The International CBX Owners Association

I was chatting with a guy on Instagram and he says that while in a Honda/suzuki dealership in Wilmington N.C. he came across a silver '79 that the salesman claimed the dealership has had it since new and it had zero miles and never even had gas in the tank. Questionable claims, zero miles no gas(never fired up)? Wasn't every bike that came off the assembly line started up and driven onto the dyno and tested before being allowed to leave the factory? Has anyone else heard of this bike in Wilmington?

There is never a bike with 0 miles on the odometer. A new bike's odometer always shows 1-2 miles. New, replacement instruments show 0 miles.

Look at the instrument of the 81CBX still in the crate.

Yeah that’s what I told the guy, salesmen is full of it.
It may be a unsold original but if it says zero miles it’s been turned back or has a new odometer.

Was the 'zero mile' claim literal, or did it have some tenths? I believe I've heard of that bike a couple of times over the years. It could be legit. I believe the bikes were all test run a the factory, but not at the dealer until prepped for delivery. Pushing the bike around gives you the tenths on the odometer.

Dave

another guy on instrgram claims he’s seen the bike a number of times and it has 4 or 5 miles on the odometer, so zero miles and never had gas in the tank was just salesman bs. The sales guy said the dealer has turned down an offer of $30k.

Oh, it could be legit, you’d be amazed how miles add up pushing the bike around for 40 years.

Dave

wyly wrote:another guy on instrgram claims he’s seen the bike a number of times and it has 4 or 5 miles on the odometer, so zero miles and never had gas in the tank was just salesman bs. The sales guy said the dealer has turned down an offer of $30k.

"Never gas in the tank" is also a tall statement. It probably also never had oil in the crankcase...?!?
We all know that the bikes are being run by Final Inspection in the factory. How do they do that? With an external gas tank?

The goal of Final Inspection is to verify that EVERYTHING works. That includes the petcock. For both fuel conveying and leaks.

And if the bike has 4 or 5 miles on the odometer, it was definitely ridden. Getting there by pushing the thing around would take some effort.

I usually test any instruments I am selling with a drill. Speeding the drill to 60mph, you have to let it run for 1 minute to show 1 mile. If you have never done that, try it. You'll be surprised how long a minute can be.

If the bike got pushed even 1/8 mile every year for 40 years, you’re there.

Dave

And does it really matter?

Dave

It matters if not getting what the seller is claiming.
Last year I came across a ‘79 and the sales guy claimed it was an unrestored original, it took only a few seconds to see that wasn’t true and I pointed out the problems but the he wouldn’t change his story. Now You can say it doesn’t matter but he was asking for a lot of cash based on his claims, the unknowing buyer would be paying an inflated price.

Big and obvious difference between a restored bike and a zero, or very low-mile original. Whether it had 0, 1.8, 4.5, I ask again, in that realm, does it really matter?

Dave

Zero would matter because from what I know that isn’t possible and would indicate the odometer has been changed or tampered with. If that’s been changed the claim of unrestored original becomes suspect, as posted before I've encountered just that. You may have heard of Jerry Seinfeld recently being sued over a car he sold to a collector for not being what he claimed it was, details matter.

Anyone that knows me knows I'm about nothing but details. It's pretty easy to tell a 'zero' mile bike from a restored one, and whether it had gas in it or not is immaterial. Honda ran them at the factory on the bottle. There would be cosmoline on the bike in many places that just didn't get cleaned off sitting in the back room. I bought a 1200-mile '82 that still had it all over. Tires would be original with all the nubs, brake rotors would be perfect, lots of ways to tell.

Dave

Wyly has a valid point here. No, it doesn't really matter if the bike has 1.8 or 4.5 miles on the odometer, if it is sold as a "new, never registered" bike. But it matters if the bike is being represented as "never being run, never had gas in it" (which we all know isn't possible anyway). If a bike, still in a crate, is being sold for $28,000.- and the dealer turns down an offer of 30K, it better is really what he claims it is. And with 4 or 5 miles on the odometer - it is not. Period.

daves79x wrote: Honda ran them at the factory on the bottle.
Dave

Who told you that? 1.8 miles "on the bottle?"
I am sorry, but there seems to be a serious lack of understanding how vehicle factories work.
There is a dynamometer run for the complete bike. That could be done on the bottle. But for the dyno run, the rear wheel only turns. The front wheel remains stationary. No miles counted.
The 1.8 miles as shown on the 81 crate bike are real riding miles. No bottle there!

This is all I have to say regarding this issue. Once again, the experts here wrote the bible about everything CBX!