I’ve tinkered on vintage Honda’s for quite a few years now. A friend told me of his dads old Honda that was in a shed and asked if I had an interest . . .”maybe, ok sure”. (The dad had past away 20 years prior and the bike was parked.) The machine made its way from Nebraska to Minnesota via Wisconsin over the summer as the sellers family had reunions. It finally arrived on my door step a few weeks ago not very pretty.
A few days later I start on it and after a 20 year sit I had it running in about 2 hours of work on my portable gas IV bottle. What a hoot! I immediately sent a video to my friend who was no doubt, in shock.
That of course is just the start of a resurrection process. I never intended to keep the machine, but flip it in short order. I thought about it for a few days and decided to offer it back to the family at parts price plus $100. Needless to say they jumped at it.
I have about 20 miles on the machine now, and it runs like a Swiss watch. I kept the cost down just doing what was needed to have a safe bike. My initial cost, $300. Parts, $125, Labor, $100. Total, $525. Probably only a $1000 bike to try and sell this late in the summer but to have dads bike . . . Priceless.
Another friend recently told me of a 1950’s Cushman sitting for 30 plus years in a friends shed. Hmmmmm. It seems the first one, one has to hunt for, after that they find you.
1971 Honda CL100 in Poppy Yellow
