The year was 1969 and things were happening. On the world stage, Vietnam was going full tilt with no end in sight; on the home stage, I had finished high school and was enjoying my summer working at the California Speed and Sport Shop (I’ve got to do a blog about that place someday). I was 18 years old, I had a Honda 90, Triumph 650s ruled the streets, and the pizza in New Jersey was the best in the world. Stated differently, life was good.
My cousin Marsha was seeing a cool guy named Don. Don was a little older and infinitely cooler than me and my friends, a perception he solidified one summer night when he arrived on a brand-new Honda SL350. Wow. Candy blue with white accents, downswept pipes and upswept mufflers, a high front fender, knobby tires, and a look that was just right. Honda offered the SL350, if I recall correctly, in candy apple red, candy blue, and candy gold, and the bike in any of those colors had a silver frame. It was perfect. Say what you want about Asian aesthetics; in my opinion, Honda nailed it. Make mine any color, but I would prefer blue (like Don’s) or the candy red. Nah, scratch that…as long as I’m dreaming, make mine candy red. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
The SL350 looked (and sounded) the way a motorcycle ought to look and sound. In my testosteroned and teenaged mind, I would have instantly become infinitely cooler and better looking on an SL350. Every young lady in New Jersey would want to go out with me if I had an SL350, or so I imagined.
Up to that point, my dream bike was a Triumph TT Special (it had similar tucked-in headers and lots more power), but damn, that SL350 looked right. I would have bought one, but by the time I had enough coin to get a bigger street bike Honda had introduced their CB750, and that got the nod. But I’ve always wanted an SL350.
The SL350 was Honda’s answer to Yamaha’s DT series of dual-purpose bikes, but that wasn’t why I thought it was cool. Yeah, you can play spec-sheet expert and point out that the SL350 weighed more than the Triumph TT Special and had way less power, or that the DT Yamahoppers did better both on and off road, but I don’t care. And I know that the SL350 “only” had 325cc and it “only” had a top end just north of 80 mph. My answer to that? Please see Response No. 1: I don’t care.
The SL350 is one of the ones that got away. It hit all the right notes for me (your mileage may vary), and I still want one.
There’s more! See our other Dream Bikes here!
My brother had one with short side covers like the photo.
I went into Basic Training at Fort Jackson 49 years ago this month. A Sgt in the company had an SL350 KO. The one in the above picture is a K1. Well, I loved that thing from the moment I saw it and swore when I got out I was gonna get one. I got out of active duty on 3/26/71 and by 3/28/71 I owned a ’71 SL350 K1. It was $848 and I made 4 monthly payments of $212 and that baby was all mine. I put close to 30k on it before I traded it for a ’73 CB500/4. Yes, I was putting 1K a month on the SL at that point.! Only vehicle I had. Missed it a lot until about 20 years ago and I got another one. Still have it.
Good for you, James, and thanks for your Army service. Glad you found a replacement. They sure are beautiful bikes!
Funny how a few years age difference can matter so much ( I graduated HS in ‘76.) These were fusty by then by my cohort’s eyes, and until the Elsinores and the X-RAY singles came out, Honda was woefully behind Kaw/ Yam and Suz in the enduro/ scrambler / MX coolness realm. But the pizza is still best in Jersey.
I bought a brand new 1973 350 SL and it was a kind of odd gold and yellow. It was priced to move brand new I would’ve preferred and a 650 triumph but I couldn’t afford one and I wanted to try dirt and it would do both and my best friend bought a used one I forgot the year but it was green….. we had a blast mostly riding on the street but a few trips down the beach and then I good interested in riding in the dirt in my new friends had the DT Yamaha 250s and 350s in the pilgrim sands trail riders but the relatively heavy 4 stroke was not made for tight trails and rocks
The next bike was the brand new first ever IT400 with long travel and monoshock….it beat everything
The Honda SL350 is a beautiful bike. Sadly today they don’t make many bikes like it…if any!
When it comes to motorcycles I have always lived outside of the trend and found that the real machines are seldom the bikes everyone else goes for. So much bull hunky in this hobby its almost comical to follow.
Never really followed spec sheets. They exist to fuel the bull hunky that in our hobby. I have ridden some rather disappointingly slow 150HP 450 pound machines and I have ridden some surprisingly fast 16 HP 300 pound machines. More to life then spec sheets!