1972 Honda CL350 (scrambler)

[hardlydangerous]

A customer of mine dragged me to London Ont a few days ago to check out a bike....
1972 Honda CL350.
It was bought from a US collector that had put 4900 miles on it in the early 70s then added it to his collection where it sat for 20 years+
The PO bought it 4 years ago, got it running, replaced some missing parts with NOS honda parts and also stored it for the past 4 years.

Even though it looks like eye candy and its 99% original, it has not run in 4 years. the tank is trashed inside (stabil sucks) the carbs are really bad and the ignition needs to be changed. Because it is being used as a daily rider by the new owner (also vintage collector) I may try to talk him into an electronic ignition, but if he wants to keep it original it will need new points, wires etc.

[DumbLuck]

the exhaust on that thing alone is worth a mint! I still have a huge stain on my drive wayfrom a CB350 double lung that had only been running on one lung before it was brought to me. Got it to fire, and it puked all all sorts of nasty gas oil mix from the breather tube. the non running cylinder had been sucking in gas and leaking it down into the crank case. The PO had put a whole bunch of miles on it running on only one lung. (the stained area is marked "Harley Davidson parking only")

[hardlydangerous]

It probably just needed new points if it was getting gas.

The CB/CL 350 is one of Honda's all time best bikes...
people rode these from coast to coast, used them for dirt and street and they are still easy to get parts for.
The next best bike honda built was the VT600 VLX... I just happen to still have mine.
The engine is air and water cooled and was designed for off road racing (Honda XL-V transalp) they built a Shadow around it and the Honda XLV became the VLX

[kevin2502000]

I had a 1972 cl350 also in the puke green color. I learned to drive a clutch on it.

[BareKat]

I too had a 1973 CB350 as my first bike... those old drum brakes suck arse... but great bike none the less.

That bike is very nice shape!

[hardlydangerous]

there is a trick to drum brakes that makes them VERY powerful...

"leverage"

first thing I do is file down the cam blade that opens the shoes so its more gradually for better brake control.
Next run to your local salvage yard and find longer cam arm and pivot arms...
This style has a long pivot arm already but a 1" longer cam arm will allow you to lock up the front.

my old flat track bike had single arm drum brakes. I made it a pivot arm and kept the stock length cam arm. It was stupid silly how hard it would brake

[Slofuze]

Wow..... I can remember back in HS when the original "Big Bear" first came out and we'd get a chance to watch hill-climbs during lunch. Good times.