To backtrack for a moment, I started riding Hondas in the late sixties and have stuck with the marque, from CB250K1, CB450 twin, CB500/4 to the CBX. I only ever run one bike at a time, so the machine has to cope with a daily commuting run of 50 miles, plus much more pleasurable trips in the evenings, weekends and annual holidays.
I decided to buy the Honda because I became entranced by its looks and its technology. With four valves per cylinder, DOHCs, six cylinders, 105hp at 9000rpm and 135mph top speed, the Honda was top dog back then. My first test ride revealed a remarkably well balanced bike with an ultra smooth engine. It could trickle through town traffic just above tickover and pull away with no chain or transmission snatch (something very noticeable on other Hondas I'd owned). On a long straight I dropped a few gears and opened her up. That nearly snapped my head off and I hit the brakes much sooner that I'd expected to avoid going straight through a hedge. I immediately decided I needed to buy the bike.
That six cylinder engine dominates the bike. Even the large, 4.4 gallon, petrol tank looks small in its presence. The engine probably has more chains than any other bike I've encountered. One hyvoid chain drives the front camshaft from the crankshaft, while another chain. connects the two camshafts. But don't laugh, because these chains are still fitted after 100000 miles. The alternator and electronic ignition are mounted under the carbs, driven from the centre of the crankshaft by yet another chain. Primary drive is, yes you guessed it, by hyvoid chain to a shaft that then drives the clutch by gear.
For the first thirty thousand miles these chains did not intrude upon my consciousness, from then on they began to creep in, first in the form of increased noise, finally (around 55000 miles) as transmission sloppiness. It now refuses to run smoothly below 2500rpm in fifth. What was a silky smooth and almost silent engine became, by 60000 miles, as rough as an early CB750 and as noisy as any number of old Brit twins. But to be fair, in the last 40,000 miles it has become hardly any worse.
My first long ride was from London to Edinburgh. On the M1 it would run along at an indicated 110mph with a muted purr from the engine and. no weaves or queasiness. There was a little vibration through the bars, but it became no worse as revs increased. In fact, below six grand the engine was so exceptionally smooth that it tended to highlight any roughness at higher revs. Those more legally minded will be happy to know that 6000rpm equates to 80mph. Another joy with the Honda was that it could be left in fifth for most of the time, just open the throttle and it shifts. Do this with six grand on the clock and it'll try to pull your arms out of their sockets.
The 545lb bike was also surprisingly easy to chuck around country roads. The front forks were well made and kept their precision for 22000 miles, the FVQ rear shocks were adjustable for damping and springing, needed to be fully turned up for bumpy roads and lasted for 11000 miles. More importantly, the engine is mounted low and well forward, the cylinders canted 30° forward, whilst the riding position was very European, with semi rear-sets and flattish bars. Put all this together to have a bike that feels both secure and precise and can be leant right over on the edge of the tyres.
It never was perfect, though, because the swinging arm bushes were plastic and the swinging arm itself quite happy to flex. Shut off the throttle in a corner and the back end shakes and loses traction. Also because of the forward weight bias, very heavy braking lifts the back wheel off the ground momentarily. In certain circumstances, like when leant over on a bumpy curve, this can become very frightening - the back end just starts skipping off across the road. But in eight years of riding this has only occurred three times and I'm still here to talk about it.
At 12500 miles a used square section swinging arm with needle roller bearings was fitted off a crashed CBX. Apart from the need to take loads of junk off the bike to gain access, this fitted on quite easily. At the same time I bought a complete exhaust system off the bike, as mine had already turned the headers rusty and the silencers had started to rattle where the baffles had corroded away. With the new swinging arm it felt much more stable in bends when the throttle was backed off or the brakes applied. As the bearings are still OK, it was money very well spent and much safer than stock.
According to Honda the oil should be changed every 3000 miles, but being a Honda man of long standing, I change the oil every 1000 miles (using Duckhams) and the filter at 3000 miles. I think that these regular changes go a long way to explaining the long life of the engine. Electronic ignition requires little attention whilst the valve clearances are controlled by shims that are wonderfully easy to get at. For the first ten thousand miles they stayed within the clearance limits, thereafter I've had to adjust two or three every five thousand miles. A shim costs around a quid a time, so this is by no means an expensive habit. The carbs, unfortunately, don't stay in balance for great distances and really need to be set up every 2000 miles, but I let a dealer balance them every 5000 miles, which at £25 is a reasonable compromise between cost and smoothness.
The rear tyre lasts for around 5000 miles, irregardless of which make is fitted, the front goes for 6000 miles. I went through a phase when I favoured Metzelers, but have just reverted back to Roadrunners (AM20/21) and find the new tyres as good as anything I've fitted. But I just hate fitting them to the alloy Comstar wheels.
When I first had the bike, the combination of twin front discs and single rear was quite ace - very powerful and responsive, no wet weather delay and not even any noises. That happy state lasted for around 5000 miles when my penchant for actually commuting in the depth of the winter led to them seizing up due to corrosion. I managed to tear all three apart and clean them up. The only benefit of this was that they always went when the pads needed changing. I had to buy a new set at 35000 miles - er, new meaning a slightly used set from a breakers for forty notes. By 50000 miles all three discs were warped and the brakes made some fairly hideous noises. The former brick wall effect was missing. By then the forks were also shot, the bike was weaving at speeds above 75mph and bouncing disconcertingly in fast curves.
I pinched the whole front end off a 1983 CBX that had seized. The later bikes were more of a tourer than a sportster, with a hideous fairing and awful styling. I found the new forks on the soft side, so put in spacers to tighten them up. At 11000 miles I fitted some Koni rear shocks which went for 21000 miles when I fitted some S&Ws, which were so much better that I even fitted a new pair when they were shot 27000 miles later. In fact, at one point I had a bike with better forks, shocks and swinging arm than stock, which for a 50000 miler is pretty good going.
Not so good was the finish of the machine at that stage. All the engine alloy was badly corroded, the chrome was more rust than shine, the second exhaust was rusty and almost straight through. The bike looked scruffy and well used. It still ran quite nicely, though, the only real mechanical fault had been the alternator that had burned out and left me stranded a hundred miles from home. A CBX will just run for that distance with a fully charged battery and no alternator. I managed to pick one up for fifty quid from yet another breaker.
I decided to take the motor, out and strip down the chassis for cleaning, blasting and painting. This left a large hole in my life as it took a months work to pull it all back together. Except for taking off all the engine covers for bead blasting, and wire brushing and polishing, the engine wasn't touched. I decided to let the local sprayer do the work. I now have the only British Racing Green CBX1000 in the UK. The finish stood up very well to the next 50000 miles.
When I first had the bike it would average as much as 50mpg if I just cruised around without offending the speed limits, now it never does better than 42mpg. Before it could go as low as 30mpg and that has degenerated to 25mpg. It now averages 34mpg when before it would just manage 40mpg. I suppose that the carbs, which have never been touched except for balancing, are as well worn out as most of the engine components must be. Top speed had been cut by 10mph to 125mph, trying to go beyond that speed induces quite fierce vibes, but, fortunately, my need for excessive speed has decreased in line with the bike's ability to deliver it; we've grown old together!
That's one of the nice things of owning a bike for so long there's so much shared experience that you tend to forgive the bike when it does something wrong. Like chronic clutch slip at 65000 miles. The plates were well gone, as there weren't any in nearby breakers at that time, I went wild and ordered new. These only lasted for 15000 miles, the guy in the shop wanted me to buy a whole clutch body when I complained and then muttered something about many Honda engines not lasting that kind of distance. Anyway, the second set I fitted have lasted better and still hanging on in there.
Just after the clutch went, the alternator started playing up (the neat voltmeter fitted started oscillating wildly), so I bought a used one by post. This lasted almost exactly 4000 miles, which was sixty quid wasted. I found another one for forty and that has held out so far.
The bike has also suffered from a weeping cylinder head gasket. This started at 35000 miles but was cleared up by tightening down the head. The same trick was repeated at 45000 miles. At 62800 miles tightening down the head had no effect but the oil leak has never become worse. Ride the CBX very hard for a long time and the front of the cylinder is badly splattered with oil, but strangely it had little effect on oil consumption, which is still minimal between changes.
The O-ring chain lasted for a credible 12500 miles. It'll do about 1200 miles before needing adjustment. Sprockets need replacing every 25000 miles to maintain that kind of wear, although I did once keep the sprockets for 40000 miles, taking chain life down to a mere 7000 miles, probably a false economy, especially when it further upsets a worn engine transmission.
The silencers go for about 20000 miles before holes start appearing and will do a few more thousand miles before they become straight through. I had some stainless headers made up at 50000 miles and have used cheapo Universal silencers, which have a similar life but cost only £35/pair to replace. The left hand alloy footrest bracket broke at 65000 miles, but another one was bought from a breaker for only £10. At a similar mileage the engine started to misfire, cured by buying a new set of coils. A few miles later oil started pouring out of one of the oil cooler connectors, it had actually cracked where it joined the oil cooler - forty quid from the same breaker for a new cooler fixed that. I was lucky to have spotted that one straight away.
The most serious fault occurred when the frame tube broke at one of the welds by the headstock. Before I realised what had happened the bike did one hell of a tank slapper at 80mph on a smooth, flat, straight motorway. Luckily there weren't any cars around that early in the morning and I rode home very, very slowly. I persuaded a friend to weld the tube back and the handling has been fine since then. I now take off the tank every time I change the oil to check it. The headstock is very well supported with no less than five tubes meeting there.
Minor niggles include an air filter (12000 mile life) that is difficult to change, mirrors that blur above 90mph and electric connectors that can fall apart: I've had the lights switch themselves off at the wrong moment and indicators that flash crazily. At 48000 miles I rewired the bike completely using some high tech connectors I hijacked from work that are normally used in missiles, no more problems from the electrics.
Taken together all these problems might appear quite a lot, but they were spread over 100000 miles of highly enjoyable motorcycling. Each year I used to take the bike for a three week trip to Europe and never experienced any problems despite the fact that I could easily clock up anywhere between three and five thousand miles. Only last year, the bike purred happily down German autobahns at an indicated 100mph for a couple of hours, and could then take to the back roads and still hustle along country bends.
While the latest high tech stuff will leave it for standing it's as good a handler as any number of late seventies Jap fours, a fact all the more remarkable considering its mass and engine configuration. With a 59" wheelbase and those 545lbs of mass it's surprisingly easy to manoeuvre in town, although you do have to watch the width of that engine. Out of town I've had races with common devices like GS1000s and Z1000s, which, in its earlier days at least, could be left in both a straight line and through the bends, much to their annoyance. A lot of riders of big Kawasakis and Suzukis tend to dismiss the Honda as unwieldy and about as speed orientated as a Goldwing, and I rather used to enjoy educating them. Also swapping bikes with mates reveal these fours to be very vibratory and generally uncivilized. Of course, I'll accept that something like a GPz1100 will burn off the Honda and consume less fuel while putting it in its place.
By 85000 miles the forks and the discs were knackered again. I'd rebuilt the original forks with new seals and stiffer springs, so that was no great problem. Another set of calipers and discs were procured from a breaker in Bristol, more by accident than design as I was just looking around the place when visiting friends in that city. While I was dealing with this, I had the pair of alloy Comstar wheels bead blasted and polished them up with Solvol. The bike was beginning to look good again. It went through periods of gradual deterioration when I couldn't be bothered or didn't have the time to polish it up. Then I'd have a brief period of activity when I'd repair the damage.
Along with the uprated forks I fitted a fork brace, the bike is now as good as it's ever been. I had a test ride on a CBR1000 and was forced to admit that the CBX did feel a little dated - both on acceleration and handling. But the four cylinder motor still felt a little rough when compared with the six and it didn't seem quite so flexible. Still, it is a tempting proposition.
The switchgear has never given any problems and by now I have no trouble operating it. The headlamp had a peculiar beam pattern that upset car drivers as it glanced off their mirrors and the 60/55W unit precluded speeds in excess of 70mph in the dark. It was quickly swapped for a quartz halogen unit, which while much better keeps blowing every 18000 miles. The speedo cables last only 12000 miles, although the rev counter is still original, whilst throttle cables are good for about 15000 miles (I always carry a spare taped in place).
The clutch hasn't been mentioned because except for the problems with worn plates it required minimal pressure and had plenty of feel. Unlike my older Hondas it never dragged in traffic or when starting from cold. When I first had the bike the gearbox was precise with no slop, but rapidly deteriorated from 40000 miles, until by now it needs a firm action and plenty of time to avoid missed changes. My days of drag starts are finished, so no worry about missing gears and revving the engine to 13000.
The current state of the engine is not exactly confidence inspiring. The bores and pistons, somewhat surprisingly, are still OK judging by the lack of smoke from the engine. The large number of chains in the engine have started to rattle rather terminally, especially when the throttle is backed off. It'll mean a complete strip down to replace them all, and cost around £300 to do properly. I'm tempted to find a later motor from a breaker and just bolt it in (£500 to £750 depending on the breaker).
Overall the CBX1000 has been surprisingly versatile and done just about everything I've asked of it without complaint. It'll be a lot cheaper to renovate it than buy a new bike, so I may keep it for a long time.
Guy Williams