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Unread 04-13-2015, 07:22 PM
rhodemon rhodemon is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Default Tokyo Rose early CA95

Having closely followed Michaelclark50's excellent restoration thread of an early Tokyo Rose colored 1960 CA95 I thought this would be a good time to start a new thread devoted to those mysterious early Hondas.

The mystery is a result of the color not being mentioned in any of the official Honda literature (only white, black, red and blue are). My understanding is that a few of them were imported in the early years of Honda's entrance into the American market which started in 1959 in Los Angeles. The bikes were painted that color at the factory in Japan as can be verified in areas where the paint has been damaged or just worn away by years of use. Most of the ones I've seen have matching pinkish seats, and my early one has the frame number stamped on the headstock, not under the side cover. Also, they had no provision for mirrors, but Honda offered a separate handlebar clamp for them. They had slim clutch and brake levers, and my early one had the rear foot rests welded and not bolted on and it also has two finish bolts on the headlight shell where a small windscreen like the CB92's might have mounted. The tail light is the smallest of the three used over the years of production.

There is much information in the Oct 1960 issue of Cycle in which one of these "passionate pink" bikes was featured and received raving reviews. The article can be seen on the interweb where it is for sale for a whopping $20.
Anybody interested in the CA95 should read it, as they did a comprehensive road test and published a lot of good pictures and a great cutaway drawing of the engine.

I mentioned in a comment in Michaelclark's recent thread that I have 2 of the Tokyo Rose CA95's and frappy responded that he knew of 9 that existed and asked if mine were included in that group. I don't know who's keeping track of the bikes, but I will list the ones I know of and hopefully we can build up a loose registry of the ones we know exist.

All of the ones I've seen or are familiar with are 1960 models, and mine are numbered CA95 A010640 and A010912. #912 is all original and running and came from PA, and #640 is in need of restoration (I've started it), and came from Michigan. I also have spoken with Chuck, the owner of CA95E A010543, sorry I don't get the frame #, that of course is the engine #, and 10 years ago it was in Washington state. I also know of the bike that Troyce from from the VJMC has or had in Florida. Robin Markey from Bob's Indian in PA has a very nice original example that was sold by his dealership when they became Honda dealers in 1960. I have seen another one about 8 years ago at the White Rose MC Japanese meet that was equipped with scrambler tires, but I never met up with the owner. And one came up for auction on eBay a couple of years ago.

To my knowledge, Troyce and Robin are the most informed people on the history of the bikes. If anybody has more information or knows of any others, please post them on this thread.
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