[Richard230]

Last night my airplane-owning friend sent me the attached photos of a cool biplane custom motorcycle that one his aircraft club members built years ago.   

[tooseevee]

Last night my airplane-owning friend sent me the attached photos of a cool biplane custom motorcycle that one his aircraft club members built years ago.   

         That's some really nice work on those pieces. I built a couple balsa framed planes, maybe 36" wings, in the '50s, with paper-covered, dope painted coverings and little teensy tiny engines that started with a bat tree and screamed like a squeezed banshee. One disappeared out over the rolling hills of the Cheyenne prairie and I never found it. It was British Racing Green and Screaming Yellow Zonkers Yellow.

           "I'll have another hit of that Yellow, please"                               

            And me rikee brack sirencer

[cyrusb]

Good ole' CB 450.

[Richard230]

My friend told me that the motorcycle was mostly for display and was not something that you would want to ride very fast or in a wind.  Stable when moving, it was not. 

[GlennF]

My friend told me that the motorcycle was mostly for display and was not something that you would want to ride very fast or in a wind.  Stable when moving, it was not. 

Though the WWII vintage PT17 Stearman trainer it seems to be based on was actually renowned for being very forgiving and stable.

[Adrian II]

I don't know if the name was ever used in the USA, in the UK the CB450 was known as the Black Bomber.

A.

[cyrusb]

I had a '72 and found it indestructible . It also had a centrifugal oil filter and the easiest valve adjustment method I have ever used on a D.O.H.C mill . So why the Black Bomber name?

[Richard230]

I had a '72 and found it indestructible . It also had a centrifugal oil filter and the easiest valve adjustment method I have ever used on a D.O.H.C mill . So why the Black Bomber name?

Because the first models that were dumped onto the market during the mid-1960's were all painted black. (To the best of my recollection.)

[cyrusb]

Ah, makes sense. Here the dominant colors were turquoise blue and burnt orange.

[axman88]

I had a '72 and found it indestructible . It also had a centrifugal oil filter and the easiest valve adjustment method I have ever used on a D.O.H.C mill . So why the Black Bomber name?

My first bike was a '69 CB450.  It was a very capable bike in many ways, never let me down.  It was not a Black Bomber, but had the later, larger tank without side panels or knee pads.

I'd heard that the moniker came from the Black color, PLUS the distinctive shape of the chrome side panels on the tank.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/LV0118-314765/1965-honda-cb450-black-bomber/ 

[cyrusb]

Nice , it has that " Dream" look to it. By the time I got my '72 that look was gone. Pity, it is a good shape.

[olhogrider]

This actually a spy photo of the new Ducati MotoGP bike with biplane spoilers! Yamaha and Suzuki are frantically trying to come up with something that will compete!

[GlennF]

This actually a spy photo of the new Ducati MotoGP bike with biplane spoilers! Yamaha and Suzuki are frantically trying to come up with something that will compete!

Well people do build planes powered by RX1 yamaha snowmobile engines

[Arschloch]

Well people do build planes powered by RX1 yamaha snowmobile engines

...bit too powerfull engine for an relatively simple weight distribution controled hang glider though imho, already had the fortune to see what it can cause.