My Second Motorcycle

Sometime in the late 80s I stopped at a garage sale in my suburban neighborhood. A faded red motorcycle was parked near the garage. It had no sign on it so I asked if it was for sale. The lady said yes, then told me her husband had bought it new, his friend was injured in a motorcycle accident and the husband stopped riding. The bike hadn't been started in about ten years. I asked how much and she asked how much will you give me. I said $100.00 right away and she said OK. Later that night with fresh oil and a new battery the little bike fired right up.

The bike was a 1977 Honda CJ360T. (The bike pictured above is the 76 model. The only difference is that the 77 had a stripe on the tank.) I don't know what Honda was thinking when they made this motorcycle. It was as light as it could be, with plastic wherever possible and no starter motor. I think it was geared a little lower than the CB360.

One thing was for sure, you really had to hold on! The power to weight ratio was amazing. If I didn't shift very smoothly the front wheel came up. Top speed couldn't have been very fast because the beast really screamed at highway speeds. But from a stop I beat pretty much anything on wheels. I just held onto first gear until almost red line and when I shifted I was near the top of the power curve. Man, that was a quick bike.

I hated the ugly faded red and the dumb looking stripe so I painted all the red parts black. The bike looked like a wasp. The seat vinyl crapped out and I replaced it with heavily Scotchguarded black denim. It looked pretty cool and it was very easy on the butt.

The bike was so light that it got blown all over the place on the interstate, so instead of going around the town on the big roads I'd zig-zag through town on the back streets. It was the perfect bike for that kind of riding. Like most stock Hondas it was very quiet so I surprised a lot of people when I flew down their less-traveled byways.

[I neglected to mention that if I accelerated too hard the front wheel lifted up when I let out the clutch in second gear.]

That bike was a very bad influence on me. It made me do illegal things. I drove it way too fast and sometimes I rode it where you aren't supposed to ride. I won't go into detail in case they're still looking for me.

I had the 360 when my dad gave me his four-cylinder 1974 Honda CB550. I rode the four sometimes, mostly because it was interstate-safe and big enough to give girlfriends rides. But mostly it sat, because it was nowhere near as much fun as that 360. I eventually sold the 550 because I didn't want it to die of neglect.

Later I moved to a part of town full of dangerous drivers. I risked my neck every time I rode the 360 and finally decided to quit while I was still not dead. I couldn't bear to try and sell the bike so I just gave it to a guy I worked with.

My new Bonneville isn't as quick and maneuverable as that 360 was, but that's probably a good thing. Bonnie is only a little bit of a bad influence on me, and I can live longer with that.