I came across a 1986 Honda XBR500 for sale at £495. It was stood outside the owner's house with a big for sale sign with that price on it. The clock read 48,567 miles and the general condition of the machine was poor. I was not going to bother knocking on the door but the owner came out of the house before I had a chance to get away. He told me he had owned the bike since '88 and had never had any trouble. As if to emphasize this he put the key in, twisted it and thumbed the starter.
To my ears, trained on British bikes of yore, the motor sounded very quiet and the exhaust had a healthy bark free of any white or blue smoke. Take it for a spin, he urged, so I did. It ran a lot better than it looked, 40 odd horses propelling a mere 350lbs. The motor shook a bit at low revs and didn't have much low down grunt, but my overall impression was favourable. I pleaded poverty, offering £400 which he could have in a matter of minutes if he gave me a lift to the bank. He said okay and even threw in an old full face lid.
The next day I took the bike for a run in the countryside. All was fine up to 75mph, then it seemed to want to go no faster. Knocking it down a few gears didn't help, it just didn't want to rev any higher, whilst a cloud of smoke added to global pollution. I did the obvious things like clean out the carb and bung in a new spark plug but it had no effect. A friendly dealer was persuaded to apply his compression tester to the engine, worn rings and bore were diagnosed. Shit!
I took the motor out myself and dumped it in the dealers for them to do the strip down. My only consolation was that it was a simple motor to tear apart and therefore not as costly as some watercooled multi cylinder hyperbike to repair. The bore was okay, luckily, so I got away with a new piston and rings. The valvegear was also a bit worn but the dealer managed to obtain some slightly used parts. To be on the safe side, a new camchain was also fitted. Total cost of parts and labour came to £165 which I thought not unreasonable.
I ran the bike gently in for 500 miles and then started using the power more heavily. I was soon able to get the bike up to an indicated 95mph, but it was damn hard work to get her past the ton. Fuel consumption did not impress me, either, around 45mpg pretty much regardless of how it was thrashed.
However, I found it quite a useful device, so decided to smarten up its appearance. The alloy engine covers were badly corroded so were beadblasted and polished. The sections of frame pitted with rust were cleaned up and painted. The maroon tank had faded into a horrible hue but two days work with T-cut restored it to an acceptable shade. Most of the rust that affected the few chrome bits went away when attacked with Solvol, and overall it came up quite nicely.
The suspension was still original and quite stiff enough for my aged body. The bike handled well for a Jap, feeling sure-footed and agile most of the time. Many complaints have been voiced about the handlebar position but I am long in arm and body whilst short in leg, thus did I find the XBR a very comfortable bike to ride both in town and on long runs. Riders less strangely endowed by nature will probably be not so happy.
The bike came with a set of Roadrunners that were half worn and slid about in the wet in a most disconcerting manner. They always came back into line but they gave me many a worrying moment. A set of Michelins was thrown on at the earliest moment, much better suited to the bike all round, although generally I am a great fan of Avon tyres, they just didn't seem to suit the XBR.
Another often quoted problem with the Honda is the single disc front brake. Alas, this proved too true, for after less than 4500 miles under my care, admittedly with over 50,000 miles on the clock, the damn thing seized up solid and refused to come apart even when heated to melting point and whacked with a 10lb sledgehammer by a madly incensed owner. The disc itself also looked very thin to my cynical eyes.
Fifty notes procured a newish caliper and disc from the local breaker. I dismissed his offer of a nearly new motor, telling him I expected to get 100,000 miles on the clock before any such need should arise. He gave me a smile of pity mixed with contempt. I found out why with 57,200 miles on the clock. The gearbox had always been a bit clunky, but no worse than many an aged Honda, but then it developed a penchant for skipping out of gear, leaving the poor old motor wailing in a false neutral.
Another 2000 miles went by, the problem becoming so bad that I had to rapidly skip through third and fourth, into fifth which appeared the least affected gear. I hate gearboxes, so when the top end of the motor started knocking I went back to the dealer and handed over £250 for his 5000 mile XBR engine. This slid into the frame easily enough, although I had to bodge some of the wiring as the colours were not the same.
With the newish engine installed it sailed past the ton, right up to an indicated 115mph. However, much beyond 95mph the chassis began to show its age, a combination of a slight weave and front fork patter over bumps making damn sure that I knew it was time to back off.
Strangely, a few high speed stops produced fade in the front disc that was reminiscent of that experienced on sixties Triumphs equipped with a TLS drum. I could not justify splashing out on Goodridge brake hose to see if that was the cause. The new motor was also more economical, ridden slowly I could actually achieve 60mpg, the average was over 50mpg. However, despite its relative youth it seemed to drink more oil, needing a top up every 500 miles where the older engine had never needed any attention between 2000 mile oil changes.
Vibration was also more intrusive, nowhere in the rev range could the engine be called smooth, despite the fitment of a balance shaft. At 70mph it was moderate enough to fade into the background but by 90mph bars, pegs and even the petrol tank were shaking away nicely.
When the swinging arm bearing went I was not too amused. I did the job myself and managed to whack my thumb with the sledgehammer. That was with 62500 miles on the clock, a week and 150 miles later the speedo ceased to work, something I only found out after expensively replacing the cable.
A month later both wheel bearings were shot - the bike still handled okay up to 70mph! Then it needed a second chain and new set of sprockets. The costs were piling up!
I eventually fitted a used speedo with 17500 miles on its clock. I estimate at that point the bike had done around 70,000 miles. I was experiencing electrical problems, with blowing bulbs and a battery than would not retain sufficient charge to turn the starter. Two batteries later I had to pay out for a new rectifier and have the alternator rewound. I replaced much of the wiring as the insulation was cracked in many places. Another 5000 miles saw a petrol tank that had started to leak and a seat cover that dissolved in the petrol. More money to the breaker.
Having done around 75000 miles the forks decided to call it a day with terminal wear and leaking seals meaning its previous precision was just a fond memory. Trying to find some straight, newish forks from a breaker was not an easy game but a train journey across England eventually brought salvation and loss of a hundred quid. I began to feel that I was fighting a losing battle. I knew that it was only a matter of time before something went wrong with the motor to add to my woes and expense. It seemed time to buy something a bit bigger and newer, so I put the Honda up for sale, throwing in the old motor for spares.
Overall, despite the expenses incurred, I didn't make much of a loss and had two years pleasurable riding out of the XBR. I would be tempted to buy a nearly new one, ride it for a couple of years and then flog it off before anything went seriously wrong, but I don't feel the machine has the build quality to make it as a classic - but that has never stopped many a terrible British heap attaining ridiculous prices, so who knows?
Derrick Wilson
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I'd always wanted a Honda XBR 500. I certainly wasn't going to pay out for a new one when they came out, so it took a few years until I was able to find one in my price range (under £500). Two owners, 51000 miles, mostly in original nick, the chrome, paint and alloy shone as evidence of a lot of tender loving care. The electric starter didn't work but the vendor had a used one that he hadn't got around to fitting, which was thrown in. I had looked at a couple of XBRs at around the grand mark which were in much worse physical condition if lower mileage.
It was just as well that I fitted the starter straight away. The Honda exhibited a common syndrome amongst large Japanese singles....cutting out at low speed. Constantly blipping the throttle at junctions was a partial if noisy cure. With the starter it was just a push of the button to get me out of trouble. Without it, I would have quickly been dead meat to enraged car drivers.
Low speed running was not helped by a gearbox that felt like it was a relic from the sixties - I've ridden enough old Hondas to know what I'm talking about. Clutch drag was chronic, necessary to adjust the cable at the bars in town as the engine started to overheat in prolonged traffic jams. The change was full of false neutrals but, except for second gear, didn't slip out of gear once engaged. It only took me a week or two to master the gearbox, those with less experience of old Hondas might find it really annoying. Easy enough to recognise in the test ride.
The OHC single cylinder motor felt rough below 2500rpm, with none of the great thumping torque that characterised British singles of the fifties. Trying to pull less than these revs in fourth or fifth made the chain sound and feel like it was trying to tear itself off the sprockets. Combined with the nasty gearbox, it made slow town work a major league hassle - a pity, as the narrowness of the steed made it a natural for carving up cars.
As 3000 revs were approached the balancer began to work and some torque was developed. Certainly, between 3000 and 6000 revs there was enough power and torque to stick the XBR in top gear if laid back riding was all that was needed. Fine for out of town work on reasonably fast A-roads and cutting a dash down country lanes. Just about adequate for avoiding being mowed down in the slow lane of the motorway, but an extremely tedious pursuit for more than ten minutes at a time.
Hard power came in from 6000 revs onward, the Motad pipe taking on a distinctive snarl. It was never so vicious as to inflict any strain on arms or neck, but would have been fun had not the whole effect been ruined by an excess of vibration in the bars, pegs and tank. Some people reckon that the pulses provided by a single are less annoying than the secondary vibes from a four.....all I can say is let them try an XBR with over 50,000 miles on the clock.
T
op speed under such abuse turned out to be no more than the ton, which compares well enough with a new XBR's 110mph. I only did it the once, the vibes blew all the lights! I dare say a low mileage bike would fare a lot better at high speed, there certainly seems the power available to cruise at 80 to 90mph all day long.
The handling showed no signs of distress at any of the speeds I managed to extract from the Honda. It wasn't exactly standard, with a twin disc front end off a newish GS450 and a pair of stiff Koni shocks out back. These all worked well together, giving the bike a taut, on-rails feel and a dose of feedback from the pair of Metz tyres that left me in no doubt what was happening down on the tarmac. The tyres were new and have yet to wear out, I'd guess they would last for about 14000 miles a set.
I might go so far as to say that it was the safest bike I've ever ridden in the wet at moderate speeds. The power delivery was never so vicious as to cause the back tyre to go out of line, even when I mucked up the downchanges in the finicky box. Smooth riding together with lots of feedback meant I usually turned up home with a very big grin even when soaked through.
Wild angles of lean could be used through corners, although the bike had conservative geometry, weighing only 350lbs meant it didn't take much muscle to throw through a series of S-bends. The XBR tracked in a neutral way with no nasty surprises when it was suddenly necessary to brake or change direction. There are a couple of car drivers who should write Honda a check in thanks for its natural nimbleness - or even myself for my quick reflexes in avoiding their mad manoeuvres.
The bars and pegs were stock Honda items which suited me fine. Those shorter in arm might complain about the stretch over the tank but I found that the riding position left me sat in such a natural way that my body was able to absorb the bumps that the harsh suspension was unable to cope with. The seat, though, turned hard after less than a hundred miles. It also soaked up water leaving me with a wet backside for days after a rainstorm. A plastic seat cover was the cheap if not very stylish solution.
The XBR has a bit of a reputation for wrecking its front disc brake - either the caliper seizes solid or the disc wears so thin that it can crack up. Hence the fitment of the Suzi front forks somewhere in its lifetime. I couldn't fault them, the brake having a fine degree of feedback and an excess of power; safe both in the wet and the dry. The previous owner reckoned it was an an easy job.
Another XBR problem is the way the back chain gets eaten up. Luckily, it was not a problem I shared, the past owner having cunningly adapted a CD chain enclosure and fed the engine breather into the chaincase (probably illegal but hardly a great sin - anyway, the K & N airfilter he also fitted probably would not react well to being doused in oil.) The chain was a good quality O-ring job that required hardly any adjustment. The stock XBR could kill chains in rather less than 5000 miles.
The only real expense was fuel consumption, which was abysmal for such a slow, light machine. But rarely did it better 40mpg, usually somewhere in the 34 to 38mpg range. Perhaps, the engine was worn out or perhaps it was just the balancer that clattered and ground away like it was falling apart; doing little to kill the vibes. I often pondered what would occur if I tore the cases apart and pulled the bloody thing out.
In just over 11000 miles, the engine has not required to be torn apart. However, the valves need 1000 mile adjustments, which is when the oil is changed. Anyone who has ever lived with an old Honda will tell you how vital oil changes are. Neglecting them causes various plain bearings to wreck themselves - numerous bearings using the actual alloy of the castings as the bearing surface, making repairs expensively traumatic.
I know someone with one of the original G5 Hondas, notorious for ruining its camshaft bearings, who has got 50,000 miles out of an engine by the simple expedient of changing the oil every 500 miles.
The XBR caries it oil in a separate oil tank rather than in their usual wet sump design.....a piece of nasty nostalgia we could well do without. The braided oil pipes that curl around the engine do look neat, though. Oil consumption was surprisingly moderate, about 400 miles per litre. Aided by a lack of serious oil leaks, just a few spots around the head and base gasket.
With over 60,000 miles on the clock serious trouble can't be far away. The chassis is still in such good nick that I will fit a lower mileage motor when the time comes. At the moment, the bike's too much trouble to ride through town traffic, so it's not much cop as a commuter.....anyway, my rat C90 goes nearly three times as far on a gallon of fuel and is brilliant for hopping across pavements!
It's fine for an evening's or even long weekend's saunter out into the countryside. I've even used it for long distance commuting on the motorway, up to 300 miles in a day, but I often got so bored that I would end up caning it into the heavy vibration sector. A quick way of wrecking the engine. I can think of a lot better ways of going fast for the money.
Despite these all too obvious problems, I rather like the XBR. The growl of its engine, the secure feel and the sheer charisma of its looks combine to make it rather more than the sum of its parts.....if I was able to go back in time I'd spend a bit more money on a lower mileage one, there are still some neat ones on offer in the private market.
I've ridden an XBR with only 18000 miles up which had none of the vibro massage effect or transmission horrors at lower revs and would cruise along at 85mph as if to the manor born. Look for something with under 25000 miles and be prepared to pay over £800.
Adrian Saunders
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I should've paid more attention to the UMG. But I didn't, went blithely ahead and bought a 55000 mile Honda XBR500. The blistered paint and corroded alloy came with the £300 territory. Riding home I was shocked to find the motor cutting out every time the revs went below 2500rpm. Also, at lower revs the whole chassis quaked with the kind of vibration you expect to find on an old British thumper. Five miles from home the bike drained its battery trying to start. A long, hard push followed.
I soon diagnosed that the fault was with the spark plug. Or at least I guessed the fault was with the plug. You see, externally it looked a hundred years old and seemed to be welded into the cylinder head. The whole bike moved rather than the plug when I applied massive pressure with a yard long lever. I soaked the plug in WD40 and left overnight.
In the morning I said the appropriate prayers and was suitably gutted when the plug broke off. What followed was a predictable scenario - I had to take the head off which revealed knackered cam lobes and rockers. I then found that XBR's were becoming rare in breakers and those that were available were in as bad a state as mine.
Next stop, a small Brum engineering works where a relative was employed. They can renovate just about anything by welding up new metal on to the old and machining to suit. I let them do the work when they had a slack period, had to wait three weeks but only paid £55. Given the shiny state of the cylinder head this seemed quite reasonable.
Camchain and tensioner looked newish (they go at around 40k), bore and piston were original but sound, and the rest of the mill looked clean for the mileage. The major hassle in rebuilding was the exhaust flange studs stripping but I managed to drill and tap new threads - I was shaking afterwards because it would've been dead easy to ruin the cylinder head!
Whilst the engine was out I painted the frame, tank and panels in deep black. There was an awful lot of rust to remove but some red oxide paint has stopped it coming back. The engine alloy was too far gone to polish so some heat resistant silver paint was applied to all external surfaces. The wheels and exhaust were, quite simply, beyond help.
After all my tender ministrations I'd spent an extra forty quid so total cost was still under £400 and the bike looked as if it was worth £500 to £600. Not so bad, then. The bike came to life quickly but felt rather loose and vibratory. Nowhere was the age more evident than in the gearbox, which had more false neutrals than a seventies CZ 175 (don't ask how I know, the memories are still too painful) and backing off the throttle had the chain trying to fall off.
On examination, the chain was short of a couple of links and sported more tight spots than the Ed's wallet. I took a couple more links out and soaked in Linklyfe for an afternoon. Slightly better transmission but it reinforced my vow not to thrash the engine. No more than 6000 revs in the lower gears and limit myself to 80mph in top. Chains last 6000 miles.
The engine always seemed to be working away hard, the balancer threshing around rather than absorbing the vibes and there was never the great gobs of low rev torque than you might expect from such a mildly tuned big thumper. Within the self imposed limits, though, it went quite sprightly and could stay ahead of cagers and most 250's.
More impressive was the combination of light weight, narrow chassis and firm suspension. The latter wasn't standard, Hagon shocks out back and uprated forks with a hefty brace - under the gaiters the chrome looked like new! The bike went where it was pointed, could be heeled over until the tyres began to shuffle sideways and never, but never, came in with any weaves or wobbles.
The riding position might've been a touch extreme but I soon adapted to the low bars and after a week there were no longer any pains associated with prolonged town work. Just as well because the combination of dragging clutch and clunky gearbox could get steam pouring out of my ears. Definitely a case of planning ahead and finding neutral before coming to a halt. An acquired art that sorts the men from the boys.
The stalling at low revs, something all too common on modern thumpers simply because they don't have the same kind of flyweight inertia as older British singles, still added to the carnage of town riding. At least it was just a quick blip on the starter to get her running again. The electric boot was so powerful that I suspected it'd been rebuilt.
Also renewed was the front disc brake, a notorious item in XBR circles because the disc wore thin even before the caliper corroded. There was nothing whatsoever wrong with the newish example fitted to the front of my bike. Plenty of power (not that there was an excess of weight or speed), scads of feedback that let me take the wheel up to the point of locking and wet weather performance that was redolent of the better examples of drum braking. All that and pads that refused to wear out in 13000 miles of abuse. However, it's quite easy to wear out the whole front brake in as little as 20,000 miles and it should be checked carefully when examining a potential purchase - it's dead easy to blow a hundred notes fixing the front brake!
One of the things that attracted me to the XBR was a new set of Michelins, worth about £120. Unfortunately, whilst they gripped exceptionally well in the wet, in less than 5000 miles they were down to the carcass. A pair of cheap, old style Roadrunners have since then shown hardly any sign of wear at the price of some minor slides in the wet. Modern tyres on superbikes have set an unfortunate trend - fantastic grip but a pathetic, 2000 to 4000 mile life.
As well as going mild on the throttle I indulged in 1000 mile maintenance sessions. Not really necessary but apart from oil all it cost was my time. If the oil wasn't done every 1000 miles then the gearchange soon turned impossible. Not just false neutrals but locking up in gears and sometimes refusing to come out of neutral unless the bike was rolled back and forth. An obvious sign of a low mileage bike's a slick gearchange.
In 13000 miles of riding there were a coupe of exciting moments. One of these came out of the gearbox locking on a false neutral. This happened at about 70mph as I was rolling along between two opposing lines of cars. A feeling of horror overwhelmed me as I lost speed and the cars closed me out of gaps in the traffic. Just in time the box freed up, I engaged a gear and got back up to speed.
Another time I was hustling the XBR through a series of country bends when a bloody big cow appeared around the next corner. Time slowed down as I scanned for an appropriate exit line. Ended up whamming the bike into the hedge and scraping through with just a bit of whiplash to my head from the bovine's tail. I've an uncle who owns a farm, reckons eating beef or milk is a suicide trip because of all the hormones they shove into the poor animals.
These adventures apart life with the XBR was pretty uneventful, even a touch boring. My regular maintenance and slothful right hand paid off in sterling reliability and I was able to sell the bike for £600. Some people reckon the XBR a modern classic but I think that's a bit over the top as, vibration apart, there's not very much character or guts to the bike. Buying used examples you have to know what you're doing and be careful you don't end up with an overpriced dog.
Alec Greggs
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The gleaming black beast was already waiting for me at my local dealers, and was the first one I had actually ever seen in the flesh. It looked nice, and the deal on the MZ confirmed I had made the right choice. Not all dealers are rip-off men, Vincent and Gerome of Taunton are good people.
Next day, Saturday, I got used to actually riding the Honda. This was the first Jap bike I had owned, apart from one week with a used XS250 the year previously. I was more used to Spitfires, Lightnings, Commandos and East German machinery.
The bike felt like my old British cycles in its riding position and certainly sounded like an old Brit single - powerful. Two trips to Minehead that afternoon got me used to the characteristics of the bike. The long straights, undulating dips and sharp bends, the holiday traffic on its way to the Butlin's camp, all added to the experience. The cow and tractor deposits on the bends, all carefully laid out as very excellent anti-motorcycling devices, were all easily negotiated without hitch. I was elated with everything about the bike, the UMG had been right again.
900 miles were completed that first week, the longest one way journey being to Dorchester with a manuscript from Kingsbury. Along the famous A356 the XBR thundered down the deserted evening road, scattering the terrified local rabbit population. It was exhilarating and I was still keeping to recommended running in speeds. The machine and I felt at one with each other, man and machine in perfect harmony.
No problems were experienced by the end of the first week and the first service had been arranged for Saturday morning, which cost £15 for materials only. With this service over, I could start to build up speeds and complete the running in process.
During the second week, the up to then nice weather departed for the remainder of 1988, the monsoon season taking its place in Somerset and Avon. The change actually took place whilst I was on the M5 but the Rukka suit proved effective, though my gloves did not.
On the way back into Bristol, in torrential rain, a car in front suddenly turned into the exit lane at the same time as myself without any warning. Collision was inevitable. Bikes are heavy things when you try to lift them up, aren't they? The clutch lever was bent and the handlebar end had fallen out. No-one stopped, only the lady rep whose car had assaulted my harmless XBR. The lever bent back into shape, even the handlebar end was located and refitted. No other damage was done to the Honda, thankfully.
In a slight headwind it was very hard to exceed 85mph. My 13 stone was probably a little too much for a 500. This did prove annoying on many an occasion. The original tyres lasted very well and suited the speeds that the Honda could manage. Grip was good on the country lanes in wet or dry weather. This was my first experience of Bridgestone tyres and I had no complaints. The rear was replaced at 9500 miles with 2mm plus of tread left. A Michelin proved very good and stopped the slip that occurred sometimes when crossing white lines.
Things deteriorated when I replaced the front tyre at 11000 miles with a Metzeler. Roadholding went to pieces. The sure footedness I had come to appreciate was no longer there, fast bends were no longer the pleasure they used to be. I decided to put a matching Metz on the back, but this did not improve stability at all, the whole bike felt out of balance.
Reluctantly, I decided to lash out and fit a set of Michelins, which immediately transformed the bike. I could now hold my own with a Kawa 750 turbo on the Taunton to Minehead road. Yes, he could leave me for dead on the odd straights, but I was on his tail as soon as one or two of the many bends appeared - much to his surprise.
The chain came to the end of its life at 12000 miles. This was the endless variety which can only be removed by drilling and hammering it off, with strange words I am unfamiliar with, but obviously work - they must be some sort of Somerset prayer for divine help. DID replacement chain and rear sprocket were fitted, costing £60 but saving me £40 over the cost of Honda originals.
Fuel consumption over 24000 miles averaged out at 61.2mpg, which I was happy with. I did usually use four star but was not against using unleaded whenever I thought about it. There did not seem to be any appreciable difference in performance or economy worth noting.
Night riding, of which I did plenty in strange parts of the UK, namely London, Milton Keynes and Birmingham, proved to be equally pleasurable, the headlight totally adequate to sensible riding on A-roads with which I was not familiar. The brakes also proved adequate for the size and power of the bike, getting me out of many a tight spot.
Well, apart from a trip to Reading on a straight piece of road with no other traffic in sight and with a field of view equal to Salisbury Plain. Some less than observant young car driver came out of a side road about 10 yards in front of me, after stopping first - I think to get his aim right. There was no way I could avoid him without risking falling off, so I aimed my now trustworthy Honda tank at the Hillman's front wheel arch. At the moment of impact I was down to about 20mph and braced for the crash.
The wheel arch was pushed right in and the bumper with it. I spent ages trying to get the poor chap on the road again. The Honda? Just annoyed at the journey home being delayed for a while. The front pads needed replacing every 10,000 miles and the rear shoes at 18000 miles.
The servicing costs over the 24000 miles worked out at £42 per 4000 mile service, but I did always do a weekly oil change and a filter change at every service when it went to the Honda dealer, although the book suggested a filter change at 8000 miles. For anyone doing their own servicing, everything is very straightforward and money can be saved by using good quality pattern parts as opposed to Honda's own label variety.
After five months and just over 24000 miles, the bike was running as well as ever, paint and chrome as new, only the plastic sidepanels had rubbed through white at the edges. The Honda had turned out a good machine, capable of hard daily work, in all weathers and with normal care and attention should go on to high mileages.
The only problems? A bit underpowered for regular motorway work when you needed to be averaging 80-85mph in all weather conditions. Maybe a fairing would have helped somewhat to overcome this slight problem - and not weighing in at 13 stones.
P.D.Bayliss