Honda 250 6cyl, 125 5cyl start

Honda 250CC - 6 cylinder, Honda 125CC - 5 cylinder start-up. Mike Hailwood IOM TT 500CC

[@blackbirdtwigg]

Stuart Graham actually rode a 6 on Douglas prom during a demo at the 2007 T.T. I have never in my life heard anything like it ! The now sadly departed Geoff Cannell said on the p.a."please be upstanding for the Japanese national anthem" then they fired the 6 up !!!! Absolute music !! Thanks for posting this !

[@gm16v149]

The 250 and 297cc sixes were probably the most incredible sounding bikes of all time! I saw them in full-on action for the first time at the 1968 Brands Hatch meeting and I couldn't believe my ears!

[@5769JJ]

This was built back with Mr. Sochiro Honda was running the show. He was an old racer, and he was HEAVILY involved in building race bikes. He completely dominated everything at that time.

[@gprimeofx]

OK, can someone please tell me why they aren't making bikes like these anymore? This has got to be the best 4-stroke motorcycle video on KZbin!

[@Nordjyden9000]

If the rider over-reved the enging most of the valves got intermingled, they were normally sprung valves, not desmo. The mechanics changed the engine in 10 minutes flat, I saw it.

[@ColinTipton]

Yes indeed these bikes were so fast that most people could not handle them. I absolutely loved the 2 strokers of yesteryear. My first experience was on a RD 350 which I could not keep on the ground. Put that 6cylinder motor in a modern frame with state of the art brakes and I do believe that nothing in today's market could touch it.

[@wetherby567]

Two strokes have expansion chambers, four strokes of this era have megaphones which can be clearly seen.

[@rider3go]

いい音です。６０年代にこんなバイクが存在していたのもすごいですが、聴くことが叶わないと思っていたＲＣサウンドを聴けたのも嬉しい！ ｇｏｏｄ　ｊｏｂ！

[@yetimtb100]

i got the honor of hearing the 250 at a bike show in the rds it is the best sound i have ever herd from any engine be it car or bike !!

[@burghill1979]

went to goodwood and Honda came over with the 50 2 125 4 and 5 the 250 6 and 350 6 one year and started them up totally awesome!!!!!!

[@martinwardle6695]

I was there especially to see and hear those Honda's. I witnessed Hailwood at Mallory park in 1967. The sounds stay with me still.

[@h1aa]

Funny to hear the old single banger plod by at 27 and then hear the fabulous Honda burst into life.

[@ralph5407]

It's OK just hearing them being started up like this but the ultimate was to be up near the Bungalow on the Isle of Man TT circuit and hear howling up the road being used in anger. Somthing never to be forgotten...

[@Dunk_76]

Nice collection of 1960's Honda Grand Prix machines being fired up! The 6 cyinder Hondas still sound the best racing motorcycle ever in my opinion! :-)

[@DRITCHIEONE]

dont want to sound like all other honda multi fans but thats awsome really love the sound of that 250 6 there isnt anything ellse like it ever. would love to see it myself atleast one of the survivours doing a lap or too!!!

[@lxPhilxl]

Just the sound of these gets my adrenaline pumping, what must it be like to ride them?!! If you don't get your adrenalin stoked then I have bad news for you; you're dead. Great vid, thanks.

[@rgadave]

I was there when they raced these bikes in the 1960s against Yamaha twins and fours, Benellis, Aermacchis, MZs. and others. Music to the ears !.

[@T16MGJ]

Made the BIG mistake of standing two yards behind Hailwood's Six when it was in the paddock started up ready for the race back in the 1960s. The air and noise immediately got my rib cage and surrounding flesh painfully vibrating at different freqencies. I soon moved away for fear of being rendered sterile! Never before or since heard any racing machine make a sound like that be it on two or four wheels. Fabulous stuff gorn forever. You don't need rose tinted ear muffs to know that... Youngsters today don't know theyze born ... and you could do 100 mph on the North Circular and Cop Cars move over and wave you by... I kid you not ... ;)

[@c0neyisland]

All I can say is...you lucky, lucky man! Just imagine though; 1966 and all the standard English bike racers turn up with their Nortons and BSAs thinking that the TT race was still in the bag for them. Then Halewood fires up one of his 6 cylinder machines - they must have thought "oh sh*t, it's game over for us!"

[@tritop]

my father took me to Hockenheim, I was standing app. 60 meters away. That both shocked and fascinated me at the same time; I'll never forget that sound of hell (actually sound of heaven :))

[@bigbadbob58]

I think what makes the whole Hailwood / Honda relationship crazy is that Mike won using clearly inferior handling Hondas! I have no idea what vintage of Honda this is, but it looks a lot newer than the first Honda 250 Mike won on (did I mention meaner?). Mike the Bike forever!

[@Dadalushe]

I assume the guy sitting on the bike is Nobby Clarke. When the 250 first arrived at a track, the numbers (which were colour coded by class) showed it as a 350 and it had 4 exhaust megas. When it went out to warm up, they changed the colour to show it as a 250, added the other 2 exhausts, and put the fear of christ up the entire Yamaha team!!!

[@schosal123]

the sound of good old times. golden ages.

[@blackbirdtwigg]

Simply.....................INCREDIBLE !!!!

[@anrods]

BEAST FROM THE PAST!!!

[@anitabisanz5191]

Dieser Sound, diese Drehzahl Japan Technik vom allerfeinsten!! Da kommt keiner ran !!

[@briancrabb1413]

my god, what a sound, u can hear the tune in the engine, i am biased by the way, ive had honda,s for 30 years, lol, in my opinion u wont find a better bike, reliability, build quality, and no other manufacturer comes close to titles being won, mr soichiro would be proud if he was around today

[@colinstewart1432]

That's a very tasty noise. Bravo

[@Laxpowertoo]

@wingking077 Idle speed for a six is around 10,000 rpm with peak power around 18.000 rpm. They wont idle below that.

[@thebones]

@jigibao no man my biking days sadly came to and end in my twenties. I remember when the first busa was unleashed and nobody could believe anything that fast could be allowed on the road. Nowadays I like especially race bikes and historic bikes.

[@jesselink8855]

they sound amazing. my single cylinder Honda 125 doesn't have a note close to as epic.

[@oskarcity]

esto es una sinfonia para mis oidos, gracias por subirlo.

[@p2gee]

This may be the best video on You Tube. If you dont get a stiffy watching this, well you must be dead. FANTASTIC!! Long live the internal combustion engine!!

[@thedirtymammal]

super badass! i want one, my neighbors don't though

[@Dadalushe]

I think this may be Brands Hatch in the mid-90s when John Surtees made a video of the 60s GP bikes - Honda, Yamaha, MV, Gilera etc. However, 1998 (I think) there was a parade at the IoM, which included two Moto Guzzi V8s, one of which crashed! One was original, one was a replica, but I don't remember which one got bent.

[@legranderaoul]

I wish it were true that these old fossils could be faster on a track than a modern 600/1000 supersport motorcycle but it just isn't. Time and technology moves on. However, I would not classify these bikes as 'shit'. Fantastic pieces of technology and the pinnacle of engineering in their time. In a way, I'm a little surprised that they still exist. Lots of times, old racers are pushed to the back of the garage and forgotten then sold for scrap.

[@fasterspider]

The RC166 gave me an eargasm

[@TerribleTimes]

man this is what gets my blood boiling, I luv it!!!

[@crozr1loony]

Fantastic sound track!!

[@JIGGLEMYEGGO]

they are reved like that because the engine does not have the recipracating mass needed to over come friction and compression at an idle.not a race engine builder,but know some one who is and i had the same question.

[@yerpaljesus]

that sounds soo amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Jono.]

Sound slowly faded out of left ear and I thought i was going deaf. Mean trick.

[@sparbolt63]

In response to Malalo's comment about idling, they DON'T, most racing machines don't have idle circuts in the carbs, especially these "vintage" racers. Gotta keep blipping them just to keep them running.

[@ralph5407]

It's a bit different in the English country side, people live here for the quiet life, mind you doing a track day at our local circuit, Oulton Park, 15 miles away, would be a blast.

[@JasonMaximHall]

First bike up is a four - you can hear it's a four if I have to explain why - you don't need to know. It also has four pipes as asimple visual check. Still sounds great though and thanks for posting.

[@martinwardle6695]

😂The six is featured as well, LOOK and LISTEN!

[@lennyjarvis-rx3mw]

Sounds like engine is saying. Burn me Burn me Burn Burn Burn 🔥 👍👏.how stunning 😍

[@cliclactube]

Awesome sound ! Honda rocks ! :o)

[@4418CARLOU]

Where was this? I am sure I saw these bikes in the IOM about 1997/98 or thereabouts. There is a brilliant article in MCN (20/02/12) about the 250 six replicas built by the genius GEORGE BEALE.

[@barneyboscoe]

I can remember being at the Creg in '67 hearing Mike gunning the 6 down to Brandish ORGASMIC.

[@bakhirun]

Have you ever heard of a tripod? They're really nifty little items, and they avoid the kind of "broken-neck" video we got here.

[@mk3stargazer]

think my ears are bleeding now!!! great vid and great sounds!!!!

[@johnnyrvf]

@leyburnhealeyman Not true, Honda asked George Beale to make a replica of the 6 as they did not have one in their museum in Tokyo. He made 6, each casting 200.000 sterling, the engines were built by GPX in Le Mans in France, I met the young engineer who pressed the rollerbearing cranks together, they wanted to go with modern shell bearings but could'nt make a one piece crank that would work reliably, he reckoned it was like balancing 13 pool balls on top of another!

[@taffwales]

It wouldnt be under my tree for long,never mind Crimbo dinner,think Id miss new years eve as well!!!

[@garystewart2512]

Music to ur ears what a weapon

[@redtom03]

gary stewart ttt

[@Mtrhd0024]

Yeaa, nevermind that this Honda is worth 20x more than any Hayabusa, even with the 20ft extended 24kt gold platinum diamond encrusted double chromed swingarm that comes with every busa nowadays. Busas are ok, but they've become the Honda Civic of the motorcycle world. Long live Honda Motorcycles, and this AWESOME piece of machinery!

[@alfrescrow]

damn i love the symphony

[@petewasere2000]

@SirVladDracula no he is pulling it back to make it rev its the bike noise maken the mic on the video lagg out!!!

[@reijosuomalainen1365]

wouuuu-wouuuu ! Fantastic of music

[@dairatekozou]

大変貴重な映像有難う御座います！！！

[@lowljoren]

@turtlemann14 Not revving the shit out of it, just warming up. This is very normal. 2 Strokes don't like idling for a long time.

[@leyburnhealeyman]

@MrMAHALO178 these engines won't idle, they don't have proper flywheels, and that works wonders for the pick up and achieving high rpm.

[@LooneyK4]

Awesome!

[@claus-detlefbeck7464]

....infernalisch schön!

[@znuto]

I want one as well. but I think the startup is much more cool when you have 2 little japanese guys in white jumpsuits and ball caps push start you. Do they come with the bike?

[@Ryousukeeeree]

さすがの6気筒いい音するわw

[@wingking077]

anyone know why they keep it at high revs and not at idle?

[@ralph5407]

I had not considered that but yes would be a nice prezzy.... Not sure if the neighbours would agree though. ;-)

[@hondaxl250k0]

no the ultimate would be waking up Christmas morning to find the 6 cyl under the tree!! lol

[@oskershindler5566]

い～音するね～👏👏

[@yuyacb2527]

６気筒最高です！

[@barneyrubble7037]

My laptop speakers are not up to this!

[@cycleborn]

They also have no idle circuits in the carbs.

[@1100HondaCB]

Sorry, but a Huyabusa just does't do it for me. Just an ugly rocket. This Honda 6 cylinder is a machine to be proud of and cherish. I bet in 50 years this will still be remembered as it was 50 years ago. Truely remarkable Honda engineering.

[@23vin850]

I guess they learned a lot from the guzzi V8 they bought from Italy in the late 50s

[@wiggy808]

It's probably because the camshaft profile is so extreme, that low down running is not an option. Just look at an F1 car, and thats with modern technology.

[@dougmcdougalson]

that sound still scares me to this day and I'm 24!!

[@faao3000]

magic sound 250....

[@quartusbuys6831]

HONDA. 4 stroke, many valves as possible (oval piston). Maximum RPM.= Horsepower.

[@leyburnhealeyman]

@ORIANA250 Sorry mate, but these ain't two strokes, all 4 strokes and that includes the 125 5cyl, this was developed from the 50cc twin cylinder, hence 5 cylinders for the 125, all verifiable on the net if you look. :))

[@thefakedoctorphil]

G'day Stephen, where did you take this vid mate... lucky you. And do you know who owns the 125/5 I'm sure there were a few. did you get to see the honda works 50 twin that inspired them to stick two and a half together? Cheers

[@NielsMF]

does the RD161 (four cylinder) has a special crankshaft ? it sounds really differend like ''normal'' 4 inlines of that time like the CB750 or a Suzuki GS750 etcetera... Or is it just the megaphone exhausts...

[@realfranky]

very nice video

[@1Joey666Jordison]

The first Bike is a 250 4 cylinder! no fifth exhaust under the seat.. und a white number on green paper... that means 250ccm. The other one is the 250 six

[@50ccpower]

Where were these bikes filmed and does anyone know where and when another event like this is coming up or one simular with old honda race bikes? Any help much appreciated.

[@rider1616]

i just found this vid and i have some ?..do these bikes have any type of expanion chambers.and can they idle

[@kaaaappa]

incredibile!!!!!

[@oldredun]

Dude, it's a four stroke not two . . . . the beauty of tiny reciprocating parts . . . big RPM.

[@BlackLabel7345]

start it like you run it!

[@ZingTowPootWerkins]

the throttle on the first bikes backwards?!

[@turtlemann14]

why rev the piss out of it right on start up?(really, does it have a purpose?) i understand that it is a race bike meant to be rebuild often, but still. at least give the oil a chance to circulate.

[@h1aa]

Fabulous.

[@thebones]

Nice bike the the RD250, I used to race a highly modified Suzuki GT250, it was a great bike for someone learning the craft of road racing but like all bikes of the time, it was compromised by the poor tyre technology.

[@B3N1K3]

This sound is better than some "speeding mosquitos" :P

[@grapes008]

@eamh2002 strait six, same as the cbx jsut smaller

[@DonnyMacG]

I'm sat here listening to these angry wee engines and I'm grinning like an idiot if that helps anyone

[@A2J_Tim]

I think its funny that croch rocket guys trash talk there own kind, lol. I am a car guy but this thing is cool, you can't compare a race bike to a road bike so why bother. these old 2 strokes sound amazing when they flying by at full throttle.

[@Zukatsr125]

I want that 125cc bike ! :O

[@turtlemann14]

@lowljoren ? you do know that these are both four strokes right?

[@jakenum30]

y dont they let them idle?

[@TerribleTimes]

Luv it!

[@kbgatch]

@gbwilding 8200 on my 57 dominator. not quite the same hey..

[@GLOBALWARMINGINGING]

oh mann des ding is ja ma affengeil ich will auch sowas! holy shit damn thats fucking cool i want that bike maaaan it sounds evil like hell

[@pieterklaaskrugmann]

yep it will