By VJMC member Brian Striman.

Hi! Well, we'll see how this goes as far as an article on the website. I just visited the VJMC website and got all revved up about old Hondas. It's the dead of winter in Nebraska and last weekend was pretty warm, in the mid 50's so I had my main iron horse (Suzuki 650 Savage) out for a couple of rides. One has to be particularly keen for loose gravel at intersections and cars and truck drivers who's eyes are so squinted due to the winter sun that they no longer see or recognize MOTORCYCLES on the roads.

I'm a 305 Honda scramblers man. My very first ride was on a CA110 that used to belong to a friend of mine. One week he said I could have the keys because he was going on vacation and that summer was the summer I fell madly in love with motorcycles. I was 15. Now I'm 46 and have motorcycles in my life since I was 17 and officially owned a BSA Bantam 175 then.

My first true "BIG" motorcycle was the 305 scrambler. I remember I bought it for $100 from a friend. It had bent handle bars and was the largest, grumbling-most, rattling-most, black-smokin'-most, biggest cycle I'd ever had. This cycle would run and run and run and all I ever did was add gasoline! It spit and missed and backfired and rumbled unlike any bike I'd ever been on. It handled miserably. It had a horrible seat and was heavy and loud. But, the thing *always* started--provided it had a fully charged battery at all times. It never let me down.

I got through my first full-time and it carried my wife of over 20 years to the park on our first date. I sold it later, of course. It was so primitive! Reliably primitive. That's important to remember. Because... prior to the CL77, I owned the BSA Bantam. Ugh... no power, polluted everything in its wake, froze piston twice during the breakin period, bad lighting, piss-poor brakes, etc. Then I owned a BSA Victor Special for a while. Nice bike, plenty of tractor-pulling torque, but the starting ritual and bruised right knee cap became too much for me. Sad. I suppose I never could quite figure out what was TOP DEAD CENTER.

Anyway. I've had 4 CL77 scramblers in my life. The latest was given to me by a guy who had heard in town that I was an old Honda lover. He was going to take the bike to the dump unless I took it from him. This scrambler was a mess when I first saw it. It had sat for 8 years outside, under a large old pine tree. You know what pine trees do when they are bored?? They spit sap. Pine tar. Well, a couple of months prior to taking this tree scrambler, I had sold the last of my two 305 scramblers to a guy in Texas. I figured that the last scrambler collecting I'd ever do. Sure enough, in a couple of months I got this phone call from a guy who'd heard of me from a local dealer here in Lincoln and that I loved the old Hondas.

I told the guy I was interested and went to his house one Saturday with the pickup. There it was. A chopperized 305 scrambler. It was a mess! Pine tar drippings all over it. It took me hours and hours to get off the goo. Interesting thing began to happen, the more I took off the goo, the more I realized that the goo must've been protecting the paint and chrome from rust! It cleaned up pretty darned good!

My only question is: do I keep it as an example of a small displacement Honda chopper? Or do I restore it back to stock? It's a fairly easy resto, I think. The engine's free and the carbs are clean. The tank's rusty, but the frame, etc. is in great shape.

I'm still in quandry about what to do. But, it's a great story about how I just can't seem to rid myself from the bike I love best-- the old rumbling, grumbling 305 CL77! Hey!-- Do they ever purr like a kitten when you back off the throttle from high RPMs? Mine never have! You can hear a 305 scrambler 3 blocks away!

Brian Striman Lincoln, NE

Do you like the 305 scrambler's too? Why not send brian an e-mail!