I've taken a bit of a hiatus from motorcycles since college but have recently began riding again. I have developed the bug for vintage bikes over the last few months of restoring, riding, and breaking down on my XZ550R.
I recently impulse bought 3 Honda twins as a package deal (and am currently cycling between excitement and buyer's remorse). However, they all have clean titles and appear mostly complete and original. Supposedly they all ran within the last few years but initial inspection shows they all will need a lot of work. Anyway, here's what I ended up with:
CB200T - low miles, pretty original apart from some enthusiasm with a spray can on the crankcase
(2) CL350K(4?) - one is a bit crusty and has the wrong seat. I will probably use the best parts from both to restore one bike and keep the other as a rider. I'll need to dive in deeper before making a plan.
As soon as I get organized I will be turning this into a build thread for all things motorcycle in my life.
I love the 350s!
I had a CM200T Twinstar. It was a lot like your 200. I toured Canada and the US on it one summer. It was like the energizer bunny. It just kept going.
Love the vintage Hondas. My first bike was a 70s cb360. All of them looks like cake to get going.
I'll join the group. My first street bike was a lightly used '70 CB 350 I bought as soon as I got a license in '74.
I bought the Hondas because I though I was done with the Yamaha project. As we all know, projects perpetually remain projects. Despite having done numerous test rides around the neighborhood without issue, I got stranded at a gas station the other day when the bike refused to start. I eventually got a jump, limped it back home, and diagnosed it as a failed stator.
The XZ550 Vision is an obscure and somewhat strange motorcycle. The only reason I own it is because that model was the first bike I purchased and rode in college so the nostalgia was enough to convince me to snap this one up on Craigslist for $300. (Perhaps sometime I'll do a full build thread.) The stator melting is a commonly documented issue; I had checked to make sure the bike was charging before I did some test rides but apparently a few miles was enough to cook it. The rectifier/regulator was also dead according to the test procedure in the FSM.
So, I effectively doubled my cost in this bike for a charging system overhaul. I ordered both a new stator and rectifier/regulator from Rick's Motorsport Electrics. I probably could have adapted a Chinese stator from another model to work but Rick's offers a warranty and I really don't want to do all this gasket scraping again. I ordered the crankcase gasket from Partzilla, only to be informed several days later that they are NLA and I'd be paying $12 in shipping for a couple of O-rings and misc parts I had thrown in the cart 
I stayed up way too late making a new gasket out of material I had laying around. It's crude but works. EDIT: (Added a hole in the lowest part of the gasket to allow oil to pass thru, not pictured.) Here's the scan in case anybody is looking for (11H-15451-11-00 ). Grid size = 0.20"
New stator installed:
Got it put back together but will wait a day or so for the RTV sealing the stator wiring harness to cure. I'm hoping to take it for another ride this weekend! Here's the current state of affairs in my garage:
Nice group of old original Hondas. Great to see some that have not been cut up and butchered so they can pretend the "built" a cafe racer! I do like the well built brat bike/bobber/cafe builds, but even with the ones done right, the simplicity of those appeals to me.
My firs bike, just to learn on, back in 83, was a 73 CB 450. Bushed on paint on the tank, and reupholstered seat by a friends wife, that did not have a clue how to reupholster a seat! Hey, for $300, I put about 5000 miles on it that summer! Only time it left me was my fault. Bout 40 miles of interstate to work, and when she sputtered, telling my to switch the lever to reserve, I reached down and it was still on reserve from the last gas up!
That's how ya learn not to do things like that! Fortunately, a coworker and I had been ridin' round the night before, and he has crashed on the couch, so I hopped on the back of his and was not late to work.
I did not like the look of the CL's with the high pipes, back in those days... but would be proud to ride a restored one today! And the Twinstar 200T would be a perfect high MPG commuter bike.
In reply to 03Panther :
Fun to hear stories like this! Seems this is what drives the popularity of these old Hondas recently...a lot of people remember riding them decades ago!
Got the Yamaha back together and went for a test ride. Everything seemed to be working well so I ended up meeting up with a friend and just riding all over town enjoying the perfect weather. Here's the new rectifier/regulator unit from Rick's:
And success, we have charging at idle now!
