Post a picture of your Vintage Honda Twin!

Thanks for the compliment.

I’m like you Tom, I was on the hunt for a K0 but couldn’t find one at the right money or the condition just wasn’t good enough. I’ve owned the K1 for 6 years now and absolutely love it.

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There was a few surprised faces when I turned up at a local custom bike show in Belfast a few years ago. It was great to see the K1 being admired by many.

Thanks, DC
 
I ran across this 1970s photo of my ‘69 CL350 cafe racer. With that fairing and a little taller gearing, I could nudge the speedometer needle a bit past the last marking on the speedometer (110 mph) on level ground, no lie. I was riding with a bunch of friends on old Triumphs and Harleys one time out on a highway, and left them in the dust, no lie. Streamlining really works!

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Roadking1 said:
Is it my imagination, or does the bike in picture number 11 have a 6" overstock set of tubes?
D
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I understand what you're seeing, but believe it or not I believe that is the stock front forks for an SL350K2, notice the 4 bolt caps on the bottom holding the axle
 
My CB450 K4 when i got it. Bought it from a guy who had been a professional speedway rider for Reading for 19 years. He had a nice collection of speedway and ice racing bikes and needed some room.

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Hi all,

I bought my first CB400T only recently, in november 2019. A nice twin from 1978 with only 23.500 km (15,8K miles) on the clocks.

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Sold it a week ago, though, because I came up onto another CB400T from 1977 which was even nicer. The latter turned out to be in a very original, unspoiled shape. It was all in the details: toolset still was present, very nice chrome, original exhaust incl. mufflers, helmet lock complete with seatlock, it still has the original plastic covers around the handlebar levers (although brittle) and the metal spiral thingie around the fule hose between tank and carbs, etc... Only 22.700 km (14,1K miles). And I have paid even less for that bike than the former one from 1978! Both bikes originate from The Netherlands, and thus had to be imported to Belgium. Only one last hurdle seperates me from my goal and then this bike will be road legal.

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It will need new tires though and has a small dent in the tank and front fender. I plan to buy the same Heidenau tires as I did before for the 1978'th bike (Heidenau K34 at the front and K36 at the rear). It also has trouble starting when cold. I'm still troubleshooting, but the weather is now very cold as well (around freezing 0 degrees Celsius), which maybe adds to the problem. I don't like the high handlebars that came with this CB400T and already have scored the lower type - the same that were on the Honda of 1978. It seems both types were an original item, here in Europe? Although I'm not sure about the when or where the different kind of handlebars were used.

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^^^To get the factory tools with the bike is very rare, and the new bike looks to have been very well cared for. Super clean, good find!
 
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I agree, Ancientdad. I have never thought that I would find such a nice example, and never for that price. I'm very happy with it, to say the least. The previous owner had the bike 25 years, most of the time just sitting there in a heated garage. It is certainly well taken care of, and came with a new chain and sprockets, fresh battery and had an oil change. I've replaced the old shocks with brand new Hagon's that I had put on the other Honda six months earlier. When it's road legal and the weather improves, I will take the old fellow to a Honda-specialist for a complete check-up. I always do that, after buying a second hand vehicule. To make a good start, you know.
 
ancientdad said:
I forgot all about this bike, you showed it to us in your intro. Beauty! (but I still like your CL450 better :))
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Thanks.

The Dream is my best old twin, but I look forward to having the CL up and running. It's a ways off, and I need to get back on the project.

Here's the CL450K2 before -

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Looked better before I started taking it apart, but it's getting there - slowly.
 
I have my eye on a Bomber too. Fully restored. Owner is a friend and will sell to me. Once I get a few more upgrades on my CA77 I hope to acquire it.
 
RetiredLEO said:
Wow, this is a very nice bike!
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Another forum tip - if you're responding to a particular post or member, if you click "Reply With Quote" they will know the response is meant for them as it quotes what they said above what you say, like in this post of mine in response to you
 
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I have restored some 500t and is keeping a couple for my self.

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Here's its final form for spring 2021.

Some aluminum polishing to do but that's it.
 

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And looks like it too. Man, what a difference roughly 1400 miles due north makes... it was in the 60s here in the morning all week, and into the mid to high 80s during the day. Between the heat on the way and the lovebugs starting to show up, most riding for me will be shut down soon, just when you're getting started.
 
ancientdad said:
And looks like it too. Man, what a difference roughly 1400 miles due north makes... it was in the 60s here in the morning all week, and into the mid to high 80s during the day. Between the heat on the way and the lovebugs starting to show up, most riding for me will be shut down soon, just when you're getting started.
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Yup. I ate some bugs last night - tiny gnats - but the big guys will be around soon. Just about to get leaves on the trees here, so about six months of riding weather before our next six in the freezer.
 
birdland said:
Yup. I ate some bugs last night - tiny gnats - but the big guys will be around soon. Just about to get leaves on the trees here, so about six months of riding weather before our next six in the freezer.
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Just be glad you don't have these gooey, paint-destroying things. I used to ride all year down here but cleaning these disgusting things off your bike - it's bad enough with a car or truck - is just too much of a PITA and if you don't do it right away the paint gets damaged

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Yep, it's rumored they were lab created at the University of Florida and some escaped one year about 52 years ago. The first time I ever saw them while living in Lutz just north of Tampa was on a ride with my Dad in my first full year of riding, 1969, and we rode about 20 miles north of where we lived. We'd never seen anything like them previously, and they weren't in our area then. A year or two later they had made their way further south and the rest is history. They come out, literally, of the grassy areas (rural is worse, of course) once the weather starts to warm up beyond a certain temp and they last about 4 to 6 weeks until it gets too hot for them to survive and then you don't see them again until the fall for another month to 6 weeks... ugh.
 
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1973 SL350 acquired this month. Not a proper SL350 color, but Tortoise Green from the SL100, so still in the Honda family of colors for that year. The previous owner runs a small vintage bike shop. He picked this up as part of a large stash of bikes in a barn find. The old man died and the kids sold off the stash. In getting the bike back into shape for sale, the bike shop did the paint on the frame and bodywork. Very well done actually. However, they also decided to expedite the process by painting items that should have been polished instead. It is a great starting point for me to do a proper restoration, as soon as I finish my SL100.
 
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I pulled my 350 out for the first time in months. Gave it a good cleaning, and it barely started and didn’t want to run. The battery was almost dead, so I put it on the charger. Noticed the smell of gas and the left carb was overflowing. Rapped it with a screwdriver handle and it stopped. That will teach me so let a bike sit that long, especially one that’s 52 years old...lol

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1969 CL350 said:
I pulled my 350 out for the first time in months. Gave it a good cleaning, and it barely started and didn’t want to run. The battery was almost dead, so I put it on the charger. Noticed the smell of gas and the left carb was overflowing. Rapped it with a screwdriver handle and it stopped. That will teach me so let a bike sit that long, especially one that’s 52 years old...lol
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It's a wonder the Chameleon hadn't changed color to whatever it was near for that long... that'll teach you!
 
ancientdad said:
It's a wonder the Chameleon hadn't changed color to whatever it was near for that long... that'll teach you!
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Well, the 6 year old gel battery is now fully charged and the bike starts and runs like it should. Hopefully, it will hold a charge ok, but if not, I suppose I got my money’s worth out of it.

I do still have my original de-badged CL tank that I’ve thought of painting some wild color, but I have plenty of other things that need doing more...lol

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Well, the old battery wouldn’t hold a charge. New battery arrived and installed today, and a fresh tank of non-ethanol amid the gas “crisis”. Ready to ride!

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KBecker said:
Someone please rotate that pic for me
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KBecker, did you look at the "Welcome Package" I posted for you in my reply to your introduction? One of the links in it is Forum Navigation tips and it explains how this older forum software can display pictures. Our format is a bit different than the more modern, more social media type that HT is and you can't link pictures from other posts the way you tried above. I tried to use the link in your post to see and copy the picture to post it for you but it doesn't work, so there's no picture to edit. If something doesn't work for you here at VHT, do not hesitate to ask one of the Moderators or myself for help and we'll get it taken care of... after all, this isn't that other forum :)
 
A little bit of the ol' then and now. First pic was last July 1st. We'd just put out a fire, we'd just got the carbs set up with hand-cut gaskets, and finally got her running strongly enough to ride home.

The second two pics are Recent, a couple days ago. Inverted bars, cocktail shakers, tiny flyscreen, same ol' denty tank. New one's primed, just gotta find time to paint and, of course, treat the interior.

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Hi AD, awesome bike! Nice work. Those pipes are well nice. Can i ask, where did you find those ?
 
Hawksmoor said:
Hi AD, awesome bike! Nice work. Those pipes are well nice. Can i ask, where did you find those ?
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Thanks! I was very fortunate to get those pipes from a member at HT who bought his 450 with them on it and wasn't going to use them. I sold him an alternator rotor with starter clutch and when he saw a picture of my old drag bike (the inspiration for the red-framed street-legal bike now) he asked if I wanted them for the price of shipping, which of course I happily agreed to. I believe they are Jardine, but they could easily be another similar brand. Here's the reason I think they're Jardine, I had a set on my drag bike back in the day and they look identical except that those were chromed.

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