While the mythical dragon may have been rooted in early discoveries of fossil dinosaur bones, today the image of the dragon is a popular subject in many cultures where it appears in many forms and colors, but symbolically sharing common attributes. In the pantheon of animal imagery originating in the East, the dragon is seen as the master of all primal elements, capable of breathing both fire and ice as well as foreseeing future events and often symbolic of powerful rulers. All the above could also be ascribed to a particular motorcycle, the Honda “Red Dragon” itself rare as dragon teeth. Myth or reality?
The story of the “Red Dragon” begins sometime back in the early 1960s when Honda’s star was rising not only over Japan but casting its corporate light world-wide, its milestone motorcycles setting new standards for quality and dependability as well as marketing savvy.
As spotlighted a half century ago in early industry icon Floyd Clymer’s 1965 book A Treasury of Motorcycles of the World, the advent of the new Honda 450 was heralded as “a machine that riders and dealers of both lightweight and large machines have been anxiously awaiting. It is Honda’s largest model. It is the first effort by a major lightweight manufacturer to branch out from the “fun” riding field into the realm of serious high-speed motorcycling. Although the engine is smaller than others in the “big bike” class, its status is enhanced by the fact that it has double overhead camshafts, an extremely efficient valve gear design. It is a relatively heavy bike, still unusually agile. Outstanding features include the electric starter, 12-volt electrical system, and rubber-mounted twin carburetors. The 450 also features an extremely large gasoline tank (4.2 gallons). Claimed top speed is 112 mph.
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While Honda had bestowed somewhat catchy names to previous models such as “Cub,” “Benly,” “Super Hawk,” and “Dream,” the original designation for the new machine was simply CB450, but it appears they were also tagged as the “Hellcat,” a possible reference to a WWII aircraft. In the general parlance the first crop of black 450s are referred to as the “Black Bomber” perhaps originally due to the bomb-like shape of the gas tank. Others speculate that the moniker “Black Bomber” was attributed to British dealers who came up with the name. It also seems Honda painted the U.S. bikes black because they thought it the color most appealing to Yanks. Case in point, the popularity of the 1950s Triumph Thunderbird, originally factory painted blue then re-painted black and called the Blackbird for the U.S. market after a blacked-out Tbird was ridden by “Johnny” in the Marlon Brando bike flick, “The Wild One.”
While Honda lists August 1965 as the introduction for the 450, the bike’s first official appearance was during the UK’s Diamond Jubilee Brighton Speed Trials circa September 1965. None other than “Mike the Bike” Hailwood then scheduled to pilot the new machine at the Brand Hatch 500-mile production race in July 1966, but managed only a few demo laps as then current FIM rules barred it from the race because of its “advantage” over the competition via its DOHC design.
A March 1966 feature on the bike appearing in a Brit mag extolled its praises, including its 14.6 second quarter mile performance, opening with “The Honda CB450 is a searing, potent piece of machinery that can hold its own with almost any model in production today, irrespective of size.” It went on to say the bike had been clocked at 100 mph at 9200 rpm, but tractable enough also “happy to pobble at 4,000 rpm in top gear.” The article goes on to add, “At 95 mph it is the smoothest power unit imaginable, and the twin exhausts keep you in mind of a well-tuned four on the TT course.” It does point out the available “basic colour scheme is black and silver.” So here begins the rub….or should we say, red, and the trail thereof tracking down the provenance of the Red Dragon, as rare as the mythical creature’s teeth.
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See the Fabulous CB 450 Dragon – 1966 advertisement
When a friend brought the Brit magazine to Shannon’s attention, it provided another piece of name game puzzle. Here the name “Dragon” is attached to the CB450 designation and perhaps because dragons are frequently portrayed as red, it may link the birth of the name to CB450’s dressed in red. (Not to be confused with the Honda CL350 Flying Dragon Paint Set that appeared later in 1972, the swirling ink/psychedelic colors intended to enhance1972-73 CL350 Scramblers.
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The early incarnation of the KO CB450 with its distinctive gas tank lasted only 1965-67 at which point Honda deemed it necessary to provide an “updated” new look via the K1. While some joke that the name “Black Bomber” had a secondary connotation as in “sales bombed,” the public not particularly drawn to its design and subsequently Honda not happy with the sales figures, however an estimated 29,000 units sold might have been considered healthy enough back in the day.
Fast forward a half century and entering the fray is Shannon Sweeney of SS Classics, his one-man SoCal enterprise specializing in ’60-70s Japanese bikes, both their restoration and special constructions aka café racers/street trackers. When asked when his Red Dragon saga began, he says, “All told it was about an 8-year deal because when I originally got the bike, thinking it was a standard Black Bomber, then I discovered it was originally red, so started the search to determine if it actually came that color from the factory. I found that the line-up of 1966 Honda bikes came in four colors, black, white, blue and red, but the 450 when introduced that year came only in black. That’s why I was initially confused, thinking in ’66 you could choose your Honda color, but not so with the new 450. While Honda red is not rare in itself and found on their other bikes, it seemed the 450s only came in black for the U.S. market. That’s when the whole mystery started for me. But I had to prove that the Red Dragon actually existed, otherwise why the effort in attempting the restoration project.”
After putting out the word about the bike, Shannon found himself the recipient of plenty of advice, but most people were saying, no, the bike is really black, not red, Honda never making a red one. No such thing as a Red Dragon. “But,” says Shannon, “I’d had a 450 Black Bomber and also a white one in police trim. And I had documentation. The absolute, definitive proof that Honda produced a Red Dragon is found in the factory parts manual that showed every part in every color available for the 450….white for the police version, standard black and there it was… scarlet aka red. Eventually I found four Red Dragons, as far as I know all 1966 productions. Now it could be, depending on what part of the year, early or late, they might have been considered a ’65 or ’67.”
Says Shannon, “This is my speculation, but maybe the first year they’re like, okay, they’re not selling, so second year let’s make some red ones, and that didn’t work, then in ’67 they sold the last of the black ones, and that was it, they were done. Maybe they didn’t give up completely, because in ’67 the factory offered something they listed as a D Kit for the Bomber. The kit including a different tank, different handlebars and chrome fenders and a set of two high scrambler pipes, the only time Honda offered separated pipes, later Scramblers featuring both pipes melded together one side. You could take the stuff of your Black Bomber and bolt on a choice of silver/black/candy blue/black, candy red/black. I think the idea was to entice people to buy Bombers and sell the kit if they wanted to make them “cooler” and off-roadable.
Slogging on, Shannon located two Red Dragons in Canada and then a number of people in the vintage bike community who rallied to Shannon’s efforts responded by saying there were some of the rare red beasts still prowling around Europe. “I don’t know the exact number produced, from what I can gather Honda didn’t keep a record of their production as it was near the end of the line merging with the introduction of redesigned 450’s. It seems someone decided to paint some of the Black Bombers red for sale in the UK market where riders were more familiar with red being the sporty color as seen on bikes like the Ducati and Moto Guzzi. This color variation could have been an effort to pump up sales and so the reason some Red Dragons then made it to Canada, a UK commonwealth nation, and then a few eventually migrating down to the U.S. including this one I found in Indiana. As far as I know Red Dragons were not sold by dealers here.”
A bit of unusual evidence appeared one day when Bill “Mr. Honda” Silver, noted authority on vintage Hondas, informed Shannon about a vintage LP record album by jazz great Maynard Ferguson, showing the trumpeter astride a mint looking Red Dragon. The 1968 recording was titled “Ridin’ High” and included a song called “Meet a Cheetah” which seems appropriate considering with the choice of cover design. In small print on the back of the album were some tell-tale facts relating to the unearthing of the Red Dragon’s roots in North America. The original photo seen on the cover is credited to Bently’s Cycle & sports located in Montreal, Quebec…the Canadian connection established.
In September 2013, after completing his research effort and authenticating the Red Dragon as the real deal, Shannon launched into the restoration. While many of the original pieces were in place, the hunt entailed some serious legwork. In the process, he also found a can of original Honda factory scarlet paint with matching parts catalog numbers. He was able to computer color match it with a current DuPont pigment and thus was able to produce enough to repaint the bike.
It was a delicate process shoehorning the bike into the freshly painted frame, again handled by Shannon on the solo as was the entire build with a “little help from his friends.” This included polishing and chroming by Stutzman Plating and Supreme Plating, both located in L.A. Much valued assistance focused on the Red Dragon’s 444cc DOHC powerplant with the top end rebuilt a 77-year old mechanical engineer who had worked his magic on several top ends for Shannon’s previous projects. In 1965 the engine rebuilder also helped design a one-off high altitude balloon capsule for Honda that could ascend to 80,000 ft., so he knew his stuff.
Says Shannon, “Bottom line, I wanted to keep the bike as original as possible rather than absolutely perfect looking.” That included retaining the original wiring harness, tach cable, side covers, headlight, taillight, and instrument cluster and gas tank. GTL Advantage (N. Hollywood, CA) sealed the inside of the tank while the rubber knee grips are miraculously the originals, the tank badges high quality aftermarket. Shannon sourced the correct spokes, the nipples differing with the various Honda rims, from a supplier in Japan while the D.I.D. rims are original and rechromed, then reshod with Duro tires which came closest to the bike’s original tread design. The hubs were completely rebuilt and polished with new brake shoes installed.
The seat, utilizing the original pan was re-upholstered by Hai at South Bay Upholstery and based on an original seat Shannon brought as a template. The original seat buckle and rivets were rechromed, but while the Honda signature logo always appeared on the rear of the seat, he decided not to add it…as least yet. “I like the fact that there’s nothing identifying the bike as Honda at first glance, so it causes people to say, hey, what is that? and then look closer.”
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When asked if there were any hiccups, Shannon chuckles and says, “In order to mount the front wheel, I had to make my own tool. After following the original Honda factory Bomber assembly manual, I found that only after the front wheel is placed in the forks can the front axle then be tightened The manual actually says you have to find and grind down a 23mnm wrench on either side to make it fit…which I did.”
Checking over the Red Dragon’s appointment, we find that the factory issue “Elephant” horn is also original and correct while Shannon points out that the one-piece pipes may be ’67 issues as there’s speculation that the ’66 pipes were of a 2-piece design. He is still looking for the correct speedometer in kilometers per hour since the Red Dragons were produced for Euro sales (and Canada import). The early Fuji speedo on his bike, which Shannon completely rebuilt including new glass and bezel with the odometer numbers rolled back to zero, is in MPH, the usual speedo replacement made for bikes running on American streets. (Note: While Japanese domestic Black Bomber 450s featured turn-signals, the U.S. imports did not.)
Meticulous in its restoration, Shannon is also meticulous in pointing any differences, saying, “I went for the lower profile Honda bars because I thought they look better with the bike than the higher bars. And there’s some extra polish I added to a couple of the original brass accents, the nut on the petcock and another one of the front of the speedo drive.”
Summing up the Red Dragon’s resurrection, Shannon says, “This is how I pieced the story together. No doubt they’ll be emails which I welcome from around the world adding information. But the thing about these old bikes is yes, maybe a bit cumbersome and heavy, but they were also simple enough to wrench on yourself and everything shows a design effort, even to the passenger footpeg mounts. And the only plastic pieces are shock covers…otherwise a ton of chromed and painted metal. At the time Honda was making a statement with this bike, the 450 their biggest to date. It’s also fun to uncover some of the history surrounding a bike, after some 50 years, separating the myth, and finding and identifying a real Red Dragon… yep, well worth the effort.”
More Info:
SS Classics
319.606.0434
www.ssclassics.net
SSClassics/Instagram
Specifications: Engine type-2-cylinder, 4-stroke-444cc (21.17 cubic inches); Bore & stroke-70mm x 57.8 mm; Horsepower-43 @8500 rpm; Staring system-electric & kick; transmission-4-speed.Weight-412 lbs.
