Topic: Let's talk about CBXs for a second...

[8 Track]

How about this one?

[8 Track]

Or this one, turbo'ed !?!?!

[8 Track]

Another...

[8 Track]

Two more!

[GroovieGhoulie]

Nice pictures.

And now time to watch this one die slowly.

"Other Bikes" just doesn't get the coverage or exposure that "Open" does. 

[bill440cars]

                        twostroke,
                                         Nice pictures! I especially liked those first two. I just can't even imagine a
                 CBX w/ a turbo. Would like to know how that would sound and what it would be to ride
                 that monster.

                                                         Later on, Bill

[8 Track]

My favorite is the first one, even though I usually lean towards the stock appearance.

[crazypj]

Carbs are no problem, you only need 3 gauges and treat it as 3 twins for intial setting then set 3 pairs to each other. ( the outer pairs are tilted to reduce width)
You only need to tilt motor to remove carbs.
PJ

[MoTo-BunnY]

Hey, you guys probably already know of it, but I posted a .pdf of a, like 22 pages? article on the CBX - wOt a krazy bike!

Honda
CBX Road Test - Cycle - February 1978.pdf

[Sterling2]

 I owned a 1979 CBX for a year, but didn't like it.  It looked great and had plenty of power, but the chassis / skinny tires made it skittish out on the highway and it will would wallow through the corners if pushed at all. I also found that any blast of wind would move it around alot because the huge frontal area of that engine.  If you lust for more horsepower than our SOHC's have, I would recommend a 73 or 74 Kaw Z-1. Better all around bike and just as valuable as a collector piece.

[Gregorymoto]

I had one for about 3 years, Loved it.

It was super bad fast and could pull as long as you where on the gas.

What i did not care for was that it only liked to straight, it did not like curves or quick maneuvering, take your average stock CB750 and multiply the nightmare handling capacity by 2. It is a tank ++++

I sat down and worked out a diffrent frame and body design for it to fix this issue but couldent bring my self to cut this one up, which brings me to the the best thing about it. I picked it up for $400 in Seattle, WA and sold it for 6 grand to a guy back east who heard i had one from this guy i talked too at Sears Point Raceway. Like that.

[aptech77]

check this out.......

[bill440cars]

   

                       Jim, that IS one wild looking CBX. I'd like to see one built as a CR style, myself. I'll bet
         THAT would be something to see also.

                                                  Later On, Bill

[grumburg]

A friend owned a Honda store in the 80s. In 1985, Honda offered leftover 82 CBXs for $1550. But had to take 6. Offered one to me at cost. Another friend bought one and rode it for several years. Took all summer to sell the other 5. With the v65 Magna next to it, looked like a fat horse.

[HondaMan]

I am REALLY starting to get a boner for a CBX (one of the only non SOHC/4 bikes I want).  I've read some period reviews and such and they all generally say wonderful things, but what's the straight skinny?

I know the machine is huge and powerful and looks AMAZING, especially with a 6-into-6 exhaust, but how are they to ride and live with?

I also take that they weren't big sellers.  Why?  If they were so great, what happened?

I've also heard that the first model year, (1979, IIRC), is the most desirable and hence, the one to get.  Why is that?

Any general tips or advice on the CBX as a potential purchase and perhaps then regarding ownership?

I wanted one so bad it hurt, but my (ex) wife took off with my $$$, so the story ended.
Some of my friends had/have them. Things to know about them:
1. At the time they were introduced, the motorcycle HP race was getting big, real big. Insurance companies required nearly 4 TIMES as much $$$ to insure this bike and the BMW R1000S/RT. Maybe for good reason...as a result, they were hard to sell. Plus, they were EXPENSIVE. Still are!
2. They were too light up front, despite the engine's weight. They can lift the front wheel up to 3rd gear, and lift a Vetter fairing with 2 aboard and a loaded tour pack in 4th at 75 MPH with nothing but a twist of the grip. I watched it happen in Texas one day.
3. You need a 32-inch minimum inseam to ride it in town with stoplights.
4. They are unbeatable between stoplights.
5. They get more head twists than a chiropractor.
6. They are just as hard on points as CB750K/F.
7. More times than not, they've been "upgraded". For example: I recently saw one from a local performance shop that had 6-1 header, oversized Mikunis, ACCEL ignition, "half-race" cam, 11:1 pistons, 100W halogen headlight, dual, undrilled, front discs and no muffler. It was outrun by a streetable KZ1000 at the drags. Point to remember: this is not a simple bike to tune: it's an all-out performance bike that was engineered into a package. Be careful how you mess with it, for the HP disappears more often than not.
8. I'm jealous of anyone who has one....   

[Dave K]

1. Well, they never did have points, they had electronic ignition.
2. My brother on his '79 and I on my '81 never could get the front wheel up. He had a Windjammer on his, mine was dressed with the factory fairing.
3. I have a 30" inseam and never had any problems, but I like tall bikes. I like the leg room. BUT, the bike is top heavy! If it gets over center on you, your in trouble!
4. They sold new at $5600 for an '81. Which was the same price as a Goldwing Interstate.
5. I found the maintenence on them to be very easy. The valves held adjustment well, because of the bucket and shim design. Electronic ignition, no trouble. I never had any problems with the carbs and checked them with my carb sticks, never out of sync. The alternator clutch can be a problem, but it is not hard to get to, just replace everything in it when it acts up, you will hear it "chatter" when it is bad. Actually it was as easy to maintain as my '81 Goldwing is and it is air cooled.
6. NOTHING sounds "hotter" than a CBX with a Kerker on it. My brother had Kerker on his '79. When that engine spinning, it was a howl only a Ferrari could make.
7. Even a non-bike person, if he looked, would see them 6 pipes and say "OMG".
8. If you want original mufflers, pray that the ones on the bike are in good shape. Otherwise $ ouch!

[8 Track]

Dave, you're gonna piss Hondaman off and he's not going to want to help us anymore!  Then you'll have an angry mob looking for you, all on sohc's! 

[Dave K]

  Gosh, I don't want to do that! Just giving my views on the CBX's my brother and I had. Actually we had the '81 for about 15yrs. Like everyone who has one, I shouldn't have sold. I sold it because of my wife. She found the Goldwing to be very comfortable and I wanted to cut down on bikes, so I sold the CBX with 12000 miles on it. My brother's CBX is now in CBX heaven. I did forget to mention that one winter, he left the gas petcock on and hydrauliced the motor. That was an expensive repair( around $1200 in around 1988). In 1990, I woman turned left in front of him and at 55 mph he only had a few short feet to stop. He didn't get stopped. She froze when she heard the tires screaming. Of course he stiff armed the bike and broke both arms, one leg on the handlebars, a collar bone and some vertebrae were injured. He and the '79 CBX went over the top of the Plymouth "K" car and the bike burst into flames. The magnesium motor parts, tires and gas, just burned it all up. It happened in front of a cemetary and he dragged himself to a stone to lean against. The "K" car was totalled also. The fortunate thing (if there is one) is right behind Bill was one of the county investigators and saw the whole thing and radioed for all the help. He couldn't take care of himself for about 6 mos. He is fine now except for arthirtis. He now owns a '73 Norton Commando. I missed the CBX's power and now also have a 1999 600CBR F4. Very similiar, but actually more power than the CBX. But it doesn't have the "WOW" factor.
    Bill always said he was doing 55+or- mph and the investigator said he wasn't speeding. But I remember being able to plainly seeing those black skid marks left by the CBX's tires for what appeared to be 100ft. and the burned pavement. They were easily visible for about 3 yrs. until they repaved the road.

[HondaMan]

...wait a minute....   

You couldn't get the front end up? Here in Denver, that was a regular Saturday night spectacle at lots of local drive-thrus on Colfax and up along 38th Avenue: guys on one wheel on CBXs!   

I didn't tune any CBXs in Honda shop jobs (wasn't that lucky, I guess     ), but I helped work on a couple at a local drag strip...and one that had a turbo also had points: 3 sets, just like a Waterbike. I didn't see the ignition on the other one. The only other ones I worked on (in Honda shops) were forks (seals on one, replaced bent forks on another), tires, and replaced a bent wheel. That's all, I think. So, I didn't really get to "work" on one.   

OK, so,....now, I'M confused...Dave, are you sure none of them had points? One of the guys I was helping (who had the turbo-ed one) also had an earlier CB750K2-3-4 that he had turboed, and I had helped him fix up his fuel flow problems on that one, and install a DYNA III ignition (I made the brackets for his coils). I can't imagine anyone installing points where electronic ignition used to be, unless there was some special racing reason. The turbo CBX owner said he was running 9500 RPM redlines and the non-turbo one said he was almost 11,000 in 3rd near the end of the track.

OK, so now I'm open to reasons or ideas, if this was the case: did the CBX ever come from Honda with points? Or, why would someone change to points? I can understand the things we did, like changing points cams' slopes and slotting out the backing plates to get high RPM, etc.

Or...maybe he had some killer coils, like 60k volts, and the electronics weren't up to muster for the current, so maybe he modded up some plate, cam and points. He certainly had the cash for it, and the time, it seemed. I really don't know why or how, just that I loaned him my .014" feeler gauge to test the gap(s) one fine summer night when he was running it.     I remember him muttering something about point life, hence my earlier comment.

Colorado guys: if you were racing or attending Bandimere's, circa, 1977, you may have seen this beauty. No fairing, white paint with oversize "HONDA" on the tank, nice chromed turbo setup, big bucks spent on the fully-fabbed and chromed piping alone, all first-class. He had a 16" rear wheel & tire, pretty square-ish, to keep the spin down. I don't remember his times, though, was busy with other friends in the pits. And, a little too jealous, I admit, to go watch...

[kghost]

Guess someone industrious could look it up on the parts finder........

[HondaMan]

We have a "parts finder"?   

[kghost]

We have a "parts finder"?   

No but service honda has one. http://www.servicehonda.com/test/index.htm

I looked up the 79 and it does appear to have a pulse generator rather than points....

[Dave K]

Hondaman, I know my brothers '79 bike and my '81 didn't have points and according to the shop manuals there was no mention of them either. I don't have the '79 shop manual (my brother has that one) but I can check in my '81 manual. My brothers was stock except for the Kerker and Windjammer. Mine was bone stock.
     As far as wheelies, I never tried to get it up on the back wheel. After having owned a 500 Kaw in 1970, I have this reflex to lean forward into the handlebars to counter act that. It comes so natually now it is hard for me on any bike to get the wheel up because I am leaning over the front end without knowing it.
     I remember working on quite a few early 'Wings that came with points. They were a total PIA as far as I was concerned. The point plate was so small that any movement at all seemed to make the timing really react. also because the cam for the points was small as well, it seemed to wear on the heel of the point rubbing block pretty hard and caused that to wear. Dyna ignitions were the way to go on those and I installed a few.
     On the CBX, I can't even think where there would have been enough room for 3 sets of points where the electronic pick ups were placed. It would be a pretty crowded case. Remember the '72 500 Kaws? If you had a drum front brake, you got electronic ignition. If you had a disc front brake you got a points ignition. What a PIA them 3 sets of points were. Many 500 Kaws with disc brakes got converted to the factory electronic ignition.
      If he was running a points ignition, why was he using a feeler guage on an engine in that state of tune? I always used to set all my bikes with a dwell meter. Otherwise the feeler guage was close, but not spot on for high performance. If you needed a feeler guage when away from the shop, a pop or beer can tap, from that time frame, would work and they were usually lying around everywhere. Some were even used to make a chain to hang from the cars rear view mirror.
      It is easy to get overwhelmed by looking at the 6 cyl. and carbs. But, don't look at it all at once, look at it componet at a time and everything will work out fine. Would you be overwhelmed by working on 6 Briggs and Stratons? No, you wouldn't be and together you are looking at almost the same thing, just not as exotic. There are still 6 carbs to work on. By the way, never had any problems with the carbs at all, just that darn alternator clutch.

[HondaMan]

This particular racer was one of those who had lots of (apparent) cash and friends who knew more than he did about bikes: I am 100% sure he did not do the fancy work himself, just the simpler things.

When he borrowed my feeler, he said he was going to check "those points", and I did see them, from behind him. This was at about 8 or 9 PM on a summer night, not all that bright outside, so I did not see the workmanship to be able to tell if it was nice or scabbed together. But, it did have 3 sets of points. I asked why he was only running 9500 RPM redline, but he said that power fell off above that (?). With typical stock points, this I can maybe understand....

What kind of trigger unit was used for the coils? Could it be adapted to a 2-coil setup, leaving a spare for that bad day on the highway?

I understand your K500-3 "reflex", it worked well with the RD350 and 400 Yami, too (can I say that here?).
In the late 70s and early 80s, most everyone I knew was still using feeler gauges on point bikes. The dwell meter readings often were a source of argument at bench races, maybe because most meters were pretty cheapo pieces. I have this old Borg-Warner racing unit from the 1960s that is very consistent from one test to the next, but the absolute number is quite different from the Craftsman meters I have. The latter ones will read 1-2 degrees differently from one day to the next on my point-ed cars, but the B-W follows the rubbing block wear very faithfully, plus it will jitter if the condensor is weak: a nice feature. I have reference numbers for my CB750 (and others I worked on) from it, but they don't seem to match anyone else's numbers.

[GroovieGhoulie]

After reading this thread, I am motivated more than ever to get a CBX.  I am not overly concerned about the factory exhaust, since I plan to put the Pipemasters 6-into-6 on it.

Now I just have to save my money and start looking.  I hope I find a deal.  I know exactly what I want and I just need to wait until it pops up.