Monday, 9 July 2012

Baja Honda SL350

From Paul in Oregon.

Love your magazine, found it in Thor Drake's little coffee/motorcycle shop in Portland, Ore (See See Motorcycles). 


I just thought you might enjoy my 1972 Honda SL350 Baja racer. This bike was a true collaboration-build between my friends. I raced the bike in 2011 in the Mexican 1000 Rally and won first in class. After that I got a class win at a vintage MX event, and stripped the bike down and completed an AHRMA National Trials event. 


 The bike has also been used in long distance enduros. In 2012, another group of guys were inspired by our efforts and built up a similar (but much faster) SL. This battle of the vintage twins played out down the length of the Baja peninsula a few weeks ago; nearly 1200 miles, 4 days, from Mexicali to Cabo. 


This year, I ran the bike with three other riders. We were able to capture the class win again (8th overall in Motorcycles against modern bikes). The bike was never trailered, or trucked after it left the starting line. Raced with Malcolm Smith and he was nice enough to sign my helmet. 


The build is well documented in these two threads on advrider: First one is the actual build and first M1K, second is this years effort which has been updated by my team...I am still going through video and photos for our site and will then post an update there. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=617607 http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=755786  


Take care, Paul Fournier 2011 Mexican 1000 Class Win 
www.outtasightracing.com

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5 comments:

  1. WhitelinePsycho9 July 2012 at 08:36

    So bloody cool, the spirit of 'On Any Sunday' is alive and dirty, much respect guys.

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  2. Harley9 July 2012 at 09:04

    I've got a bit of a soft spot for SL350s (probably between my ears) having spent many a happy hour squelching around Wiltshire green lanes on one. Great to see they're still being put to good use rather than gathering dust in some collection (yup, the later ones are very collectible).

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  3. Hairy Larry9 July 2012 at 09:16

    Alright history repeats itself, one of my favorite bikes...still have three '71 SL 350's, one is going to be a flattracker. One of my neighbors has been racing down in Baja in a more modern class. Seems odd to me that they are 'collectible' now, have always beat the tar out of mine.Three cheers to Team Outasite Racing.

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  4. Anthony Brown9 July 2012 at 09:18

    Thats my kinda racing way to go lads!

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  5. JamesJ9 July 2012 at 12:17

    Beauty. A great write up on the build on ADVRider is just the kick up the arse I need at the moment. http://www.heroeslegend.com/page-1-en.html

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