I’ve picked up a ’74 CL125S. Emotion definitely got the better part of me, because this is the spittin’ image of my very first motorcycle that I bought in July of 1980. Mine had been a ’73 in Hawaiian Blue, but it needed a new fuel tank and it soon ended up with the same red ’74 tank as on this bike. (I spray-painted the blue sidecovers black). The CL was only made 2 years and they don’t come up for sale around here very often. It’s almost identical to the more run-of-the-mill CB125, but I’ve always loved the cool exhaust and the other little touches such as the crossbar on the handlebars.
Well, I bought it from a student at the University of Kansas, about 45 minutes away on other side of the state line. The seller wanted $900. I offered him seven. He took my money and couldn’t run away fast enough.
It starts and runs, to a point, but it has lived a hard life and was in sad shape. It has obviously been down multiple times, on both sides. There have been some pretty dodgy repairs (college student style). A lot of miles have been put on it; it’s impossible to say exactly how many, since the speedo/odo is inop. The big issue is an obviously holed muffler. No matter; I am hoping it can all be patched up well enough to capture the sights and sensations of my first bike from so long ago.
