1979 Honda CBX Road Test - page 8

Early in the morning on Thursday, the fourth day, it began to rain. The journalists had arranged some exclusive test time at Irwindale Raceway, but 24 hours earlier word had come that Irwindale had been sold to make way for a brewery. Orange County International, the only remaining drag strip in Southern California, was called. Could we bring a certain motorcycle there the next morning for quarter-mile running? Yes. Could security be arranged? Yes, as long as we got there early enough. OCIR was setting up for a motorcycle jumping contest, to be held Friday. Workers were scheduled to arrive at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday; the track would be open, for us, at 7:30.

The journalists arrived at 6:40 a.m.; the CBX, the technicians and the engineers came shortly thereafter, followed by a man with a truck full of straw bales for the jump contest. The tension level escalated sharply. Seven-thirty came and went - no track personnel. The bike, the Honda people, the journalists and a growing number of jump contest workers were still locked outside, searching the sky and staring at their watches. The bike had to run this morning, or not at all - it had to be on an airplane the next day, Friday, for its appointment in Japan. It wasn't raining hard now, but would shortly. Still the gates were locked.

They swung open at 7:50; the track official had been caught in traffic. The journalists and the Honda people poured inside. The rental fee was paid, documents signed, the clocks were turned on and while one of the journalists climbed frantically into his leathers the CBX, still under its cover, was warmed. The journalist, now dressed, sprinted for the starting line and felt the ground. It was wet, which frequently happens when rain comes down. And it was getting wetter.

The journalist ran quickly back to the CBX. The cover was torn off, he mounted up, checked to see that it was warm and rode to the start.

Lining up in the middle of the right lane, engine speed was brought up to 3500 rpm and the clutch was released, The bike sat there, furiously spinning its rear tire and going nowhere. Next the bike was brought to the far right-hand edge of the lane, where there was no rubber build-up. Again engine speed was brought to 3500, and the bike was launched.

Huddled around the starting line speaker, protected by not nearly enough umbrellas, the Japanese heard the first-run numbers: 11.976 seconds at 115.97 mph. The rider brought the CBX off the line at 6500 rpm on the second run. Traction felt all right, considering. The numbers: 11.783 at 116.27. On the third run, starting line engine speed was set at 7500 rpm. The numbers: 11.657 at 116.12 mph.

On the fourth run the clutch got grabby and it became impossible to modulate the engine's power. The testing was terminated and the heavy veils of secrecy slammed back down. By 8:20 a.m. the silky whistle of the Six was replaced by the tapping of workmen's hammers and the peaceful sound of the rain.

Having produced an 11.65-second ET in the wet, no one knew what the CBX could do on a dry track. Three weeks later the bike returned from Japan for the conclusion of its test, and a few hours were set aside for additional quarter-mile running. Once again, it was brought to OCIR. The track was dry; there was a light headwind.

Its first two runs were troubled ones; 600 miles of street riding had sooted-up its spark plugs, and the engine was not pulling hard in the upper gears. Action Fours, a high-performance aftermarket manufacturer, was called, and Action's Jim Dickinson brought six new NGK D8s down to the track. The CBX's subsequent runs were as follows: 11.80 @ 116.73; 11.55 @ 117.49; 11.64 @ 116.88; 11.63 @ 116.73; 11.65 @ 116.88; 11.58 @ 117.18; 11.57 @ 117.49; 11.62 @ 117.18; and 11.61 @ 116.58.

The bike's 11.55-second ET was by almost two-tenths the quickest quarter-mile ever turned by a standard production motorcycle tested by any magazine; its top-end blast of 117.49 was more than two miles per hour up on the XS Eleven's fastest. There is no doubt: the CBX Six is the hardest-accelerating production vehicle ever built.

Race tracks are solemn places. They segregate, and then totally ignore, anything which has no direct bearing on speed. Thus far the journalists had ridden the CBX only on race tracks. When it came back to us early in December the initial dealer meeting was over, and the security was lifted. Finally, we could experience the Six in its proper environment: the street.

It becomes immediately obvious that the bike's street behavior is in many ways antithetical to its race track behavior; areas of marginal weakness on the track become areas of specific strength on the street. It also becomes immediately obvious that as a sporting street motorcycle the CBX is unmatched. Fact: the Six has more cornering clearance than any medium- to large- displacement motorcycle we've tested in the past five years-better than any standard Ducati, or Triumph, or Suzuki, or Yamaha, or Kawasaki, or Honda, or anything - this despite its 23.4-inch engine width dimension. Fact: the bike can accelerate uphill from 15 mph in fifth gear without a hitch, or a stumble, or a cough or a shudder, and can give an excellent account of itself in high-gear roll-ons from 50 or 55 mph - this despite the engine's hotsy-totsy state of tune. Fact: on California's twisting mountain roads the bike is as agile and accurate as motorcycles weighing 150 pounds less. Fact: it has the smoothest clutch operation and the cleanest gearbox we've experienced since the 750 Ducati Super Sport. Fact: despite its heady retinue of cylinders and pistons, the CBX above 6000 rpm vibrates barely less than a GS1000 Suzuki and more than a Honda GL1000 or Yamaha XS Eleven. It obviously vibrated on the track as well - we just hadn't noticed. Fact: despite the flimsy dimensions of its swing arm and pivot pin, its 35mm fork pipes and its ordinary-looking FVQ shocks, it is virtually impossible to induce wallowing or wobbling in high-speed street cornering. Among big multi-cylinder bikes, only the GS1000 handles better at speed - barely.

This is a sport motorcycle. Because Honda offers a GL1000 for touring, the CBX makes no concessions to the long-distance crowd. This becomes apparent after the first 200 miles of highway travel. The front fork springs are stiff: 44.7 lbs/in initially, then 55.9 lbs/in when the second rate takes over. The rear springs are likewise - 112 lbs/in - and while the fork acknowledges freeway expansion joints, the shocks do not. On the open road the ride could be described as firm only by the most charitable of testers. Everyone else would call it severe. The ride is matched by the saddle. You put your fanny where the Six wants you to put it - in the depression between the front of the seat and the riser in the middle. There is less room here than meets the eye, and what room there is is stiffly padded.

   

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