My name is Tony Herd and I am a 59 year old Kiwi and have been living in Sydney since 1979. I am now on my second red Twin Shock CBX (and yes, the first one was the one I NEVER should have sold!). Prior to emigrating to Australia, I did road and drag racing on a Yoshimura equipped SOHC 750 Honda bored out to 812 cc in New Zealand. Also helped and pit crewed for buddies who road and drag raced CBXs, CB900Fs and CB1100Rs.
"Cybil", my '78 CBX was purchased here in Sydney as a non-running silver wreck that had sat out in the rains for 5 years. It was so long ago I really can't remember, but I vaguely recall it was in the early 90's. Back when I had my first one in the early 80s, being much younger and having "far more ambition than skill" (thankyou Casey!), I fell into that excellent Honda 'Gotcha!' in the workshop manuaul. During a top end overhaul, (done more because I thought I could and had access to cheap OEM parts rather than because it needed it), I found out the very hard way what was later referred to in CBX circles as "the 30 km rebuild". Yes, I had installed the camshafts incorrectly and built myself a "thruple" engine. Trying to diagnose the problem, I had that engine apart down to the crankshaft out so many times, I was doing it in my sleep. It got to the stage where I could run the engine to operating temperature, realise it was still not right and pull it apart down to crankshaft out on the bench still too hot to hold in my hands. Two broken cam chains, 9 bent valves later I simply gave up in disgust and handed it to a bike shop. Once I got it back and handed across about $2k (this was back in the 80's remember), it really took the shine off CBX ownership for me.
But, being a glutton for punishment, I still pined for that unique CBX purr, so purchased Cybil about a decade or more later and the rest is history. Got it on the road the first time in about 1997, then went and lived and worked in Hong Kong for two years. On my return, Cybil was definitely not in a good way, so decided to do it all again, stripping motor down to crankcases, new rings and (silly me) OEM valve stem seals. However, this time I am MUCH happier with the result.
Here's a before' and a couple of 'afters' of Cybil I quite like.
And a few shots during No. 2 engine rebuild...
Me on left and good motorcycling mate, Colin
Future plans for Cybil include a set of Dyna coils (they may go on this weekend), a Cruisinimage 1147cc kit and a set of those 'Breaking Bad' blue viton valve stem seals, and a CBX-tra alternator upgrade. Then ride, sleep, repeat as needed.
I have spent most of my CBX forum time over on CBX World, so that is why I am a relative newbie here. However, I was mentioned here back in 2013 when I was involved in the 3 day basket case to runner resurrection of "The Humpty Bike" with John Patterson in Kauai, Hawaii, which was a fun project - from basket case to runner in 3 days and was real pleased to get it running for him. (see Humpty bike in Project forum).
Here's me with John's finished Hawaiian "Humpty Bike.
And John & his wife Kadeleine very happy indeed.
Another interesting CBX I worked on recently was "The 43 km CBX". This bike was originally purchased here in Sydney, driven from dealer to home by the proud new owner, driven around the block ONCE (during which time he gave himself one hell of a fright apparently) then simply parked it inside his house for the next 35 years untouched! On the passing of the original owner, it was willed to his nephew who sold it to the current owner, who made contact with me. I suggested that it would be best for Mike Nixon to do the carbs, then I had to replace the igniters because one died and fixed up a few other items on it that were munged up by the bike shop that did some of the work, but gave up because it was too difficult.
Here's a couple of pics of it when I had it at my place doing the work on it....
It is a lovely bit of kit to be sure.
Speaking of lovely bits of kit, here is the CB1100F Superbike I help crew for in Australia and New Zealand. It is owned by Brent Hyde and Vince Sharpe of Vince and Hyde Racing and is simply an exquisite piece of engineering.
And finally, just to show we really do use our CBXs and don't just polish and fettle them, here is Cybil with two friends (I have done major work on both those bikes) at about 05:00 am leaving Sydney to go to Brisbane, about 1,000 kms up the road. Went up on Friday, back on Sunday and I was very happy to say no tools were unpacked in the whole journey.
Looking fwd to dropping in from time to time and thanks for all the support so far folks.
Cheers...Tony.
) introduction, Tony! Looking forward to hear more from you. Contributions from guys with hands-on experience like yours are invaluable for the membership! 
