I got a new (to me) bike!!!!! Honda CL450

[donny662]

I've been looking to get a new motorcycle because the Marauder I have been riding is actually my dad's. Both of my parents and I got out endorsements last August after taking the MSF course. This spring, we bought the Marauder for my dad to ride.

Since this is his first bike, he took a few weeks to first get the proper gear. Then, he spent some time getting used to the bike; I drove the bike to a parking lot and allowed him to practice there. During the next few months he rode it sporadically while I rode it often and racked up about 3,000 miles compared to my dad's <500 miles.

In the past few weeks, he has started riding it to work and is now pretty comfortable with riding. The other day, my mother and he went for a ride, and he came back saying that he was in the 'zone' and had a great time.

So, good for him , but that also means I should probably get a bike of my own . Since I finally got myself a full-time job a few weeks ago, I don't really have much saved up for my current favorite motorcycle: a WR250X.

The plan: get an older, good running bike for around $1000, put a few thousand miles on it, either clean up/restore it over the winter, and buy my WR250X next spring when I'll have enough to pay cash, that is, if I haven't moved on from the WR and found a new crush. In February, it was the Harley Nightster after I saw it at the motorcycle show in Novi; a little later, it was the Suzuki M50 (which brought me here ) because I hadn't found a job yet, and the M was a more reasonable goal to achieve before the end of the summer; after more idleness and research, I came across the WR250X, the latest love of my life.

Anyway, onto the current plan. After looking around craigslist, I decided I wanted an older bike with some character. The old CB750 inline fours don't count. First up was a Yamaha XS650 for $1100. The write up about that experience is here: So I looked at a bike this evening . . . - MJ; executive summary: I didn't get it.

Next, I found a '75 Honda CL360 Scrambler for $1100. I called the guy selling it and set up an appointment to see it the next day. Later, I saw another Scrambler for sale on Craigslist: a '73 CL350 for $900. For the '75, the guy called me up to let me know it had sold, which I really appreciated because that didn't mean I had to drive 40 minutes to find that out (when we were looking at bikes for my dad, we drove 30 minutes just to find out that the bike had sold even though on the day before we had made the arrangements to see it). Some of CL350/360 is here: Quick, '73 CL350 or '75 CL360? - ADVrider

Today, a '72 CL450 showed up on craigslist for $1500. I called the guy up and made an appointment to see it this evening. When me, my dad, and my mom got to his house, he showed me his new Yamaha RD80. He had to buy the CL to get the RD. The RD was in beautiful condition, but the engine was seized. Also, he had an old Moto Guzzi in that garage. Next he showed me his daily driver, a '74? BMW R75/6. He had some pretty cool bikes and was a great guy to talk to. I surprised him every time I would mention something about the old motorcycles or ask a question about them.

The Scrambler was in his father's barn 2 miles down the road. In there he had a CL125, CL160, a couple of CL350s, an old Honda Dream, and an Elsinore; I may have forgotten a few of them.

The 450 is in pretty good condition and is much cleaner than the 350 I looked at a couple days ago. The rear tire is nearly to the wear indicators, but the front tire has a lot of life left in it, neither are weather checked. An O-ring chain had been put on, and it has a lot of life left in it. There is a little bit of rust in the gas tank, but the rust isn't built up and floating around in the gas. Aftermarket suspension was added in the rear which should be pretty nice.

We started the bike up with the electric start. It took a little while for him to warm it up to where it would idle on its own. There are a couple of problems we noticed here: the left cylinder's exhaust is cold and the engine likes to stick around 3000rpms when you let off the throttle after revving it. The guy mentioned that the spark plugs need to be changed, and the exhaust will heat up noticeably when the engine has warmed up and is revved. So, I'm hoping new spark plugs and carb cleaning will get it running right.

I asked him about a test ride, and he said that he could ride it around for me but wouldn't let me ride it. He was selling an old bike that had the shifter and brake lever on opposite sides of modern bikes, and he let the potential buyer take it for a spin. The buyer didn't know what he was doing and either wrecked the bike or nearly did (I don't remember). Anyway, he rode it around and shifted through a few gears, and that was good enough for me.

We settled on a price of $1300. He asked me how I was going to get it home. I had planned on riding it the 15-20 miles home. It had just stopped raining, and it was getting dark, so he offered to drive it back to my house in his trailer. Of course, I took him up on his offer.

At 7:30, we arrived at his house, and by the time I put the bike in my garage, it was 10:30. It was a great experience getting to know the seller and looking at all the old motorcycles he had.

Oh yeah, you guys probably want pics. I've kept you waiting long enough.







It looks better in the pictures than what it is, especially in the flash photos, but it's still very clean, and this winter/spring, I wouldn't need to do much to make it close to immaculate if I didn't want to do a complete restore. The seller even gave me a pair of original rear shocks from another CL450 that he couldn't get running and parted out, so I could say "completely original" if I wanted to sell it.

I love the Scrambler high pipes.

[2005GZ250]

Nice find!!!!

[Tooltech]

Wow! Deja vu all over again. My very first bike was a '73 CL350. It was the twin of your new bike, same color and everything. My wife took her very first ride on that bike when we were dating, (we've been married 24 years) it was also the 1st and only bike she rode solo. (don't ask ) Ironically, my second bike was a '75 CB360. What a turd that was!

Thanks for bringing back memories.

[drgibson]

Nice, very nice, love the high twin pipes.

[donny662]

drgibson, yeah, the high pipes sold me on the CL series.

[LostCajun]

My story is much the same. I wanted to learn to ride and didn't have alot of dough in college. I was looking for a 250-500 size bike and really liked the 450 Rebels. I found one i was looking for, but by the time I pulled the trigger to buy, it was sold. A few days later, my uncle told me he was interested in selling his old clunker, so I jumped on it not even knowing exaclty what it was, only that it was a Honda 450. Paid $700 bucks for it with 20k+- miles on it. It was a 1982 Honda CM450E (most then were CB models, but there were also some CM models... the Rebel being like them and the Hondamatics were CM's also). That was in 2004. The only thing I ever did to it mechanically was change tires and chains and adjust the valve clearance once. What a Great little engine. It rattled like a paint shaker, but would get to 75 if you wanted it to. I commuted to school and work with it and put about 7000 miles on it in 2.5 years.

I finally found myself more confidant of a rider and wanted something bigger for the wife and I to ride together with out her feeling like she was falling off the back, so I found an '06 VStar 1100 that i liked (Got it off Ebay for $5500 with 2000 miles on it and just last week rolled it over 10,000 miles on my morning commute to work... 8000 miles in just over a year). I just recenlty sold the old Honda for $500. I had let it sit for the winter and it wouldn't even start for the guy, but he still bought it... i think the ignition coil needed replacing or something. I hated to let it go, but it was just sitting and I knew the guy was planning to fix and ride it. I guess that for $200 bucks, I learned to ride and got some cheap transportation along the way. That was a great bike and I know that some day I'm going to wish I had kept it, but for now, I'll have to deal with my 1100.

[donny662]

I've been going through the bike and doing the general maintenance to make sure everything is safe. It was hard to find the Honda shop manual, so I had to make due with the Clymer manual, which is really not that good, for a couple of weeks. I found a genuine service manual on the CB450 DOHC MSN group.

One of the first things I did was change the fork oil. I'm just now getting around to posting the pics. When I went to the motorcycle shop, I asked about which fork oil to use. In the text of the Clymer manual, it says to use 10W-30 oil; that didn't sound right. The guy behind the counter at the dealer mentioned that the vintage bikes used automatic transmission fluid many times. Sure enough, as I look through the Clymer manual, on one of the tables that is no where near the fork oil change procedure says that you can use ATF on a '72.

I emptied the fork oil. This came out of the left fork:



That was the worst smelling fluid to come out of a car or motorcycle that I've ever had the misfortune to whiff. There was also water contaminating it as evidenced by the white coloration. The other fork leg's fluid was red and not quite as contaminated. I suspect that the seal had to be replaced at some point.

The Clymer manual also wasn't very reliable on how much ATF to fill the forks with. In the text it said to use something like 280cc, but a table somewhere else mentions anywhere from 120cc - 280cc depending on which year you had (for mine it specified 280cc). I filled it with about 265cc (9oz) of ATF because with fork oil it's better to be low than high. When I finally got the Honda service manual, I was relieved to see that it specifies 290cc per fork leg.

I'm still doing maintenance, just did the valves yesterday but realized I was measuring clearance at the wrong spot, but I'll leave that for another post.

For now, here's a picture of the CL with her top off:

[tbsS50]

What a beautiful bike! When I lived in North Carolina during the 70s, I had 2 Honda CLs: First a '74 100 (same blue as your 450), then a '75 360 (orange). I actually did quite a bit of touring on the CL360, with a windshield (due to the bugs) as my only accessory. My luggage was carried in a backpack.

[warhoop63]

One of the bikes on the list in the father's barn caught my eye! The CL125 that was the second motorcycle I had. I had the 73'. I was lucky my mom and dad relly supported my riding so they got it for me new in 73'. I rode that bike around our neighborhood for 6 years. I sold it for $100.00 It had quit running and I had by then gotten my learners to drive cages and thought I would not ride anymore. It was red and white. I must still be crazy, I think I start looking for another one. Dam ya had jar the ole memories didn't you! LOL

Hoop