CBX Ride

[dcarver]

Sorry for redirect..

But the first ride after refurbishing an 1982 Honda CBX 6 cylinder...

https://candybuttorg.ipage.com/cba/node/940

[gixxerjasen]

Any video of that choir of cylinders singing in unison?

[Bugnatr]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and damn...that is a cool bike!

Sure enjoyed seeing and recognizing your local sights now that I have been down there a few times.

And Molly too!

[raYzerman]

Always wanted one of those just to play with the 6 cylinder, but an '82 Nighthawk caught my eye...

[wheatonFJR]

I had a ‘79 Eleven Special from Yamaha. That sure was a fun era.

I’m glad I have an FJR now as frames, suspension and doodads have all progressed since I was a 20 yo dreaming about touring on my monster bike that did a puny 135 at redline.

[natehawk750]

I found a CBX in pieces on a pallet at an auction that I attended a few years back. It was very tempting, but the desire of not having a pissed off wife for bringing home A basket case bike from a auction I was at to get a commuter car at overweighed the desire of having a cbx.

[dcarver]

Some initial thoughts.

It's a small bike compared to an FJR1300. Lighter too. Of course my FJR's are set for Long Distance rallying and are heavy.
Fueling is great across the rpm band. From 3k up it's strong all the way to red line. Maybe a *hint* of lean at 4k, but even that went away as the miles rolled on. Jack Wagner at Old School Carbs did a GREAT job.
Charging is a bit hot at 15 Vdc. Gotta check into that.
Need hi-way pegs.. Seriously.
Corbin seat way too hard. It's a rock. Sell and get Russell ASAP.
Some lower leg heat from engine, not as bad though as from the KZ1300.
Smaller ergo compartment. Legs bent at knees, too much angle. Change seat, raise padding will help.
At full song she sounds wonderful... Even with stock exhaust. Will not change out. This bike is too OEM and they are only orignal once.
At Denner vineyard, beautiful gate (see video) this guy is leaving in a Dodge Demon sp? and asks if I'm selling. Why I ask? Taking pictures to sell he says? No says I.. He says 81/82 CBX? 82 Say I. "Do you want to sell it?". Not really. "What's your crazy price?" I pause, say 30k, knowing it's waay to much. "Give me your name and number, I'll be in touch." Oh shit, this is my first ride! Time will tell. If he has 30k, it's gone.
The bike is tight. No wobbles, hands off bars and it's a straight line, no left or right leaning required.
It's fun to have a bike with a low seat height. Easy to mount and dismount.
Brakes are 80's feel. No ABS. Lots of lever/pedal pressure needed. It's and adjustment.
It's a heft to the centerstand.
The thrill from say 6k to redline is addicting! She pulls, then pulls harder as the rev's increase, then just pulls harder.. Breathtaking, and worth the entire price of admission
The rear shock sucks. Pressurized to factory manual settings, it still sucks at high speed impacts. It will be saved, but replaced
Front forks need heavier springs. Even pressurized at 11 psig, (10-13 per manual), they are soft. So soft up front, rock hard at high piston speeds in rear.
The saddle bags are more for looks than anything else! LOL
Front brake lever... too close to the bar for my fat fingers. Maybe a bleed is in order, but Ray did one.. So just might be what it is as it is.
Stopped in front of gated high $$$ community for pics.. and the guard came out. 'f@$k thinks I'. He says 'beautiful bike'! We talk for 20 minutes. He's a gearhead too. If nothing else, the bike is worth the price of admission for that opportunity.
Well, that's it for now.. Gotta fix the overcharging issue. Bye.

[bigjohnsd]

15.15v not "real high" what are the specs?

As a rule of thumb 13.6-15.0 volts is a good ball park range.

Sweet ride.

[ionbeam]

...Fueling is great across the rpm band. From 3k up it's strong all the way to red line. Maybe a *hint* of lean at 4k, but even that went away as the miles rolled on...The thrill from say 6k to redline is addicting! She pulls, then pulls harder as the rev's increase, then just pulls harder....

The dip around 4k is normal, it's a Honda thing in the 80's. I've heard that it is an emissions affect; where the emission rating was taken. Dunno if it's true. Both my '85 VF1100S had a dip around 4k like every Honda I rode at that time. There were tricks with moving the shims on the carb needles and changing jet sizes that could mostly fix the problem. It sounds like that may have already been done to your CBX.

On my VF1100S, pop the throttle wide open at 3k rpm, in any of the first three (of six) gears and get a little wheelie then it pulls hard, pass through the 4k dip, then around 6.5k rpm is starts to pull seriously hard and continues to pull harder and harder right to redline, like an electric motor. It was still full of beans at redline and wanted to go for more.

Dunno how this relates to your CBX, (waiting for you to let us know) but my VF1100S would pull redline in fifth (second of three over drive gears) and it would pull redline with major force resulting in ~135 mph. It would pull redline in sixth but it was drag limited; I had to get down and under the paint on the gas tank and the knees had to be buried into the engine. The result was close enough to a real world 155 mph at red line. I'm not sure where the CBX with its faring would leave you at WOT in fifth. Given the lower hp and torque of the CBX I suspect it would be less.

But, so far as the engine and exhaust sound, it's CBX all the way

[Hppants]

Back in my nighthawk days (700s and a later model 750), we fixed the flat spot by placing a flat washer under the slide, thereby raising it just a smidge. Lost about 0.5 mpg but the driveability was greatly improved.

Awesome bike from a great time gone by, Don.

Like Jasen (and others I suspect), a little "on board video" allowing us to hear the 6 cylinder song would have been nice. Just sayin....

[fjray]

I really hated to give this one back to him. Always wanted one but at least I got to take one apart and put it back together and it still works. Winner.
I rode it a few times and it performs well for its vintage.

[Canadian FJR]

Very nice. I've been fortunate enough to put a few miles on a mighty 6. Love that motor, just keeps pulling ………………………………………..
And then you need to figure out how to stop or turn.

I've been on the hunt for a white 1981.


Canadian FJR

[escapefjrtist]

Great looking machine Don. Thanks for sharing the ride!

~G

[dcarver]

...Fueling is great across the rpm band. From 3k up it's strong all the way to red line. Maybe a *hint* of lean at 4k, but even that went away as the miles rolled on...The thrill from say 6k to redline is addicting! She pulls, then pulls harder as the rev's increase, then just pulls harder....

The dip around 4k is normal, it's a Honda thing in the 80's. I've heard that it is an emissions affect; where the emission rating was taken. Dunno if it's true. Both my '85 VF1100S had a dip around 4k like every Honda I rode at that time. There were tricks with moving the shims on the carb needles and changing jet sizes that could mostly fix the problem. It sounds like that may have already been done to your CBX.

On my VF1100S, pop the throttle wide open at 3k rpm, in any of the first three (of six) gears and get a little wheelie then it pulls hard, pass through the 4k dip, then around 6.5k rpm is starts to pull seriously hard and continues to pull harder and harder right to redline, like an electric motor. It was still full of beans at redline and wanted to go for more.

Dunno how this relates to your CBX, (waiting for you to let us know) but my VF1100S would pull redline in fifth (second of three over drive gears) and it would pull redline with major force resulting in ~135 mph. It would pull redline in sixth but it was drag limited; I had to get down and under the paint on the gas tank and the knees had to be buried into the engine. The result was close enough to a real world 155 mph at red line. I'm not sure where the CBX with its faring would leave you at WOT in fifth. Given the lower hp and torque of the CBX I suspect it would be less.

But, so far as the engine and exhaust sound, it's CBX all the way

Jack Wagner of Old School Carbs did the carb work, and he's the best. I have to sort the seat and rear suspension before getting 'after it' for high speed passes. The 4k 'dip' is *barely* noticeable, like a minor 20 micro second 'miss'. I have a very sensitive butt accelerometer.. and don't kill me for that statement, LOL.

[dcarver]

Back in my nighthawk days (700s and a later model 750), we fixed the flat spot by placing a flat washer under the slide, thereby raising it just a smidge. Lost about 0.5 mpg but the driveability was greatly improved.

Awesome bike from a great time gone by, Don.

Like Jasen (and others I suspect), a little "on board video" allowing us to hear the 6 cylinder song would have been nice. Just sayin....

I'm attempting to coerce a very monied gear head friend to to get a collection 6 cylinders of bikes together to record high def audio of high speed and acceleration passes on local vacant road. He has Jay Leno connections.. so one never knows.. very preliminary.. but 3 CBX, 1 kz1300, a benelli six perhaps? The mind toggles.

[Uncle Hud]

I need to meet your gear head friend and drink some of his wine.

[mophead]

Nice bike. Had a V65 Sabre with the same fairing and put 85K on that bike. My first sport tourer. Loved it. The CBX is really starting to bring crazy money, or asking prices anyway. Some guy has had one on Craigslist Denver for $18K. It's been there a while.

[Liquidsilver]

That's a beauty!

[Panman]

She's a Beauty, battle of the Six's sounds fun!

[fontanaman]

I am embarrassed to say I owned a 1983 650 Silver Wing. Worst bike I ever owned. The only thing it has in common with Don's awesome bike is the saddle bags.