HONDA CB250K
THE BRITISH L-PLATED rider in the late 1960s was not particularly well-served by the world’s motorcycle manufacturers. If you were 17 you wanted a 250 but you were stuck with ageing designs from the Brits like the BSA Starfire or the Triumph 250 Trophy, obscure and complex Italian marques, something Japanese and two-stroke, or the odd-looking C72 from Honda, which was all chrome panels and pressed steel.
In 1969 things changed, when the Honda wizards of Hamamatsu came up with the home-market only CB250 Dream. With this model, Honda moved away from their existing sloping twin engine in a pressed steel frame. Instead, they came up with something in a more conventional cradle frame with an all new 249cc air-cooled parallel twin SOHC four-stroke engine, producing a claimed 30bhp at 10,500rpm. It had upright cylinders, a five-speed transmission and refinements almost unheard of in such a small mass-market motorcycle.
There was electric start, indicators, a speedometer and a rev counter, a wet sump and
