Introduction
I built this 1969 H-D Aermacchi 350 Sprint for Shannon about 4 years ago. When I met Shannon, she owned a Honda CM250 and had been riding for a few years. This had to change, and quickly. We chatted over the winter about various options for a vintage ride and in the early spring we chanced upon an ad for a Sprint in the local Bike Trader.
When we went to look at the bike I was immediately attracted to the completeness and originality of the unit and repelled by the poorly applied orange paintwork and brand new Cheng Shin rubber. After a quick test ride, I pronounced the carbs gummed-up, suggested a price, and within 15 minutes the bike was hers.
The Sprint evolved over the next two years and in its final spec included:
Boranni front and Excel rear aluminium rims with stainless spokes and sticky Avons
Twin leading shoe front brake hub
Solid mounted Tomasselli superbike bars
Aluminium cylinder
Cylinder head porting
29MM square slide carb
Aermacchi Northwest header with cheap, but suitably loud JC Whitney megga
Marzocchi shocks built from various components off 3 different sets from Ducati 750GT units
I used stainless fasteners with nylocks throughout and if it was aluminium - it got buffed. The paintwork was another of my famous Tremclad rattlecan specials.