![]() Carburetion was a pair of 26mm Keihin constant-velocity units using neoprene diaphragms. Owner: Jack Wagner, Grover Beach, California.īut how does one get valves to seat properly at that speed? The valves all had dual coil springs, but the springs themselves were wound progressively, so that there was relatively less tension when the valve was seated, increasing greatly as the valve got pushed down. And the camshaft itself was a solid piece of work, weighing some three pounds. But ten grand! How did they achieve that? First, there was a single overhead camshaft, spun by an endless chain between the cylinders. Looking into the powertrain, the parallel twin used alloy cylinders with iron liners, and the oversquare engine had lots of possibilities for revs–10,500 of them! In 1968 street-going four-strokes were not known for spinning ten thousand times a minute, and the less knowledgeable thought that this would mean a brief lifespan. Those were the differences, now for the similarities. There were also rubber gaiters on the CL’s fork legs, always good for the daredevil look. Front fender was slightly abbreviated, and the gas tank held 2.4 gallons, almost a gallon less than the CB’s. ![]() This was more about looks than performance, with the more serious off-roader, the SL, having a 21-incher. CL owners usually ignored the redline on the tachometer dial.Īnother Scrambler notion was the larger front wheel, 19 inches as opposed to 18. Power was 33 horses at 9,500 rpm in the CL, compared to the CB’s 36 at 10,500, despite the engine internals being identical. This whole CL exhaust shebang weighed a substantial 24 pounds, and was responsible for a loss of several horsepower compared to its CB sibling, which had a longer, more efficient exhaust. A secondary reason, which should really be the primary, was that the actual pipes carrying the exhaust were quite small in order to maintain a high exhaust-gas velocity that was essential to the tuning system. Interestingly, the shiny header pipes were pipes within pipes, the ostensible reason being that the owner would not have to put up with the inevitable bluing that arrived with time. Which was covered by a black heat shield for the first two years, and then the shield was chromed. The essence of the scrambler style were those upswept pipes, curving individually around the left side of the cylinders and ending up in one large muffler that held a permanent spark arrester. Owner: Jack Wagner, Grover Beach, California. ![]() Or, more likely, he wants other people to think that.Īdvertisement 1968 Honda C元50 Scrambler. It was a styling thing, much like the “adventure” bikes of today, with the rider liking to think that he can dash across the Gobi Desert any time he wants. Here we are dealing with the Scrambler version, better characterized as a street-scrambler, having only minor pretensions to being competent off the pavement. over the six years of production, which means a lot of them are probably still stashed in old barns or forgotten behind the junk in the back of the garage. All told, more than 600,000 of these 350s were sold in the U.S. Honda used it in three models, the 1968 CB Super Sport and CL Scrambler, and a year later the SL Motorsport. No matter, as minor exaggeration is considered to be quite acceptable in the advertising world. The bore was increased from 60 to 64mm, the stroke reduced from 54 to 50.6mm, the true size of the “new” engine being only 325cc. Having a different number would be good, from 305 to 350. What to do? Shouldn’t cost too much because lots of money was going into the carefully kept secret–the four-cylinder CB750. And over the next 10 years the company acquired a very positive reputation, well deserved, for having high revving, hard hitting, highly dependable products, especially with its 305 series, like the CB77 Super Hawk and CL77 Scrambler.īut, as we say about horses, the 305s were getting a bit long in the tooth. Honda motorcycles opened for business in the American market in 1959, when the four-stroke 50cc Super Cub came on the market.
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