Re: Old Hondas
Articles like this always pose a question: What happened to the mid-sized universal Japanese motorcycle?
I can remember when a 350 was thought to be 'open class', and anything 650 or over was really big.
Now people are starting off on 900's and such.
Back in 1978, a buddy (who never rode a motorcycle before) went out and bought a new KZ650 Kowasaki.
After dropping it a few times, and centerpunching a parked car, I let him 'learn' on my '71 CL175.
Of course, I got to ride his bike for a few months, but that's not the point...after driving that 175 around for a while, he was able to get back on his 650, and with some basic riding skills under his belt, enjoy riding.
I think the manufacturers are missing a big market here in the ol' US of A. Mid-sized bikes are really popular in Europe, why not here?
BTW I make the daily commute from Burbank to LAX on a nice '71 CB350 (complete with a giant chrome luggage rack).
And when I'm not on the CB, I'm on my '72 DT2 Yamaha 250 Enduro (which placed 9th overall in the '03 Adelanto Grand Prix, pre-74 class).
Give us more vintage articles!