1962 Honda CB92 Benly Super Sport

Okay, we’ll say it again: Honda Motor Company, and only days before Mr. Honda’s brazen — nay, brash — announcement, the fledging company had competed in one of its first international forays, an obscure race held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Honda’s team bike finished a yawn-inducing 13th place in a field of 22 entries. (Pause now for yawning.) A couple months later, Mr. Honda himself visited the tiny island in the middle of the Irish Sea to spectate the 1954 Isle of Man TT for a closer look at what racing on the landmark isle was all about, and more specifically what Honda’s race team would face the following year. That first visit to the TT left a long and lasting impression on Honda the man, prompting him to up the ante for Honda’s future racing debut there.

At that same time Mr. Honda realized that the muted response by the established European teams to his bold proclamation had been warranted. At the time, Honda Motor’s first-ever “serious” race bike produced a paltry 8 horsepower, less than half of what the experienced European race teams were developing for their world championship 125cc motorcycles.

Clearly, if any success at the Isle of Man TT was to be achieved, Honda Motor in Japan had a long way to go, both geographically and technically speaking. So, as the 1955 TT neared, Honda engineers were about to realize precisely where they stood in the vicious Grand Prix winner-take-all arena. Years later, Mick Woolett wrote in his book Honda Racers in the Golden Age (published in 1990) that Honda’s initial 125cc twin-cylinder racing engine “only developed 8bhp when MV Augusta or MZ [engines] had the figures of at least 18bhp.” Honda certainly did have a long way to go, prompting Mr. Honda to cancel his IoM TT plans for 1955. Ditto for 1956, ’57 and ’58. Honda Motor’s journey to the TT continually got sidelined because of testing, testing and more testing in Japan. And like a concerned, yet proud, Little League dad, Soichiro-san kept a close eye on his budding team’s progress. Perhaps the team could make the 1959 TT …

Initially team engineers focused on Honda’s RC141 racer, powered by an air-cooled twin-cylinder 4-stroke engine displacing 124.6cc from a bore and stroke measuring 44mm x 41mm. The engine was nestled in a tubular frame found on many of Europe’s contemporary race bikes, but Honda’s front fork consisted of an archaic leading link type, an inferior design compared to the telescopic forks used by many European teams.

The RC141’s 125cc engine, fed by two carburetors, sported double overhead camshafts operated by a shaft and bevel gear drive to monitor two valves per cylinder, similar to many of the European engines. A 6-speed transmission shuttled a claimed 17hp to the 18-inch rear wheel, but the combination still wasn’t enough to be competitive. So it was back to the drawing board where engineers gifted the little eighth-liter engine with a new 4-valve cylinder head design, something the Europeans had previously tried and determined wasn’t necessary for boosting horsepower. In fact by 1959 engineers on the continent also rationalized that over-square bore and stroke wasn’t necessary for an engine’s potential. So they thought, anyway. Horsepower, the Europeans race veterans claimed, was better gained using longer-stroke engines. Yet Honda forged ahead with a new 4-valve engine to replace the RC141. Known as the RC142, the updated engine retained the same 44mm x 41mm bore and stroke for a redline of 14,000 oh-my-gosh rpm. As you’ll see, that same over-square formula would become a standard with Honda’s line of 125cc consumer street-going models soon to follow, also destined for worldwide distribution, including North America.

According to Woolett’s book, the new RC142 4-valver became Honda’s weapon of choice for the team’s 1959 Isle of Man TT debut. Honda rated horsepower at 18.5bhp. Would it be enough?

The Manx-bound team included four factory-backed Japanese riders, plus a fifth bike ridden by American privateer Bill Hunt who had experience racing Hondas in Japan. In coming months Hunt would open the first American Honda dealership in Los Angeles. Moreover, the 125cc IoM race was held on the shorter, and lesser known, 10.79-mile Clypse Course, not the legendary 37.73-mile Mountain Course that the larger-displacement bikes competed on.

By the conclusion of the 1959 race all factory-backed Honda entries were accounted for, although Hunt (riding an RC141) crashed (without injury) on the third lap. The four Japanese team riders went on to place sixth (Naomi Taniguchi; silver medal), seventh (Giichi Suzuki; bronze), eighth (Teisuke Tanaka; bronze), and 11th (Junzo Suzuki; Finisher’s Medal). Their cumulative score earned the factory riders the Manufacturers’ Team Prize. That was the good news. The bad news: Nobody in the racing community admitted to feeling the earth shake — even slightly — that day because, for comparison, race winner Torquinio Provini on a MV Augusta averaged 74.06mph over the abbreviated Clypse Course, compared to Toniguchi’s 68.29mph average. In fact all top-five finishers — riding European brands — averaged more than 71mph in the race. The rookies from the Orient had a long way to go … back home for more R&D as well as for their journey that, they hoped, would one day take them to the front of the pack in World Championship road racing.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

However, as time passed, the journey proved to be shorter than feared. By 1961 Honda won its first Grand Prix race, and by the end of that season it wrapped up its first two Manufacturers’ Championships (125cc and 250cc). As we now know, Honda Motors went on to dominate Grand Prix road racing during the 1960s, scoring countless rider and manufacturer championships. By 1966 Honda’s team reached its apogee of world titles, sweeping all five classes (50cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc) in a single year! What many people didn’t know, or at least didn’t appreciate at the time, was that by 1959 Honda Motors planned to incorporate much of what was learned on the race track into the very products that motorcycle consumers were eagerly purchasing in growing numbers from the robust Japanese company. By 1959 what won (or even raced) on Sunday clearing sold on Monday as Honda’s motorcycle sales exploded worldwide.

It’s safe to say, too, that the mushroom-shape cloud from that sales explosion included the model featured here, perhaps Honda’s first sport bike, powered by a 124.6cc engine boasting bore and stroke of 44mm x 41mm, the same specs found with Honda’s expeditionary force of RC142 bikes that helped fill the 1959 TT grid. The CB92 Benly, featured here, was among the initial street models to evolve from team racing. But in truth, it derived from a more conventional, and somewhat subdued, street model, too — the CA90, powered by a 125cc engine with 44mm x 41mm bore and stroke. The short-lived CA90 was kick-start only, and by 1959 the electric-start CA92 Benly replaced it in America, with similar variations intended for worldwide use. But by 1960, the CA95, powered by a 154cc variant of original CA90’s twin-cylinder 125cc street engine, joined the U.S. market, supplanting the CA92. The folks at American Honda’s new facility in Los Angeles, California, realized soon enough that an electric starter was a convenience that Americans would love. So was more power, prompting the addition of the CA95 and its larger engine to the lineup. However, the C92 continued to be sold in most other international markets.

In all cases, the CA90, CA92 and CA95 Benlys were daily riders, not weekend racers. Benly translates to “convenient” in Japanese, a fitting moniker considering just how convenient Honda motorcycles had become for Japan’s populace during the mid-to-late 1950s. Indeed, most of those Hondas were daily riders, not racers. And, as you might expect, the CA92/CA95 were powered by an economical two-valve design fed by a single 18mm Keihin carburetor (the CA95’s 154cc engine was fed by a 22mm carb). Yet the early Benly models were for street riding, not racing. The friendly engine was nestled in a pressed-steel frame, and the whole package was a rather rudimentary affair, right down to the 16-inch wheels and tires, flat-side mufflers and valanced fenders.

Despite nondescript styling, the original 125cc CA92 Benly had served as a blueprint for the sportier CB92 Benly. Clearly, too, the CB92 was more than an ordinary daily rider model. It was a sport bike, through and through, prompting the marketing crew to eventually tag it the Benly Super Sport. As with much of Honda’s marketing and advertising practices back then, over time the CB92 utilized more than one descriptive attached to its name. Depending on the marketing target, its monikers included “Benly,” “Super Sport,” “SS,” or just plain “CB92” that were used in a combinations during the model’s tenure in the international lineup that stretched from late 1959 through 1964. Although American Honda’s sales figures aren’t official, most CB92 experts assert that about 1,000 CB92 Benly Super Sports were sold between 1960-’62 in America, with many more sold world-wide until the end of production in 1964.

Throughout their years in the lineup, both the CB92/CA95 utilized pressed-steel frames with leading-link front forks similar to those on the 1959 IoM racers (although the racers’ fork legs included sturdier round tubing, etc.). Rear suspension featured twin shock absorbers, but again the bikes differed from each other; all “standard” Benlys were equipped with Honda’s ubiquitous enclosed tube shock absorbers found on most Hondas of the time, while the CB92 relied on a pair of exposed coil-over-spring rear shocks, much like those on Grand Prix racers, to smooth the ride.

Clearly, the CB92 differed from Honda’s basic Benly models in many ways. A quick glance at the CB92 reveals a slimmer yet functional front fender styled like those on the racers, and its tail section, formed as an integral part of the frame, was slightly bobbed, suggesting a sporty heritage. Also, a slightly shorter (in length) bench seat replaced the classic Benly’s more utilitarian two-up saddle for rider and passenger, while a tubular handlebar helped position the CB92’s rider into a racing crouch. To further improve handling, sporty 18-inch wheels replaced the sedate Benlys’ 16-inch hoops. Ditto for the CB92’s racy mufflers that usurped the plain vanilla Benlys’ uninspiring slab-side silencers.

Tanks for the memories

Perhaps the CB92’s most distinguishing feature was its fuel tank, constructed of alloy on early models before Honda switched to sheet metal that was easier and less expensive to form into shape. Regardless of composition, the CB92’s metallic silver gas tank clearly resembled the RC142’s hand-formed alloy fuel cell used at the 1959 TT. Rightly so, the CB92’s tank appeared to be sized and sculpted for a specific purpose — high-performance riding. The low-profile seat butted up to the gas tank, and an optional solo saddle sporting a kick-up tail section resembling Honda’s Grand Prix race bikes’ seats. And above all else, that accessory solo seat suggested one thing — racing.

A final feature about the CB92’s gas tank: As per Honda’s practice during those days, early CB92 tanks (1959) wore rubber pad and decals on their sides. By 1960, Honda’s familiar round plastic emblems marked “Benly” replaced the decals. From 1961 on, CB92 tanks were marked “Benly 125,” and also were used on the special CR93 (125cc) full-race model.

As expected, the CB92 brought more power to the game than did the original C92’s 125cc engine. Start with the larger carburetor, a 20mm Keihin compared to the C92’s 18mm Keihin. Their respective compression ratios were 10:1 and 8.3:1, resulting in 15hp at a rather wild 10,500rpm for the CB, and 12hp at 9,500rpm for the C92. Indeed, the CB’s engine was more refined in various other ways, including stronger valves and a three-main-bearing crankshaft to deal with the added power, compared to the C92’s two main bearings.

Result: The CB92 was good for about 80mph in stock trim; more when fitted with items offered through Honda’s YB division, a corporate entity that qualified as Honda Motor’s first connection for customers to purchase factory-direct high-performance parts for their bikes. In fact, YB offered a variety of racing components for the CB92, among them a performance camshaft and a reconfigured cylinder head with a cable-operated tachometer drive that coupled to a YB tachometer (calibrated to 14,000rpm) that mounted into the headlight casing’s opening normally reserved for the speedometer. Perhaps the most relevant performance components of all were YB’s pair of sexy, seamless bolt-on open megaphone exhaust pipes. Even a kick-start lever purposely formed to clear those mufflers made the YB’s parts manifest, among many other items.

In addition, the CB92’s brakes were bred for speed (well, actually quick stopping), too. The initial CB92s that left the assembly line were fitted with a front 8-inch diameter double-leading shoe drum brake and backing plate formed from lightweight magnesium — exotic stuff typically found only on race bikes in 1959. But within two years, Honda switched to more user-friendly and less costly cast aluminum for the CB92’s front brake. Even so, the size of the front brake alone made it clear that Honda was as serious about the CB92’s success on the race track as on the dealer’s sales floor. The 8-inch double-leading-shoe front brake was the same as those on the CB72 and CB77 (250 and 305 models), but the CB92’s single leading shoe rear brake remained similar as that on the original CA92, only larger.

Honda’s racing successes were often featured in win ads published in enthusiast magazines, too. Shortly after earning the 1959 Isle of Man TT Manufacturer’s Team Award, Honda placed a win ad in the September 1959 issue of Motorcyclist, boldly touting: “Victory at Isle of Man TT 1959, 125cc awarded MANUFACTURERS’ TEAM PRIZE.” The ad also specifically mentioned Honda’s “Super Sport Model: CB92 125cc” in its copy.

No doubt, the entire CB92 package reeked with snappy styling and high-performance components, all suggesting speed and more speed, even if it was from a 125cc engine. The YB connection was so successful that, over time, the CB92 rightfully retained its Super Sport soubriquet, one that Honda used liberally in its advertising.

Moreover, the magazine win ads proved to be credible as racers with their CB92s began showing up at American races. Dave Ekins, among the top scrambles and TT racers in America, won several events on his modified (for the dirt) CB92 before race officials realized the bike (possibly the special CB92R model?) wasn’t a homologated U.S. market model at the time of his wins. Another young Southern California racer, Writzel Morgan, won a special fuel economy run with his CB92, and later that month he won the 125cc class at an AFM road race in Santa Barbara.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent several CB92s showed up for the 1961 Grand Prix of the United States, held at Daytona International Speedway. Among the finishers in the 250cc race was Ken Gordon aboard his CB92, placing 29th.

And a CB92 allowed a young woman named Mary McGee — already a successful automobile road racer — to extend her racing career into motorcycle competition, becoming the first American woman to earn an FIM road race license, doing so on a CB92. Her later success in Baja, and other off-road events, led to her rightful place in the AMA and the Trailblazers Halls of Fame.

Not every CB92 was pointed toward the starting line, though. The 1962 Benly Super Sport featured here was acquired by a young man named Jim Williams shortly after the bike first rolled on American pavement. Not a stranger among hand tools and all things mechanical, Jim kept his CB92 in top shape for more than half a century, only recently restoring it to stellar condition. He also collected YB parts for the bike during his stewardship, but mysteriously elected not to include them in the bike’s restoration. Instead he included those magical performance parts in the bike’s sale.

But before the paint dried on Jim’s “for sale” sign, Jeffray Fargher made haste from his home in Ojai, California, to Cambria a few miles up the coast to purchase the red CB92. Jeffray, a hardcore CB92 enthusiast, got his first glimpse of a Honda motorcycle as a youngster when he and his father attended the 1963 Oregon State Fair. The Honda display didn’t include a CB92, but the following day he and his dad visited the nearby Honda dealer — housed in a Massey Ferguson tractor dealership — to see what the Honda motorcycles were all about. The display included a CB92. Jeffray was hooked.

Easy as one-two-three

“I knew then that this was the bike I wanted to own one day,” recalled Jeffray. So when he spotted Jim’s CB92 on the market, also taking measure of its YB parts manifest, he wanted it really, really badly. This happens to be the fourth CB92 that Jeffray has owned, but for various reasons, over time, he parted with bikes one, two and three.

“I’m keeping Number Four!” He promised himself after closing the deal with Jim. The plan now is to ride it on those alluring twisty roads that the Ojai area is known for. Thus begins Jeffray Fargher’s own “Golden Era” that includes a priceless CB92 — a model that traces its roots back to the Isle of Man itself. MC

Special thanks to Bill “Mr. Honda” Silver for clarifying much of the CB92‘s background for this article.