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Motorcycling Lifestyles
BIKES: The One That Got Away - Barn Fresh Dunstall Dominator
Nolan Woodbury from Vintage Motorcycles Online continues his exploration of Dunstall in the final of his 4 part series.
Hinz had no idea what a Dunstall Dominator was, his instincts told him it wasn't just another old motorcycle in a barn. (Photo: Noel Hinz)
Call it being in the right place at the wrong time or the other way around, Noel Hinz understands the dilemma. Although he didn't give specific details, Hinz, a Moto Guzzi enthusiast from Kansas, was made aware of an estate sale in his area...one with an 'old bike' included in the lot. Naturally curious, Hinz gathered info along with some pictures, and although he had no idea what a Dunstall Dominator was, his instincts told him it wasn't just another old motorcycle in a barn. Looking for answers, Hinz logged onto the Wildgoose Chase Guzzi forum, posted some photographs, and waited for answers....
The entire farm was going to auction, but the problem was it about 100 miles away. I discovered it was possible to put in a silent bid but I had no idea what to pay, what it was worth, or if it was some kind of knock-off. Once Nolan and other forum members confirmed it probably was a real Dunstall Norton and thus a very rare bike, the possibilities rained down. Would it go cheap, or bring big money? All that seemed to hinge on who knew about it and if they would they be interested. I wasn't planning to attend, I just wanted to throw a number at it. Would $1000.00 be a deal? $2000.00? I was painfully aware that the cost of restoration is almost always beyond the final value of almost anything. I also didn't have time to do it (or now, since I went back in school) but don't mind sitting on something of value for the future. The clincher for me came after I got an email from the auctioneer, who searched the title and history of the bike Dunstall at my request.
Noel,
I wanted to inform you of the recent findings as I think this may be of greater interest to you. I was mislead on the manufacture of the cycle but I have my information correct at this time. I personally went over yesterday and got the bike out so I would have my facts straight. The cycle is a Dunstall Dominator built July 30, 1968 SN# 125249. The bike was purchased Dec. 19, 1968. It is a one owner motorcycle. I will attach the pictures. I hope you find this cycle of interest and I look forward to seeing you July 26 at 10:00am if this is of interest. By the way, I checked and yes, the engine is free."
After this, I made the decision to go for it.
The guys on Wildguzzi got me all excited about getting this bike, so I hitched up a trailer and headed to the auction. The signs read 'Local Farm Auction' which was located in east central Kansas; the Middle of NOWHERE! 45-miles of rough, washed out gravel roads had to be driven to reach the property. When I got there, bunches of farmers were poking around at tractor carcasses and trucks. Trailer loads of worn out tools, tasteless furniture, and one Dunstall Dominator. Dunstall on the one owner title. As the story goes, he had been in the army in England and when he got out, he ordered the bike and shipped here. I visited with his sister about it. His niece said it was really fast. Problem was the 45-miles of aforementioned road to get to anywhere, so she says he used it to chase cattle in the pastures. NO, REALLY! He kept busting the bolts on the triple trees, front springs, front wheel, etc. it was parked in in a leaky barn in 1973 and there it sat until this sale. He passed away, I'm not sure how.
Anyway, about six people that wanted the bike showed up. One old Brit-bike collector from Wichita with deep pockets, some kids, a farmer that heard it was a good, fast cattle bike, and me. I jumped in at about $1800 which dropped out everyone but the Wichita collector. He never missed a beat, I sensed that he was going to buy no matter what so I pushed the issue and I forced him to bid all the way up to my personal limit of $2500. He will probably let it set until he has an auction upon death.
I might have bid more but the condition was pretty bad. Though I believe after studying the link Nolan mentioned (thanks!) that it was indeed the real deal. I took some more pics which I will link to later so you can all tell me that I should have gone $10,000 and it would have been my retirement income. It's always hard to know what to do in cases like this. If I hadn't been there, the old man would have got a great deal. Had he not showed up, I would have gotten it for a reasonable price. I tried, but wonder if I should have tried harder? I can't help but think this may have been the one that got away. - Noel Hinz
One Man's Dunstall: Scott Rook talks about building one today
The Dunstall Honda was something I never thought I wanted until I started looking at pictures of Norton Commandos online. I had bought a non-running 1971 CB750 in 2001 with the intent of building a Dick Mann CR750 replica. As I started pulling the bike apart I saw that the engine cases were cracked. That ended the project. Instead I started looking for a Norton Commando to restore and came across pictures of a Dunstall catalog. The Dunstall Honda floored me. The Dunstall Norton's were slim and racy but the Dunstall Honda looked like nothing I had seen before. It wasn't rounded and slim like the Norton, it was angular and large. Where the Dunstall Norton looked like it could slip through the universe like a fish the Dunstall Honda was a fist punching its way through space and time.
I resolved to find the Dunstall parts to build my own. It would be eight-years before I began the project.
I knew where to get the exhaust as I had seen one for sale online. Within two-months I had the exhaust, seat, and fairing (without the bracket or windscreen). The rearsets, mufflers, clipons, windscreen, tank and front fender would be much harder to come by. I wanted a new reproduction tank because of problems with the old fiberglass tanks and modern gas. I still ended up having to seal the new tank. The front fender is also a reproduction as I couldn't find an original Dunstall front fender. All the other parts are genuine Dunstall. The hardest item to get was the windscreen. I had to buy an entire fairing just to get the windscreen from it. It took a long time before I had enough parts to start the build.
By the winter of 2009 I started to build the bike. The frame and cycle parts went to the powdercoater, polisher, and chromer. By spring the bike was a roller. I hadn't touched the engine since I originally pulled the bike apart in 2001. After talking with a welder, I decided to get a replacement. A donor bike was found and the rebuild continued. I decided to keep the original tuning and went with a 1st overbore, new valves, and a valve job. The theme of the build was "period correct" and I found some NOS .025 overbore pistons with the old part numbers still on the boxes (the part numbers were changed in 1972). In the spring of 2010 the motor went back in the frame and I got the first ride on a bike I bought back nine-years earlier. I didn't have the Dunstall Decibel mufflers yet, but the exhaust bark from the unmuffled engine was fantastic. The bike still needed paint and finishing touches. I put a couple hundred miles on it that summer; getting the Dunstall dialed in and fixed a few teething problems. My first impressions of the Dunstall Honda were mixed. It was fast and handled better than any CB750 I had ever ridden but it was also uncomfortable and cumbersome under 60 mph.
The winter and spring of 2011 saw some much needed additions. I found a catalog description of a steering damper that Dunstall offered for the CB750 and replicated it with a damper from the Moto Guzzi V7. I also added a second disc up front as the Dunstall rearsets make the rear drum ineffective. I also found a set of Dunstall clip-ons that changed the riding position to make it more comfortable. I put about 1,000 miles on the bike this past summer and it's still uncomfortable and hard to maneuver in parking lots, but on the open road it simply flies. The 8v 750 pulls like a freight train over 4,000 rpm and hits 100 mph easily. It's actually hard to ride the bike at the speed limit. I find myself creeping up to 85 then 90 without even noticing it. (Makes you wonder how good Dunstall's engine was? NDW)
Owning the Dunstall Honda CB750 is a strange experience. It goes fast so well that riding it slow isn't really fun. It's manageable if you're going through towns slow to get to the open roads in between. The utilitarian aspect of the CB750 is gone in the Dunstall. Touring would be physically painful and commuting in traffic is frustrating to say the least. For fast weekend rides in the country or highway blasts the Dunstall Honda is superb. An added bonus is the sheer strangeness of the bike. Motorcycle riders quickly recognize the engine as a CB750 but have no idea what year or model the bike is. Many riders think it is from the early 1980s and are shocked to find out is an early 1970s special. Paul Dunstall put together a really neat package for riders that wanted more from their CB750 than touring and commuting. While the Dunstall Honda looks striking, it was built with fast road riding in mind. Fiberglass components replace heavy steel fenders and tank. The exhaust system produced over 11 extra horsepower at 6,500 rpm on the dyno. The steering damper and rear gas shocks made for a better handling machine at high speed. The addition of the extra disc (Dunstall option) completed the package and allowed for better braking. The Dunstall Honda is more than just a pretty package. When tucked behind the windscreen with the revs climbing and the scenery blurring past the Dunstall Honda is perfect. Through soft curves at speed or hard braking fast corners the bike would have ruled the road for a brief time in the early 1970s. Scott M. Rook
The industry moves on
No surprisingly, a great deal was learned about Paul Dunstall in the course of researching and writing this installment of Production Specials. While the bulk of his fortune was earned in the retail segment, the vision and effort required to cover so much ground in outfitting of so many models is often lost in the flash of his reputation. In this writer's opinion, the true brilliance of Dunstall & Co lies in those vastly underrated Works racers and the factory-badged motorcycles that wore his name. It's possible that the Japanese wave of 1969 might have washed out many of Dunstall's previous efforts from our collective memory, but his later work with Honda, Kawasaki and especially Suzuki demonstrates his skill for speed tuning was not reserved for English twins. All things considered, it's no reach to say never before in the history of motorcycling has so much been accomplished and so little remembered.
The proof as they say, is in the doing. Most reports point to Dunstall's 1982 sale of the company as a reaction to financial recession. There is no denying that played a part, but the tapering of interest in his products had far more to do with his role in motorcycling's time line. Thanks in very large part to Paul Dunstall, when manufactures began taking all aspects of performance seriously and packaged handling, braking, power, acceleration and style into their products, his job was done. What's left from that journey are the images -both real and envisioned- we keep and cherish today. They are worth keeping and remembering fondly because for a time, nobody did sporting motorcycles better. Nolan Woodbury
Credits, research sources and thanks:
Noel Hinz
Paul Dunstall and the Dunstall Dominators (Jim Greening, Cycle June 1968)
Dunstall-Suzuki GS1000 CS, "Reasoning for Speed" (L.J.K. Setright, Cycle Guide July 1979)
John Woodgate: http://www.woodgate.org/dunstall/index.html
Gordon McCall/McCallMoto: http://www.mccallevents.com/
Scott Rook
Click the image below to see more photos
The entire farm was going to auction, but the problem was it about 100 miles away. I discovered it was possible to put in a silent bid but I had no idea what to pay, what it was worth, or if it was some kind of knock-off. Once Nolan and other forum members confirmed it probably was a real Dunstall Norton and thus a very rare bike, the possibilities rained down. Would it go cheap, or bring big money? All that seemed to hinge on who knew about it and if they would they be interested. I wasn't planning to attend, I just wanted to throw a number at it. Would $1000.00 be a deal? $2000.00? I was painfully aware that the cost of restoration is almost always beyond the final value of almost anything. I also didn't have time to do it (or now, since I went back in school) but don't mind sitting on something of value for the future. The clincher for me came after I got an email from the auctioneer, who searched the title and history of the bike Dunstall at my request.
Noel,
I wanted to inform you of the recent findings as I think this may be of greater interest to you. I was mislead on the manufacture of the cycle but I have my information correct at this time. I personally went over yesterday and got the bike out so I would have my facts straight. The cycle is a Dunstall Dominator built July 30, 1968 SN# 125249. The bike was purchased Dec. 19, 1968. It is a one owner motorcycle. I will attach the pictures. I hope you find this cycle of interest and I look forward to seeing you July 26 at 10:00am if this is of interest. By the way, I checked and yes, the engine is free."
After this, I made the decision to go for it.
The guys on Wildguzzi got me all excited about getting this bike, so I hitched up a trailer and headed to the auction. The signs read 'Local Farm Auction' which was located in east central Kansas; the Middle of NOWHERE! 45-miles of rough, washed out gravel roads had to be driven to reach the property. When I got there, bunches of farmers were poking around at tractor carcasses and trucks. Trailer loads of worn out tools, tasteless furniture, and one Dunstall Dominator. Dunstall on the one owner title. As the story goes, he had been in the army in England and when he got out, he ordered the bike and shipped here. I visited with his sister about it. His niece said it was really fast. Problem was the 45-miles of aforementioned road to get to anywhere, so she says he used it to chase cattle in the pastures. NO, REALLY! He kept busting the bolts on the triple trees, front springs, front wheel, etc. it was parked in in a leaky barn in 1973 and there it sat until this sale. He passed away, I'm not sure how.
Anyway, about six people that wanted the bike showed up. One old Brit-bike collector from Wichita with deep pockets, some kids, a farmer that heard it was a good, fast cattle bike, and me. I jumped in at about $1800 which dropped out everyone but the Wichita collector. He never missed a beat, I sensed that he was going to buy no matter what so I pushed the issue and I forced him to bid all the way up to my personal limit of $2500. He will probably let it set until he has an auction upon death.
I might have bid more but the condition was pretty bad. Though I believe after studying the link Nolan mentioned (thanks!) that it was indeed the real deal. I took some more pics which I will link to later so you can all tell me that I should have gone $10,000 and it would have been my retirement income. It's always hard to know what to do in cases like this. If I hadn't been there, the old man would have got a great deal. Had he not showed up, I would have gotten it for a reasonable price. I tried, but wonder if I should have tried harder? I can't help but think this may have been the one that got away. - Noel Hinz
One Man's Dunstall: Scott Rook talks about building one today
The Dunstall Honda was something I never thought I wanted until I started looking at pictures of Norton Commandos online. I had bought a non-running 1971 CB750 in 2001 with the intent of building a Dick Mann CR750 replica. As I started pulling the bike apart I saw that the engine cases were cracked. That ended the project. Instead I started looking for a Norton Commando to restore and came across pictures of a Dunstall catalog. The Dunstall Honda floored me. The Dunstall Norton's were slim and racy but the Dunstall Honda looked like nothing I had seen before. It wasn't rounded and slim like the Norton, it was angular and large. Where the Dunstall Norton looked like it could slip through the universe like a fish the Dunstall Honda was a fist punching its way through space and time.
I resolved to find the Dunstall parts to build my own. It would be eight-years before I began the project.
I knew where to get the exhaust as I had seen one for sale online. Within two-months I had the exhaust, seat, and fairing (without the bracket or windscreen). The rearsets, mufflers, clipons, windscreen, tank and front fender would be much harder to come by. I wanted a new reproduction tank because of problems with the old fiberglass tanks and modern gas. I still ended up having to seal the new tank. The front fender is also a reproduction as I couldn't find an original Dunstall front fender. All the other parts are genuine Dunstall. The hardest item to get was the windscreen. I had to buy an entire fairing just to get the windscreen from it. It took a long time before I had enough parts to start the build.
By the winter of 2009 I started to build the bike. The frame and cycle parts went to the powdercoater, polisher, and chromer. By spring the bike was a roller. I hadn't touched the engine since I originally pulled the bike apart in 2001. After talking with a welder, I decided to get a replacement. A donor bike was found and the rebuild continued. I decided to keep the original tuning and went with a 1st overbore, new valves, and a valve job. The theme of the build was "period correct" and I found some NOS .025 overbore pistons with the old part numbers still on the boxes (the part numbers were changed in 1972). In the spring of 2010 the motor went back in the frame and I got the first ride on a bike I bought back nine-years earlier. I didn't have the Dunstall Decibel mufflers yet, but the exhaust bark from the unmuffled engine was fantastic. The bike still needed paint and finishing touches. I put a couple hundred miles on it that summer; getting the Dunstall dialed in and fixed a few teething problems. My first impressions of the Dunstall Honda were mixed. It was fast and handled better than any CB750 I had ever ridden but it was also uncomfortable and cumbersome under 60 mph.
The winter and spring of 2011 saw some much needed additions. I found a catalog description of a steering damper that Dunstall offered for the CB750 and replicated it with a damper from the Moto Guzzi V7. I also added a second disc up front as the Dunstall rearsets make the rear drum ineffective. I also found a set of Dunstall clip-ons that changed the riding position to make it more comfortable. I put about 1,000 miles on the bike this past summer and it's still uncomfortable and hard to maneuver in parking lots, but on the open road it simply flies. The 8v 750 pulls like a freight train over 4,000 rpm and hits 100 mph easily. It's actually hard to ride the bike at the speed limit. I find myself creeping up to 85 then 90 without even noticing it. (Makes you wonder how good Dunstall's engine was? NDW)
Owning the Dunstall Honda CB750 is a strange experience. It goes fast so well that riding it slow isn't really fun. It's manageable if you're going through towns slow to get to the open roads in between. The utilitarian aspect of the CB750 is gone in the Dunstall. Touring would be physically painful and commuting in traffic is frustrating to say the least. For fast weekend rides in the country or highway blasts the Dunstall Honda is superb. An added bonus is the sheer strangeness of the bike. Motorcycle riders quickly recognize the engine as a CB750 but have no idea what year or model the bike is. Many riders think it is from the early 1980s and are shocked to find out is an early 1970s special. Paul Dunstall put together a really neat package for riders that wanted more from their CB750 than touring and commuting. While the Dunstall Honda looks striking, it was built with fast road riding in mind. Fiberglass components replace heavy steel fenders and tank. The exhaust system produced over 11 extra horsepower at 6,500 rpm on the dyno. The steering damper and rear gas shocks made for a better handling machine at high speed. The addition of the extra disc (Dunstall option) completed the package and allowed for better braking. The Dunstall Honda is more than just a pretty package. When tucked behind the windscreen with the revs climbing and the scenery blurring past the Dunstall Honda is perfect. Through soft curves at speed or hard braking fast corners the bike would have ruled the road for a brief time in the early 1970s. Scott M. Rook
The industry moves on
No surprisingly, a great deal was learned about Paul Dunstall in the course of researching and writing this installment of Production Specials. While the bulk of his fortune was earned in the retail segment, the vision and effort required to cover so much ground in outfitting of so many models is often lost in the flash of his reputation. In this writer's opinion, the true brilliance of Dunstall & Co lies in those vastly underrated Works racers and the factory-badged motorcycles that wore his name. It's possible that the Japanese wave of 1969 might have washed out many of Dunstall's previous efforts from our collective memory, but his later work with Honda, Kawasaki and especially Suzuki demonstrates his skill for speed tuning was not reserved for English twins. All things considered, it's no reach to say never before in the history of motorcycling has so much been accomplished and so little remembered.
The proof as they say, is in the doing. Most reports point to Dunstall's 1982 sale of the company as a reaction to financial recession. There is no denying that played a part, but the tapering of interest in his products had far more to do with his role in motorcycling's time line. Thanks in very large part to Paul Dunstall, when manufactures began taking all aspects of performance seriously and packaged handling, braking, power, acceleration and style into their products, his job was done. What's left from that journey are the images -both real and envisioned- we keep and cherish today. They are worth keeping and remembering fondly because for a time, nobody did sporting motorcycles better. Nolan Woodbury
Credits, research sources and thanks:
Noel Hinz
Paul Dunstall and the Dunstall Dominators (Jim Greening, Cycle June 1968)
Dunstall-Suzuki GS1000 CS, "Reasoning for Speed" (L.J.K. Setright, Cycle Guide July 1979)
John Woodgate: http://www.woodgate.org/dunstall/index.html
Gordon McCall/McCallMoto: http://www.mccallevents.com/
Scott Rook
Click the image below to see more photos
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