Motosport Chart

Honda invented the street scrambler concept with its 1962 CL-72, a street motorcycle with dirt-bike styling and a little better off-road capability than the purely street models of the day. Americans had begun to discover the safer and more athletic joys of trail riding even before the CL-72 was introduced. My introduction to off-road riding was on the Harley-Davidson Super 10 in 1960 or '61, just a couple of years prior to the release of H-D's own trail models, the Scat and Sprint H. Trail riding in America was a slowly growing sport until Yamaha put everybody and his hound dog on knobby tires with its 250cc DT-1 in 1968. The Enduro came with trials universal tires, of course, but many riders changed to real knobbies as soon as the original tires were worn out. The Enduro proceded to have babies the following year and soon trails everywhere were being torn up by 90cc - 360cc Enduros, as well as their motocross brothers. Honda's first response to the ring-ding onslaught was the Motosport SL series, a line of bikes that were too heavy to really stomp the Yamahas into the dirt, but they certainly had long-lasting, sweet-sounding engines and the legendary Honda bullet-proof reliability. Here is a basic chart of the SL models.

Year	Color Choices	Tank	Frame	Speeds	Speedometer
1971 - K0	Light Ruby Red - Aquarius Blue - Summer Yellow	White Stripe	Silver	Four	Optional
1972 - K0	Light Ruby Red - Aquarius Blue - Summer Yellow	White Stripe	Silver	Four	Optional
1973 - K1	Fire Red - Candy Riviera Blue - Candy Yellow	Yellow Panel	Silver	Four	Standard

All SL-70's had black exhausts with chrome shields, double-downtube frames, and body-colored fenders.

Year	Color Choices	Tank	Frame	Exhaust	Fenders	Speeds
1969	Candy Ruby Red - Candy Blue	Silver Stripe	Silver	Chrome	Body Color	Four

All SL-90's had upswept exhausts, 19" front wheels, kickstarters, and horizontal cylinders. Note: Some SL-90's may have had black frames, as shown in the '69 Honda brochure. According to my own personal recollection, I rode a friend's SL-90 in 1969, and it had a black frame. The first silver-framed SL I remember encountering was another friend's SL-350 of several months later. The SL-90 was the first SL model released, and it is the only one showing a black frame in the brochure. Since we are discussing my memory of more than thirty-five years ago, it is quite possible that I am just plain wrong on this issue.

Year	Color Choices	Tank	Frame	Exhaust	Handlebars
1970 - K0	Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Emerald Green	White Stripe	Silver	High-rise	No Crossbrace
1971 - K1	Ruby Red - Emerald Green - Mars Orange	White Stripe	Silver	Low-rise	No Crossbrace
1972 - K2	Candy Ruby Red - Tortoise Green Metallic	Yellow Panel	Silver	Low-rise	Crossbrace
1973 - K3	Fire Red - Candy Riviera Blue	White Decal	Black	Low-rise	Crossbrace

All SL-100's had flat-black exhausts with chrome shields, kickstarters, and body-colored, steel fenders.

Year	Color Choices	Tank	Frame	Side Covers
1971 - K0	Strato Blue Metallic - Poppy Yellow Metallic - Candy Emerald Green	Black Stripe	Silver	Body Color
1972 - K1	Special Silver Metallic	Red Stripe	Black	Body Color
1973 - K2	Special Silver Metallic	Red Stripe	Black	Matte Black

All SL-125's had tachometers, kickstarters, painted steel fenders, and flat-black exhaust pipes with chrome shields.

Year	Color Choices	Tank	Exhaust	Exhaust Shield
1970 - K0	Candy Ruby Red - Candy Sapphire Blue - Candy Topaz Orange	White Stripe	Black	Chrome
1971 - K1	Light Ruby Red - Candy Sapphire Blue - Poppy Yellow Metallic	White Stripe	Black	Chrome
1972 - K1	Light Ruby Red - Candy Sapphire Blue - Poppy Yellow Metallic	White Stripe	Black	Chrome

All SL-175's had two-into-one exhausts, silver frames, body-color fenders, kickstarters, and Ceriani-style front forks.

Year	Color Choices	Frame	Tank	Starter	Front Wheel
1969 - K0	Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Candy Gold	single downtube	White Stripe	Electric	19"
1970 - K0	Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Candy Gold	single downtube	White Stripe	Electric	19"
1970 - K1	Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Topaz Orange	double downtube	White Stripe	Kickstarter	19"
1971- K1	Ruby Red - Sapphire Blue - Topaz Orange	double downtube	White Stripe	Kickstarter	19"
1972 - K2	Marina Blue Metallic - Candy Panther Gold	double downtube	Yellow Trim	Kickstarter	21"
1973 - K2	Marina Blue Metallic - Candy Panther Gold	double downtube	Yellow Trim	Kickstarter	21"

All SL-350's had candy paint, silver frames, flat-black exhausts, Ceriani-style front forks, and exposed rear springs.