It was my very first motorcycle; a 1967 Honda CL90 Scrambler
90, which turned up at a local used car lot, apparently traded in by a local
serviceman. I don’t recall how I got the money, but I think the price was about
$350 and suddenly it was MINE!
You may have read the saga of my 1500 mile journey on the
little Scrambler 90 in just 3 days. I began in San Diego, riding up the Hwy 395
eventually to Reno, then back over the mountains, out the I-80 to Sacramento
and San Francisco then down the PCH until I hit Playa Del Rey, CA.
The bike seemed capable of somewhere around 60 mph and it
was ridden at pretty much full-throttle for the whole trip. I stopped every 100
miles and put in ONE gallon of gasoline, then off I went again. I did virtually
no maintenance to it, apart from keeping the oil level topped off. It just ran
and ran and ran…
Having run through something like 400 cars and bikes in the
past 50 years, I have seen a few decent examples of the little Scrambler, but
most were in rather poor condition with worn or missing parts and generally
lacked decent care. I don’t actively seek out my “first bike” these days, but
one pretty good example came my way via a phone referral from nearby Carlsbad,
CA. Or so I thought...
I was puzzled, at first, in that the bike had most of the
CL90 parts, however it had a S90 fuel tank mounted up in place of the little
Silver Scrambler tank that one usually sees on a CL90. The message sender came
back with “I liked the looks of the S90 tank, so I put one on the bike. I still
have the original CL90 gas tank, though!”
The bike appears to be a 1968-69 edition, which featured
chromed fenders, turn signals and the little front fender reflector, unlike my
plain-Jane 1967 machine, which probably came from Okinawa. The bike didn’t have
any turn signals and the fenders were painted Cloud Silver, just like the tank. Honda 90s were no strangers to change,
although the main CL90 chassis appears to be interchangeable with an S90, there
were CL90-specific parts used to differentiate the two models. The fenders,
seat, muffler, fuel tank, and handlebars were the principle differences. Mechanically, the two were mostly the same
beneath the cosmetics.
I happened to be in that part of the county, last week, so I arranged to see the bike and perhaps take it home…
In all of its “glory,” the bike sat at the opening of the 2
car garage, awaiting inspection and/or purchase. It’s funny how the first
impressions, felt in the gut, will give you a feeling of attraction or
repulsion and unfortunately, the latter came into full force almost
immediately. The list of deficiencies
ran long, right from the beginning. Most all of the chrome was pitted to some
extent and the bike hadn’t been started for quite awhile. A lithium battery was
installed and had enough charge to light up the neutral light, but a few kicks
gave no joy. A check of the fuel tank revealed nothing inside. I did bring a
compression gauge and got readings of 150 psi, which was hopeful. The miles
showing were about 1500 and appeared to be original.
Among the missing were: chain guard, battery cover and center
stand. The original CL90 fuel tank was in a separate box and there were
telltale dents on both sides at the front edges. That usually only means one
thing… steering stops on the frame sheared off from a crash. The end of the
throttle grip was torn and the rear brake pedal was bent upwards beyond the
footpeg, all indicating some forceful damage due to a crash at some point in
its life. The bike had an original CA “Black plate” which are revered in the
Golden State as being original to the bike and seen on all cars until about
1969. Unfortunately, the bike had never been registered to the seller since he
took ownership sometime back in the 1970s.
Right before I left (Sorry, I have to pass on this one), I
checked the serial numbers and discovered that the 2XXXXX numbers on the frame
were not backed up by the engine numbers, which were 1XXXXX instead. There were
a lot of Allen screws installed in place of the normal Phillips head screws, so
someone had been doing some kind of repairs or just installed a different
engine. Both were CL90 series though, instead of an S90 engine transplant which
is often more commonly seen in situations like this.
With only the one photo to go from, I couldn’t tell just
what the “value” might be. The seller put out a feeler at $1,000 initially. In
an ideal situation with a near mint bike, the price might have been supported,
however this one was far away from that kind of price range. I felt that
something in the $400-500 range might be more appropriate, given the condition
and the many needs of this little Scrambler. I offered to help him sell it and
posted photos on Facebook forums that evening.
I forwarded three potential buyers to him and one apparently
showed up and paid $700 for the bike and was excited at the prospect of getting
it going and maybe doing some level of restoration to it over time.
So, in the end, it was not my time to revisit the “first
bike” scenario again and that was probably a really good thing, as my time
would be sucked up in a fruitless labor of love, which would reduce my customer
repair time, where I actually do make a little money these days.
Well, no doubt, there is something else waiting in the wings
for me and my little envelope of cash leftover from the sale of the Honda
Reflex scooter. In the meantime, the “Unique CB400F” bike featured in previous
posts is getting revamped back towards stock again, but with a few little
twists to make it a little more “cool.” Stay tuned for that update.
Bill “MrHonda” Silver
07-19
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