D&D Cycles had come up with a rigid frame for this engine that was a re-pop of a Harley rigid frame, the only major difference being two side frame supports replacing the single center frame support where the oil tank resides. Invader was making five-spoke wheels that were really cutting edge for the day. Paul Durfee had developed a cool girder frontend while Ron Paugh of Paughco had an oiltank and fuel tank that would make the bike look totally like a rigid frame chopper. The cool part about building a bike with a new frame is you get to ride the cycle all the way up to the day you need to chrome plate engine components.
While the fuel tank was removable, it looked totally molded into the frame. My buddy Bob Jensen welded the bottom tank plate onto the frame and I'm still proud of the one-piece look, as this was my first/last/best motorcycle-molding job I ever performed. Even the late Roger Cassano of Cycle Painting was impressed before applying the multi-color paint job over silverflake.
The finished bike was all Harley rigid frame styling excepting the horizontally mounted four-cylinder motor, so I named the bike Honda Hog. Art Director Tom Mahoney came up with a complementing piece of art for the feature layout. I rode it all over the West Coast, and even the beaches of Daytona. Now, if I had only found a Honda Six!
I didn't know it at the time, but several motorcycle shops would later use this article and this Japanese chopper's name to defend legislation by Harley-Davidson to curtail their use of the hog term. I'd say I miss the bike, but I really doubt my ass could still take the pounding from a rigid frame.
Later, Steve