15 July, 2012

El Guapo Begins

Since the Miyata is nearly finished, and I've been bored, I decided to start another little bike project. I've had this grand plan to create a 1960s Scrambler. Some knobby tires, high-mount exhaust, taller suspension etc. I happen to have a handful of Honda S90/CL90 parts bikes, so I grabbed one of them and stripped it down. He will be called "El Guapo" from now on.

I had several complete engines to start with, and tore this down in about thirty minutes. Everything is quite clean, with no rust or scouring in the cylinder. Even the valves and cylinder head look great.


These bikes have an interesting pressed steel frame, that mounts the horizontal OHC Honda motor. One of the keys to getting the right look, is finding a proper tank. I have both S90 and CL90 tanks, as shown below.

CL90 tank. I like this overall shape, I just want the tank to be a bit bulkier:

The S90 tank is more rounded, and more cafe looking, especially with the chrome side covers:

I also had this Bridgestone 90 Mountain tank sitting on the shelf.


I need to do up some sketches of what I'm looking for. Then I can start scouring ebay for a suitable tank.

Chris H.

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