Honda has brought back the CB350 but sadly it seems to be a CB350 in name alone. The new CB makes less power than the original CB350 and it’s losing one of its two cylinders. Oh and to add insult to injury so far it doesn’t look like it’s coming to the USA either. At least not yet.

Link to article


“The H’ness (CB350) gets a balancer to deal with vibrations as it pumps out 21 horsepower, pushing a kerb weight of 399 pounds. A classic CB350 makes 36 horsepower and weighs in at 375 pounds. I’m betting the power drop comes from a) the move to a single cylinder, b) tough Indian emissions standards, and c) an understressed powerplant that prioritizes longevity over all-out performance. After all, this motorcycle is designed specifically for sale in India — not that such bikes can’t come here unexpectedly.

Those of you who fondly remember the original CB350 won’t find its spiritual successor in the H’ness engine, handsome and air-cooled as it is. The new bike does advance Honda’s traditional CB look, last seen in the CB1100, more than it follows the Neo Sports Cafe styling of the CB300R and its older brothers, which tells me that Honda still sees a place for retro CB homages.“



It isn’t terrible looking and I bet it’s great on gas. With it being a single cylinder I bet it’s super easy to maintain too.

Ugh. Like finding a weenie under a party dress. Bring back the Hamamatsu Honey!

It looks good, but might be a hard sell next to the CB300F/CB300R, apart from it's more classic/vintage looks.

I used to have a 1976 Honda CB 500. It was a nice bike!

I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually worked it’s way over to the US. As the current 300 offerings get stale Honda might eventually sell it here to keep things fresh. It’s not like it’s going to take away from the retro Honda Monkey or CB1100 sale figures.

Looks a lot like my 78 Susie GS 400...
only it was a twin, and black, shoulda kept it...

Was always a fan of the Kawasaki KZ line-up in the '70s, but if the Honda were a twin and more sprightly I'd like to tool around town on it.

(still keeping the motorcycle endorsement on my license, just in case!)

I think it looks good but way too much weight for what it is and the power it has.

Great bike for a lighter, shorter person with limited experience though.

HRK, I have your Suzuki‘s little brother. 1977 GT185 two stroke parallel twin. One hundred and eighty four cubic centimeters of blue smoke blowing madness.

Small engine motos are a hoot.

That is cool, we sold it 20 years ago, should have kept it considering what we sold it for, the little 400 would pull along nicely, not a speed rocket but a fun bike to cruise...

For around town fun and general tomfoolery a 400-650cc twin can be quite a blast. The GT185 has a tiny 184cc twin but it’s two stroke so it’s performance in the higher RPMs is close to a 4 stroke engine that is almost twice the displacement. It’s also a VERY light motorcycle, laughably light and small but surprisingly fun to ride.

I’ve had my eye on an older Triumph Scrambler. I’m quite interested to experience it’s 270° crank and I just absolutely love the looks of the bike and those chrome Scrambler high mounted side pipes.

That old GT185 has me recalling my first bike, a lightly used '67 Suzuki X6 Hustler. Changed the chain sprocket sizes to get more acceleration at the expense of top speed. First 3 of the 6 speed were with the front wheel in the air. LOL It was a great fun 2 stroke 250cc scoot back in the day.

I had a Honda CB360 back in the early '80s, and it was eight or nine years old at the time. It was a fun and useful little bike for riding around town.

It was the perfect smallish UJM.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
I had a Honda CB360 back in the early '80s

I also had a CB360 in Houston, but left town (with the bike in tow) in 1980. It was a blast. Redlined at 12,000 rpm, 6 gears, and 95 mph top speed with 55 mpg. Wish I still had it.

My first bike.

The original CB350 was a hoot. What was there not to love with a redline of 10,500 rpm?

Decent (for the era) brakes, actually handled pretty good in twisties. Dependable, sold it when my mother quit riding (1970) never one warranty claim in the two years she had it nor one oil leak.

Could not say the same thing about my '67 BSA for the lack of oil leaks.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
...I’ve had my eye on an older Triumph Scrambler. I’m quite interested to experience it’s 270° crank and I just absolutely love the looks of the bike and those chrome Scrambler high mounted side pipes.

What do you mean by, "older"? When you say, "Scrambler", I guess you mean one of those models put out by the re-vamped Triumph company in recent years (?) I assume they are descendants of the old Trophys, the high-piped Triumphs of the '50's and '60's. I loved those bikes; my all-time favorite motorcycles, I think. I've got a '69, though it's in a lot of small pieces at the moment (Jealous yet? ) BTW, that should give you a clue to the origin of my handle

Definitely favors those old 70s bikes. My dad had a blue one when I was a kid. I still remember the funny feeling handlebar grips and the red kill switch.

For that size bike, I prefer the look of 80s Rebels to the 70s CBs.

Nice looking bike, but my lawn mower has more HP and weights 2-3x what it does.

My first motorcycle was a gold metallic 1972 1/2 CB350 I bought new for $875. I'd say that motorcycle was perfect in design and workmanship. It was completely reliable and I can't remember a single malfunction or feature that was lacking.

I question the wet weight of the orignial CB350 of 375 if the dry weight is 328. With 3 gallons of fuel and .5 gallons of engine oil, that should be about 23.5 pounds of liquid weight, making wet weight of 351.5. It doesn't carry 47 pounds of liquids.

I have a 2005 Honda Nighthawk 250 that has 20 HP and that is not powerful enough to comfortably maintain speed on US Interstates. I guess 25 might be enough for a 180 lb rider. Twin carbs on the CB250 might have made it make 25 HP. Even though the CB250 has 20HP and the CB350 has 21 HP, I don't know if the torque (30 Nm) of the CB350 single would make up for lack of HP vs. the 18 Nm for the CB250.