1970 Honda SL175...
This is the latest addition to the bikes in my shed. For the past several years I've been thinking about what I'm going to ride in my old age as I'll soon be 70. I looked at the bikes Janus is building in Indiana, and I looked at the Royal Enfield crop of 350 cc bikes. I also looked at the Yamaha MT 03. I was looking for something that was light and nimble, but also had some get-up-and-go!
In the end, I came back to my roots with a 1970 Honda SL175. I had one of these bikes back in the 70's when I was 14 or 15 years old, and it was a blast! Light and flickable, but it also punched way above it's weight for a 175!
Well as luck would have it, I stumbled onto this bike while watching a YouTube video. The video was an interview of the owner of a bike shop not far from where I live. As the interview progressed, they were looking at bikes in the show room and the camera showed the SL175. I contacted the shop by email and was told the bike wasn't for sale yet, but I could come have a look anytime. That was a couple months back, and now the bike is sitting in my shed!
At any rate, the SL175, being an early dual-sport, is indeed relatively light compared to many modern bikes. The engine in the SL series was known for being quite peppy for its size. While it won't be a speed demon by today's standards, it will certainly have enough power for enjoyable cruising, backroad adventures, and even light off-road use, which aligns nicely with my intentions.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of the SL175 is, the bike is from a bygone era of mechanical simplicity. No complex ECUs, fuel injection systems, ABS, traction control, or intricate wiring harnesses to diagnose. For someone like me, who enjoys tinkering and wants to be self-sufficient with maintenance, this is a huge advantage.
Cosmetically, the bike is in fantastic shape, and offers a great foundation for me to work with. That said, it's been in a collection, and having not been run much and 55 years old, it needs quite a bit of mechanical freshing up. I'm still quite comfortable riding my other larger bikes so I have plenty of time to get the bike in tip top shape before it becomes my daily rider!
