Honda CL175K3 Sad Day eventually made better.

Honda CL175K3 Sad Day eventually made better.


The first picture: A Honda CL175K3 sitting out in front of my apartment in 1973 minding its own business.  Soon to be betrayed by its owner, and that picture for years just a sad momento of a big mistake.


The K3 was my second motorcycle, and I rode it during my college years at Miami University. When I got married we moved from Springfield, Ohio into a twin single in West Columbus.  The little blue Honda didn't seem to have the same panche for me as it did during my college years.  Columbus it seemed had mostly four lane high speed roads, and the 175 could barely keep up with traffic.  Subsequently I had purchased a great enduro bike, a Puch HS175 and I transitioned into serious off-road pursuits.  So the Honda got pushed to the back of the garage under a tarp.  


I had buddies with bigger faster bikes and soon I decided to try to sell it.to buy a street bike. So I carefully washed and waxed it and put it out front of our apartment on Clime Road with a “for sale” sign.  I left instructions on pricing with my wife, and off to work I went.  I don’t remember the duration, but it wasn’t all that long before I came home one evening, and it was gone!  She happily showed me the cash. At the time, I thought it might be a mistake, but what the heck there were lots of shiny Hondas out there if I wanted to replace it. 
 


Well, a couple of years passed and I moved into a suburban house with lots of garage space and where safer, calmer riding opportunities prevailed. So began my search to find another one like it. Guess what: I found out how rare they were. The K3 was just made in the last part of 1969 and the first part of 1970, a highly unusual move for Honda. For example a 1970 CL175K4 was introduced, but it was totally different. They had a chrome fender down low, and a gas tank that was a different shape. Finding any specific motorcycle was a challenge.  There was no internet, one just had to scour the newspapers and go to swap meets and hope for the best.  When the internet with  motorcycle pictures was introduced, I began to scour the entire country for a K3.  Every once and a while you saw one, but were usually all beat up or the wrong color.



Finally in 2014 I found one advertised in Mercer Pennsylvania a two hundred mile trip one way! Bottom Line, it was a real beauty and it only took me 41 years to find it !

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