Licensing laws in Japan means that 250s are immensely popular, much as they used to be in the UK before the 125cc limit was introduced, although the Japanese concentrate on new bikes rather than the hordes of old hacks in the UK. The Honda Jade is just one of many 250 watercooled DOHC fours on the market, but to my eye the best looking of the competitive bunch.
UK readers will recognise it as a miniature CB1000, although the 250 has been out for a couple of years, so the CB1000 is really a giant Jade. Retros are the current theme in Japan, appealing to both experienced riders and half cut youths. Race replicas become very tiring in Tokyo traffic jams. The styling theme on the Jade is along Nighthawk lines, albeit with a sensible riding position, that made me feel instantly at home. When I say Nighthawk lines I have to add that the Japanese have gone some way beyond the older bike’s bland styling.
Its compact form is rather more suitable for Japanese frames than very obese Westerners. At 5'10” it was just within acceptable limits, had I been much bigger I would have ended up looking very stupid rather than cutting a svelte dash. One of the strangest things about the Japanese is that the men look so awful and the women mind blowingly beautiful. It was dead easy to be distracted by some nubile whilst attacking Tokyo traffic. Very dangerous.
Hustling the Honda into Tokyo’s congested streets - where car drivers pay as much for parking spaces as they do for petrol, and where there are still a lot of small commuters, with single seats and huge racks, used as working bikes because they are the only vehicles that can get across town rapidly - the engine seemed busy but gutless, whilst the 325lbs was easily slipped between gaps in traffic. I don’t know which was most impressive from Honda, producing a 325lb 250 or 420Ib 900 four. Motorcycle design is tearing ahead, but it had to be said that any lighter would lose the point as the bike will get knocked around too much by road bumps and sidewinds, especially when there's an expanse of plastic to catch the wind.
For the first couple of days I never even got the engine out of third, first and second were mostly employed in the snarled up traffic mess. There just didn’t seem to be any point in struggling with taller gears. The Jade has a motor that runs, amazingly enough, from 1500 to 15000rpm without a glitch but only really comes on heavy with the power once past 10000rpm.
A sense of urgency occurs a couple of thousand revs below that but it doesn't translate into much acceleration, making second or third ideal for the fast pace necessary to take the small gaps in traffic that emerged out of the chaos. Honda claim 40 horses at 14000rpm and, more revealing, maximum torque is developed at 11000rpm! Think about that, a decade ago 11000 revs would blow up most motors on the market, now it’s the starting point on many bikes for power to go berserk. It's the way four strokes keep ahead of the wailing strokers, the latter with their compromised lubrication unable to match such dizzy levels of engine revolutions.
It wasn't until the weekend that I could really explore the parameters of the Honda, having to unfortunately earn a crust (rather a large one actually) during the week. Sticking the frailest of Japanese girls on the pillion perch had a noticeable effect on acceleration but didn’t seem to faze the chassis, which apart from a mono-shock rear end was surprisingly. conventional. I always had the feeling that it was up to twice the power the Honda could put out, which is exactly the reverse of the situation in the good old seventies when hardly any superbike had a barely adequate chassis.
The widely splayed double cradle tubular frame looked like a poor relic from a GS550 but was undoubtedly stiff. The sloping seat and high pillion pegs pushed the nubile into a deliciously intimate embrace with myself, bringing forth a grin that lasted the whole weekend. Anyone who has ever had sexual relations with a Japanese woman will never be able to go back to Western girls, their sensational sensuality explaining the crazed arrogance of the average Japanese male.
I had found the riding position perfectly acceptable for town riding and was relieved to find it just as agreeable as we screamed out of Tokyo on the expressway that was busy enough to require utmost concentration as I weaved the Honda through the traffic at 70 to 90mph. Traffic speed seemed half of my own, which made me stick out like a sore thumb amidst the Japanese who were remarkably restrained behind the wheels of their gleaming autos. The kind of pressure they were under (unbelievable working hours, incredible mortgages and a population density that was terrifying) I had expected them all to be mad buggers.
The seat, though both narrow and firm, proved well shaped and comfortable for a couple of hundred miles a day. The riding position was strangely reminiscent of a Honda CB400 four I used to own, although every other aspect of the Jade was miles ahead of that blandest of bland bikes.
The front forks seemed particularly fine, giving the bike unusual directional accuracy and stability, whilst the minimal mass made it easy to chuck around. They had a suppleness of action that I had not experienced before, more I suspect because it was unusual to fit such quality units to such a small bike, where they were not highly stressed. Mind, Japanese roads are of a higher standard than UK ones, with an excellent smoothness that is only imitated by a newly laid British motorway for the first few hours of its existence. Even ribbons of mismatched concrete failed to set up any nasty pattering.
The rear shock was marginal even when fully turned up, two-up, but never really let loose. Solo, it didn’t intrude to the same extent, but Honda are a bit notorious for fitting dubious rear shocks that need replacing by the time the guarantee runs out, probably keeping up that tradition with the Jade. Not a difficult item to uprate.
As the traffic cleared, I was able to scream the motor up to the ton without any problems, any secondary vibes that the mill might've produced absorbed by the tubular frame before they had a chance to affect bars or pegs. With such tiny pistons, even at its incredible revs, there was so little reciprocating mass that, given Honda’s artistry on the CAD screen, it was no surprise that it was an order of magnitude smoother than even a brand new Honda CB400/4. Indeed, perhaps the most impressive trait was the silky smoothness of the engine, which revved with electric alacrity and gave off the impression that here was a motorcycle of exceptional build quality, something echoed by the overall feel of the ride and the sheer buzz of pushing it hard.
The nature of the Japanese motorcycle market means that the punters expect a bike to run faultlessly for a year or two when it is then thrown away, replaced by the latest bit of trendy engineering; motors are lucky to get any more attention than the odd oil change, so have to be built along indestructible lines just to get a toe-hold in the market. The Honda Jade had that bullet-proof feel that all good engines give off.
It even persisted as I revved out in fourth, fifth and finally sixth; enough to pull off a 120mph excursion before thoughts of being locked away in a Japanese jail for the rest of my life intruded. The Japanese legal system is so nasty that even the police are reluctant to arrest minor offenders, because once put in jail it's almost impossible to convince the judiciary that you're innocent. Neither are the police easily bribeable, unlike most Asian countries, at least not for the kind of dosh I’m able to raise.
The frail was squeezing the breath out of me in a most amusing way, although the chassis remained rock solid in its stability; she later revealed that the slipstream was buffeting her lid about to the extent that the strap had chaffed her throat. This probably wouldn't be a problem for the average biker’s moll, with skin as coarse as a gorilla’s but for the silky skin of a Japanese girl abrasions come very easily.
Playing silly buggers on the gearbox could've become tiresome but the change was as slick as any I've come across and the snarl out of the 4-1 exhaust, come 12000rpm, was always so delicious that I never became pissed off with the revvy nature of the beast. Even when just fired up from cold it was uncannily civilised at low revs if utterly lacking in useful power and torque. Cold English winter mornings might give the mill a harder time, but electronics and engines have become so sophisticated that I rather doubt this. The only problem with such advances, that it’s far too complex to fix when it eventually goes wrong.
It was a bit of a giant slayer, too. Or perhaps it was just that the Japanese riders were so sane and sensible that they could not comprehend my wild riding antics. I didn't come across any of the Speed Tribes who are such mad nutters that even I would not try to race them. Whatever, the few race replica 400s that I found were soon dispatched, even if I had to ride on the wrong side of the road a couple of times and actually caused the single front disc to shake the forks in the yokes.
The front brake always packed a punch but the rear was so insensitive as to be useless. A drum would've looked much neater and worked better. I wouldn't put a drum on the front, though, modern discs have advanced to the stage where they are vastly more powerful than the best drums and much more sensitive even in the wet (when properly designed).
The only thing to let the chassis down was the rubber (Japanese condoms have an equally poor reputation). Fine in the dry they became nasty in the wet, Tokyo roads being especially slippery after a tropical storm. I didn’t actually fall off but frequently had to put two feet down to stop the bike falling off the edges of the rubber as they skittered over the tarmac. Had it been a heavyweight four I’d have ended up with a broken leg. I couldn't find any Avons, which is typical of the progress British companies have made here even with world class products.
The lack of mass and smooth power delivery meant that chain adjustments were minimal and tyres didn’t seem to wear out, although with 11000 miles done the front brake pads were about due for replacement, more down to my wild riding antics than any particular fault with their design. Fuel ran through the motor at 45 to 60mpg, so the Jade could pass muster as an economical means of transport. It's unlikely that anyone would bother checking its 16 valves and the carbs stayed in balance during the 2700 miles I've done so far. Somehow, Japanese engineering has advanced to the stage where even massive neglect fails to ruin a motor.
After just a couple of hundred miles, riding the Jade became second nature, instinctive, as if it had become an extension of my body and mind. Riding at ten-tenths on many bikes is a quick way to an early grave but this Honda is so responsive to my needs that it now seems the only way to hustle a path through the chaotic traffic. It is, mercifully, not an easy bike to wheelie, had it been I'd probably have tempted fate excessively and ended up a hospital case. Not a good idea when you don’t have any medical insurance, and the Japanese idea of tolerable pain levels would have me screaming my head off in total, far gone agony!
Prices for used ones are absurdly low, even with the sky high Yen. I reckon a near perfect Jade with less than 10000 miles on the clock could be got into the UK for £1500 to £1750 including shipping and taxes. Engine spares would be a problem but it should run for 40 to 50000 miles before needing any attention. I don’t know if the grey importers in the UK have started to bring them in yet, but they seem too good a deal to miss out on.
In many ways the Jade is a bit of an oddity. In most respects it’s an utterly sensible motorcycle, but one fitted with an engine that only knows one, fun filled, way to deliver its power. This may not be to everyone’s taste but a day’s worth of riding would probably convert everyone to the Jade’s way of doing things!
Mike Prescotte