Honda CBX: The power of six cylinders
(Page 3 of 3)
January/February 2006
By Ric Anderson
Jordan bought a CBX and, true to his roots, began modifying it with a new swing arm, wheels, engine mounts and a fork brace. Today, a bike he once dismissed as bloated plodder is his favorite ride.
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“With the updates I’ve done with the suspension and tires, it runs fantastic. I can ride on twisty roads with guys on much more modern bikes, and I don’t even push it. It just fits me very well. I can’t really ride a crotch rocket with the bent-over position, I can ride the old superbikes much better. I like the simplicity of the air-cooling, and it’s easy for a backyard wrench like me to work on.’’
Contrary to concerns that cropped up early in the bike’s production run, Jordan isn’t the only CBX devotee who says the machines are easy to maintain. Greg Wassenberg, who has ridden a CB750 for more than 25 years and became a CBX owner in 2000, says the six-cylinder bike is no more difficult to keep in tune than the 750, Ditner says common sense is the key to CBX maintenance.
“The carbs are a pain if you don’t keep them clean. To pull the carbs, you’ve got to drop the engine, and that’s kind of involved. But if you keep fresh fuel in them and keep them running every now and then, they’re fine.’’
Parts are easy to find, Ditner says, and there are plenty of aftermarket components that greatly enhance the bike. He suggests replacing the factory windshield on the ’81 and ’82 models and adding customized exhaust pipes.
“The windshield isn’t worth a damn, because you ride right in an eddy and there’s a lot of helmet noise. And if you put on aftermarket pipes, that engine sounds like a Ferrari. It’s got this nice growl to it. It’s like hearing God sing."
Star power
Wassenberg says the CBX offers a mix of performance, reliability and notoriety he hasn’t found in any other bike. “A lot of people want to know if it’s a custom engine. Then, when you tell them that it was a production bike made by Honda, they’ll say, ‘I had no idea Honda made a bike like that.’’’
Ditner spent decades climbing Honda’s ladder, starting with a CB160 and progressing to a two-cylinder 350, a four-cylinder 500 and then a CB750F.
But from the first time he twisted the throttle on a CBX, he knew he’d reached the top. “I started looking at getting one as a collector bike. But after I rode one, the 750 hasn’t been out of the garage but once since. There is nothing as smooth as that engine. They’re one hell of a machine.’’
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