Chinese Norton Skywing Honda Camino Amalgamation

Earlier this year, some brave/foolhardy souls from the Real Classic message board decided that it would be a good idea to take part in a John O'Groats to Lands End moped challenge to raise money for the Help for Heroes charity.  They chose to attempt this on a Chinese Skywing moped, that became a Norton thanks to the addition of some genuine Norton footpegs and some badges. Sadly, the brave little mopeddy died a death after little more than 300 miles and ended up in my Home for Distressed Mopeds.  The original plan was that I should just store it until MadMike collected it and took it for scrap but that seemed like a waste so I ended up with the log book and moped in the hope that some way of fixing it could be found.

We did some research and found that it was some sort of copy of a Honda Camino so I've been keeping my eye out for a bargain Camino ever since.  It had to be very cheap just in case it didn't fit! Last weekend we collected a low mileage complete Honda Camino won for just £56 on ebay - I think the low price was helped by the fact that the auction ended at 8.00. bright and early on a Sunday morning. I was in two minds whether or not to get out of bed to bid but I'm glad I did!

This weekend, while I was tatting around with Bertie, The Boss was playing with the Honda Camino and soon had it running so it was time to try and fit the working bits into the Skywing.  First attempt was to fit the complete engine and back wheel in but the main problem there was that the wiring didn't match up.  The next plan was to just fit the Honda head, barrel and piston to the Skywing - this meant that we still had the newer wheel from the Skywing.  I'm making it sound quite easy but that's because The Boss did most of the work.  I was on engine cleaning duties. After connecting electrics, fuel pipe and cables the Skywing Norton Chamino hybrid was soon running and even got taken for a bit of a run up the road.

The Camino had pedals whereas the Skywing was a kick start.  The "finished" Chamino retains the kickpart but there are no footpegs - apparently it didn't come with them, there is just a sort of plastic footplate but that doesn't really feel as if it is in the right place (you feel a bit of a twat riding it like that). Also the splines on the kickstart look pretty shoddy so I'm not sure how long they'll last.  Longer term, we (as in The Boss) may transfer over the pedals and pedal starting gubbins instead of the kick start.

The donor Camino

 I've noticed that you can get Honda Camino big-bore kits on ebay so, longer term, the donor bike may get fixed up, registered and sold on.  Seems a shame to waste it!

Pete Sykes Mad Moped piccies