The CB1100 Community Forum

I ask, has there ever been a better looking "scrambler" than the Honda CL450? The proportions. The pipes. The paint. The chrome. The sound!
This happens to be a 1972 model but pick any year you want ('69 through '74 I believe). It seemed so big and fast when I was 18. Now it is somewhat toylike compared to the other bikes in my herd. It doesn't matter though because even if I do nothing more than park it in the driveway and look at it, it's still a keeper.
Scramble on.

(03-27-2014, 06:49 PM)Mike_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I ask, has there ever been a better looking "scrambler" than the Honda CL450? The proportions. The pipes. The paint. The chrome. The sound!
This happens to be a 1972 model but pick any year you want ('69 through '74 I believe). It seemed so big and fast when I was 18. Now it is somewhat toylike compared to the other bikes in my herd. It doesn't matter though because even if I do nothing more than park it in the driveway and look at it, it's still a keeper.
Scramble on.

Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all, but Norton P11?

Certainly a stunning motorcycle. The Brits had a little bit of a head start on building street scramblers, but Honda certainly came to dominate that market and the 450 was their big gun. Top speed over 100 mph, electric start, anvil like reliability and eventually a disc front brake. I had the 305 Scrambler CL 77, my brother had the CL 350 Scrambler. All great motorcycles for their time.

I have always loved the Scrambler style bike, and when the opportunity came to pick up a restored Norton '68 P-11 Ranger, I couldn't resist. What is amazing is that braver men than I raced these tanks back in the day.

I like the style of most scramblers, the Honda 450 was one of the best.

Having already built a Ryca Cafe Racer, I'm thinking of doing a Scrambler from one of their kits. Based on a Suzuki S40 Savage cruiser.

http://www.rycamotors.com/bikes/CS2/about/index.html

Redbirds, I don't want to hijack this Scrambler thread, but I'd love to see and hear about your Ryca conversion. Love the concept but haven't seen one yet. Maybe a thread?

(03-27-2014, 09:29 PM)Capo_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Redbirds, I don't want to hijack this Scrambler thread, but I'd love to see and hear about your Ryca conversion. Love the concept but haven't seen one yet. Maybe a thread?

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread....0#pid32190

(03-27-2014, 09:17 PM)Capo_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I have always loved the Scrambler style bike, and when the opportunity came to pick up a restored Norton '68 P-11 Ranger, I couldn't resist. What is amazing is that braver men than I raced these tanks back in the day.

That is a very handsome motorsickle sir!

I thought the 1966 Yamaha Big Bear Scrambler looked pretty good especially with that sweet looking honey on the back. Of course the bike itself was a lousy scrambler because it had no low end torque. But...you better be holding on when the needle got up to 2500 rpm because you were just out of there.

Meow, that is just a fantastic time warp set of photos. How very cool and really beautiful.