Labour of Luff!
Why restore a Honda CB200? Well, there are many sensible reasons that could have led me to this unpretentious little bike as a restoration target.
They are relatively plentiful for a bike of the 1970s so are cheap to buy. Parts are obtainable, they are fairly simple to work on and they offer fair performance for a tiddler, being able to maintain 70mph with a bit of coaxing.
The real reason I bought a knackered CB200 with 75,011 miles on the clock was caused by me stumbling across a poor-quality photo of a 17-year-old in outrageous flares, a vest and, for a reason that escapes me, carpet slippers, astride a gleaming brand new example. The photo was dated August 1977 and I had been the photographer rather than the pictured rider. Dave, (the friend in the photo) had opted for the sensible four-stroke CB200 and it was this model that was destined to be my first restoration, beginning back in 2014.
I first saw
