Honda CBX550

I found a one owner Honda CBX550 with 8000 genuine miles on the clock for a not unreasonable £1300 late in 1989. It came with a Marshall 4-1. I didn't ask why the original system had been discarded, one look at the manual tells all. The factory job must be the grand daddy of all quick rot systems. The Marshall meant that changing the oil filter was difficult without removing the two centre pipes and it grounds easily, especially two up without the suspension jacked up to maximum.

I found the air adjustable forks and rear shock a bit of a novelty. In my experience, the settings are critical for handling and ride comfort. During the test run the bike seemed to handle okay but more adventurous riding, after the cash changed hands, highlighted some serious deficiencies at the rear. No amount of fiddling with the suspension settings and tyre pressures would cure it. Closer inspection revealed an Arrowmax on the front and a new tyre of dubious Taiwanese provenance on the rear. A rear Arrowmax made a hell of a difference.

Changing the rear tyre gave me a chance to sample the mysterious delights of the infamous enclosed disc brakes. To be fair, the brake works well and the intentions of the designer are clear. Enclosing the discs stop the brakes getting covered in rot producing fertiliser and, in that respect, the design is effective. On almost every other count it is a disaster. According to the manual, the wheel can be removed without disconnecting the hydraulic line - this is a load of rubbish.

It is much quicker to remove the brake line and remove the wheel undismantled, even though it is not of the QD design. I eventually got the brake assembly away from the wheel and was appalled by the state of the pads - there was virtually no meat on them, or so it seemed. Being of a cautious disposition I nipped down to a local dealer for a quick butchers at a new set - imagine my surprise when I found that what I thought were worn pads were virtually unused.

With the back end sorted I decided to check the front. Again, the manual was misleading. The bike is naturally biased towards the front when on the main stand - after I had wrestled the front wheel free the bike gently collapsed on to the garage floor, fortunately causing no damage.

Removing the front wheel with the hydraulics disconnected, rather like a drum assembly, is the quickest way. Removing either wheel is fine in the workshop but fixing a puncture on the open road might not be much fun. With the wheel out I took the opportunity to change the fork oil and fit a set of fork gaiters. The previous owner had rechromed the forks and it seemed a pity not to give the exposed sections some practical protection. I could tell he had taken the forks to pieces by the condition of the damper retaining bolts.

The bike also benefits from a rising rate rear suspension with all the attendant linkages. For reasons best known to themselves, Honda decided not to provide any way of lubricating the bearings so periodic stripdowns are needed to keep them greased. I reckon this is required every 12 months. Enough of the practical mechanics, what is it like on the road.

Surprisingly good, is the answer. Like many Jap machines it has two quite distinct personalities. Ridden gently, not going much over 7000rpm, the bike is docile and tractable, pulling away cleanly in 6th from quite low speeds. Ridden in gentle mode, without frenzied acceleration, it will zip up to 80mph then run out of steam. Higher speeds are available if the engine is pushed hard through the gears. The lack of a fairing, coupled with a fairly upright riding position, makes prolonged high speeds an uncomfortable experience. Staying around the legal limit is preferable. The handlebar rake can be adjusted and, as I spend a lot of time on country roads, I use a wide setting for extra controllability.

On my first outing I became convinced that the gearbox was defective. Try as I might I could not make clean changes. Eventually, I discovered that quick shifts are essential, any delay produces a less than satisfying change. The clutch drags when cold. Starting off in the morning used to involve a very clunky selection of first gear until I started to free the clutch first - engage first gear, pull in the clutch and push the bike forward before starting the engine.

Handling is fine and virtually vice free, certainly when ridden within my personal limits. Front tyre pressure and condition seem to have a marked effect on handling. Inspecting the front tyre for wear is not necessary. Once it wears to near the legal limit the steering goes decidedly odd.

Whitelining is easily induced if the front tyre pressure falls by more than a few pounds. The only other quirk is lifting the rear wheel while accelerating briskly on the pock marked surfaces that pass for roads in this neck of the woods. Fuel economy seems quite reasonable, about 50mpg on unleaded. Although I'm quite happy to be eco friendly, I hedge my bets by adding small amounts of Castrol R to the petrol to help keep the inlet valves lubricated. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I suppose someone will write in and tell me that I'll clog up all the carb jets but what the hell - I like the smell!

Fuel tank capacity is an illusion. It looks big but in fact holds under three gallons. An electric fuel gauge us fitted but mine had packed up and I haven't got around to fixing it. I'm not certain about tyre wear. The original tyre must have worn out in less than 8000 miles, the front Arrowmax was worn out at 13000 miles but I don't know how long it was on there.

The Arrowmaxes certainly work well in the wet - the effectiveness of a tyre can to some extent be seen by its ability at shifting water. One wet day my son on the pillion was absolutely drenched by the spray from the rear tyre despite the substantial rear guard. The bike was rock steady all the way up the A5.

I use the bike mainly for commuting to and from work, a 32 mile round trip on country roads and lesser A roads. A surprisingly large chunk of the journey is in heavy traffic. Being relatively light and fairly narrow makes percolating through traffic simple. Good acceleration means cars don't have a hope in the traffic light GP.

Being born in the Smoke has advantages, you learn to ride in traffic and acquire the ability to anticipate movements and spot gaps. It never ceases to amaze me when I see riders, very often much younger than myself, sitting in traffic and progressing at car pace. To be fair, I am often put to shame by moped riders, mostly women, who can squeeze through incredibly small gaps and seem to ride at full throttle regardless of the congestion. In really heavy traffic they can't be beaten and cut through the chaos like a knife through butter.

I don't think I could recommend the CBX for operating away from base. Although I have no qualms about reliability, touch wood, a puncture in the middle of nowhere could be heavy trouble. The limited range is another inhibiting factor and carrying luggage two up doesn't look particularly easy.

Where it does score is on the value for money front. You can save about £1000 on a Kawa with the same performance, mass and age. Admittedly, the Honda is a little old fashioned in looks, the styling, by current standards, a little naff with lots of chrome, polished alloy wheels and the engine is a mixture of matt black and brightwork. Technically it is a different story, with a 16 valve motor, discs all round, tubeless tyres, anti-dive braking, oil cooler and air suspension.

For the rider who is prepared to sacrifice fashion on the altar of expediency, a good low mileage example has to be worth a second look.

Paul Doherty

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Sometimes you can even surprise yourself...walk into the local dealers with the proceeds of my redundancy cheque and then ride out on a very nice, 5000 mile old Honda CBX550. Nothing too shocking in that, I suppose, but I hadn't ridden a bike for 22 years and had to buy some squeaky clean new gear as if I was a rank amateur. The gearchange and brake levers were the wrong way round and the twistgrip was highly sensitive to the slightest twitchiness in my right hand.

Being out of work meant I had plenty of time to explore the parameters of the new machine in the marvellous back lanes of Herefordshire. Once used to the gearchange, I found the Honda very easy to ride and fluid around the corners without any nastiness coming out if I suddenly decided I was going too fast or wanted to change my line. I seemed to be able to lean over a lot further than on the old Brit's and accelerate much harder out of the corners.

True, the engine did lack in torque at the lower end of the rev range, but it had none of the gruffness of an old Brit, none of the engine trying to shake itself out of the frame (the stuff of legends...). So smooth was the mill that it'd run right down to 1500rpm in top gear and pull ever so slowly under the mildest of throttle hands. If I lambasted the throttle the drive train would rattle, grumble and scream in protest, whilst the motor itself went into one big sulk.

At 6000 revs the mill came on to cam, underwent a huge change in character, from being pleasant and relaxed to violent and vicious. The snarl of the exhaust, the way the rev counter went dipping into the red and manner in which my arms were wrenched left no doubt that it had a serious nutter side. In some ways it was just like a Bonnie, but heavier going without any of the vibration.

Of course, across the frame fours intrinsically suffer from secondary vibes just as old twins do from primary vibration, but in the CBX's case the lack of cubes combined with an engine exceptionally well matched to its frame (if you ever want to experience really vicious vibes just put a T120 mill in an A10 frame...) made for an uncanny smoothness that gave the impression of a motor built to the highest engineering standards.

The only time I noticed an intimation that the mill wasn't perfectly balanced was when slamming the throttle shut, the forces of engine braking were reflected in a slight resonance in the petrol tank. Nothing to really worry about as it was entirely transitory but the smoothness of a well run in, low miler is worth noting when looking over CBX550's for signs of abuse or clocking.

It's all very well having a marvellous engine but on modern roads it's vital to have a good combination of handling and braking. Here the Honda also scored well, more so in its handling, which I found so good as to be hard to fault. Well, it was a little sluggish at low speeds and whole thing was on the wide side for filtering through traffic with ease, but add a little speed to the equation and it runs along very well indeed.

The brakes were speed killers, rather odd enclosed discs, but furious enough to shake the front forks and waggle the back end if used with anything other than the most sensitive of inputs. They took an awful lot of getting used to and held me entranced in fear in the wet, although there wasn't any of the wet weather delay I'd read about on other bikes (obviously due to them being housed out of the muck).

I know that some of this initial praise and worry was down to my own ignorance and the sheer thrill of being back on two wheels after such a long absence, things had sure changed for the better from the days when you never really knew if the bike was going to make it to the end of the journey in one piece.

Since buying the Honda I've had blasts on a great variety of machines, from XS400 to CBR600, can put the CBX in a better perspective. I didn't find anything that was easier to ride, plenty had more sensitive brakes and only the CBR was as comfortable for long trips. The latter had performance so hard edged that it left me shaking for days afterwards, lurid nightmares of tearing metal and broken limbs - it was kind of motorcycle on which I'd either lose my licence or life pretty damn quick. Brilliant but too much of a good thing.

Whereas the CBX seemed much more suited to my own riding abilities and the charms of British roads (with Gestapo like police cordons, massive fines for the unwary speeder, etc). I was also enamoured of the way it looked, its nakedness enhancing the brutality of the bulk of the four cylinder DOHC motor. Not retro in a silly way but purposeful and righteous.

I'd read about the likelihood of the camchain tensioner doing the dirty on the motor but hoped that my late model with a low mileage would escape such infidelities, I had it serviced every 5000 miles by the local dealer who had a workshop cleaner than my own kitchen, and did everything for a very reasonable £80. I also did an oil change at 2500 miles, just to be on the safe side.

I spent more time cleaning up the bike than anything else, determined to keep it in the immaculate state I'd bought it. I've seem some really rotten CBX550's so it obviously pays to put in some tender loving care. The exhaust and wheels were the hardest bits to keep clean, needing almost daily attention - in this area alone was the Honda inferior to the old British stuff that had chrome that could last for decades.

The bike was still looking immaculate after three years and 22000 miles...then some glory boy in a GTi did a right turn just as I was coming abreast of him. I couldn't believe the idiot, didn't even have time to give him a blast on my horn. Front of the bike hit the side of his car, at about 35mph, and over the bars went I. I slammed into his bonnet, felt like I'd broken every bone in my body.

What I couldn't believe was that the guy carried on with the manoeuvre, flipping me off the car and crushing the bike under his back wheel. Only because CBX and car became as one did he have to stop. At the very least I expected a helping hand and profuse apologies along the lines of, sorry, mate, I didn't see you. What I got was a mouthful of abuse and several kicks in the ribs. I would most likely have ended up a road rage victim had not a lorry driver pulled up and dragged him off me.

The next few minutes were a bit blurred, I just remember being sick in my helmet whilst it was still attached to my head. A frantic member of the public was doing a little dance, screaming at me not to move as I struggled up and tore the lid off. I flexed my fingers and toes just to make sure everything was still connected up. The cager had kneed the lorry driver and fled the scene.

To cut a long story short, the car was stolen and had been reported being used in a burglary. The poor old Honda had all its cycle parts crushed, forks and swinging arm bent, wheels buckled, etc. A write-off said the insurance company, offering £500. Eventually they settled on £600 plus me keeping the thing.

So I had a good frame, perfect motor and most of the electrics. Perversely, the very frailty of the motor meant that there were much more chassis bits available than engines, so ringing around three breakers secured all the parts I needed for around £300. As it was nearly winter time I took the opportunity to fit the half fairing that was available on some models. After lots of spannering I was back on the road.

Thing was, the bike seemed to have loss a certain something in the transition. There was a roughness and reluctance to rev to the previous extremes and the gearbox had turned all awkward, very like a BMW R80 I had a quick blast on - agricultural was a kind description, talk about myth being well beyond reality.

I persevered with the machine for another 6000 miles, or so, hoping we could once again attain a happy friendship, but it just didn't happen. In fact, I began to neglect the bike a bit, not going manic when the odd spot of rust turned up or the paint started to fade and bubble around the fuel cap. The front discs were also going very weak - remember, not the original equipment, so no way of knowing how many miles they'd done.

In part, this contributed to the second crash, which was also a mirror image of the first, save that the car turned left (inexplicably, as there wasn't a turning off or anything!). Had the brakes been as fierce as before I would've lost most of the speed, as it was the locked up front end hit the back of the car at about 20mph.

I was just thrown backwards and forwards in the seat this time, doing an excess of damage to my marital prospects and almost jerking my shoulders out of their sockets. Unbelievably, the dumb f..ker just drove off, leaving me sitting there with a mangled front end and enough swearing to embarrass a cab driver.

The egg-shaped wheel made the bike impossible to move, and the cops showed a remarkable disinterest in helping out. Having looked up my record in their computer, they reckoned I was making a habit out of attacking cars and perhaps I should have an eyesight test and I'd better get the vehicle off the road else I'd be done for obstruction. Next time they need my help they know where they can shove it.

I pleaded with the dealer to come and collect it. He was kind enough to offer me £700 off the retail price of a CB500 twin that had been sitting in his showroom for months. It was enough incentive for me to do the swap, but I'm not convinced of any progress made in motorcycle design. Still, I'm beginning to fall for it.

F.H.