PugMug
Veteran Member
So a few weeks ago I picked up another project 160. This time it’s a CL160 that’s been modded a bit for off-road riding, which is pretty cool since that was my intention for my original CB/CL160 I picked up a while back.
A little backstory- this bike came up for sale on FB marketplace probably a year ago. From what I could gather the owner had passed away and his children were liquidating his estate. It appeared to have been sitting since the 80s, at which time someone started taking it apart as it was missing its carbs, air filters, throttle/controls, petcock, etc. It was also missing all four tappet covers so I was figuring the head was in bad shape. The tail light assembly and center stand were long gone as they were probably removed for off-road. The pictures were sparse, but it was obvious it had a completely different front end and some aftermarket/longer rear shocks.
Since I already had my CB160 project bike that I was turning into a CL160D and the asking price was way too much IMHO, I just watched this from afar until it eventually sold after a handful of months. I was sort of bummed but at the same time a bit relieved and I moved on.
So then about a month ago, the bike comes up for sale again at half the price. It sounded like this new owner didn’t realize the amount of time, effort, and money it would take to get the bike functional again, so they wanted to unload it and were highly motivated. They also said they opened up the motor and their assessment was that it would need a full rebuild/motor swap. At this point the price was looking pretty good, but I still sort of let it sit there because I didn’t know if I wanted a third 160 sitting in my yard… Then one morning I noticed the seller dropped the price again, so I felt like at this point I couldn’t pass this up and at the very least could use it as a parts bike. I reached out, got a bit more info on the bike and threw an offer at him and he immediately accepted and a few days later I had the bike in the back of my CR-V (in pieces).
Once I got it home I put it back together so I could sort of give it a decent assessment. It’s got Cerani forks (and I guess triple clamps?) on it which is pretty sweet. The PO did mod/cut the steering stop/damper mount on the frame so the lower triple clamp would clear- that’s a bit unfortunate. On the rear it’s got some equally cool Curnutt Shocks- the shafts are pretty toasted but still cool. (Side note- I always wanted a Foes DH mountain bike back in the day and I remember they all came spec’d with Curnutt shocks…) As I mentioned before, it is missing some key items that I’ll need to get this thing running again, but I’m pretty excited about this one.
The seller had bike sitting outside in his yard for the last six months (with no carbs, no tappet covers, and no spark plugs) and we’ve had some decent rain out here in SoCal, so I’ve already got the motor back out and opened up on my workbench. There was water inside the bottom end and the left cylinder had some surface rust/rusty water sitting in it, but it should clean up okay. I haven’t been able to get the head apart yet as I’m fighting with the screws on the right cam base cover.
The plan is to get this motor evaluated and maybe buttoned up/ready to run before I jump back to my other 160. Or maybe try to work on them in parallel- we’ll see…
A little backstory- this bike came up for sale on FB marketplace probably a year ago. From what I could gather the owner had passed away and his children were liquidating his estate. It appeared to have been sitting since the 80s, at which time someone started taking it apart as it was missing its carbs, air filters, throttle/controls, petcock, etc. It was also missing all four tappet covers so I was figuring the head was in bad shape. The tail light assembly and center stand were long gone as they were probably removed for off-road. The pictures were sparse, but it was obvious it had a completely different front end and some aftermarket/longer rear shocks.
Since I already had my CB160 project bike that I was turning into a CL160D and the asking price was way too much IMHO, I just watched this from afar until it eventually sold after a handful of months. I was sort of bummed but at the same time a bit relieved and I moved on.
So then about a month ago, the bike comes up for sale again at half the price. It sounded like this new owner didn’t realize the amount of time, effort, and money it would take to get the bike functional again, so they wanted to unload it and were highly motivated. They also said they opened up the motor and their assessment was that it would need a full rebuild/motor swap. At this point the price was looking pretty good, but I still sort of let it sit there because I didn’t know if I wanted a third 160 sitting in my yard… Then one morning I noticed the seller dropped the price again, so I felt like at this point I couldn’t pass this up and at the very least could use it as a parts bike. I reached out, got a bit more info on the bike and threw an offer at him and he immediately accepted and a few days later I had the bike in the back of my CR-V (in pieces).
Once I got it home I put it back together so I could sort of give it a decent assessment. It’s got Cerani forks (and I guess triple clamps?) on it which is pretty sweet. The PO did mod/cut the steering stop/damper mount on the frame so the lower triple clamp would clear- that’s a bit unfortunate. On the rear it’s got some equally cool Curnutt Shocks- the shafts are pretty toasted but still cool. (Side note- I always wanted a Foes DH mountain bike back in the day and I remember they all came spec’d with Curnutt shocks…) As I mentioned before, it is missing some key items that I’ll need to get this thing running again, but I’m pretty excited about this one.
The seller had bike sitting outside in his yard for the last six months (with no carbs, no tappet covers, and no spark plugs) and we’ve had some decent rain out here in SoCal, so I’ve already got the motor back out and opened up on my workbench. There was water inside the bottom end and the left cylinder had some surface rust/rusty water sitting in it, but it should clean up okay. I haven’t been able to get the head apart yet as I’m fighting with the screws on the right cam base cover.
The plan is to get this motor evaluated and maybe buttoned up/ready to run before I jump back to my other 160. Or maybe try to work on them in parallel- we’ll see…
