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The Honda CL72
By Mark Mederski
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| Mark Mederski |
Marketing experts tell
us that a large part of anyone’s vehicle buying decision has
to do with appearance. Honda Runes, Ducati Monsters, and Confederate
Cycles all having a following, so it’s not hard to imagine
what Honda designers were thinking when they sketched an off-road
machine with their late-1950s-derived 250 OHC twin. The Brits and
Europeans had already given us versions of their street singles
and twins in off-road trim that had little more concession to their
function than raised fenders, up pipes, skid plates, and perhaps
a braced handlebar. In some ways, when Honda developed their first
somewhat serious off-road motorcycle, they went all of them one
better. The CL72 carries a range of features and details that add
up to a machine that was not only good looking, but made a decent
dirt tracker and cross country machine. Dave Ekins demonstrated
this in his 1961 Baja run on an apparent prototype of the Honda
CL72.
Honda’s sloping cylinder, overhead cam, and ball and roller
bearings throughout the engine were about four years old when designers
decided to use them in an off-road machine. The Type 1 CL72 was
powered by a detuned version of the 247cc CB72 (250 Hawk) engine.
A torquier cam, lower compression, and the elimination of the electric
starter all served the intended use. In some markets there was even
a Type 2 version with a 360 degree crankshaft and special gear ratios.
A nicely designed, fairly light, lugged loop frame with a skid plate
was the central structure, and was very different from Honda’s
contemporary pressed steel designs. Up until the 1960s, Honda employed
primarily tubular and pressed steel leading link forks, but about
1961 went to telescopic designs on some models, including the sporty
CB72 Hawk. The similar Scrambler forks with four inches of travel
were fitted with rubber gaiters, just as the Brits would have done.
Trick little wire clamps held the gaiters in place.
Made through about 1965 in red, black, and medium blue, with silver
tanks and air cleaner covers, the first Scramblers are the most
interesting. The 1962 and 1963 models (serial numbers prefixed CL72110XXXX)
had trick bits like fine-thread hollow axles and sand cast hubs
with bigger double-butted spokes, plus classic polished alloy fenders
on only the very earliest machines. Other nice details included
odd cross hatched, or knurled grips with the Honda name in raised
letters—a rare find today—and several points on the
control cables pre-drilled for safety wire on their chrome adjusters,
with delicate wire detents on the adjusters near the lever perches.
All CL72s have 40-spoke steel flanged rims designed around typical
European alloy counterparts from Akront or Borrani. The rear wheel
is set up such that the wheel can be removed without the sprocket;
the entire final drive remains attached to the swing arm, which
is an unexpected useful detail. Note the handsome castings
at the tips of the light swing arm that hold the rear axle and drilled
adjusters, chain guard and shocks. Folding foot pegs were
stock, but collectors still come across fixed peg setups leading
us to believe these were a “factory” Honda racing part
along with the alloy fuel tank with flip cap, a special short
racing seat and an odd little metal rear fender extension.
Given the machine’s bulk, the rear fender mount thankfully
doubled as a very useful grab rail, something still missing from
many off-road machines today. Then there’s the cool chain
guard and yet more evidence that early production machines had more
manufacturing time spent on them. Here we see stylish louvers
on the side of the chain guard, and little finned reverse scoops
at the rear. First the fins went away around 1964, then the
side louvers, leaving us with a clunky piece that could serve as
a belt guard on a lawn mower. These early chain guards, front fenders
and braces are the holy grail of CL72 restorers. The chain guards
are rare because they shattered from vibration, and the fenders
and braces were often subject to crash damage, or perhaps removed
because chopped fenders were cool.
Okay, I have left out the most important part: the exhaust system.
The Honda designers must have had a chance to look at a late 50s
BSA Spitfire Scrambler when they were attending the Isle of Man
in 1959. The CL72 system nicely mimics its snaking, up-the-left-side
design. But Honda’s unit is actually tighter, more graceful
in design, and better tucked in with somewhat useful heat shields.
In the showroom these bikes usually had an ungainly spark arrestor
hung off the end of the pipes, but most were slipped off and replaced
with a pair of Snuff-or-Nots. The sound is now over 40 years
old to me, but I still believe there are few better-sounding engines
than a 180 degree twin wrung into the red zone. The CL72 didn’t
have a tach, but the cams and straight pipes served as a sort of
rev-limiter, so late on a quiet warm summer night. . . well you
get the picture. Twenty-four horsepower never sounded so good.
The CL72 would barely run 80 mph, though its brothers, the Hawk
and Super Hawk, would run out to nearly 100 mph if you had a tail
wind and a lot of patience. For top end, those baloney mufflers
on the Hawk actually worked whereas the scrambler pipes were for
low-down torque only.
Sometime around 1965 the CL72 made way for a 305cc CL77, now fondly
referred to as the “305 Scrambler.” These machines
were sold in much greater numbers and have a stronger following
even though they lack almost every interesting detail mentioned
above. It’s almost as if Honda came to grips with the
fact that the CL72 not really a good enduro or scrambles bike, cut
manufacturing expense, and moved to making it a good sounding street
bike with saucy up pipes and a great sound. And as for design
decision based on looks, the last CL77s were made in 1967 came with
candy apple paint and chromed steel fenders, and even silver piping
on the seat. Gone were the alloy bits, the hollow axles, the
fixed final drive, and most of the interesting features. And
as for that ugly spark arrestor, by then you had to get your hacksaw
because some governing body decided it should be welded on.
Opinions vary as to which was the best machine Honda made in the
mid-sixties. Some opinions are clouded by the experiences these
motorcycles brought to their young riders. But I have my mind made
up, and it’s only about hardware and sound. The neurons
have been locked in that mode since 1964 when I first laid eyes
on a Honda 250 Scrambler, as we called them back then. I wish
it not to be a storied burial, mine, but I’d like to permanently
rest beside a CL72, six feet and 250ccs under. But that would
be too cruel to these rather soulful machines that thrilled so many
of us in our teens. When I further sense my mortality, or need to
pay for assisted living, maybe I’ll put the Scrambler into
a vintage bike auction and watch it go to some Gen X or Y kid who
is into good retro noise. Who knows how these machines will
be regarded in 25 or 50 years. Perhaps this 125-year internal
combustion era we are in will seem a fluke, and such machines will
be smelted into electric motor parts, but I hope not. I still
believe that a motorcycle that makes you grin is a good thing.
About the author:
Mark Mederski has served as AMA Vice President for Marketing
where he doubled the Association’s membership. Later
he was recruited by the AMA Board to manage the Motorcycle Hall
of Fame Museum, drawing from ten years in exhibition design at Ohio
Historical Society. He left the Museum in the spring of 2009 to
pursue a long-held mission of serving the motorcycle collector community.
He offers a range of consultations including organizational
enhancements to bike and ephemera collections along with help in
display fixtures. Mederski is also a collector with about 20 motorcycles
from the 1960s.
To reach Mark Mederski,
click motormark@columbus.rr.com.
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