You can be excused if you think you’ve gone backwards in time — that is a 1972 Honda CB350 wearing pretty darned nice original paint and decals 48 years after it was on the dealer’s lot! It is listed for sale here on eBay but you’d better hurry — there are less than 14 hours left in the auction as I write this post. The bike is located in East Syracuse, New York. Bidding is up to just over $2,000 and there’s no reserve, so the Honda will have a new owner shortly. Will it be you?
Honda sold 67,180 CB350s in 1972, and 319,712 during the life of the design (1968-1973), but it’s surprising how few exist today, especially in stock form. For a generation of us, these are the motorcycles we think of when someone mentions a Honda.
If you look closely enough at the pictures, there are a few cosmetic flaws; some pitting in the chrome, slight fading of the paint on the side covers, etc. But there’s nothing at all that would keep you from getting a lot of admiring stares as you motor around town.
We’re told the bike last was on the road in 2018, and as even the picture taken of the inside of the fuel tank is clean and we’re told it runs well with good tires, I’m thinking the first ride would take place the same day you received the bike!
This rusty exhaust pipe is one of the few things on the Honda that show its age.
The 325.6 cc (19.87 cu in) OHC air-cooled 180° parallel twin makes somewhere around 36 horsepower at a screaming 10,500 rpm. Since maximum torque isn’t reached until you hit 9,500 rpm, it’s a good thing the engine is smooth! So there you have it, folks, vintage riding at a price almost anyone can afford. Will one of you be this bike’s next rider? Let us know in the comments below!
I bought a 1973 CB350 in 1980 for $450.Did some crazy stuff on it!Mine was green.I sold it a couple years later got married,Kids etc.never rode again until I bought a Harley in 2005.
I bought a bike identical to this in 1976. On my first day of college, at 60 mph, I narrowly missed colliding with a lumbering concrete truck that pulled out in front of me and had to veer in the oncoming lane to avoid it. Lost all my new textbooks but came out of it unscathed. Parked it in the wrong place and got a ticket. I sold it and never again got on a bike. Despite that, I remember it as being a blast to ride and extremely fast (in my limited experience).
Decent original shape but not worth $2000 in my world. Mufflers can be sourced and many parts sources, motorcycle salvage sellers, and clubs and mechanical support videos on You-tube make them easy to own and care for. I’ve owned many, many 350s all years CB and my personal favorite the CL model with a slightly different cam profile and gearing to give it more drivability and mid range torque in my opinion. Tons of mid-speed 40-60mph driving fun on these Hondas……..Stay off Interstates, they’re better left to the heavier larger displacement bikes………Still a great find IMHO
That was my first bike. I learned the beginnings of how to ride on that bike. My lasting memory of the bike, beyond its reliability, was that its seat was like sitting on a 2×12. Other than that, what a great first-time bike.
I had a green one. I rode it across Kansas several times (KC to Colorado Spgs). It never missed a beat (or a bug). Most of the time it got around 45 mpg. In a day of 8 mpg cars that was amazing. It had over 60K miles on it when I got the notion that I needed a 4-cylinder bike. I bought a 350-4. It was never the bike that the original was. I’ve spent the past 50 years kicking myself for letting the 350 go.
I had a ’73 that looked exactly like this one. It was my first bike and thought it was the coolest thing. It weighed a ton, found out the hard way when it accidentally tipped over. Mine also had aftermarket exhaust on it with removable baffles so it was loud. My friends said that they could hear me starting to downshift to take my turn to go home which was 5 miles away!!!
Sadly I was riding to work one day and one of the cams broke. I had to push the pig back to my house a half mile away. That was the end for me with that bike, too expensive to fix so I sold it to a junkyard. It stayed in the same spot I parked it there for almost 7 years. I miss that bike
Good memories.
Bought a slightly used 1973 CB350 (Green K5?) during the summer of 1973 to replace a 1970 Yamaha DS6-B destroyed in an accident earlier in the year. In hospital for 2 weeks and a couple of months more to fully recover. Mom was pissed, but dad was fine with it. Only major accident in my 50+ year riding history. Stopped riding a couple of years back due to medical reasons-hope to be riding again soon.
Kept the 350 for 5 years before selling and trading up to a CB750 K8. Honda was stone reliable except it developed a dead miss in high humidity conditions. During rain and fog, it lost the right cylinder for unknown reasons. Spray the bike with a water hose and the bike never missed a beat.
Sold bike for a near give away price to someone who was made aware of the situation.
Nice to read about so many with good memories of these, mine was a ’71 I bought from a guy getting a divorce, so the price was right and I made a profit when I sold it. I could not get off of it. I would ride home, then turn around and go ride some more. My next bike was a ’73 Kawasaki Z1, I feel fortunate I survived that experience, those first bikes did NOT handle well, but it was a blast…
I think these were the 1st street bikes people bought after their Z50’s or minibikes. People that just weren’t ready for the 4 cylinders monsters, just wanted a simple bike to go cross town to work or school. It wasn’t until experience told them, for any riding outside of town, these were just not enough.The CB was a lousy road bike, and the CL wasn’t much of a dirt bike, YET, these were kind of the make it or break it for many folks. Some rode these, and HAD to get something better, while many, for whatever reason, rode these, and never rode a cycle again. Again, every pile of non-running motorcycles, has a bunch of these at the bottom. Neat find.
I had a couple of these in the early 80’s, one in orange and one in this color. Had a lot of fun around town. Laid one down on sand on the street, no damage except for my pride. My four year old son tipped the other over in the driveway, broke the mirror and the brake handle. Go figure.
I had a candy-apple red 72 CB350. It was the first motorcycle that I drove faster than my weight – 100. I don’t know how much faster it would have gone, I was feeling a little light in the seat and afraid I’d get blown off by a truck coming in the opposite direction.
The is is the very first street bike I ever rode. Nice example.
My first vehicle/bike bought new in the yellow/gold metallic paint.Rode it through two bad Winters.The vibration through the seat and handlebars would wear me out.
I have one that’s its identical twin. Good all around town beginner road bike as long as you don’t try to get to crazy on it. Fun weekend ride that brings back 1970’s memories of the style of bikes that I first saw……