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The Honda CA95 / Benly 150 Restoration The little brother to the CA160 in our family of Hondas

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  #1  
Unread 04-13-2015, 07:22 PM
rhodemon rhodemon is offline
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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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Unread 04-14-2015, 03:39 PM
Michaelclark50 Michaelclark50 is offline
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I think this thread is a great idea! I know how much help the knowledge of you folks has helped me, especially with the little details that make the difference.

It's interesting to hear some of the differences between even the early CA95's. Frappy has done a lot of work on these details. Mine was pretty complete except the carb covers so I had a pretty good look at some things. One example is the seat. My frame is a little different than some "later" early models as you can see in pics I posted on my thread. The seat logo was unique and Frappy found a graphic artist to make stencils for us. I was able to find vinyl that was a pretty good color match to my original seat cover although not as smooth a texture as I would like.

Interesting to hear about the rear foot pegs being welded. I hadn't seen that yet. Also, my bike had some bolt on mirror brackets on the handlebars. I thought they were just aftermarket but did not realize it might have been a dealer installed item.

I'll post my serial numbers on another reply to keep them separate.
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  #3  
Unread 04-14-2015, 03:42 PM
Michaelclark50 Michaelclark50 is offline
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I can send anyone who is interested a scanned copy of the October 1960 Cycle magazine article. I have the original magazine. Just PM me if you don't have a PDF copy.
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  #4  
Unread 04-14-2015, 03:45 PM
Michaelclark50 Michaelclark50 is offline
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My serial numbers are as follows:
CA95E-A010141
CA95-A010139
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  #5  
Unread 04-23-2015, 04:34 PM
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My Tokyo Rose CA95 serial numbers are:
CA95E-A010240
CA95-A010218
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Unread 04-23-2015, 05:20 PM
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Maybe someday someone will find mention of this color in some official Honda literature, so that folks may refer to it by its proper name, instead of the prevailing nicknames of "Passionate Pink" and "Tokyo Rose".

Michael, This thread IMO is a great idea - this being such an enigmatic Honda paint/seat color combination. I have learned from other collectors that our CA95s were not the only bikes that Honda produced in this color. Someone on this forum with a C92 has one, a friend told me he saw a C100 in this color, and another friend said there's someone in the midwest that has a collection of "Passionate Pink/Tokyo Rose" colored bikes. Of course, this thread is dedicated to documenting CA95's.

rhodemon, Thank you for statring this thread. My '60 CA95 has the frame number stamped on the headstock, plus all the other things you mentioned. Mine has the original headlight and does not have the finish bolts, nor welded-on footpegs. I corresponded with the eBay seller a couple years ago. (I think his bike sold, but I don't know if it did and to whom - I'll try and find out). The serials on his bike were CA95E-A010178 and CA95-A010173. He's the one who told me that mine was #8 known to exist and that Robin was the person who told him his was #7. I assumed Michael's was #9, since it seemed to be a true barn-find (from Ohio, I think). Sounds like Robin is one person that might be able to solve some of the mystery about the other 7, and if any of ours, or the others mentioned in this thread, are counted in that number. (He might even be able to add to our list of serial numbers?)
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Unread 05-02-2015, 05:37 AM
Michaelclark50 Michaelclark50 is offline
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Above I offered to send a copy of the 1960 Cycle article to anyone who needed it. Someone PM'd me and now I can't find the message to reply to. If you will try again, I'll send it to the email address you had in the message.

Thanks
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  #8  
Unread 05-03-2015, 05:55 PM
rhodemon rhodemon is offline
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Default New chrome and a small mystery

I just got my chrome back from the platers for Old Pink, #640. When I dropped it off, I tried to explain to them that the original chrome was not perfect and please don't over do the polishing, but they're perfectionists, and here's the results. I suppose some day when these bikes are more appreciated and they are judged in a show, somebody will pick up on the fact that the chrome is over done, but it sure does look nice!

Can anybody read Japanese? This writing was found under the tank rubber and I'm wondering what it says.
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  #9  
Unread 05-04-2015, 12:03 PM
Michaelclark50 Michaelclark50 is offline
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That stuff looks great! Can't wait to see it on the bike.
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  #10  
Unread 05-04-2015, 02:36 PM
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Roberd42 Roberd42 is offline
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It does look great! Who did you have do your plating? What did it set you back if you don't mind me asking?
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  #11  
Unread 05-04-2015, 04:15 PM
Michaelclark50 Michaelclark50 is offline
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I used Space Coast Plating in Melbourne, FL. They did a great job and just like you mentioned, they only do triple plate show level work. Chrome like that is crazy expensive and these bikes have a bunch of chrome parts. Add to that my original mufflers were just good enough to justify saving and so they were the most expensive items. As the parts go back on I realize how much the chrome adds to the overall look. It's one of the things that makes me really love these bikes.
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  #12  
Unread 05-05-2015, 03:52 PM
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Roberd42 Roberd42 is offline
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Yeah, the only place I've found that will replate used exhaust (apparently the carbon, if it leaks out, destroys the entire tank) is airline plating in Houston TX. I'm in GA and my plater is super picky and expensive!
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  #13  
Unread 05-05-2015, 06:36 PM
rhodemon rhodemon is offline
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The plating was done by D&D Plating in Cranston, RI. I've used them many times over the past 30 years and they've always done good work. You're looking at about $750 for those items pictured, and that doesn't include the mufflers that were done a couple of years ago or the NOS wheels I've been saving for 10 years.

I've had some luck getting stainless steel fastenings and polishing them after grinding the lettering off, but in a lot of cases they are unusable because the heads are not the same as the originals. Take a look at the McMaster-Carr catalog on line for a nice selection.
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  #14  
Unread 05-06-2015, 10:09 AM
Michaelclark50 Michaelclark50 is offline
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That seems like a pretty reasonable price for all those parts. I will contact them the next time i need some chrome done.
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  #15  
Unread 05-11-2016, 06:20 PM
rhodemon rhodemon is offline
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Default Tokyo Rose

Nice job! I used the inside of the battery cover for my color scan and ended up with a BMW color to which I had to add a bit of yellow.

Would you mind posting a few more pictures to help motivate us procrastinators?

Last edited by rhodemon; 05-11-2016 at 06:21 PM. Reason: mistake
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