I'd left the CBR400 outside the supermarket and when I came out with the weekend's food it was gone. Bloody stupid trying to carry all that stuff on the CBR, anyway. The cops and insurance people wasted a lot of my time but eventually I got a pay out. Not enough to buy a similar CBR but there was a prime CB-1 in the local dealer's for 1500 notes. Only 12000 kilometres and no real sign of age or wear.
On the first day of ownership I was approached by a strange lady who stared me deep in the eyes without a hint of affection. She reckoned that I'd nicked her bike! I showed her the invoice from the dealers, enough to get her off my back. She looked a lot more glamorous from the rear than the front.
The CB-1 felt a bit slower than the CBR but it was also a lot more comfortable. The race replica had always done heavy damage to my shoulders and neck, not to mention my backside, the kind of machine that encouraged throttle to the stop madness everywhere. The CB-1 reflected the perfection of ergonomics for which Honda were justly famous, though that didn't stop the seat from flattening out and my arse complaining loudly after an hour. Having said that, I rarely ended up walking like John Wayne, unlike on the racier CBR.
The CB-1 was one of those bikes you could throw a leg over, grab the controls and just rock and roll without much thought or effort. It braked and accelerated quite well, was easy to pull on to a new line and stable even over bumpy going. Okay, it ran out of puff at 120mph and didn't accelerate hard above the ton - more than anything else the lack of a fairing producing loads of aerodynamic resistance. But the way modern roads are policed it was way fast enough to lose your licence without any effort.
I'd run the CBR for 23000 miles without having to do much to the engine - just oil, filter, carb balance and one valve session. I expected more of the same from the CB-1, was therefore somewhat miffed when I found it didn't want to run properly. The first hint of the trouble to come was reluctant starting. Much juggling of the choke and throttle needed to get it running.
The tickover was all over the place and hard acceleration caused one or more of the cylinders to cut out. I figured that added up to a new set of spark plugs. After removing the seat and tank, I found that the outer left-hand plug wouldn't come undone. I replaced the other three but, of course, it didn't help with the poor running. Nothing's ever easy, is it?
The way to extract a seized in spark plug, according to my mates, was to give the plug spanner a short, sharp tap with a large hammer. They must've been taking the piss as the plug merely snapped off, leaving the threaded half totally inaccessible. How to ruin a perfectly good motorcycle in half a second!
The engine was relatively easy to drop out of the tubular frame but a heavy old thing despite its mere 400cc's and nearly broke my foot. The cylinder head came off without any ruined bolts or threads. I took the head along to various engineering shops until one agreed to extract the plug and put in an helicoil - seventy-five quid plus the dreaded sales tax. The old plug had apparently been mis-threaded and then repaired with Araldite.
Once reassembled, the motor didn't want to start, ended up bumping the bugger. It still cut out! Added to that, it was running very hot and sounding a bit off. What had I done wrong? Only got the valve timing out by one tooth! Fixed that, it was still a bit of a mixed bag, with days when it ran really well and others when it was a sullen little bugger. I never knew when or for how long the nastiness was going to last.
I noticed that the cutting out started after some action on the bars. A bit more investigation revealed an ignition wire from the switch that was frayed and breaking down when it was stretched. A new bit of wire and the bike finally started to run properly. Stupid, huh? Doing the plugs when there was nothing wrong with them!
I really liked the way the bike handled, better than the CBR because it was much less flighty, emanating a rare feeling of total security (probably helped along by an expensive and sticky set of Michelins). The motor's 50 horses didn't exactly stretch the wraparound tubular frame or beefy suspension, aided in its composure by the fact that I only weighed ten stones.
The rear suspension showed signs of mortality when hefty friends were given a lift, the front end going a bit light as well. Nothing totally suicidal, but the bike was reaching its limit and showed its origins as being designed for diminutive Japs. The CBR also had the same kind of problems when carrying too much mass, one of the hassles with buying grey imports not designed for Europeans.
I think I must have had one of a bad batch or the mileage was a total lie because a few months after fixing the previous problem the bike refused to start. Burnt out ignition module. It certainly wasn't from the vibes as the motor was as smooth as you could possibly want, verging on the bland.
Jap market bikes are restricted in their power and there are ignition kits that liberate a few more horses. Phoning around the grey importers and breakers produced a used igniter box for fifty sovs, complete with three month guarantee. The guy warned me that I might have to mod the exhaust to enjoy the high rev power and he wasn't kidding.
More pleasing, was an immediate improvement in the 3000-9000rpm power output, giving the bike a much greater urgency. A series of stutters set in at ten grand. I had to drill several holes in the end can to free the exhaust up and it still didn't want to rev cleanly right at the top end. A CBR400 race can was knocked on (forty notes from a breaker) which, surprisingly, also made the midrange even more ferocious.
The cat was finally let out of the bag, the bike screaming up to 135mph on the clock before going all sullen. The exhaust howl at max revs was unbelievable, a dervish wail that made the hairs on my back stand up. My mates didn't like riding behind me because the sonic boom did their eardrums in. Below five grand it was acceptably loud, a sort of gravelly burble that no-one could really complain about.
It took almost exactly 1000 miles for one of the pistons to burn out. Loads of smoke out of the exhaust and somewhat constipated performance all the way home - some 40 miles! The bike was running too lean at the top end and had melted one of the pistons. Probably would've taken the whole lot out eventually. There's was no way I was going to play around with four sets of jets trying to sort it out so handed the bike over to the local Honda dealer once I'd fitted a used piston.
The bike was a touch less urgent at the top end of the rev range but cleaner running in the midrange. All very nice but it cost 150 quid for them to replace the jets and give the engine a service. Daylight robbery! The mechanic lectured me on the need for frequent oil changes as the lube wasn't in good condition, which was odd as I'd put fresh stuff in a 1000 miles before. Perhaps the excessive temperatures had done for it.
The next little mishap - and at this stage I was expecting something bad to happen; it was one of those bikes - involved the front brakes. As in no front brakes! I was rather hoping the Honda was going to stop on a dime to deal with some psychotic lights at a junction but we went through just as the red clicked home and narrowly missed being run down by some lout in a Transit. I literally did a kangaroo hop across the junction when I realised it wasn't going to stop and whacked the throttle open as an alternative to being mowed down.
One of the bleed nipples had fallen out. Traces of Araldite on the thread. The bike had obviously been owned by some gorilla type who went over all the screws with excessive force. Or the alloy was even greater crap than what the Jap's normally employed. Or a combination of the two. I rarely used the rear brake because it was a truculent bastard with no feedback, whilst engine braking wasn't very strong; the ride home fraught with an excess of fear and loathing.
I was tempted to Araldite the new bleed nipple in but the thought of it falling out when I wanted to do an emergency stop from the ton didn't bear thinking about. Fortunately, there was enough metal left to tap in a bigger thread and secure a bolt with Loctite just to be on the safe side.
The brakes benefited from new fluid and worked even better with a set of EBC pads. At best, the rear brake had a minor balancing effect, so copiously covered in road grime at the merest hint of a wet road that I never bothered to take it seriously. Used with no restraint, it was dead easy to do a stoppie but on the other hand, a gentle caress on dodgy road surfaces pulled the Honda up nicely. On the CBR, the riding position made you ride madly no matter what the conditions, the CB-1's relaxed stance allowed me to ride sensibly when necessary.
Would've been a smart set of wheels hadn't there always been some problem or other spoiling things. Next in line was the back wheel bearings breaking up. I must admit I wasn't that surprised when I found the only way to get the bearings out was to break the back wheel up! Araldited in again? Probably. There are enough CB-1's about to make phoning around the breakers viable, a replacement only cost forty notes - cheaper than getting someone to replace the bearings. Of course, the tyre was some horrid Taiwanese thing so I had to pay a garage a fiver to fit the original rubber. They left some deep scar marks on the rim - crap alloy.
After that little adventure I did a few thousand miles without any traumas. In its tuned state the engine regularly turned in 60mpg plus and didn't need much oil between changes. The valves and carbs went out every 2500 miles, or so, though a friend's stock and much slower CB-1 is much less temperamental. Valves and carbs servicing usually cost around ninety notes at the local Honda dealers. I could've done them myself but every time I tried to do something to the bike I got caught out by the previous owner's bodging, didn't want to push my luck.
In all, I got about 6000 miles out of the bike. Great ride, fast enough for modern roads and really good handling. I suspect mine had clocked up loads more miles than what was on the clock and isn't really representative of life with a CB-1 - a couple of friends certainly had a much easier time than I did on 'higher' mileage examples. Sold the bike for a 1000 notes, and bought a new Hornet, which has much more power and even better handling.
Be a bit careful when looking over Honda CB-1's, they are often not quite what they seem. They can also throw off some heavy crash damage, which hides a fatigued frame. I know one guy who had the subframe crack up on him! He survived but it was a near thing. The bike had been written off in Japan and hastily repaired - under the pressure of dire legal action the dealer actually gave him his money back, but only after he claimed to have relatives in the police and Inland Revenue.
Things to look for on low milers are total engine smoothness, fluid power delivery and a slick gearbox. The latter is the first thing to go on high milers, my example being notchy and noisy, though the gears always went home after a bit of a fight. Crap batteries can be expensive and one guy had his rectifier/regulator go which in turn fried the electronic ignition, light bulbs and battery. Get a good 'un, though, and they can be a joy to ride.