I was on the pillion of Mick’s Honda 125 Super Sport (the advert of the day said that it separated the boys from the men, but never said if men rode 125s or boys), Mick was doing his usual thing revving the unfortunate beast to 12500rpm and once into top keeping the beast above 11000rpm. The bike had endured the treatment for 25000 miles. It suddenly went out of control and we both slid into a school gate. Bleeding and bruised we picked ourselves up - the Honda had dropped a valve and locked up.
More or less at the same time Kev was thrashing his YDS7 up a long straight road when his light flashed on unbidden, a bus pulled out with an open door leading to a 30mph boarding act. Over a relaxing six pints of ale we decided that at 18 years old our racing days were over and that we'd better mature quickly into tourers. It seemed like a good idea, especially as none of us had toured before.
Mick bought a blue CD175 brand new, Kev bought a red CB175 brand new and I purchased a red CD175 from a small dealer in Gateshead. The dealer told me to look after the bike properly and have it professionally serviced , but obviously no professional worked for him because the steering head were loose - so much for PDI.
On my first ride on the CD it broke down when the battery went flat. Next day I took it back to the dealer who accused me of fiddling with the bike and charged it up. But the problem persisted and it took four visits for him to work out that the problem was a duff rectifier. Naturally they didn’t have one in stock.
Servicing the motor was dead easy with no special tools required and everything easy to get at and adjust. Power delivery was OK but upset by the large gap in gear ratios between third and fourth - change up at 40mph and the thing would just stop accelerating. The CB was marginally better but it did have five gears.
The handling of the CD was appalling, weaving around most corners in a most distressing manner, mostly due to a pathetic lack of damping in both the forks and the shocks. Because we were now tourers we had carriers and top boxes. We were still going to the same places but not racing each other - it was kind of weird. My girlfriend said she liked the CD because it was smooth and comfortable.
The good old CD took me to work each day and to college one day a week. In the evening it was out with the chaps or girlfriend and at weekends it was thrashed around the countryside with the top box removed and the return of the street racer look.
At high speeds (that’s sixty to you) the engine vibrated badly through the footrests and handlebars - it must have been bad because it cracked the full chain guard, making it fall off. If you accelerated hard at nights it would blow light bulbs. My CD would do 75mph in third and just creep up to 80mph in fourth. Strangely, our CDs were little slower than the CB which had five gears and twin carbs.
One time some lunatic suggested that we ride down to Cornwall while we were in Carlisle. We gritted our teeth down the M6 at 65mph early in the evening. We didn’t make St Austell’s until nine in the morning. We rode back the same day, the only damage to our muscles and bleary eyes. The CD ran faultlessly.
By 10000 miles my CD needed tyres and a chain and the same again at 20000 miles plus a set of points. I sold it with 30000 miles clocked up and it looked and ran like new.
Honda don’t make CD's any more but there are still some nice ones around, although lots of them have been wickedly thrashed. Like all small Hondas they need regular oil changes to keep the engine healthy, the camchain will eventually start getting noisy and then the top end will start to go. But even if the worst happens it won’t be the end of the world because there are loads of spare engines around at minimal prices.
William Gould