Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet not brit but old and 2 wheels

oh well...never say never.... i swore i would never do another 'project' but the graphic artist for my newspaper 'discovered' these in her father in laws barn and hankers to ride the Cub so the deal is I refurbish the 1969-ish 90 Cub and get the 1971-ish 175 enduro as pay..of course she buys the parts for the 90.. not sure what I will do with the 175 maybe 'flip' after it gets freshened up or make into scaled down 'adventure' bike with ammo can panniers......

SL175???? I have a soft spot for small Hondas. Got some now I wish were gone, all of them are SL's

That one looks pretty complete.......and not beat up at all. Folks blew them ( SL175) up thinking they were motocross bikes.

Nice find and I LOVE the barter.

Gordon

That Cub looks like with a good wipedown, and wipeover with an oily rag or a good wax'n'polish it'd be good to go !
The chainguard might need a lick of paint.
Ditto the SL175, even more so.

But she'll probably want it a bit shinier and newer than that.
Alas ...
You might want to enquire in that direction. ?
A near zero $$ refurb is not to be sneezed at.
Tires/tubes are best replaced, no matter what.

Original paint / finish bikes are getting rarer by the day.
And highly sought after in some circles.

Have fun.

rohan...yes first order is good washing /paint buffing then new tires/tubes/rebuild carb/ new battery/ oil change/new points and condensor/ clean up wiring and connectors/then clean fuel system/new brake shoes/remove and clean and oil soak chain/ paint chain guard/polish and paint engine cases/leg guards for the 90 are in the rafters of barn....should be fun i have a pair of throwover canvas saddlebags i am going to contribute she wants to use the 90 to run to local dairy and carry home fresh milk in half gallon plastic jugs....she middle age hippie woman helluva graphic artist.....

Those old Hondas are just as worthy of putting back on the road as our old Brit bikes and just about the same coolness factor. I have a 1974 Honda CL200 Twin that is waiting its turn at being great again. Super cool bikes!!

Friend of mine moved up from a Trail 70 to an SL 175 similar to that one when I was riding an Allstate 60 cc scooter.

He let me ride it a couple of times. Loved that bike and would like to find another like it. Especially with blue paint.

As Gorden said, he blew it up trying to do things it wasn't made to do. He moved onto a 350 then 750 Honda.

I, on the other hand, got bit by the BSA bug.

Nice finds! A trick I learned from the Rat Rod Bicycle Forum is, after cleaning, wipe down with Boiled Linseed Oil and buff off the excess. It highlights the original color, gives just a touch of gloss and protects against rust. Looks good on chrome also. I pulled an old Schwinn Typhoon cruiser down from my loft and after fixing up gave it a treatment with what the guys call BLO. I sold the bike for $275.

+1
You might want to do this outside. It pongs (for a while) to put it politely.
Linseed oil used to be a key component of enamel paints, really puts the life back into tired old colours.
And is excellent at waterproofing/rustproofing, regardless.

You might well be surprised at how little the C90 needs doing to get it running. I worked in a bike shop in the early '70s, and I worked on a huge amount of these things. They were nearly all owned by unsympathetic riders (i.e. chicks and hippies), and they rarely suffered any actual damage. To get an idea of the 1970s owner demographic, refer to the book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", in which the author's mate just didn't "get" the whole mechanical thing. The gulf remains today between those who get it and those who don't, with each side largely unable to imagine themselves ever being in the other side's shoes, let alone conceive of each other's grasp or lack of same of how things work.

Ironically C90 owners are now probably more likely to fall into the mechanically savvy category, with exceptions like the latter day hippie who owns the example shown above, bless her.

I have a registered C90 myself, and it was one of those that were actually damaged. It had a cracked gear tooth, and as it is thought to be ex-army, visions come to mind of extreme ill-treatment at the hands of those determined to bring about its demise.

True story.......three fellows just (last month) finished riding C90s ( or versions of) from California to Key West..........epic journey that was documented on FB.

I'm a small bike guy..........but not THAT small.

I can't help but think about stuff like that when I hear a guy cry about riding his A65 more than a 100 miles.

raf940.......holler if you get in a bind......I have some VERY good connections for those bikes.

Gordon

1971 SL125 ( I actually desert raced a tricked out SL125......until the Elsinore's came out.....I refused to ride a two stroke and my sponsored racing days were over)
1972 SL125
1972 SL175 project

talked to present owner this morning the 90 is a 1969 model with 3,800 actual miles the 175 is a 71 model with 5,500 miles both engines turn over gonna have them brought to my house next sunday i think they both have lots of life left in them.....have clear titles too which is a biggie here in NC
this is going to be fun

gordon sounds good where on FB is the C90 key west story?

just found out Cub is 1968 not 69

Getting older by the minute !!
Gooder and gooder ...

Some chain lube early in the moving process may not go astray ?

And some phosphoric/citric acid dabbed onto some rusty spots may bring some color back,
when it seems to have vanished

__________________________________
XL250S lurking in the back of the garage.
Original, but a bit beaten up.
PO'ers gave it a tough life...

An old gun-restoring friend of mine put me onto using DRY steel wool to remove rust spots on chrome without scratching the finish.

Everyone else seems to be confessing to Nipponese ownership, so ....
___________________________
CT110,
C90'
SL100 (x3 plus 3 spare motors),
4x CT90 motors,
Z50 cafe racer (since 1976, big motor, flat bars etc., "Sammysnail").
.

I'd further add using STAINLESS STEEL wool.

Thus no stray bits of stuff that can rust with any later contact with water.
Sometimes combining this with phosphoric acid removes the rusty look completely,
without harming the remaining chrome.

Ya gotta be careful with some chrome though, some seems to be soft and scratch quite easily.
Old brit chrome is thick and deep and tough as old boots.
Back when they slathered it on thick and deep, and ground it back and polished it.

thanks for the tips!

Dang! Clean NC titles are worth their weight in gold! Well... at least worth their weight in dirty Honda!
Cool finds.
I've always liked the SL bikes. A fellow was running a SL125 (extreme internal mods, I was led to believe) in AHRMA XC several years ago and it was rather formidable.
Good luck and please keep us posted!

There is steel wool & steel wool
The coarser the fibres the greater the chance of scratching
Woodworkers use grades from 5 through to 000 and all of them are finer than what is under the sink
To clean off rust use raw steel wool wetted with WD40, Lannox etc so that it dries with a protective film.

Honda C90 = great little bike

raf940…I followed them on the C90 group. Not a whole lot of discussion/photos but enough to keep up with them.

I have a friend who can help you with any problems you might come up with. He’s built some amazing small Hondas over the years and still actively competes on them.

He can turn you on to all the best parts suppliers.

Gordon

gordon i sent you a pm

got bikes here at the house this weekend gave them a good bubble bath started on the 90 today ordered new tires/tubes/air filter/peg rubbers did some shining/cleaning/disassembly i have an idea to make the 175 a quasi-military look with OD paint and ammo can panniers but that is down the road
easy to click mouse

I forgot what model you have. The throw overs will work fine.

Carry on sir.

Gordon

68 90 71 175

I followed this guys travels back in 2011. He rode around the world on a Honda 90.
https://www.joe.ie/life-style/pics-...ving-around-the-world-for-3-years-477682