Rob Shepherd Honda
I can usually guarantee that when my office phone rings, and it is Mike Rapley on the other end, a trials story will emerge pretty quickly. I could sense from the opening sentence: “John, guess what I have found?” and the excitement in the tone that it was something special. He had found an old envelope with some 35mm negatives inside. On further inspection, he told me, he saw that they were the original black-and-white negatives from the test ride he had taken as a Trials and Motocross News staff member with Tommy Sandham. The machine was the red Honda RTL 360cc that Rob Shepherd had ridden before it was returned to Honda UK when they pulled out of trials in late 1980. It got even better when he also found in the same envelope studio pictures of the Seeley Honda 200cc, but that’s another story! What was even more interesting was the good old ‘Rappers’ could even remember the moment like it was yesterday. He immediately told me it was possibly the best twin-shock trials motorcycle he had ever ridden. What he did not know is that I had also been privileged to ride the very same machine after the 1980 Bemrose National Trial, so I could confirm his findings.
Article: John Hulme and Mike Rapley • Pictures: TMX, Mike Rapley, Tommy Sandham, Alan Vines, Mauri/ Fontsere Collection and the Giulio Mauri Copyright
Before I go any further, it would only be right to mention that some of these very pictures also surfaced in the superb book titled Four-Stroke Finale, the Honda Trials Story by Tommy Sandham and John Dickinson from 1989, two former staff members who worked full time in the heydays of Trials and Motocross News alongside Mike Rapley. Some of the reference points in this article have come from the book, which Mike used to reminisce and remind him of the day he had so much enjoyed.
THE PHONE CALL
Mike Rapley: “I knew that the file of negatives was around somewhere, but like so many items that seem unimportant at the time they are created, it’s only when 40 years have passed that they suddenly become irreplaceable! I actually found them back in 2013 when I was writing my autobiography, during convalescence following heart surgery. Back then, Classic Trial Magazine was in its infancy, so I never really gave the negatives much thought and shoved them back where they had lain for many years until they resurfaced whilst I was searching for something else. I never did like filing things properly, and it’s a bit late now to
change old habits! That’s what led me to phone John Hulme with the news, and John being the enthusiast that he is, was – metaphorically – jumping up and down on the other end of the line when I gave him the news!”
SO HOW DID IT ALL HAPPEN?
“In 1981, I had been with TMX for three years so the trials world knew that I was the rider/writer for the trials side of the paper. I think it was Trevor Kemp who rang me one morning to suggest that we took the opportunity to test ride
this special Honda as he said it was going back to the Honda headquarters at Chiswick where it was destined for the crusher.
“Trevor was the Silkolene Oils representative at the time but always seemed to have a tenuous connection with Honda, and he had previously organised a test for the paper on early XR Honda enduro models. So the date and venue were arranged.
“Come the appointed morning, it was lashing
it down, torrential February rain beating across the Lancashire Pennines above Lancaster where TMX had the long-term loan of a rough couple of fields known locally as ‘The Rough Lot’. It was actually a decent venue to test trials machines of that era as there were streams, rocky hillsides and a half-decent hill, all made more difficult by the conditions.
“Scotsman Tommy Sandham worked for the paper at the time, and he had dabbled in trials a bit, so he and I made our way to the location where the Honda awaited our presence. I don’t remember who brought the Honda for us; all I know is that he had collected the machine from Rob Shepherd and was on his way back
to Chiswick. It really was the very last time there was an opportunity to ride it. I don’t know whether it was actually crushed, but at the time, the urgency was all-important. I was in awe of the machine as nothing at the time resembled it in any way; it was truly a factory special and, being a bit rough around the edges, as it were, it looked it”.
SOME MACHINE
“The format then, indeed it’s the same format now, was to photograph the machine from every angle before anybody gets to ride it and make it dirty – or, indeed, break it – and that’s happened before! I hope that John has the specifications to hand, as I can’t recall much about the details except to say that, at the time, it seemed a most fantastic four-stroke trials motorcycle.
“You have to bear in mind that when writing about machines from the distant past, everything that has happened since is immaterial, and all memories after 1981 must be forgotten. However, I do know that I was able to enjoy a prolonged ride on the Honda.
“There were some quite challenging rocky streams at the ‘Rough Lot’ and also, in the wood next door, a significant winding section over rocks and mud that I had always found difficult. The day’s weather made that section even
worse, but as I recall, the Honda was more than up to it and found grip where other machines I had previously ridden over the same section were just not as good.”
AT ITS BEST
“It was as a hill climber that I found the machine to be at its best. The ‘Rough Lot’ was also used to test motocross machines and the black Lancashire peaty mud was often devoid of grip, especially in the conditions experienced that day, but the ‘Shep’ Factory Honda was brilliant in such conditions. To be honest, when riding factory weapons, an average rider can easily become overawed as the machines are frequently so much better than the rider, and that certainly applied in this case.
“Tommy and I had a great time thrashing the Honda through the sections we could ride, and we wrote as we found, for the paper and his publication, all those years ago. My memories now, 40 years later, are definitely a bit tenuous, but I do know that of all the motorcycles I tested during my 21 years with TMX, it’s a test that stands out and one that I recall with much appreciation. To see the pictures in print again and recall those happy days gives me great pleasure. I trust that through Classic Trial Magazine, readers will enjoy the images, and perhaps these words, as much as I have enjoyed writing them and remembering the great days of Honda specials.”