During the first few hours as a short haul London despatcher, a couple of faults became apparent. Firstly, the damn engine would cut out if I didn't blip the throttle to keep the revs above 2000rpm. I solved this by getting the engine to tickover at 1600rpm, but this sent. quite fierce vibes through the chassis. And secondly, the flat bars were too low and too far forward for town riding, not just hurting my arms and wrists but making the reasonably light clutch a pain to operate frequently. The gearbox made few objections to clutchless changes once three grand was on the tacho. After two weeks, or 1200 miles to you, I became used to the riding position. I also fitted one of those platinum tipped spark plugs, which I knew from the past gave a lower tickover speed. And it more or less worked, only when the engine is really caned and used all day without respite does it start stalling at traffic lights.
I'm not some spotty youth who screws the engine to the redline at every opportunity, my riding style has developed over ten years into a fairly smooth operation that . takes into account traffic conditions. Although I don't hang about waiting behind queues of cars, I also try to avoid the more crazed cutting up of autos that some other DRs like to indulge in. Thus in one year's riding I didn't fall off or hit any other vehicles, although there were several close encounters. Part of my survival was because the Honda was so stable, narrow enough to emerge through ridiculously small gaps unscathed and had enough feedback from tyres and brakes to avoid the consequences of slides on wet roads. I'd also ridden the Honda over some of the most rutted roads I've come across in many years.
There are two other advantages to a relatively relaxed riding style - I may not be as fast as some of the youths but I have much better stamina and can work longer hours, and it maximises the fuel economy of any particular bike. Most of the other DRs appear to get 45-50mpg out of their XBRs, whilst I average 60mpg. On some occasions I've even approached 70mpg, a figure that was once commonplace for British twins of similar size and performance, so while just about acceptable it's nothing Jap engineers should be proud of.
The single cylinder engine boasts four valves per cylinder, massively over square dimensions (92x75mm), 9:1 compression ratio, gear primary drive and a relatively small gear driven balance shaft. Max power is developed at 7500rpm, although once past 2500rpm there's quite enough urge even in top gear to make dropping down through the box optional. The engine buzzes throughout the rev range, but it's mild enough to fade into the background after you've ridden the bike for a few months. Only when you jump onto a middleweight four does the Honda's vibratory nature become apparent. Beyond six grand the nature of the vibration changes with the urgency of the exhaust; it'll leave both feet and hands tingling after twenty minutes.
In the 35000 miles I covered nothing fell off or failed due to the vibration, so it was never that bad.
Engine maintenance is limited to checking valve clearances (actually altered three times) and changing oil and filter (750/1500 miles respectively and yes, I am paranoid about Jap bearing surfaces, even if the dry sump lubrication system should negate some of worst effects of Jap engines on oil the recommended mileages for oil changes are dangerously optimistic in my opinion). The single carb hasn't been touched save for idle adjustments.
Why such a light and low powered bike should go through rear tyres in 8000 miles is quite beyond my comprehension. I've tried Dunlops and Michelins, and now am hopeful of the new Roadrunner. That the drive chain only lasts 12000 miles, can, I suppose, be explained by the rough power delivery of the single cylinder engine. At 32000 miles I had to buy a new set of sprockets. Front disc pads last for just 5000 miles (but this does include a hell of a lot of stop-start riding) and rear drum shoes for around 16000 miles. This combination of brakes has been excellent - and I've only had to strip the caliper down once - surely a record for Honda.
The exhaust system was a rusted wreck by 15000 miles. But I took it off, cleaned it up, welded up the holes, painted it black and got another 10000 miles out of it. I didn't want to buy a non-original system because I figured the engine was too highly tuned to benefit from adjustments to the airflow, so I paid fifty quid to a breaker for a system off a nearly new bike. This is soon due for replacement. Haven't Honda heard of stainless steel?
The only fault with the motor was the electric starter, which failed at 22500 miles. Again, a visit to the breaker solved that problem. Running the Honda through the nastiness of our ten month winter soon turned the alloy wheels a horrible shade of white and various bits of frame rusty - but it's not that difficult to clean up with a bit of elbow grease.
In my year's despatching (and I've now quit), the Honda never let me down, was reasonably cheap to run (I got the money spent on buying the Honda back in less than one month's work) and was also, rare for a Jap bike, very safe to ride in the awful weather inflicted on Shit City. That said, one guy had his blow up with 22000 miles on the clock (but he probably didn't know you had to change the oil) and lots of people seer to be selling theirs with very low mileages. I'm keeping mine for weekends and long trips. I'm going to put some spoked wheels with drum brakes and a s/s exhaust on it just for kicks...
Charles Borland