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Oops, I Did It Again... 1972 Honda Cb350 Four


George

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So now I have two bikes and I don't know how to ride yet... :-\

 

The Postie I bought recently will be fine for short trips to the station and whatnot but I realised it's not ideal for longer distances so I was looking for a 250 with a 4 cylinder for a bit of fun on the weekends. Like most of you, I'm drawn to classic vehicles but I was looking for a more modern bike to save me the hassle of maintenance and reliability issues. That didn't happen obviously but at least I tried...

 

I had my eye on the old CB Fours and this one came up in Melbourne. I've not ridden one nor even sat on one but it was just too good to pass up so I jumped on it and just as well because he had a fair bit of interest.

 

It's a 1972 Honda CB350 Four that has undergone a nut and bolt restoration in the last year with a brand new crate engine sourced by chance from the States.

 

I'm actually surprised at how cheap all this bike stuff is - well, relative to cars anyway. I figure this will enable me to have a play with modifying the bike to my taste without re-mortgaging the house...

 

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The owner sent me these two videos as well.

 

 

 

Sadly, all of this means the MX5 really has to go now. :(

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LOL, yeah this is another hobby I really don't need. I've been looking at building a Cafe Racer also, but really first things first for me. The Honda bikes are well regarded, well really any of the Japanese stuff is.

 

I've been looking at Kawasaki and Suzuki bikes, but like I say got enough to do on my cars for now.

 

Have you got your license yet George?

 

It does look like a clean example. Well done.

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The car will realistically take me years to complete so something that's ready to enjoy right now and is a bit of cheap fun (rego/parts/maint) made a lot of sense.

 

I got my L's a couple of weeks ago Gav. It was pretty easy as you might have heard from others - it just takes a bit of time... I was surprised to see how far in advance all of the weekend courses are booked out. I had to travel to St Ives (over an hour for me) in the end to get a booking less than a month away.

 

I was looking at the Kawasaki ZR250A Balius and the Honda CB250F Hornet. Both imports from the mid to late 90's and both little screamers. Not very fast but with 20,000 rpm and 18,000 rpm redline respectively, they put a grin on your face without having to speed everywhere. After my old Z, I'm a sucker for driving a solid little engine hard instead of babying around barely past idle for fear of breaking traction.

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Ah, that brings back memories for me too - several decades ago I bought a CB 500/4 mainly just for a summer tour around NZ.

Mine had a set of Dunstall 4 into 1 into 2 pipes on it, sounded magnificent, very Norton Commando-looking style of pipes. Otherwise it was completely stock.

Nice bike, not fast like the 2-strokes of the day were as it's pretty heavy. And a little top heavy when throwing it into a corner or up on the stand. But great fun to ride & rev out.

The only issue I had with it was a rather weak clutch pack, a commonly known issue at the time, otherwise despite a high mileage it was very reliable.

Edited by gilltech
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