It’s just a little evil.

In case you’re wondering dear reader, I have not stopped working on bikes but have been steadily cranking them out. Between my day job & a shop full of projects both mine & other peoples, there just hasn’t been time to sit down at the keyboard & document everything. That is about to change with this little Honda C200 . A lot of cool things have happened; including me purchasing the second brand new motorcycle I’ve ever owned a Moto Guzzi V9. On a sadder note the Suburban Assault Scrambler CB650 has gone on to its next owner but not before proving itself on the dyno by putting out the most horsepower per cc at a show last March. In case you’re wondering it cranked out an honest 50 rear wheel horsepower.

Sometime in all this there’s been a bare crankcases up rebuild on a CB400F Honda, a complete mechanical refurbishment of a Suzuki DR350 and a few others too numerous to write about. It’s all been a blast and there are plenty more on deck waiting for me to get started on them.

This particular Honda C200 is one that I acquired from a friend; it’s in fair condition with nothing but light surface rust & dings but is missing a few parts and hasn’t been run in several years. Most importantly of all it came with a title. I generally don’t have much trouble getting titles for old bikes without one but it is an extra bit of expense & time.

Restoration is not in the cards for this particular 1964 Honda C200. I’ve proven that I can do a show winning 100% stock restorations and I will do a few more later but this build is going to be about me getting back to my rat bike roots. The goal for this one is to have it done & ready in time to cruise around at the Barber Small Bore Festival organized by MNNTHBX the first weekend in June.

The stock 90cc Honda C200 engine has been placed into my parts stash to make room for a Piranha YX140 engine. In addition to being much more powerful than the original pushrod engine it also has an electric start and a semi-auto clutch on the 4 speed transmission. This engine is available with a manual clutch if you want it but I didn’t for this build. You can probably go faster with the manual but I know how to build up the revs and launch a semi-auto so I’m not too concerned with that.  There’s a lot more to this little bikes new purpose in life than just blasting down the 1/32 mile drag strip.

I’ll tell you more about YX140 engine in my next post. The pushrod engines in the Honda C200, CA200, & CT200 engines have the same mounting bolt pattern as the later CT70s, Z50s, and other common pit bikes so you don’t need any special adapters & spacers to put them in like on a later overhead cam 90cc Honda. That being said you still have to modify your frame by grinding some clearance for the protrusions on the rear corners of the engine before it will bolt in.

Goodbye for now, I’ve got to get my wiring run and fire this thing up. Once that is done I’ll come back and tell you all about it.