I have the opportunity to buy one of these bikes in my are, all are roughly the same in price and condition. But which would be your choice for : Performance, Parts availability, and general opinion on each. Ive been looking all over for information on each, so i know a little on the pros and cons of each.
help on deciding / what would you choose
- Thread starter smoke
- Start date
Well man would think on most of them there parts every where. Theres all kinds of cool stuff out there for the CB kind of comes down to how much you want to spend to go fast. I would go with the XS only because i like the XSs and dont see a lot of them. The CBs seem to be everywhere not that theres anything wrong with that , theres some very nice ones out there. Just need to ask which fits the style of bike you want to build and which one will work the best for your needs . I believe there all close to the same and all would be good bike .
VonYinzer
Over 10,000 Posts
Get the XS. Theres (literally) tens of thousands of CB350 twins, and the 350four isnt a bad bike, but its kind of boring (minus that gorgeous tank). The XS is different. And if its got the tail section and "square" tank, than its already pretty effin cool looking. My two cents added.
VonYinzer
Over 10,000 Posts
Dual disk is cool. On paper, the XS is slower than either Honda. Underpowered really. I dont know enough about the XS400 to say its easy to make the extra power to be aa real competitor against the 350s, but Im sure its possible.
The 350 twin is the VW Beetle (Type 1) of the motorcycle world. Cheap, easy to work on, reliable, and a ton of fun with some minor upgrades. My only beef with them is that there are a million of them on the road.
The 350 twin is the VW Beetle (Type 1) of the motorcycle world. Cheap, easy to work on, reliable, and a ton of fun with some minor upgrades. My only beef with them is that there are a million of them on the road.
Is this your first bike / project?
The 350 four will always be desirable and collectible and 'interesting' just because there are few of them out there. But, 4 cylinders = 2x the cost to rebuild etc. than a twin, and 4 carbs is 100x more difficult to sync and tune than 2 (especially those nasty Keihin's Honda liked to use with a gazillion moving parts).
Yeah yeah someone will tell me tuning a bank of 4 carbs isn't that bad - I've been there and done it and I prefer the simplicity of twins/singles.
So for a project bike if it's your first, a twin might be a better choice - someone will tell you which is better between the CB350 or 360. I can't recall but something tells me the 360 is a better bike.
Ultimately it doesn't matter that there are 1000 CB350/360 twins on the site being worked on - I have an XS650 which is about as common as they get, but it's pretty f'n special to me
The 350 four will always be desirable and collectible and 'interesting' just because there are few of them out there. But, 4 cylinders = 2x the cost to rebuild etc. than a twin, and 4 carbs is 100x more difficult to sync and tune than 2 (especially those nasty Keihin's Honda liked to use with a gazillion moving parts).
Yeah yeah someone will tell me tuning a bank of 4 carbs isn't that bad - I've been there and done it and I prefer the simplicity of twins/singles.
So for a project bike if it's your first, a twin might be a better choice - someone will tell you which is better between the CB350 or 360. I can't recall but something tells me the 360 is a better bike.
Ultimately it doesn't matter that there are 1000 CB350/360 twins on the site being worked on - I have an XS650 which is about as common as they get, but it's pretty f'n special to me
So I think I'm going to put an offer on the 360 this weekend. It has disks that I like about the xs, is powerful like the 350 has parts availablity in between both, but I'll post my final decision. Thanks for your input it's been alot of help. If anyone has some last input it would be much appreciated. Still skeptical about the engine blowing up on me.
crazypj
Split personality, I fake being smart
That is the real 'Achilles heel' of 360
The later type tensioner blade can and do crack same as early type.
It's a maintainance thing
The guide blade is just about unobtainable
I know a couple of people who are investigating manufacture of replacements with modern materials
The later type tensioner blade can and do crack same as early type.
It's a maintainance thing
The guide blade is just about unobtainable
I know a couple of people who are investigating manufacture of replacements with modern materials
Unless you end up with the style that was recalled, they don't generally fail. They sort of slowly wear away. I've got 12,000 miles on my 360 and they're only just starting to wear in. With proper maintenance, the slipper and the tensioner should be good for 30,000 miles, maybe? That's just a guess based upon the wear mine have seen.
Mainly... don't run out of oil.
Mainly... don't run out of oil.
the 360 im looking at is a 76 360t so i think it would have the newer style of slipper and tensioner. Didnt they recall the bikes in 74 or 75, so is this enought not to get the bike? with my luck i would get the bike and have this fail after a few weeks and be stuck with a inop bike and back in the same boat as im in. (ex500 sitting in the garage with a hole in the block after only a few weeks riding)
