Vintage Or Antique It's Rust, Rust & More Rust

Working on an older bike is consistently a challenge. 

May I say that my taste in bikes run to the exotic and this bike fits this mantra very well.

Lately, I acquired a train wreck's pair of Honda 450's, a '68 and a '74.  I'm ending up making one out of the two and elected to keep with the '68, fortunately most parts are interchangeable.  Honda did a good job of development with few updates over the production run so interchangeability between years is good.  The keeper bike is a CL version, first full year of high pipes. 

There was a '67 model but it was a low pipe CB model that was a kit for up pipes.  Good luck finding one!

Almost every part has needed some refurbishment and I've given up on a restoration in favor of just getting it together for a riding bike, warts and all.  Oh, and did I mention rust? 

The bike was covered, dipped in, grown over, changed color...in rust.

Now we know that rust is a chemical process of oxidation and that oxygen particularly likes iron with the product being iron oxide, or rust.  In this case, lots of it.  No part escaped.  You can see in the photo that the front rim is rusty though useable.  This is more than a repair, it's an eventual replacement.  ugh.  Not going to do that right now, it's still useable but truly uglified.  Same for the rear.

What I like about the 450's is that starting the early '60's, Honda applied some of their racing expertise and technology to include double overhead camshafts and torsion bar valve springs.  Very unique.  Honda made lots and lots of this design up to and through 1977.  No other bike at the time was as technically advanced.

They handled reasonably well though with some quirks.  I'm convinced it's all to do with the less than stellar rear shock absorbers.  Yes, I've replaced them here.  I think too, that there are some steering geometry changes in later years that this bike would respond to favorably.  Certainly, this bike model is actively ridden in vintage races across the country with great success.

The front suspension comes under some criticism for not working well, note the external springs in the pic.  Once I got inside to clean and sort it out, I found that there is a significant dampening tube inside and that there are a number of similarities to the present day cartridge forks.  Hmmm, Honda didn't start doing cartridge front suspension until 1978 on the CR250R - the first production version of Marty Smith's works racer.  They worked well...until the next year of development.  But, it was and still is, a leap in suspension technology.  One can't find a decent suspension today that isn't a cartridge type.  I think the forks the CL came with can be made to work and work well.

Here's another pic, showing my shiny new rear shocks, from China...  Please disregard my garage/background clutter. It's mid winter here and I'll clean it all out this spring.

Remember the 1960's Honda slogan, "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" ?  If you see me on the road, give me a high five!

J