Dog Days. I had been without a motorcycle for over a year. It was making me a pain in the arse. l was short tempered, arguing with everyone and anyone. I was in a permanent depression. I was also out of work and had descended into a dreadfully dull existence. Most of the time was spent downing pints with my fellow unemployables.
I was still able to find the energy to visit the local dealer. When I saw the new bike he had in, a 1979 Honda CBX1000, it was love at first sight. Not that it was an immaculate example. Its silver paint was tarnished. The engine well mottled with white corrosion. The exhaust, shock springs, forks and various bits of chrome trim were remarkable for their plague of rust,
The dealer knew my situation well. He had little choice, I kept complaining to him of it. He started the motor up and l felt weak at the knees. What a glorious sound its six cylinder DOHC engine made out of the 6 Into 2 exhaust. l was almost in tears when I had to walk away, leaving it there. The dealer told me I could have it as seen for £850. I had a week before he started work on it and the price went up to represent its classic status.
If I sold everything I had I would raise about £45! Fat use. Then I recalled that my mum had been paying into an endowment cum insurance scheme for me for the past 20 years. I cornered her, after a big row she handed over the documents. I probably lost out a lot by cashing it in early, but with £1200 in my hands I didn't give a damn!
The CBX had 45000 miles on the clock. This didn't stop me wringing its neck during the first ride. Nor the machine wrenching off my arms, filling my face with a huge grin and burning off everything in sight. It was really weird, my mates down the pub stopped talking to me when they saw the opulence of my new machine.
The engine appeared pretty solid with no nasty rattles. The bike looked like it had been left standing for a while, slowly corroding away. This was borne out by the handling. The CBX was very twitchy even in a straight line. When I checked the tyres I saw that the sidewalls were cracked, so they must've been pretty ancient. The breaker offered me £1000 for the bike when I went to buy some nearly new tyres.
The Dunlops gave a more secure feel but the twitchiness was still there above 90mph. The shocks were the most obvious source of misbehaviour but replacement with a set of secondhand, slightly longer and much stiffer Girlings didn't have any effect. Whilst the shocks were off I found that there was a slight amount of movement in the swinging arm. It proved impossible to buy a set of bushes. l persuaded my brother-in-law to make up some from phosphor bronze They were a tight fit needing a few whacks from the hammer to insert.
After all that... it was still twitchy above 90mph. I had cleaned up the forks and there didn't seem any leaks from the seals despite the pitted chrome. There wasn't any slack in the front end, either. I got talking to another CBX owner who reckoned that the bikes were, er, twitchy above 90mph.
This was a pity as the engine power was something else. I've never ridden anything quite like it. Even at its relatively high mileage the motor was turbine smooth. There wasn’t a power band as such, just a liquid rush of energy from tickover onwards. The machine would soar up to an indicated 125mph with such absurd ease that I didn’t believe the clock at first. What convinced me was the way all the other traffic was going backwards.
Honda claimed 105hp at 9000 revs; I could well believe it! This excess of power was just as well as the bike could be dumped in fourth or fifth. The gearbox is horrible, and probably was from new, despite the ultra smooth power delivery. Clunky and full of false neutrals it inspired no respect. At least the smoothness of the power delivery meant that chain adjustments of the massive O-ring chain were minimal.
The downside of the massive sixcylinder engine was a weight of 550lbs, although Honda compensated for this to a degree by locating the engine as low as possible in the tubular spine type frame. The engine's as narrow as possible with the alternator mounted under the carbs rather than on the end of the crankshaft.
As long as she’s kept below 90mph, handling is adequate. It tracks around corners pretty well, even in the wet there is a nice feeling of security. There's so much mass that small bumps don't have much effect but the few times the bike has started going out of control it's felt pretty frightening. The back wheel can jump about a hell of a lot under bumpy going and there have been occasions when I felt the front tyre sliding out from under the bike when banked over.
It is a heavy bike to throw about but one that reacts in a predictable manner. It is possible to brake in comers or roll off the throttle. Opening up in bends tends to make it run wide which can brown trousers in a big way, but the power is so controllable that it's not as bad as some modern bikes. I know someone on a GSXR1100 who keeps falling off because the power delivery is so violent that its much more modern chassis can't control the back wheel.
Braking, with twin front discs and a single rear, is another story. The system was totally unpredictable. Sometimes there was a tyre screaming stop with hardly any pressure applied. Other times nothing seemed to happen at all despite standing on the foot pedal and grasping the lever with four white fingers. I did the usual things. Bled the system, applied Copaslip to calipers after they were disassembled and cleaned, and tried various types of pads.
The brakes were even worse in the wet. There was hardly any feel, the first time I knew if the brakes were working was when they started to lock up the wheels. I prayed for a pools win to buy some Goodridge hose and cursed Honda for not fitting a rear drum. The back disc quickly became covered in crud. After the caliper partially seized and the pads were worn down to the metal, the back stopped locking up and gave a kind of gradual retardation. If you could call a series of lurches gradual.
The exhausts were causing me a lot of worry. They were evidently the originals and almost rusted through. At 9000 revs the bike made a lovely wailing noise that turned heads and started dogs barking. I took both sets of 3-1 exhausts off and took the wire brush to them. What was left of the original metal was patched up by a neighbour with some welding gear. I think there is more patching than original metal, now. The whole lot was given a coat of heat resistant paint. It looks a bit tatty, but there's no way I can afford a new system and CBXs are very rare in breakers.
My income was such I would have been hard pushed to run a C90, the CBX was way beyond my means but by ignoring minor things like insurance and tax I have managed to do 14000 miles in the last year. This was not helped by fuel economy of around 30mpg and tyres wearing out in less than 4000 miles a set. I was so determined to keep the CBX on the road against all the odds that I started cutting people's gardens and doing general household repairs. The classic lines of the CBX were somewhat ruined by the large rack. lawn mower and various tools attached with bungee cords. The handling went to pot, too. I was afeared of going beyond 60mph in that state, but there you go - I needed the money.
After the initial euphoria of riding around on such a powerful bike, I started to treat the Honda rather gently. There was no way I could afford a major rebuild. I rarely went above 7500rpm, but this was sufficient to break the speed limits by a long chalk. I never went in for the wild wheelies that some of my new found mates indulged in. I had learnt that the CBX had a fragile clutch so I dared not abuse it.
A friend balanced the carbs for me every 3000 miles. I changed the oil every 1250 miles, but the valvegear sounded very quiet so I never checked any of the 24 valves. although exhaust valves do burn out for some reason. Valve access is good if you remove the one piece cylinder head cover. By the way. the camshaft drive is similar to the CBX750, with a chain from the crank driving the front camshaft and another chain joining the two earns. I never had any trouble from mine.
I persuaded another friend to test out his newly bought spray gear by painting the tank and GRP bits silver. I did the pinstriping myself and after the engine was polished up, it looks almost like new (shame about the exhausts). I've had offers of £1500 and £1750 from people who have just come up to me in town when I've parked up. But I don’t want to sell the bike. it has helped me get my life back together.
Thomas Ailing