Monday, December 22, 2008

Honda Motosport Chart

Honda invented the street scrambler concept with its 1962 CL-72, a street motorcycle with dirt-bike styling and a little better off-road capability than the purely street models of the day. Trail riding in America was a slowly growing sport until Yamaha put everybody and his hound dog on knobby tires with its 250cc DT-1 in 1968. Honda's first response to the ring-ding onslaught was the Motosport SL series, a line of bikes that were too heavy to really stomp the Yamahas into the dirt, but they certainly had long-lasting, sweet-sounding engines and the legendary Honda bullet-proof reliability. The brochure shown here is of the heaviest of the Motosport bunch, the SL-350 introduced in late 1969 with a heavy frame and electric starter. The breed would begin to improve its dirtability with the K1 model of 1971. Compare this photo with the Blue '71 K1 on the other Motosport page. Here is a basic chart of the SL models.

SL-70









































Year

Color Choices

Tank

Frame

Speeds

Speedometer

1971 - K0

Light Ruby Red - Aquarius Blue - Summer Yellow

White Stripe

Silver

Four

Optional

1972 - K0

Light Ruby Red - Aquarius Blue - Summer Yellow

White Stripe

Silver

Four

Optional

1973 - K1

Fire Red - Candy Riviera Blue - Candy Yellow

Yellow Panel

Silver

Four

Standard



All SL-70's had black exhausts with chrome shields, double-downtube frames, and body-colored fenders.

SL-90
























Year

Color Choices

Tank

Frame

Exhaust

Fenders

Speeds

1969

Candy Ruby Red - Candy Blue

Silver Stripe

Silver

Chrome

Body Color

Four



All SL-90's had upswept exhausts, 19" front wheels, kickstarters, and horizontal cylinders. Note: Some SL-90's may have had black frames, as shown in the '69 Honda brochure. According to my own personal recollection, I rode a friend's SL-90 in 1969, and it had a black frame. The first silver-framed SL I remember encountering was another friend's SL-350 of several months later. The SL-90 was the first SL model released, and it is the only one showing a black frame in the brochure. Since we are discussing my memory of more than thirty-five years ago, it is quite possible that I am just plain wrong on this issue.

SL-100


















































Year

Color Choices

Tank

Frame

Exhaust

Handlebars

1970 - K0

Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Emerald Green

White Stripe

Silver

High-rise

No Crossbrace

1971 - K1

Ruby Red - Emerald Green - Mars Orange

White Stripe

Silver

Low-rise

No Crossbrace

1972 - K2

Candy Ruby Red - Tortoise Green Metallic

Yellow Panel

Silver

Low-rise

Crossbrace

1973 - K3

Fire Red - Candy Riviera Blue

White Decal

Black

Low-rise

Crossbrace



All SL-100's had flat-black exhausts with chrome shields, kickstarters, and body-colored, steel fenders.

SL-125




































Year

Color Choices

Tank

Frame

Side Covers

1971 - K0

Strato Blue Metallic - Poppy Yellow Metallic - Candy
Emerald Green

Black Stripe

Silver

Body Color

1972 - K1

Special Silver Metallic

Red Stripe

Black

Body Color

1973 - K2

Special Silver Metallic

Red Stripe

Black

Matte Black



All SL-125's had tachometers, kickstarters, painted steel fenders, and flat-black exhaust pipes with chrome shields.

SL-175




































Year

Color Choices

Tank

Exhaust

Exhaust Shield

1970 - K0

Candy Ruby Red - Candy Sapphire Blue - Candy Topaz
Orange

White Stripe

Black

Chrome

1971 - K1

Light Ruby Red - Candy Sapphire Blue - Poppy Yellow
Metallic

White Stripe

Black

Chrome

1972 - K1

Light Ruby Red - Candy Sapphire Blue - Poppy Yellow
Metallic

White Stripe

Black

Chrome



All SL-175's had two-into-one exhausts, silver frames, body-color fenders, kickstarters, and Ceriani-style front forks.

SL-350





































































Year

Color Choices

Frame

Tank

Starter

Front Wheel

1969 - K0

Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Candy Gold

single downtube

White Stripe

Electric

19"

1970 - K0

Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Candy Gold

single downtube

White Stripe

Electric

19"

1970 - K1

Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Topaz Orange

double downtube

White Stripe

Kickstarter

19"

1971- K1

Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Topaz Orange

double downtube

White Stripe

Kickstarter

19"

1972 - K2

Marina Blue Metallic - Candy Panther Gold

double downtube

Yellow Trim

Kickstarter

21"

1973 - K2

Marina Blue Metallic - Candy Panther Gold

double downtube

Yellow Trim

Kickstarter

21"



All SL-350's had candy paint, silver frames, flat-black exhausts, Ceriani-style front forks, and exposed rear springs.

The Motosport page at Tiddlerosis

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive