Customer Reviews

Illustrated Buyer's Guide Classic Honda Motorcycles (Motorbooks International Buyer's Guide Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For the right audience, this book is a true gem. The "Buyer's Guide" part of it's title could be misleading but it is a great book for what it really does do. This is NOT a book that tells you how to buy a current Honda motorcyle from a dealer. It is also NOT a comprehensive listing/specification of every Honda model ever made. It does not replace a Clymer manual for any specific Honda model. This book's focus is for the collector/hobbiest who has a general interest is in Classic Hondas (most bikes more than 10 years old). It reviews the major models, has tons of excellent B&W photographs of each model (especially the models from the late 60's and early 70's which are often treated too lightly in other books). It gives the reader an idea of what Honda made and what they might like to get involved with. It tells about what kind of commitment it takes to buy, restore, and maintain these older bikes. As a person who has collected Honda's for 30 years, I found this book to a great addition to my literature collection and a great book to recommend to people that have a broad interest in the older Hondas. While this book does give some general ratings on the older bikes and rates them overall, this books true value is its wonderful overview of Honda's, especially those from 1959 through 1985, which I have not found in this detail in any other book on the market to date. This book should be a MUST HAVE for any Honda collector.

Sorry to have disappointed the two reviewers who were expecting some kind of $$$ value assignments to each machine mentioned. The book is, in fact, a "download" of my 40 years of experience, owning and riding vintage Hondas. I tried to follow the conventional format of the other MBI guides, but other people were mixed into the editing process along the way. Due to some page count restrictions, some of the "ratings" boxes of each machine were deleted.
Owning, maintaining and riding the vast majority of the bikes mentioned gave me a chance to share that experience with others through this book. The sheer number of models that Honda produced through those years is more than can be included in one of these small guide books. I included most of the notable models, with some cautions or recommendations about ownership, wherever I could.
The rapidly changing collector bike market affects the dollar value of these bikes, greatly. Trying to peg a fixed value in the book, would be shooting at a moving target. On the whole, all of the bikes have risen in value since publication. In some cases, aftermarket parts have been produced in small numbers to meet the demand, but the Honda factory no longer supports machines over 10 years out of production. Current restoration costs greatly exceed the "market value" of the bikes, when completed, in most cases. ...
I am continuing to focus on the 250-305cc model Hondas, built from 1960-67 and will have new offerings on those machines soon.
Bill "MrHonda" Silver @ ...

The author spends too much time talking about who bought the bikes and not enough time on the bikes themselves. This book lists the models and serial numbers for some bikes but not all. This information is critical to buying a old bike. For example: eng.# c72e-a100001 frame#c72-a10001 The engine and frame number tells us that its a 1960 ca72 model. This info lets us know if it has the original engine or not. Having the correct #s is important in determing the value! Also, many older bikes lack paperwork(title,registration)and many,many bikes have incorrect paperwork through fraud or D.M.V. error. I bought this book because the title said "buyers guide" its not, its the "brief history of honda" Good luck

I found the book while brief to be very informative,despite only black and white pictures throughout,it made for good reading even if your not a Honda guy.(Kawasaki,Suzuki,Harleys,Indians)

A disappointment. This book is a complete departure from the reliable "Illustrated Buyer's Guide" format that has been successful for so many years. Motorbooks International has inexplicably dropped their excellent star ratings of the desirability and relative worth of the various models that was their stock in trade. I hope this isn't a taste of the future.
The "Classic Japanese Motorcyces" is far a better buy, even if it is spread a little too thin for the subject. Forget this one.