Although we've featured the CB160 before, found a new cool overview of one, thank tank gives it away although the speedo, headlight bucket, bars, etc., have been changed. Might as well talk about some evolution, since the CB160 sloper (sloping parallel twin, stressed member -- engine was part of the frame) gave way briefly to the CB175 sloper (adding a 5th gear), then the CB175 upright twin.
CB175 went from 1969 to 1973, and had a CL version as well (below, with scrambler pipes), and a CD version. My buddy Vargas has a killer example, in very nice shape, and we tried to source him some stock pipes since his were developing holes -- early Honda exhaust could be thin metal and sometimes poorly designed, so water pooled and rust holes developed. We went to an old junk collector with a yard full of bikes, by the name of Stan. Great guy, yard and house full of dog shit, raced Indians in the 50s, eccentric and cranky, but I've pulled some cool parts out of there. We found decent CB175 exhaust, although Vargas later decided against using it, but Stan wanted to sell the whole bike. For $200. Pretty much complete, no side covers and fucked up seat. How could I say no?
Vargas got the exhaust for $60, so the bike cost me $140. I decided to get it running, and did the usual: plugs, points, carb rebuild, coat the tank, timing, oil change. The thing fired right up and ran through all gears. I had seen some glitter paint and I thought I would try it, so the bike became known as Gary Glitter (See blog posts here and here). Next were some nice bits: headlight bucket and speedo from a CB160 that I had lying around, clip ons that I get made, a mini-tach that I had for another project before I went another direction, cool NOS old white grips, a cool looking cat tail light, and pod filters from Bob's, scrambler exhaust also from Bob's (those guys charged me like, $20 or something...), cafe seat old tank and "upholstered" with glittery gold fabric. I had to buy some thin metal tubing to make the pods work since they hit the frame, and rewire the battery into the seat bump, but that's standard shit right there. Probably had $250 in parts on top of the $140 entry fee. Got it dialed in and running killer, and blasted around the neighborhood for a few days. I kinda wish I woulda kept it, but the deal was it had to go, so I offered it up to friends for the "friends" price with no takers. Then I put it on craigslist for $1500, and sold it in a day to a new student at MMI, no haggling, cash on the barrel head. Wonder if his buddies at MMI gave him shit for having a tiny, glittery gold bike?
In 1974, Honda upped the displacement to 200cc and added a sixth gear, and made some cosmetic changes. The CB200s are sorta famous for the weird vinyl stripe down the tank -- some people love 'em, I think it's kind of hideous. They also had a cable-operated front disc brake.
Around 2000 or so, I picked up a CB200 for $50 on craigslist in Phoenix. Did the usual, got it running, but never got it registered or anything, mostly just tooled around the neighborhood. Roger came down from Colorado, and I wound up trading it to him for a tattoo. Easy come, easy go, I guess. Great little bikes, although Maaike's was a stubborn little fucker that took some time, effort and outsourcing.
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