Classic Ride - page 4 (Vol. 95 - September 1995)

Next morning I introduced the bike to something it has never seen with BB in the saddle - rain. Bob's allergic to the stuff. It doesn't figure too highly on my list of pleasures either.

However, damp and greasy roads do help in assessing the everyday practicality of a sports bike. Razor sharp power bands and slippery tarmac can be a recipe for grief. No problems there with the CBX, despite the free revving nature of its short stroke engine.

Maximum torque (62.2ft-lbs) is not produced until 8000rpm, but it will glide along in top from less than 30mph with the engine spinning just above tickover. It gets into its stride proper at 4500rpm and accelerates smoothly and strongly from there to the 9500rpm red line without any peaks or troughs to climb over or fall into.

In top, 4500rpm equals 65mph - an ideal 'take-off' point as it's the kind of speed at which you get caught in 'A' road traffic. This means you don't have to cog down to take advantage of any gaps that appear. Just twist the throttle and pounce.

Keep winding it on and 100mph is reached at 7000rpm. And you still have bags of zap in reserve.

Mechanics designer Anthony Marriott-Boam ('Ant' to all you regulars) prefers the CBX's smooth power delivery to the performance characteristics of our GPz900R staff bike. Anyone who has ridden a 900R will know that is praise indeed.

THE Six ceased to be the fastest thing on two wheels long ago, but it is still a thrill to ride.

A bike capable of nearly twice Britain's maximum speed limit, and with enough get-up-and-go to out-accelerate all but a handful of the most exotic sports cars, is far too potent to be dismissed as a quaint museum piece.

All that messes it up on Bob's machine is a touch of clutch slip. It crops up under hard acceleration at 5000rpm and vanishes almost as soon as it appears.

The bike has already been booked into SEP's Derbyshire clinic for attention to some minor oil leaks so this will be remedied at the same time. (Put that pen and paper down immediately Mr Angry of Little Monkton-on-the-Marsh. A slipping clutch does not explain gear selection gremlins on three different CBXs).

Some fine tuning of the carbs is also in order. Tickover is too high and fuel consumption a shade too low. Conclusion: the mixture is a little too rich.

The MCN bike hit a low of 29mpg when ridden hard. Ant's equalled that on a high speed cruise home and even in the wet the best we have seen is only 36mpg - same as the MCN machine's overall average.

The Classic status the CBX now enjoys means most of today's (sensible) owners are likely to run the bike as a high speed cruiser, a role for which its handling is perfectly adequate.

When launched, Honda billed it as an out-and-out sportster. Mistake. Back lane barn-storming was never its forte. It's too big, too heavy and too softly sprung to play in that ball park. As an 'A' road cruiser it's fine.

   

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