at Bob's shop still has
all the Honda part numbers in his head and when I told him the other day that
that I actually bought a CD 175 the memories flooded back. He once despatched
one himself in 1975 and was offered a new Suzuki if the Honda was knackered
so he told me that he use to ride flat out up and down Highgate Hill with
the engine buzzing like a giant fly so he could maybe seize the engine, but
of course the engine did not break...imagine riding most British bikes all
day flat out the same way.
Our other friend Pete who has been living in the south of France since the
late 1970's rode one with his brother Glen to the south with full kit. I actually
borrowed his Honda myself in 79 for despatch riding when my own Triumph, which
I still have, was off the road for a re-bore or something. I remember also
riding it flat out up and down Reigate Hill on a job from type setters in
Walthamstow to Reigate which I did not tell Pete about !
This Honda is a late one which was then discontinued in favour for the CD200
which also had old fashioned styling. My Triumph is a 1970 model which was
first registered in July 1971 and I bought it in 1978 the same year that the
Honda was first registered which was also in July.
I also remember that (in 1971) when I went to buy my first ever bike which
was really a moped ( Raleigh Runabout ) that the guy had just bought a brand
new CD175 and to me and my mates at the time, we thought it was such a big
bike.
It makes a great little runaround and a lot of fun can be had. Steve owns
a Triumph 750 as well as a 1960's BSA 650 but his runaround is a BSA Bantam
so pretty soon we will go out for a ride in the back roads of Essex and Suffolk
and compare bikes.
I think that the Honda will come out better but who knows...watch this space!
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We went out for a ride the other week on our completely different 175 cc
bikes and I was most surprised as both bikes compared very well.
Steve had to get to my place so he had already done 20 miles and then we both
set out and headed off to Finchingfield in deepest Essex.
We kept together all of the time and sometimes we were both riding at 60 MPH.
On some inclines Steve's Bantam would fall back very slightly but not for
long and and he would catch up very soon.
No problems with the bikes and the return journey back to my place was a 70
mile round trip. We had a great day out and I retract what I said before about
the Honda coming out better....both bikes are very different of course but
each bike has its own charm and both are very good runaround bikes...well
worth considering a small bike for fun and economy.
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