I'd often seen one of those funny Honda CN250s at the end of my street, looking like someone had squashed a scooter half flat. The middle-aged guy who owned it always ignored my look of incredulity and gave me a cheerful grin and regal wave as he whirred past. At least the handling was good enough for him to take a hand off the bars. On one occasion the bugger got the drop on me at the lights, my GN250 eating his exhaust fumes until he turned off. I thought it went too well for a moped and looking up its specs found that it had a watercooled OHC single that developed 17hp at 7500rpm. That explained all.
About six months later I came out of the house to find that some gerbil had stolen my bike. As I had to do forty miles a day I was desperate to find some wheels and the CN owner just happened to mention he might let the machine out of his hands for a suitable wedge. I reckon you'd have to be blind or on a particularly strong narcotic not to find the CN an extremely ugly motorcycle, but sitting snugly in the comfy seat the view was of a much more pleasant high tech LCD instrument panel.
Riding the CN was as weird as the feet forward riding position. The impression of lolling along on an armchair was emphasized by the need to do nothing more than sit there rolling the throttle back and forth. The automatic transmission had an astonishing fluidness, being a stepless design with rubber belt drive, giving an impression of electric motor dynamism and smoothness. Backing off the throttle gave strong engine braking that for most of the time made the brakes redundant. When speed was down to just below 5mph it clicked into neutral. The first few times this happened was a bit worrying as when it free-wheeled it seemed to surge forward needing a touch of the front disc brake to come under control, but I soon became used to this trait. After a test ride I could see why the rider was smiling all the time.
The weather protection and the engine/transmission package quickly proved to be, by far, the best parts of the machine. Were the engine and transmission incorporated into a more conventional motorcycle I can't help but think they would go down well. It wasn't the feet forward riding position that I objected to but the seat height that resulted from it. At 26 inches it was just lacking enough in height to make it difficult to see what the traffic was doing up front and in the wet the screen, which I certainly couldn't see over, made vision even more obscure as water collected on it.
The other interesting statistic relating to the chassis was the wheelbase, a huge 64 inches. Weight was a reasonable 345lbs, most of that carried low between the tiny wheels (12 inch front, 10 inch rear). It was, then, the sheer length that limited town manoeuvrability. If it'd been ten inches shorter and a bit higher it would've been much more fun around traffic, but then it would have looked much more like a proper motorcycle. The pity of it was that the motor was so easy to use that it would otherwise have been the most relaxing commuter known to man. In the end, I eased off a little, stopped trying to do the more crazed manoeuvres and got into work in exactly the same time with a massive grin.
The bike always attracted gawping attention both from motorcyclists and civilians, neither of whom would believe my tales of excellence, fun and relentless running. Anyone who has ever ridden a scooter will be right at home on the CN, as it bounces around on its small wheels in a similar way but it never turns really vicious. The trailing link front fork lacked a bit of feedback, inhibited brake dive and stopped the front wheel sliding away on wet roads.
Its length and low centre of gravity made it feel better as the speed increased. It would cruise at 70mph in perfect comfort, without any vibration, and with a marginal amount of acceleration in hand to the maximum top speed of 80mph. What would turn the chassis a bit leery was strong side winds that seemed to catch both ends and chuck the Honda around like a ship at sea. Backing off to 65mph steadied things and, strangely enough, even on nice calm days I was quite happy to cruise along at 60mph, an echo of the charm of the single cylinder engine design. Acceleration was better than most cages, commuter 250s and restricted 125s. More than adequate for town riding, motorways were hard work with any overtaking manoeuvre having to be planned way ahead.
The bike came to me with only 5000 miles on the clock. The only maintenance that it needed was an oil change at 1250 miles. At this point the washable oil strainer had to be cleaned as well. This was a ten minute job. The battery was one of those nice maintenance-free types that have been fitted to cars for years but rarely find their way into motorcycles. The only difficult task is changing the rear tyre, not only is it a strange size but to get the wheel out the exhaust and half the swinging arm have to be pulled off first. I never had a puncture but wouldn't like to have to do the job on the open road. The back end is rather cramped but it seems a poor bit of design, the Brits used to have qd wheels back in the fifties.
The rear tyre lasted just over 8000 miles, the front about 12000 miles.....there was a bit of tread left at that stage but the handling had degenerated to the point where there were some slides in the wet.
The CN had one of the few fuel warning lights that was of any use, which was just as well because there wasn't a fuel tap. Not even a choke, all that was needed to start the engine was a press of the starter and it churned into life from hot or cold. Fuel worked out at 80mpg! The bike was so relaxing that I never really thrashed it and the automatic gearbox kept it in the optimum speed range for economy - there was no way it could be revved into the red. That gave a range of 150 miles before the fuel warning light flicked on, leaving three litres or just over 50 miles before the tank drained dry.
I would've preferred a bigger tank, as I reckoned the Honda was good for 250 miles before any discomfort set in but when I took it into the deserted countryside I carried a plastic container full of fuel in one of the cavernous storage spaces, so there was no chance of running out. At the moderate speeds possible I wasn't too worried about the wheels bouncing around over the bumpy country roads as they rarely got through to me and the bike seemed to track in the required direction.
The front disc and rear drum worked well when the engine braking was insufficient to lose speed, neither throwing the machine off line nor making the chassis weave when used in anger. The engine braking was so good, though, that I never came close to wearing out the pads! It was all part of the relaxed charm of the Honda.
I didn't really see any benefit in the feet forward riding position even after I became used to it. On long runs there was some strain on my thighs even though I was able to vary my foot position and in heavy rain the water whipped around the fairing, collecting in my groin. The pillion seat wins favour with even the most reluctant passenger, as well as being plush it has its own backrest, not that the CN's the kind of bike that will pull off so fast or wheelie that it tries to throw the pillion off the back. What I didn't like was the fact that the pillions sat eight inches higher than myself and I seemed to end up rather too intimate with them. Fine on a cold day with a buxom lass but not much fun with a fellow biker!
Apart from oil changes and tyres, there was nothing to do to the bike save run a damp rag over the plastic once a week, a ten minute job. At 21000 miles there was a strange noise from the back end, as if something was rubbing..... the CN was so quiet even at that mileage that the slightest noise intruded out of all proportion to its amplitude. After poking around it seemed the belt drive was wearing at its edge. The local dealer told me I should've put one in 6000 miles ago and took such a large wedge off me that he was probably grinning from ear to ear for the next week. The new belt drive fitted, it was all back to normal.
The CN250 now has 32000 miles on the clock and is still going strong. It's a strange bike to look at and to sit on, but amazingly simple to ride. If you want a relaxed, almost maintenance free and durable motorcycle that stands out in the crowd I can recommend this Honda.
Chris Larson