My shakedown run was a success in that it found some weak spots that had to be fixed. The plan was to fix those problem spots and then do a little more testing/figure out how far I wanted to modify the bike, but the plan has changed and now it’s going up for sale. But don’t worry…I’ve already replaced it!
Did you miss Part 2? I take the CB160 out for a shakedown run…which ends up in a tow back home.
The service included new steering head bearings and a few parts from Charlie’s Place – electronic ignition, regulator/rectifier, and Dyna coils.
I haven’t had a chance to ride it yet after the fixes but my partner Adam took it for a quick spin – we’ll have to train him on Le Mans starts. It sure sounds great, but it’s way too loud. My neighbors will appreciate that I’m not keeping this.
So, why I am selling it? Because AHRMA has certain rules for racing at Barber (you have to have raced in at least two events this season, among other things) that not everyone in our group was going to be able to meet. I was aware of these rules before getting involved with this and we had some special consideration going on but it would have been a case where only one or two of us could have raced instead of the whole group. So we’re going to wait until next year and do it like everyone else and bring you along for the ride in terms of doing a race school, getting licensed, going to Laguna, etc. But that means I’m no longer on a strict deadline, so I figured I could sell this and find a rattier one to race instead. I have to admit that one of my concerns about the CB160 was that it was really nice – maybe too nice to race? Well, now I don’t have that guilt any more.
It was fun while it lasted!
I’ll be sad to see it go because it was a really fun street bike and was already California plated, but when I attempt to be rational with myself, I have Vy’s Honda S90 for some old-school putting around and I’m already struggling to keep a good rotation between the bikes I own to keep all the fluids circulating.
Vy’s bike on display at the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Show
So, I’m putting up the CB160 for auction over at Iconic with no reserve, and hopefully I won’t lose my butt. We’re waiting on a headlight bulb before it gets listed, and I’ll share the auction on Bike-urious once it goes live.
Have no fear – I’m not giving up on the CB160 race bike premise! I figured I could use this reset as an opportunity to either find a worse example that I wouldn’t feel bad modifying or one that had already been hacked up. I was scrolling through Facebook when a CB160 in Portland, Oregon popped up in the AHRMA SWAP MEET group:
I messaged the seller and we spoke on the phone for a bit, he seemed nice though he had acquired the bike recently and the previous owner “rode it three times around the neighborhood“, I was hoping to hear he had done a couple of sessions with it on the track or at least ridden it at speed. The seller mentioned that he bought it and serviced it with a carb clean and cable replacement, plus he added that the motor has lots of compression and runs great. The price seemed fine and I figured I should get moving on finding a replacement, lest the procrastination demons get hold of me. But later that day, the listing disappeared.
It’s always interesting when you buy a bike sight unseen…
I thought I missed out, though the seller said the bike was still available. I got a little spooked as I thought maybe the guy had sold it and was also trying to get the purchase price out of me, so I let it sit for a day to see if the listing would go back up. Then I had to fly home to Boston to attend to some family stuff, and I forgot about the CB160 for a few days. Earlier in the week I had spoken with one of my transport employees at Iconic who let me know that we had a shipper going through Portland on Wednesday, August 30th. When Wednesday came around, it jogged my memory and I checked Facebook again – this time the listing was back up! So I called the seller (again, he was great to chat with it) and bought the bike immediately. I sent the seller some money via PayPal and a couple of hours later I got a photo of my new-to-me bike on a trailer on its way home to me!
I assume it will need some work, but it was going to cost this much and more to turn my nice CB into a track bike, anyway. Plus, it comes with a spare engine and a few extra small goodies.
The timing of the acquisition isn’t bad as I just sold my Ninja 400 track bike as well:
Adios, little Kawasaki. You served me well!
Well, I’m still in Boston so I haven’t seen the new 160 yet. But when I get back home, you can be sure that one of the first things I’m going to do is track down the new race bike and see what it needs. Let’s find out together!
On to Part 4 – let’s see what the new bike needs!