Honda's Retro Classic Motorcycle Gets Some Sweet New Paint

A few added key touches give the lil guy additional flair, as well.

Photo by: Honda

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Jun 30, 2025 at 7:24am ET

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If you're a motorcycle OEM, and you make a bike that goes over extremely well with the public, where do you go from there?

No, I'm asking this question seriously, because there's a fine line you have to walk if you've aimed carefully enough to hit the target with regard to what riders in a given market want from you. If you have a bike that no one likes, that's an easy one. You see that it isn't selling, and you quietly whisk it away out the back door as though it never existed.

But a bike that's so popular that the waitlist is massive right after launch, and that folks in other countries start clamoring for, and that you go on to successfully roll out in other countries beyond the first? That's the story of the Honda H'Ness CB350, better known as the GB350 (with variants including the S and the C) in other markets.

I mean, the color-matched fork shrouds on the C just blew people away when that variant of this bike was introduced. Everything old is, indeed, new again; but I'll ask once more, if you hit the nail that thoroughly on the head the first time around, where do you go from there?

Easy; you give it a fresh coat of paint, tweak a few minor details to give the riders even more of what they want, and then call it a day. Friends, I present to you one of the new colorways that's about to come out for the Honda GB350 in Japan.

Photos by: Honda

In my opinion, it's the best new colorway, and it's on the base GB350. The GB350S also gets some new colorways as well, and since they have the word "Metallic" in their names, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that they probably look much better in person than they do in photos. Some paints (particularly metallics and anything with a shimmer) don't really get to have their full effect in still photos, no matter how great those photos might be. Even videos sometimes don't do those colors justice; I'm sure you've experienced what I'm talking about.

Starting in August 2025 in Japan, the GB350 will be available in your choice of Pearl Hawk's Eye Blue (the lovely two-tone colorway seen above), as well as Classical White. Opt for the GB350 S instead, and your color choices will be Heavy Gray Metallic-U and Beta Silver Metallic.

Beyond the paint, both GB350 bikes get a newly-redesigned meter dial, and the bezel around the outside is now plated to further accentuate the display. The headlight has also been tweaked for better night visibility. It's a small change, but nonetheless meaningful since we probably all want to see and be seen better at night on our bikes, right?

What do you think?

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So far, these colors have only been announced for the Japanese market, and it's unclear if or when we might see them in other markets. But given the popularity of this model, it's entirely possible.

What do you think of the new colorways for the Honda GB350? Let us know in the comments!