Monthly Archives: January 2016

The Story of my Honda

The story begins in 2008. I was 18, the summer where I literally did nothing but drink and play video games and minigolf was about to end. I began my first year of college which was at a school near my home and soon found I had too much damn empty time on my hands. I applied for a few jobs(never having a “real” one before). And got a callback from a grocery store. They put me in produce which was actually really lucky. I’ll spare you the details but at this point I was going to school full-time, and working a part-time job. I managed to save about 50$ a month towards a bike. I’m not sure why I began to want a bike, I never rode one before, I know my dad had some before I was born but that’s about it. Maybe Easy Rider really did leave it’s mark on me early on. Who knows. But along this savings journey I took a class to learn how to actually ride, I’m glad I did. Months down the line I had about 800$ saved. I then saw this ad on Craigslist. While browsing daily of course.

It was in the dead of winter but found it was being sold by a bike mechanic at a vintage shop on the near west side of Chicago. I saw it, it looked tiny a midst the row of bikes there. Something told me this one should be mine. I quickly got a hold of a friend with a truck and within a week the bike was mine for 850$ USD, the world’s de facto currency. Seller had posted 1200 in the ad. I had months to wait for winter to end and did a bit to much tinkering with it. Eventually it got back to being fully sorted. A well respected Honda will last a lifetime. To this day my Triumph starts every other day when she wants and my Honda almost never has a problem. I love this bike it gave me everything, tons of a attention, the power to zip around the city and finally see it like never before. I love this silly little bike. I still love it, it’s my first and I could never part with her. 6 Years, a few thousand miles and she’s still going strong.

The story of my Triumph will be forthcoming but my 200cc Honda green motorcycle zips around Chicago and has never let me down. I’d never “chop” her or make her one of those sorry ass “cafe’s” kids are doing these days. She’s fine as is and has plenty of character. She has her flaws, the tank and side covers have a few chips, rear tire isn’t balanced and the rim has a small dent. Some of the controls don’t work right. The cable front break is often rubbish, and the welds on my aftermarket mufflers were down by a clown. Still she’s might and she runs like fucking a junkie who found a free stamp.

Over the years I’ve simply have to replace screws, batteries, tires, the throttle cable, fender stay, and that’s about it. Regular oil changes and new plugs and she runs great, haven’t even had to clean the carbs yet. Perhaps it’s time for a new chain,resealing the airboxes, and a new rear rim. One day I’d love to find another to strip down to nothing and try and get near to the ton, supposedly this bike can do over 80 stock but I think the mid 60s is the highest I’ve gotten. Ideas include throwing a larger set of carbs from a CB160 with pod filters and bigger jets and a larger gutted exhaust system.

Full Specs

1975 Honda CB200T

10,800Miles

Buy a well cared for 70s Honda now before they are all chopped into garbage our people believe they are worth their weight in gold.