Welcome to the first instalment of an account on the work I did to repair the 1969 Honda CT90 K1 shown below. The jobs required were largely repairs and recommissioning and - as you can see - I left the paintwork pretty much as I found it, bar the plastic parts.

The bike was imported from California, so thankfully there was very little rust to contend with and the frame, swing arm and mudguard are all solid. There is no sign of it being in a prang. The tyres were on the original DID rims and other than a few rusty spokes looked pretty good.

It is hard to tell what parts are original, but if I had to guess I say the wheels (including the, possibly original, Yokahama front tire), forks, handlebars, tank and seat came with the bike. The rear rack, rear light, headlight, headlight surround, speedo and fork 'ears' are all from a later model.

The engine is not original, and based on the number, I believe it was made in 67 or 68 model. By the state of the engine hanging bolts I guess this was an old fix. You may notice from 'the before' pic above the front wheel/forks are on back to front - I'd assumed that this, and the incorrect headlight/speedo, were signs of a hasty attempt to cobble together a whole bike for sale - but someone has gone to the trouble of cutting the harness and then making new soldered connections to reconnect the headlight, so possibly someone was riding it around like this.

Although the engine is older than the frame, the carb is right for this model and all the original brass parts are there so I suppose this is original too.

There were a few missing bits:

• air cleaner (this model had one-year-only design with the intake connected to a hole in the frame below the seat)
• righthand side battery cover
• down tube cover
• main stand

... and some broken parts

• wiring (has been cut in several places)
• hi-low transmission lever
• alternator (wires broken off)
• forks - rust, pitting, leaks etc
• the point on the lhs front suspension where the mudguard is mounted is broken
• cables - all rusted solid into their surrounds
• exhaust (unsalvageable due to rust)
• foot peg bar (bent but repairable)
• gear change lever (bent and not repairable)

The engine doesn't turn over either so that needs a going over.

The first job I did was to make a new wiring harness, since the old one was unsalvageable.

You can read about it here:

Honda CT90 - making a wiring harness

The CT90 has a simple wiring harness and making a replacement is pretty straightforward. Much of the wring on my 1969 K1 had been damaged, cut or patched so I decided to do a major overhaul, including making a brand new harness. Here are the before and after picture of

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... and then the front suspension

Honda CT90 - Front Suspension

The earliest CT90s shared the same leading link suspension as the C90 Super Cubs. This is a great design, offering a comfortable ride and minimising maintenance issues by tucking the moving parts away from the elements. However, the forks were designed for road use and therefore only allowed a small

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more to follow in future instalments!