Hey ya'll,
After laying off the search for a few months to do some traveling, I was casually surfing craigslist when I found someone selling a local '72 or '73 CL350 twin. I'm a little iffy on it, if only because I'd have to do some work to get it back up and running, well, riding, condition, but the price is within my range, which is pretty low, but I assume is fair. This would also be my first bike, so you can see where my hesitation about doing a "lot" of work comes from. Here's the pertinent info:
- no battery, runs off a cap, was probably going to do this mod anyway
- unfinished cafe seat, but willing to toss in a CB400 seat that I could jury rig into place
- removed electric starter, clocks (decayed anyway), turn signals, tail light, and headlight for racing (considering his other bikes, I believe this)
- tank is pretty clean, little rust
- comes with clubman bars and levers, which I wanted anyway
- comes with second set of forks
- forks need seals, but seem OK otherwise
- exhaust is swiss cheese at the end thanks to rust, seem fairly solid else wise
- good compression
- carbs and diaphragms are fine
- joints seem OK, but couldn't really get a good look at 'em
- no title, no registration, no nothin' (again, racer)
- stamp is boned, not sure on this... pit bike at one point?
- has a bucket full of parts he removed from the bike, with the exception of the tail light, headlight and turn signals
That's all I can think of. He's asking $200obo for it. I've no idea whether that's fair or not because, well, frankly, I don't. Half of craigslist seem to think that motorcycles are hedges against inflation, and I know
all of eBay thinks that, so figuring out what a fair price is is a bit difficult. Anyone have any ideas? I don't expect a looker or a killer bike for the price, just one that, with a bit of love, can be a fairly good street bike that I can fix up later on as I have more money. To be honest, it seems like unless you want to spend a couple grand, all 350s will have these problems with differing severities. It's why I stopped looking in the first place, it got too damn frustating.
Well, thanks for any advice. I'm letting him know today. It sure would be nice to have a bike to ride around on when my wife rides her Vespa.
Bryce
