1981 Honda CBX Road Test - page 5

Where the CBX conspicuously failed to please in long-duration rides was with its seat. This seat isn't as bad as the old Kawasaki Z1 Vinyl Crucifix, being much softer, but it does have the same deficiencies of shape. Honda has made the forward part of the seat sharply crowned, to give the CBX rider's legs a shorter reach to the ground. Our test riders, even the short ones, said they'd prefer a broader, flatter seat-which might not be as convenient at stoplights but would be less numbing.

At any temperature that invites riding, the CBX starts readily. You thumb the handlebar-mounted lever forward, hit the starter button, and the engine runs. No muss, fuss, or bother. The CBX needs only a minute of running before it's ready to go without the choke, and it keeps running almost as though the EPA had never heard of motorcycles. There is a softness in throttle response right in the 5060 mph range, in fifth gear, but under most conditions the CBX's accelerator pump compensates for its lean jetting.

Rotors have cast-in passages from rotor hubs to perimeters for better cooling; calipers have twin pistons.		Panel and instrument lights do not reflect into the windscreen; high-beam pilot light is a soft purple-blue hue.

CBX owners should hold themselves above contests of speed with Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki Superbikes, maintaining in the face of challenges a cool aristocratic hauteur. They must hold themselves aloof because for all the CBX's lustrous looks and impressive specifications it's not a match for, say, a Suzuki GS1100. Our test CBX ran wonderfully consistent quarter-mile sprints, but it ran them a half-second and six mph slower than the original version we tested late in 1977. Still, you couldn't say that a motorcycle capable of running the standing-start quarter in 12.02-seconds at 111.52 mph is actually slow. And the number of showroom-stock full dressers able to run with the Honda CBX can be counted on the fingers of one foot.

This newest CBX has, as previously noted, very fancy front brake rotors. These have a diameter of 296mm, which is 20mm larger than last year's solid discs and about 50mm more than seems necessary. Maybe the big rotors are Honda's equivalent of power brakes. Anyway, they work well, though the front brake impressed us as being a little less solid-feeling than the last tandem-piston Honda brake we tried. One of our test bike's front discs had a dreadful squeal when lightly applied, but the brakes were effective even when literally smoking hot; and if the brake feel was slightly less good than Honda's best then it still was better than almost anything else.

Honda's dual front brake did not cause the unsprung-weight-related wheel hop we've discovered in some of its rivals. Perhaps this is because the forged-aluminum Honda ComStar wheels are themselves a lot lighter than those stylish cast "mag" wheels you see everywhere these days. In truth, they are aluminum castings, not ultra-light magnesium. Honda representative Jon Row, who takes such things seriously, says scornfully of the cast wheels, "They should be calling them 'als,' not 'mags.' "

For 1981 the CBX gets another broadening of rim widths. The 19-inch front rim is now 2.50 inches across instead of the original 2.15; the rear rim, which first had a 2.15-inch width and widened to 2.50 in 1980, is now a 2.75 x 18. Both front and rear tires are V-rated Dunlop Gold Seals, safe at sustained speeds above 130 mph. As before, the CBX's front rim is fitted with a 3.50-19 tire. But the extra-wide rear rim now carries an extra-wide tire: a 130/90-18, which would be about a 5.00-18 if they'd labeled it in inches, and it actually measures 5.175 in. across its tread.

With its longer aluminum Pro-Link swing arm and increased 29.5-degree fork rake, the CBX has acquired a couple of extra inches of wheelbase, stretching it to 1535mm, or 60.43 in. This unusually long wheelbase and the strongly raked steering geometry should make the CBX slow-handling, a truck in traffic and a muscle-builder on fast curving roads. Further, the extra-wide rear tire should give the CBX a tendency to stand up in corners, requiring its rider to apply correction either as handlebar pressure or by shifting sideways on the seat like Kenny Roberts. In reality, the CBX has none of these characteristics.

   

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