this bike in the picture above if i am correct was registered in the uk in 1965 with the suffix BDX and if so is the one featured in a magazine article a little while ago. assuming alll above is correct It belonged to a friend of mine and was a really nice bike in close to original condiition.
Read Titan was the name used by the owners of Read Brothers of Leytonstone London and they used an oversize piston kit to take the humble CB77 bore out by another 10mm thus making the the engine just short of 350cc. Their sales brochures offered a whole array of tuning parts and accessories including fibreglass tanks and seats from a company called Churchgate Mouldings. It was possible to purchase a bike in any state of tune and style by selecting from the catalogue to suit your pocket.
The CB Read Titan machines were raced in various events and had sucess from the mid 1960's on through until the early 1970's when the K series Hondas which came straight out of the factory with a five speed box needed less efforts to be more competitive.
The header pipes of the style of those shown above being one each side as opposed to two together, were a prototype shape made by Reads how ever they were meant to be straight thorough pipes and not have the ends covered with those stumpy reverse cones which are probably still on sale from Armors of Bournemouth.
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