82 year old Brit makes 1/2 scale engines

I would love to see that little Manx engine scaled into a little manx mini-bike for my son...

A little 50cc Manx mini racer would be awesome. So would a mini Kawasaki H1.

With the same amount of effort could he not just have made the full size and thus a lot more useful?

That's the most common reaction for most of us too, but dang it I'm glad someone made something so impractical fascinating.

Many years ago in Melbourne, Australia there was a guy named George Huse who raced a 125cc DOHC Manx copy called the Hunter Picaninny. It was back in the days when road race 125s were mainly four strokes and BSA Bantams. The opposition rode Bialbero MVs if they were rich enough. The bike probably still exists somewhere. It is not something which was ever useful for anything other than the old 125 ultralightweight road race class. I have always been opposed to the habit of racing two strokes and four strokes together. One day we might end up with a four stroke 125cc class again. A small DOHC manx would be the ant's pants.

A friend has built this Honda CB125. Because we allow two strokes to run in the same class, it will never be competitive . These days the two strokes look like RS125 Hondas on the inside:



This would also not be competitive against the two strokes :



Or this:



And certainly not this :