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  • 1971 Honda CB 350 – One Year Review

    1971 Honda CB 350 – One Year Review

    Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    It’s difficult to imagine a more user-friendly classic motorbike than Honda’s legendary CB 350. Once the best-selling motorcycle in the world, the CB 350 is still coveted as an entry-level collector’s bike today.

    My CB 350 had fewer than 7,000 miles on the odometer when I purchased it. One year and 3,000 miles later, I sold it and moved on to another bike. I rode it several times per week, mostly on country roads and rural highways. I really wanted to experience a 1960s-70s era bike and the Honda offered it in spades.

    The CB 350 was light and nimble. Although small compared to today’s monstrous, overpowered motorcycle engines, the 350 was considered a mid-sized bike for its time. It remains a great motorcycle for beginners. Its 36 horsepower rating is sufficient for comfortable cruising in the 50-60 mph range without intimidating a new rider.  In that special era, in addition to Honda CB 350, other Honda motorcycle models were also dazzling. Even now, these Honda motorcycle parts or complete vehicles may still have a huge market.

    I found a “New Old Stock” original Honda luggage rack and mounted it on my CB 350 so I could carry my gym bag or a backpack with greater ease and comfort. The rack was wide, carried everything I needed and the weight didn’t upset the balance of the bike.

    When it comes to finding classic motorcycles like the Honda CB 350 or even used cars Calgary, it’s important to do your research. Calgary, being a vibrant city, often has a thriving market for vintage motorcycles and automobiles. So, if you’re in the area and looking for classic rides or even used cars, Calgary might just have what you’re searching for. It’s worth exploring the local market and connecting with fellow enthusiasts to discover hidden gems from the past.

    Honda’s dual-carburetor 350cc twin engine seems pretty indestructible. Although my bike had fairly low mileage, I’ve spoken with many other CB owners whose bikes have gone well beyond 30,000 and sometimes even 40,000 miles. And the 350 powerplant created a truly magnificent sound when mated to Emgo’s Dunstall replica silencers. The tone was low, gentle, and rumbling without the desperate “look at me” volume of some bikes.

    The engine redlines at 9200 revs, but I never accelerated beyond 8000. There was no need. The little Honda pulled hard between 5000 and 7000 rpm’s and was reasonably tame at 65 miles an hour. If you need more than that, I recommend a bigger bike. The CB 350 really hits its stride between 40 and 55 miles per hour. The engine wasn’t comfortable at less than 2000 revs, but at 3500 to 4500 it felt perfect.

    Maintenance on the Honda was fairly straightforward. It used oil, but only in microscopic amounts. Not bad for a 45-year-old bike. It ran without complaint on 87 octane fuel so long as I faithfully used STA-BIL 360 Fuel Stabilizer in every tank. Failure to do so would have been disastrous because today’s ethanol-laced fuels induct moisture and attack every gasket and seal in the fuel system. With STA-BIL in the tank, the engine never missed a beat and suffered no damage from ethanol whatsoever.

    My Honda CB 350 averaged 37 miles per gallon of fuel. That number remained largely unchanged regardless of what brand of fuel I used or whether I was riding primarily on the highway or city streets.

    Fuel mileage was, however, sensitive to spark plug condition. The plugs fouled regularly and if ignored, would foul to the point of stalling the engine. Cleaning or replacing the spark plugs about every 600 miles seemed to do the trick. The only other way to seriously alter fuel mileage was through consistent hard acceleration, in which case fuel mileage would drop to about 30 mpg. The maintenance routine wasn’t bad at all and reminded me why these bikes were considered so reliable back in the 1970s.

    Time machines aren’t cheap, but the Honda CB 350 is. For less than $4,000 you can still go back in time and experience the 1970s in all their glory. The slightly too-soft ride, mildly stiff throttle and minor vibration aren’t annoying or severe, but they’re just enough to constantly remind you that 1971 wasn’t such a bad place to be.

    Stephen Cox
    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions
    Driver, Super Cup Stock Car Series and Electric GT Championship
    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • LYN ST. JAMES on Indy, Driving Again & Advice for Today’s Drivers

    LYN ST. JAMES on Indy, Driving Again & Advice for Today’s Drivers

    Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    Indycar fans fell in love with Lyn St. James in 1992 when she won the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award and kicked off a decade-long open wheel career that would eventually include nine starts at the Brickyard.

    She worked her way up through the road racing ranks, starting with a 1970’s Ford Pinto as her first race car. It took four years of sponsor hunting before she was able to land an Indy ride with Dick Simon Racing, which specialized in bringing new drivers to Indianapolis.

    Although she’ll be the first to tell you that Indycar’s current “ladder” system excludes most aspiring drivers today and would have been an impassable road block for her as well, she still devotes a great deal of time mentoring young racers.

    St. James remains a fixture at Indianapolis. She returns to the race each year to sign autographs, make public appearances and renew acquaintances. I was fortunate to catch up with her over dinner at a south side Italian restaurant during the Indy 500 festivities and found her as amiable and insightful as ever.

    What is Indycar doing right – and wrong – nowadays?
    “Well, they’ve got momentum going because they’re doing a lot of right things. The racing is extraordinary. The on-track product is just really good. They have a group of drivers there now that have been there long enough that they are willing to go above and beyond what maybe some of the previous drivers were willing to do to help promote it. They understand that this is what they need to do to help the Indycar series grow and it certainly helps their own careers as well.”

    “They’re trying to work on the schedule, and I think the schedule is getting better. They’re going back to Road America. They’re going back to Phoenix even though Phoenix hasn’t drawn a huge crowd yet.”

    “But the more complicated we make it, the more difficult it is to keep the fans engaged with the body kits and so forth. If the fans don’t understand what’s happening, you’re going to lose them. I think stability in the schedule and stability in the rules are still yet to be achieved.”

    You’re driving again and you won a pretty exciting race at Thunderhill not long ago, didn’t you?

    “I got a ride in a 1977 Chevron B39 Formula Atlantic car. I fell in love with that car. I started racing it again and again and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven because back in the 70’s, when I was racing my Pinto and my Vega and a Corvette, I would watch the Formula Atlantic cars and go, ‘Oh my gosh, some day I wish I could drive a car like that.’ So I got to fulfill a lifelong dream.”

    “One of the races they put on is at Thunderhill and I had a blast. I ended up winning that race. I ended up doing a pass on the outside going up into Turn One. The crew applauded. I found out later that the whole place went crazy. So I ended up winning, and I hadn’t won a race in a long time. It was just awesome.”

    “It brought back all the racer in me. I love vintage races because the races are short. There aren’t many fans. It tends to be more like a family deal, you know… no media, no money, no trophies. It’s all for the fun and the passion, and I love that.” 

    I know you work a lot with young drivers, but what advice would you give to experienced, fully trained drivers who are racing in the middle ranks and looking to move higher?

    “By the time you’re in your early twenties, if you’ve not figured out how to get paid and get a professional ride, you’re probably not going to get one. I think that sucks, but that’s the way it is. We don’t make up the rules in the world. My story and my model wouldn’t work in today’s world. It just wouldn’t work. But you’ve got to look at the world the way it is and not the way you want it to be or the way you think it should be.”

    “For those who are middle class or upper middle class, who have full time jobs, but have a deep passion and aspirations to be a professional race car driver… race what you can afford to race. Race as often as you can. Develop the best resume that you possibly can.”

    “You cannot always be at the same tracks. If you only race at three or four race tracks, you’re not showing enough diversity. Get out of your comfort zone. If you live in the east, go race out west. If you’re an east coast champion and you can go out west and beat a west coast champion, now you’re showing some talent.”

    “Make sure you get a test day. Go out early. I used to go out a day early and beg just to take my rental car around the track. Nobody’s there yet and I would promise that I’d go very slow. I didn’t even need a hot lap.”

    “Stay where you can win. Build a resume that’s as strong and impressive as you can possibly build. And then get out of your comfort zone and away from the tracks you know and go beat the champion somewhere else.”

    Now living in Arizona, St. James employs her extraordinary public relations skills as an ambassador for the RPM Foundation. The organization promotes the preservation of America’s automotive heritage and trains craftsman to keep antique cars in original, running condition.

    After dinner, I asked if I could order a copy of her book, “An Incredible Journey,” and mail it to her for a signature. She laughed and said, “It’s funny you should ask. I think I still have a box of them with me.” So we walked to the parking lot and got a copy out of the trunk of Lyn’s car, which she autographed on the spot.

    Now that’s public relations

    Stephen Cox
    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions
    Driver, Electric GT Championship & C7R Motorsports #21
    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • HOOSIER HUNDRED: Dirt Racing’s Biggest Prize is Up for Grabs This Week

    HOOSIER HUNDRED: Dirt Racing’s Biggest Prize is Up for Grabs This Week

    Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    The 63rd Hoosier Hundred is slated for Thursday, May 25, on the legendary Track of Champions at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Once considered the most prestigious dirt race in America, the resurgent Hoosier Hundred is quickly regaining its status and draws the top Silver Crown drivers in the nation.

    The rich history of the event compares favorably with any race on earth. No fewer than seven Indy 500 champions have won the Hoosier Hundred, including A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser Sr. and Parnelli Jones. Auto racing at the Track of Champions dates to the early 20th century when the legendary Barney Oldfield broke the 60 mph barrier on the 1-mile track in June 1903.

    The track hasn’t changed by an inch. This week’s Hoosier Hundred will take place on precisely the same stretch of dirt on which Oldfield set his 1903 record and Rex Mays claimed victory in 1946. The USAC Silver Crown division, which once struggled for good car counts, is expected to produce nearly 40 entries on Thursday night.

    “Last year we had probably the best crowd in 10 years at the Hoosier Hundred,” said Adam Mackey, Operations Manager at the event’s promotional firm, Track Enterprises. “Probably a lot of that was because of the 100th Indy 500. It was kind of a surprise to us, but a pleasant surprise with the number of people who came that week.”

    But the increasing interest in dirt racing is also a direct result of Indycar’s 30-year-old divorce from grassroots motorsports. Until the 1980s, Indycar drivers were drawn primarily from the ranks of open wheel dirt track drivers who worked their way up the ladder by skill and hard work. Today’s Indycar drivers are almost exclusively from wealthy backgrounds, leaving NASCAR as the only viable alternative for short trackers.

    Mackey said, “Asphalt is struggling right now a little bit because there’s a lot of ride-buying out there, more so on asphalt than on dirt. And that’s just to get the kids up into NASCAR. That’s the stepping stone that’s being used.”

    “But that doesn’t give fans a chance to latch onto a driver and say, ‘Ah, they’re my favorite and I’m going to watch them,’ because they’re only there for a year or so until they either move on and move up, or they don’t make it so they quit racing. So I think that’s the struggle that asphalt deals with right now.”

    “On dirt that’s not quite the case because there are many veterans who have been racing for years and years and that familiarity with fans is what they’ll keep coming back to the track for.”

    The bad news is that other than an occasional driver moving on to NASCAR, dirt track racing is a dead end job. The same drivers stay there for decades at a time with nowhere else to go.

    The good news is that today’s dirt track ranks are stocked with veteran drivers who have become stars in their own right. The fact that Indycar no longer wants or needs blue-collar talent is a blessing in disguise, at least for short track fans who get to watch their favorite drivers for years at a time at smaller, more personal venues.

    Damion Gardner, Jeff Swindell, Dave Darland, Brady Bacon, Russ Gamester, Kody Swanson, Jerry Coons Jr., Bill Rose and others are long-time veterans who have built up their own fan base and put on their own shows at dirt tracks around the Midwest. Most of them drive more races in a month than Indycar drivers will in a season.

    More and more fans are beginning to understand that in order to see the greatest drivers in the world, you may have to watch more than one race this week. The Hoosier Hundred should be at the top of the list.

    Stephen Cox

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

    Driver, Super Cup Stock Car Series & Electric GT Championship