One is not Enough - '67 Honda CL90

[Guest]

My first "real" bike was a '65 Honda S90. Put thousands of miles on that bulletproof little thing a loong time ago. Moved to Bisbee, AZ and wanted a vintage scrambler so as to trail ride locally; since I'm oficially an old fart, I no longer feel the need for big air at 50+ over the whoops.

So - I found a one owner Honda CL90 - the scrambler variant of the S90, with high pipe, braced bars and a different tank. Hadn't run in at least ten years; new fuel formulations are such that deposits become as cement in microscopic passages - after a week of trying to get a blind passage clean, I gave up and bought a new carb for the princely sum of $35.00. Here's pic of the bike after its initial cleaning and a fresh seat cover:


Best performance mod for these little bikes is to lose 30 lbs. Just sayin'.

[robertbarr]

There's a great writeup of these little minibikes (and their ilk) in the recent Motorcyclist magazine. I'm sure they have an online version.

[Gorminrider]

Good idea! a Handsome bike to ride a Pleasant Path

... the Always-Full-On Hard-On Competition that seems to pass for "re-creation" now is just Not Right, IMO.

[steve murdoch]

Very nice, Chuck.
Lose 30 and NEVER drive uphill worked with my S90.
Did you do the seat yourself?

[Chuckspeed]

Very nice, Chuck.
Lose 30 and NEVER drive uphill worked with my S90.
Did you do the seat yourself?

Yes, I did, but I used a seatcover I bought from a Honda supplier out of Tampa. I wanted the Honda stencil on the back. If I stitched it myself, it would have fit a little better.

[megatwin]

There was a guy I knew in jr.high school who had one of those.
But,he was one of the "rich"kids!LOL!

[Chuckspeed]

There was a guy I knew in jr.high school who had one of those.
But,he was one of the "rich"kids!LOL!

We paid all of $75 for a '65 S90 back in the day. Really wanted a YZ 80, so we tore apart that little Honda and painted it canary yellow and added a skinny-ass knobby bought from a swap meet so we could trail ride it.

Hah! Speed or suspension were not its strong points.

It's ironic that 35 years later, I have to have another Honda 90. Interestingly, riding it is second nature - I took it up an unimproved road to 7,000 feet without having to think about technique on steep grades. It did fine on everything up to about an 80% grade; only then did I have to put my feet down.

It's like an old friend. You get to know their quirks and accept them as they are.