Honda GB250: Thumper Thrills

Most of my mates had flash tackle - until their licences were destroyed! I used to go pillion as my cheap and cheerful tackle was in another world as far as speed went. My licence was thus spotless and I often ended up giving banned riders a lift. The GB250 lost a lot of its spirit with two extra large hoodlums aboard, though the shape of its tank was an ideal resting place for my beer-gut. Needed loads of work on the gearbox, which with 24000 miles done was far from slick. Slack more like it! It would still put 90mph on the clock, but its little heart was whirring away close to a premature death.

Handling was also a bit loose, the suspension not up to my own fifteen stones, let alone twice that! Its narrowness meant that nothing actually dug in, the whole show just bounced and wallowed around to a rhythm all of its own. The more impressionable pillions staggered off white of face and hands shaking madly - bikes feel much more precarious out back, especially as there wasn't anything (other than me) to hang on to. It didn't take long for word to get around, I was soon left to my own devices; they tended to blame me rather than the Honda.

Solo, a whole different machine emerged. Its mere thirty horses gave every impression of being larger than life. It wasn't the kind of thumper that wound itself up slowly yet relentlessly, the engine revving with the rapidity of a twin, but it could also hold on to whatever velocity was attained. Spirited up to 90mph, it took some determined wringing of its neck to put more than the ton on its clock. All good, clean fun.

Handling was a bit on the loose side, mostly down to the softly sprung shocks. It went really dire at one point, but this was just shot swinging arm bearings (with about 19000 miles on the clock). The whole back end of the bike feels a touch marginal, shown up most of all by a short-lived chain - lucky to get more than 5000 miles out of one. Okay, I bought some cheap and cheerful Chinese shit, but I did keep it in old engine oil (of which there was a plentiful supply as I changed the lube every 500 miles to keep the gearchange within the bounds of plausibility) but even so the thumper power pulses made their presence felt.

Try to ride slowly in a tall gear, the chain hammered away ferociously, needed at least 25mph in top. A brief ride on a similar CBX250 that had only done 4000 miles convinced me that it was probably down to age. Even the gearchange was still slick! It wasn't really a major problem, the kind of hassle that after a few weeks fades into the background, only when jumping on a friend's newish superbike for a short blast did the contrast in engineering finesse make its mark felt. Coming back to the GB, it felt horribly rough and as light as a moped. Vibration was never really a problem, more an intimation that the DOHC mill was whirring away than anything that limited either speed or comfort. Despite my unlikely size, the Honda fitted me better than an FZR600 but not on a par with the ergonomics of a CBR600.

My weight and the machine's age meant that after an hour the seat's foam did a disappearing act, left me squirming around like I had crabs or something. Two hours had fumes pouring out of my head and innocent cagers who slowed me down were subjected to a stream of abuse. Not a brilliant long distance tourer though it would purr along at 85-90mph without too much hassle... I mean, how much does a new saddle cost? That would've solved all the immediate problems but being a mean, if not wise, old bugger I left the original saddle there until it felt apart... which being a Honda meant it's still there!

The bike was only a giant killer in traffic where its lack of acceleration didn't matter as there was sod all room to accelerate. No, the way the bike could be slung through small holes in traffic, being as narrow as a step-thru, was what really counted. I could ear-hole it in the tighter twisties, but acceleration was never spectacular in the way of the race replicas, though on a few occasions I pushed things so hard that they ended up all over the shop due to the excess of power blowing away their chassis.

If the Honda had any one attribute that stood out it was the neutral balance of the chassis, which included the credible ability to let me stay perched on the machine with both feet up at a standstill. I'm sure if I went to the trouble of upgrading the suspension it would turn out to be a very fine handler indeed! Comfort wasn't really compromised by the shot suspension because the riding position held me in a way that allowed my body to best absorb the bumps - I'm slightly below average height.

The riding position emphasizes the fact that the machine is a very sensible motorcycle. The thumper motor needs little more than regular oil changes, fuel consumption ranges from 65 to 75mpg and apart from the chains I can get away with leaving the consumables for 15,000 miles, or more! True, the rubber isn't state of the art, but it's only ever a problem on very wet roads when the bike feels like it wants to skate around a bit - I'm sure my 15 stones help keep it planted on the tarmac!

I've had two failures. One was difficult starting that eventually drained the battery - beware, the whole electrical system is a bit marginal and you don't want to overload it - just a dead spark plug, probably the original at 17,350 miles. The other failure was the guts of the exhaust falling out due to rust, sending the carburation so lean that the bike wouldn't run! This at 21000 miles - mind you, I doubt if the carb itself had ever been touched by human hand! An old CD175 baffle I had hanging around the garage and a little artistry with a welding torch fixed it. It sometimes does a large backfire on the overrun but it's not predictable enough for me to scare the manure out of loitering cops.

I've come off the bike four times! Three of those were down to cagers veering into my path in heavy traffic. There was no way out but to hit something, usually the pavement which sent the bike flying - luckily I spun away from the carnage out of harm's way. The biggest damage was a buckled front wheel - you should've seen the Merc's door! It was a toss up whether I hit the guy or just laugh at him; maybe both, but the cops turned up and spoilt things. The other crash was spinning off on black ice - the bike's used all year round! The bike was a bit battered but nothing I couldn't kick straight.

Despite all these hassles, the finish has stood up pretty well. The odd spot of rush where the paint was scraped off and some white rash on the alloy but nothing a small amount of effort couldn't sort. The bike's marketed on the back of classic nostalgia in Japan, comes out of the crate with a better finish than most such devices. And I like the way it looks. Engine life is rumoured to be around 50,000 miles so plenty of time to savour what's on offer.

Eric Dredger