Vintage Bike Recommendations?

[AJ]

Need some advice from folks who know something about vintage bikes. I would like to procure a small vintage bike, like a Honda CB, Honda C.L., Yamaha RD. Something smaller than a 500. What would you recommend for reliability, parts, ease of use, etc? My plan is to ride for fun in the neighborhood, around the city lakes, short errands, etc. I am a novice rider, with repair skills to cover simple stuff (tinkering). I’m not a mechanic. I don't need to go fast. Looking to spend less than $2000. Other bikes I should be looking at? While I am out shopping and looking, questions to ask, obvious things to look at, etc? Thanks in advance.

[Farmboy1]

I had a Honda CB750, a CB 350 and a few other bikes in the CB series. Rock solid bikes with very simple mechanical systems. I think any of the older Honda bikes are very similar, parts are easy to come by, and you can find one for a good price.

Realisticaly, there are numerous bikes in the late 70-80s time frame from teh japanese manufacturers that are great bikes for a novice rider and are easy on the pocketbook.

[Gissert]

I love vintage bikes, especially the Yamaha RD series. For what you are looking to use it for, they really dont fit the bill. They were high strung two stroke screamers, and really were great handling bikes. They require a lot of tuning to keep them happy. I loved my 400.

The Yamaha XS400 and XS650 were great bikes. The Honda 500 Ascot

was another good one, but they are hard to find now.

The Honda CB series was another good line as mentioned. The early 80's 750F was my favorite.

[Dave S]

I think I know someone who has a Honda CB 450 collecting dust in his garage. Said it was a fun bike to ride. He just never got into riding that much.

[gpalma]

Classics 500cc or less?

1969 Kawasaki 500 triple

1969 Suzuki Titan 500

Suzuki X6 Hustler (250cc)

Suzuki X6 Scrambler (250cc)

Yamaha RD350

Honda CB350 (4 cyl)

Honda CB160

Honda 305 dream

[Rockin Randy]

Gotta love those Vintage Bikes! If you end up with a Honda 305 Dream have the front end checked by someone that knows what they are doing. When they were shipped from Japan the front wheel was off to make the crate shorter. There are 9 washers in there,if they are not put in right you could get a wobble, especialy when cornering or at high speeds.I had one buck me off at 85MPH.It was brand new,bought it from a small engine place, shoulda got it at the Honda store!

Right now I am restoring a 1964 Greeves motocross bike. Should be ready by mid April. It has Leading Link forks like my '66 Dream

Rockin Randy

[swamptiger]

I had three different Japanese bikes back in the late 60s & early 70s. First one was a Suzuki X5 T200, second one was a Kawasaki 500 triple, and the third one was a Honda CB450. All fun bikes, but I remember the Kawasaki was really hot for a 500. A friend had a 750 Kawasaki triple, and that thing was downright dangerous. I remember the Kawasaki triples as being too fast for the way they handled, and the brakes they had...not always a good combination...

[swamptiger]

The Hondas were good bikes, but I remember on the CB450 you had to make sure you turned the fuel petcock off when the bike sat for any length of time. The engine had overhead cams, and it was possible for the fuel to leak into the crankcase and dilute the oil, which led to problems with the cams. Don't know if this was common to all the models with overhead cams or not.

[gpalma]

Swamp, I had the Kawi 750 Blue Meanie. It had a powerband about 4 rpm's wide and when you hit that powerband in 1st gear, you had better be prepared to be looking skyward. Peaky little rattlesnake with a padded seat. I sent my cyl's and head's out to Denco to have their 133hp kit machining done on it. It was unbelievable in its day. Riding that bike to its limit was scary to say the least.

The Kawi 500 was "the" hot bike of its day (1969). Just prior to that, the Sukuki X6 Hustler/Scrambler was really a force to be reckoned with. That 2 cyl, 6 spd, 250cc bike could beat the 900 Sporsters reliably. They flat out went like a raped ape. Not sure that anyone could point to a bike that could beat that little Suzuki in a street drag back in '68.

[gpalma]

Nothing like the sound of a classic 2-stroke hotrod. This one is a Yamaha RD350 and by golly, it goes pretty good for 350cc's!

<-- Video

[swamptiger]

Quote:

Just prior to that, the Sukuki X6 Hustler/Scrambler was really a force to be reckoned with. That 2 cyl, 6 spd, 250cc bike could beat the 900 Sporsters reliably. They flat out went like a raped ape. Not sure that anyone could point to a bike that could beat that little Suzuki in a street drag back in '68.

The X5 I had was a 200 with a 5 speed, so basically a smaller version of the X6, in a street bike instead of a street scrambler. They were nice running 2 strokes with oil injection, as I recall.

[gpalma]

My brother in law may still have his 200 Suzuki, but his is an earlier model with pre-mix. Maybe a 66 model?

There is a good article on the X6 model, but a bit inaccurate that they really wouldn't run 14 second 1/4mi times. A good flyweight rider could get them into the 15's, but they went holy hell for that first 1/8th mile.

I had a '69 T500 that I ran down the strip 200+ runs and it never needed one single bit of mechanical work. A real consistent mid-14 second machine at 88mph. Could beat the Kawi 500's out of the gate, but was in their exhaust the rest of the way.

http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/motorcycle-reviews/1967-suzuki-hustler-x6.aspx

.

[swamptiger]

Quote:

The bike, we should note, is still around, but the girl is long gone.

In my case, the girl and the bike are long gone..

My X5 looked just like the X6 in the photo, only it was red. The tank for the oil injection was up on the side where the side covers normally go.

[gpalma]

My bike #2 is a 1982 Honda Urban Express moped. That little bugger is pretty classic. Hits 31mph on the level and always gets over 80mpg. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ywFStcnMfJM/SwTHgzLUVpI/AAAAAAAAB6s/1RxwW8iMyiw/s1600/IMG_1577.JPG

Another classic that I once owned is a Honda Step-Through 50cc w/3 spd auto. That bike had the potential (get this) to get a whopping 254MPG if you ran it at 18.6 mph on the level. Yep...256 MPG!! http://www.motohistory.net/images/HondaCub.jpg I bought it used in 1969 for $65 and it was in exc shape.

When I was younger, I flogged that machine on dirt trails and it never let me down. Wish I had it today because in near mint condition they go for about a grand.

[swamptiger]

Here's a link to Suzuki race bikes in the 60s. If you look at the specs for the 1962 RV62, you can see where the inspiration for the X6 came from. 210 kph in 1962, for a 250cc motorcycle was some advanced technology for those days!

http://www.suzukicycles.org/history/history_04-race-1960-1967.shtml

[bottomdweller]

The rds were sweet, I had a rd250b, hard to find, lil screamer, kept up with most bikes.

Love the kawis too

[RebelSS]

Gotta go with the RD's, too...used to race the 350's. Also had the 250's....if you want a street/trail, look for a DT 250 or DT 360...awesome torque and power on the 360. 250 was a good "general purpose" bike. If you want bigger, look at the TX 500's or XS 650's....stuck on Yamaha's of the early 70's, I guess!! Used to race for them and owned twelve...