Honda305.com Forum

Saturday was Jack Cole's annual Coverge Bridge Ride in Walton, NY. This is the last one as Jack and his wife are moving to Maine. The day was about a perfect as you can get and the roads around Walton are very much like riding at VIR, only with road signs and speed limits.

Jack and I rode together and I can say with all honesty that we had the twist grips against their stops for nearly all of the 140 odd miles that made up the AM and PM routes. We were only passed once by 3 riders, a Guzzi LeMans, an R75 and a CB500X. And they passed us going uphill. We had actually passed them earlier on a flat section.

Those engines just hummed like bumble bees all day. And I have to say that the handling for what is really not much of a frame, was amazing. My bike is 100% original so we are not talking Ohlins, cartridge emulators of any high tech stuff. And my tires are IRC 2.50-18 front AND rear because I could not find a 2.75 for the rear at the time.

Sure, you can find bigger and newer bikes that will handle great and pull like tractors. But there is something about a little 160 that will fly thru a corner and still pull on the exit, or pull hard up a hill with dropping down only one gear that will put a grin on your face that is hard to get off.

I've owned this bike for two years now. But this is the first time I've taken it out and put it thru the paces, showing absolutely no mercy. She never missed a beat.

Oh yeah... and after flogging her all day without a rest other than intersections or the stop for lunch, I got a solid 60 mph on E10 gas.

If you don't have a CB160, find one and buy it. You won't regret it.

regards,
Rob

Rob

Great story! Thanks for sharing that. Small bikes are just such amazing fun. I wonder why we have all forgotten that? Looking forward to getting my CB160 together. :-)

G

I learned to ride on my older brothers cb160. Like you said it was a great little bike.
My dad and I would go out riding in mountainous w. Pa. and the bike had no trouble taking us up the huge hills here.
My dad was 200 lbs. and I was about 135. I always drove because my dad had a drinking problem.
One day my dad decided he was going to take my younger brother for a ride. He was looped and had never drove a bike before.. He opened the throttle wide and did a wheelie for about 15 ft. hit a curb and threw him and my brother over some hedges into a neighbors yard. No damage to the bike or my dad and brother. It took a licking and kept on ticking.
The only repair I had to do on the bike in the 2 years I rode it was a new battery.
Great memories!

What I want to find (if possible) is a 160 Scrambler! I remember well riding those when I was a teenager. I loved the looks of those machines, too, and I still do.

Great story, thank you!!

Sara

Pretty much the same bike. In fact I think that the later CL160s were just converted CB160s that dealers couldn't sell....

I picked up a CL175 K0 frame and swing arm with the intention of building a little racer.... One day.....

G

I had a CL160. It had a broken oil ring and literally spit oil all over my pearl white Harley when I fired it up in the barn one day. I would lay down a cloud of smoke like the Bismarck trying to escape the Allies. But it still ran on both cylinders. I tore it apart with the intent of restoring it, but ran an ad on CL just for fun. Ended up selling it. As a matter of fact, that was how I met Jack Cole the first time. He came out with his friend to look at it and his friend bought it.

And yes, the CL and CB are the very same bike. Just a different tank, side covers and exhaust. They only made CBs at the end of the run and the dealers could buy kits to turn them into CLs and often did because the CB's stopped selling when bigger street bikes were available and scramblers became the rage.

For me, the bike is very comfy. Seat with the internal springs is perfect. But if you have to slide back on the seat a bit, there is a brace between the passenger and rider position that provides bleacher type comfort. Brutal is the word that comes to mind. I slid back on it after another rider commented that he replaced his stock seat with one of a Suzuki GT185. He's a lot bigger and shall we say, more "robust" than I am. He was right. It would have been deadly if I had to ride with my butt on that part of the seat. But I don't.

I suppose I should post of pic of her, cuz she's all original and so purty. So, here she is.



regards,
Rob

She's a beauty! :-)

G