Honda SL70

Another Vintage Honda Minibike restoration

If you follow our blog and socials you’re well aware that we have been taking on a motorcycle restoration job here or there. This is a test I set myself to change styles, and shift gears into another way of thinking as we approach our projects. After the success of our Royal Enfield restoration, and Honda Dax that spurred Andrew on to give us a call and send us his beloved Honda K0 SL70 from Victoria.

Our rider Andrew has a long love affair with Honda Minibikes, as both him and his brother grew up on them. Now in his 60’s, Andrew and his brother have started to sell of their full size street bikes, and get back to where is all started. Collecting and restoring the bikes they grew up riding as kids.

It's stories like these that get me fired up about what we do, a Honda minibike might not be the most exciting bike in the world to me, but Andrew’s passion showed through, and I can’t say no to a guy like that. We are all motorcycle tragic’s after all.

This bike started from a place that we are not often lucky enough to see, with a well maintained machine, in OK running order, just showing its age (54 years). For most people this would have been a great bike to their collection, but Andrew is one of the most discerning and detail oriented customers we’ve ever had. From our first few conversations I knew nothing but the absolute best was going to pass with this build.

Mechanical Repairs

We set out mechanically repairing the little Honda, while researching on the machine and upgrading the finishes as we went. Our rider already had a completely concourse machine in the stable, which left us open to making a few tasteful upgrades from factory on this SL70.

As the engine was rebuilt, with NOS Honda components, and Motul lubrication the carb was re-furbished with some select components chromed and polished. The cast iron cylinder has been painted in a machine silver to match in with the vapour blasted cases.

The forks have been re-chromed, and kitted with heavier springs. Lowers polished along with both front and rear hubs as well as the brake plates. Rebuild to restored and chromed factory rims, with stainless steel spokes. We also managed to find a set of OEM matching rear shocks with a slightly upgraded spring, because Andrew is not a child anymore (at least physically) .
Some minor repairs and finishing work was needed on the handlebars, to fit the factory 6V horn switch, and remove some damage caused by a previous owner drilling a hole on the right hand side.
Before parts were sent for chrome more repair was needed on the headlight bezel, and the rear brake light bracket to make sure we had a perfect finish.
The factory switch block had suffered some damage of the years so was completely restored inside and out, polished and internals repaired or replaced with new paint added as per original spec for the printed text on the block.

The Parts hunt - To the end of the earth

One of the most challenging aspects of restoration on old and rare motorcycles is parts sourcing. In my time Building motorcycles I’ve managed to create a great network of parts suppliers, and other enthusiasts that help each other out where we can. Finding the factory optional speedometer would have been hard in 1985, but try it in 2025! It was imperative to Andrew that we find the original speedometer that was an option when this bike was released.
The K0 SL70 Made for 2 years only was the only bike in Hondas range to have this exact speedo, and it wasn’t fitted to every bike as standard. I searched to the absolute lengths of my network and ended up finding 2 examples, one used in need of restoration, and one NOS in pristine condition with zero miles in the original Honda box. Worth more than gold after my 2 months of searching Andrew opted for the brand new speedometer, I won’t disclose the price tag on such an item but feel free to let your imagination run wild.

Our next step toward completion once the chrome arrived was to build a rolling chassis. The frame and some other select parts were sent to Colour fuel in Sydney for paint in the original Honda satin silver. Once complete we could assemble the frame and engine, as we continued the preparation and repair of the tank, and fenders for paint.

Factory matching paint, the hard way

With this model SL70 coming in 2 colours, Andrew opted for the Aquarius blue (or riviera depending on who you ask). Another challenge for our painter as no colour coding is listed, and we could find no examples to match with the only colour available in the USA with no way of that being posted to Australia through that provider.
So Sam at colour fuel set about mixing a custom colour to perfectly match the information we had and knocked it out of the park. A perfect tone of blue with same OEM replica details to finish off this job in the best and brightest way possible.

Ready for another 50 years of fun

As the final pieces went in place the whole shop was excited to see such an elevated and perfect example of such a beautiful little motorcycle. Picture perfect from every angle. I can’t tell you how much fun it was running this bike in on the test ride and instantly being taken back to my childhood or riding a Honda mini bike around the paddock for time trials with my mates. That unique sound of the Honda minibike you only get from the Horizontal cylinder motors.

With a healthy dose of nostalgia, and another ecstatic customer adding a PBM build to his garage, we’re onto the next. Keep an eye out on our social media for the beginning of our next motorcycle restoration project and all the other custom builds we have on, thanks for taking the time, Tom.