1982 Honda Ascot Racer
I just can’t help myself, I saw this bike on ebay this morning and I had to put it on the site. Why you ask? Because I spent a good number of years on an Ascot and would do it all over again and I would build it like this guy has.
I started roadracing back in the 1980’s on a Kawasaki KZ550, moved to a GPZ550 and had a variety of other rides over the years. Then I took a few years off to raise kids, build a business…standard stuff. When I got back into racing I had the bad luck to meet guys like Larry Cochran, Danny Farnsworth, and Scott Fabro of the Willow Springs Motorcycle Club. I was checking out the 600cc class but these guys convinced me that racing a vintage single was more fun and would could cost a lot less. Does the term ‘snow job’ mean anything to you?
Anyway, I fell for it and my search for a 500cc single started. It didn’t take too long to find a really good clean ‘running’ Honda Ascot for only $500,however…the WSMC singles guys didn’t tell me it would still cost about $3000 (!!!) to make it competitive…thanks guys. Looking back though, I can’t complain for one moment. I truly loved racing that Honda and even when I did get a new Yamaha YZF600, I still had more fun on the Ascot…and,I am still in psychotherapy because of it.
So today while searching for parts for my ‘needs a LOT of TLC’ Yamaha SRX single (which seems to be almost everyday at this time?!), I found a really nice Honda Ascot that has most all the modifications I was planning on making before retiring from racing, as a matter of fact I still have most of the parts in my barn to upgrade an Ascot but now they are going to go on a Honda Hawk…again, another story for another time.
Roadracing isn’t a cheap hobby by any stretch of the imagination but, racing a Vintage Single is really about as cheap as you can go. On my 600 I would burn through a set of tires in a weekend, on my single, I could get 4 weekends and the tires were half the price! I could race in three classes (more race time is always more fun time), and parts for that bike were available at my local motorcycle boneyard pretty easily. I still to this day believe that racing a Honda Ascot made me a better street rider…well, at least I appreciate how well my Triumph Daytona handles a whole lot more!
The Ascot I found on ebay is a ready to go racer. If you are already a racer and want to switch over to a fun and easy to maintain vintage class bike or, you are just thinking about getting into club racing this is a cheap and easy way to get onto the track.
Click on the pics below for more info and pictures. As I look more at this bike, I wish I had kept improving my Ascot..I’ll bet this one handles great for what it is!
1982 Honda FT 500 Ascot