Agreed John. The only thing preventing the F81 American Eagle being competitive is the weight of the frame. These things are damn heavy....twice the weight of the equivalent sized Hindall, indicating the truth of the frame being twice the wall thickness and mild steel rather than chro-mo. I'd be pretty certain that the stock Kawa frame would also be much lighter. I've got two frames, one (
the better one) is definitely getting a 360 square barrel Maico engine to produce a Challinor Replica Maico/Sprite....the other frame's pretty sad, someone had fitted a Triumph 500 to it using angle iron engine mounts and a stick welder. Maybe one day I'll get to it.......
The above bike had had some serious work done to it by someone who knew what he was doing. The LTR conversion appears to be well executed, the Skunk Works inlet was the hot ticket item for Kawa rotaries back in the day, and the Curnutt shocks and Marzocci (
I think) forks are a definite 1975 era plus on the original stuff. The snail pipe Supertrapp muffler hanging below the frame rail can be easily fixed. The pipe seems to be similar to the snail pipe I had on my VR Monty back in the day...I can't remember the brand for the life of me (
Maybe it was also made by Skunk Works ). The paint job is so early 70's it reignites my taste lapse genes
. I had a similar Rick Pacey paint job on my Lobito.
