CL350 Purchase Advice

[assquatch20]

Mods: Please change title to "1970 CL350"

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and repost myself from the Honda Twins forum, just to cover more ground. I'm going to look at this Saturday and have intentions to bring it home unless somebody can give me some reasoning against it.

Originally Posted by assquatch20

Hey, may not be here long depending on sellers and what you guys tell me, but I'm looking at a pretty pretty CL350 on Craigslist. Just sold my airhead today and need something else. It's a 1970 model (can never remember how the lettering works for Honda years, K2?) and looks pretty well complete and clean, just 4k original miles supposedly.

Anyhow, they're asking $2500 which might be a hair too high, but I'm not terribly concerned about that.

What I'm wondering is if it's the right bike for me.

1) I like the appeal of being able to get back on trails a bit, although I don't expect much. My last dual sport was a TW200, and I was plenty happy putting along on mild terrain.

2) Also, I'm a decent sized dude (230lbs) and would like to occasionally throw my girlfriend on there for leisurely rides, but I don't know the GVWR for one of these.

3) I'm about to be a MSF rider coach and figured this might be a decent bike for the job. As well, it's a good one to teach the GF how to ride on I think, aside from being almost too clean.

4) Longer commutes/trips. I understand this may not be super practical, but I'm sure luggage could be figured out without going over the weight limit. Can the engine take it, though? I'd never do more than 3-400 miles a day, and I'm okay with sticking to state highways for lower speeds, but can it hang for an hour at 70mph? I've heard about cam tensioner issues, but not sure which models had them.

Anyway, that's all I can think of at the moment. Here's a link to the ad. Please don't buy it out from under me before I can look at it?

http://nashville.craigslist.org/mcy/3608174033.html

So, shoulda posted here first. I imagine you guys can pipe up with your thoughts on it.

Thanks.

[bk brkr baker]

The price is three times or a little more than it's original price. For that much I'd expect a near perfect bike.
And that would preclude taking it out and thrashing the hell out of it. Are you looking for garage art ?

[assquatch20]

Originally Posted by bk brkr baker

The price is three times or a little more than it's original price. For that much I'd expect a near perfect bike.
And that would preclude taking it out and thrashing the hell out of it. Are you looking for garage art ?

Street art. I'd probably clean my bike for once. Given the work listed, I can deal with some tank dings and a seat rip. Fella sent me a few videos of it from today and it seemed tip top. Maybe needed fork work or it was the 350lb man popping a squat on it.

[oregoncoast]

A CL350 is not a trail bike...and will be horrible off road compared to an actual capable TW200.

I'll PM with more comments, but it is a great motor...and can do some amazing things!!

I have a running CL350 I'd sell you for a lot less...if you were only closer!

[bk brkr baker]

Fly and ride. Off to Oregon you go!
Do it in the Spirit of the 555's.

[assquatch20]

Originally Posted by bk brkr baker

Fly and ride. Off to Oregon you go!
Do it in the Spirit of the 555's.

Maybe ride and fly instead? I'm a little stuck, with college and whatnot, which is another great place to have a little Honder. Is the price really that bad? There's one on the bay right now over $3k.

[anonny]

The price should be in the hundreds not the thousands.

[welder]

It sounds like a modern 650 dual sport would be better suited. klr,dr, xlr

[assquatch20]

I'm afraid I might end up stubborn about this bike. State roads, around town, fire roads and such would be its domain, aside from some cones in a parking lot.

You guys got me scared on the price now, but all the ones I can find locally are priced higher and only in slightly better condition that I can tell. I'm gonna have to check it out in detail to be sure it's worth anything in his ballpark, but I'm leaning towards it.

There's an NT650 and a super rare CRM250 locally as well, but they both have their drawbacks. No idea if I could even insure the CRM since it's grey, and no aftermarket for it. I know the guy with the NT650 though so I'll probably stop by while I'm in Nashvegas and have a look.

[Kt-88]

I paid 50$ for my last running cl350. It wasn't even that ugly, just needed new bars. I cannot imagine paying airhead or sportster or Klr money for a cl350. I LOVE these bikes- for 500$ and under. The mechanics of the bike are just incredibly simple, though, and they do seem to run forever.

[dilandau]

around here you can expect a decent cb or cl to be in the 2k+ range. its becoming the norm. in other areas this may not have hit, but its coming.

check if they have replaced the cam chain tensioner wheel- they rot and fall apart after 40 years and you have to crack the cases to fix it. other than that there is little that can go wrong with them.

basic stuff will drive the price down or up- clean tank, miles on the engine, all original parts, and on the CL- the pipes! its stupid to compare the value of a bike now to what it sold for - compare rather the value of it to you verses buying a new bike of similar strengths

if it seems reasonable.. then why not? I rather deal with carbs and points than injection and a computer anyday

[assquatch20]

Originally Posted by dilandau

around here you can expect a decent cb or cl to be in the 2k+ range. its becoming the norm. in other areas this may not have hit, but its coming.

check if they have replaced the cam chain tensioner wheel- they rot and fall apart after 40 years and you have to crack the cases to fix it. other than that there is little that can go wrong with them.

basic stuff will drive the price down or up- clean tank, miles on the engine, all original parts, and on the CL- the pipes! its stupid to compare the value of a bike now to what it sold for - compare rather the value of to you verses buying a new bke of similar strengths

if it seems reasonable.. then why not? I rather deal with carbs and points than injection and a computer anyday

Well since someone had my train of thought about it, I'll fess up to buying it yesterday. The fella was nice enough to throw in a pretty nice battery tender and a new helmet. The pipe has the usual. VM30's on it, receipts for a lot of the work done. Pretty much all there though and in good shape. I'll start a thread on it when I get down to fooling with little things.

[dilandau]

nice one. another thing to check is under the headlight ears- that cover up the forks. they tend to trap water and it can rust under there. and give us some pics off the truck!

[assquatch20]

So that's it for now.

[Kt-88]

Looks awfully clean sir!