Well I’ve had an eye out for a CBX for some time, maybe as long as 15 years after riding a friend’s. One finally fell in my lap last week (ouch) for a very reasonable price and after a weekend of rubbing and polishing I am now the proud owner of a 1982 CBX that is in far better condition than I ever could have hoped for. 30,000 miles and still with original everything, as far as I can tell, including paint and exhausts.
The Honda CBX came out in 1978 and was the world’s fastest production motorcycle, which also happened to be the year that I was old enough to get a driver’s license (in the UK), thus made quite an impression. 39 years later I finally have one (with a little math that will tell you how young I am).
I have a small collection of other bikes including a ‘54 Royal Enfield Bullet, ‘70 Triumph Bonneville, ‘69 BSA Starfire, ‘68 BSA Spitfire (basket case) and my daily rider a 2013 Triumph Tiger. OK, so I’m a Brit by birth and I also have a Jensen Healey, a MK2 Jag (also in pieces) and a Fordson Dexta tractor. So why a Honda you might ask?
Well my first “real” motorcycle was a 400/4 (borrowed a friend’s 250 SuperDream to take my motorcycle test) followed by a 750/4. Wish I still had both those bikes now. I’ve always been impressed by Mr. Honda’s engineering whether it be a motorcycle, a car or a lawn mower. The CBX was an engineering marvel in it’s day. Triumph was still making the Bonneville up until 1983, a pushrod 2 valve twin and here’s Honda with a six cylinder, DOHC, 24 valve beast. However, I will say the Triumph handled better but you had to rebuild the top end about every 20,000 miles and bits tended to fall off going down the road and it always “marked it’s spot” and of course you had to deal with “Lord Lucas”. The Hondas just ran so well and reliably. For the first 100,000 miles all you had to do was change the oil and keep tires and chains on the thing.
Well I’ve probably rambled enough for a first post to the forum. Just trying to give an idea of who I am. I’m actually a Marine Engineer by trade but now work at a gas turbine power generation plant.
Andy
sadly there is no known cure for this affliction ...but take heart in the knowledge there many who are much, much, much sicker than you... 