Sometimes They Come Back

It came back home... Lori's old CL450. Recently an ad appeared on Craigslist with a bike that looked JUST LIKE Lori's old CL; a landlord in San Francisco put an ad up saying his tenant had left behind a motorcycle and to make him an offer. I immediately tried contacting the guy I sold it to call the police. He had told us it had been stolen 2 years ago (he has since replaced the bike with a Triumph). Long story short, apparently it was a series of miscommunications, something about unpaid parking rent, and it has sat outside for 2 years. I went and looked at it. Poor thing is rusted up all over, the spark plugs were gone (crackheads love using them to smoke out of or smash car windows) which means rain probably made it's way in the engine, the registration sticker was peeled away (more scumbags), but it was all there, including the black plate, and it rolled and turned over freely.



I bought it back for pennies, in fact I'll say, $200. I had originally bought the bike for $100, put about $300 of carb rebuild kits, fuel line, battery, and tires into it. Lori rode it for a while, and then I sold it for $1000. It came with a box of new parts (wheel bearings, regulator, Lucas tailight which is going on the CB750).



It's a 1968 CL450, engine and frame. At some point someone put blue 1972 gas tank, side covers and front fender and bars on. And the pee shooter exhaust is from I believe a Black Bomber or early CB.

1968 CL450




Now that we have Max, he'll be riding on the back in a few years, so Lori needs to get back on the horse. Like I need another project, right? Since we got it for so cheap, I'm going to do it up nicely for Lori. New tires, new controls, new cables. I'm going to get a nice set of new VM32 carburetors. I'm also going to rebuild the head (and check out the jugs for water damage. While I'm at it I'm going to paint the tins a nice metalflake ruby, and she'll be named Ruby Reckless.

Here's a gallery of all the pics.