1982 Honda CBX: Young at Heart

“I was pretty young when I first saw a CBX,” says Scott Steele. “It was around 1979 when they first came out.  I saw one coming down the street, and thought, ‘Holy cow, look at that engine.'”  I have a vivid memory of that bike — it was red. What I remember was that massive engine and the six pipes coming out the front.”

The Honda Motor Corporation was selling plenty of motorcycles in the late 1970s, but management fretted that its offerings were lacking excitement. Ten years earlier, Honda’s CB750 had taken the motorcycling world by storm, but as the years went on, Honda’s offerings were looking increasingly tame. By 1978, Kawasaki was the leading manufacturer of wild motorcycles, and Yamaha was catching up to Honda in monthly sales. Honda felt that in order to maintain standing in the motorcycle world, it had to show up with something that would make motorcyclists go bug-eyed.

Development of the new model was assigned to engineer Shoichiro Irimajiri, who got his start designing Honda’s 6-cylinder racing engines of the 1960s. Engine design was either largely or partly the work of Masuharo Tsuboi, a former racer with an engineering degree. Applying the principles of the 6-cylinder racers to the street, Tsuboi and Irimajiri came up with a 6-cylinder, double overhead cam powerplant with a bank of six carburetors and 24 valves. Width of the new engine was controlled by a jackshaft, connected to the crankshaft by a Hy-Vo chain, which turned the alternator, timed the ignition, and sent power to the clutch. This resulted in extra complication, but allowed the cases to be only two inches wider than the cases on the contemporary Honda CB750. The new world-beater, over 1,000cc cubic capacity and very fast, was named CBX.

American reception of the Honda CBX

The immediate reaction from the American journalists who got the first look at the CBX in 1978 was wide-eyed amazement. The first reviews conveyed a sense of shell shocked love-at-first-sight. “The exploding glitter of its technical credentials lights up the sky,” wrote Cycle magazine. Cycle World, normally pretty cool when it came to new motorcycles, started a review with “Great Smoking Blue Gumballs!” Claimed horsepower was 103, it was good for 134mph, and despite the curb weight (with half full tank) of 581 pounds, it would do a quarter mile in 11.64 seconds. That kind of out-of-the-box speed is not bad even now: in 1978 it was jaw-droppingly impressive.

Cycle Guide published a comparison test in November 1978, and included a Suzuki GS1000, a Yamaha XS Eleven, a Kawasaki Z1-R and the CBX. Like all other magazine writers, Cycle Guide was suitably impressed by the CBX’s technical specifications and horsepower, but the extended test revealed that the cycle parts did not quite match up to that awesome engine. Early on in the test, it became apparent that the Suzuki, with the best handling, suspension and seat, was going to be the crowd favorite. The CBX did much better on the back roads than the testers expected, but developed a wobble in bumpy corners. It did reasonably well as a sporty touring machine, but testers obviously felt let down.

Any potential buyers who were excited by the over the top reviews had to wait; American dealers did not have any CBXs to sell until 1979. Once on display in showrooms, the buying public oohed and aahed over the looks of the CBX, then bought bikes that weren’t quite as heavy or complex. Honda, reluctant to shut down the model after all that development work, decided to reimagine the machine as a sport tourer. The first new iteration of the CBX came out in early 1980. It sported updated dual rear shocks with adjustable compression and rebound damping, higher rated tires, a beefier swingarm with a stronger swingarm pivot, and an improved steering head. EPA laws were more stringent in 1980 than in 1978, and the CBX had to lose a few ponies in order to meet them. In addition, one European country banned motorcycles with over 100 horsepower, so a little detuning was in order so as not to lose sales. The detuning effort did raise midrange power, which is where most motorcycling occurs, so the only real loss was of bragging rights. On test, the 1980 version of the CBX was stable and predictable and would tackle bumpy corners with aplomb.

1982 Honda CBX: Now with more bodywork

The next year, Honda went still further with the sport touring idea. The CBX was outfitted with saddlebags and a wind-tunnel-tested fairing. New camshafts provided an additional increase in midrange power. Fork rake was increased to improve roadholding. The fork tubes were beefed up. The rear suspension was changed from dual shocks to a monoshock. Testers praised the neutral steering, light clutch and good brakes of this new iteration of the CBX, but objected to wind buffeting coming off the fairing and the not-quite-perfect seat.

The CBX continued in its 1981 form through 1982. Unfortunately, it was never a top seller, and when the 1981-1982 American recession reared its ugly head, Honda axed the model from its 1983 lineup. By this point, the CBX had acquired a fan club. Although not a lot of people (at least by Honda standards) bought one, a lot of the people who did take the plunge really liked the bike and hung onto it. Several CBX associations sprang up, the International CBX Owners Association being one of the largest and most active. CBXs became collectible, and some people have started to concentrate on collecting them. Scott Steele is one of them.

Scott’s collection

Scott has been involved with motorcycles from an early age. A can-do kid, he signed up for a paper route, and used the money to buy his own two wheelers. He shoveled snow in the winter and mowed lawns in the summer. Eventually he grew up, got a job — and kept riding. He also started buying motorcycles.

“I didn’t make a conscious decision to start collecting. I’m just much better at buying than selling — buy three, sell one. I want all of my bikes to run, and keeping them up is a challenge. I hire out major projects, but spend a lot of evenings working on bikes. I look for high performance bikes, especially those with some significance in motorcycle history. I am interested in the history of motorcycle development, so I have a 1966 Triumph TR6SR, a 1967 BSA, a 1971 Honda CB750, a 1978 Kawasaki Z1R — and seven CBXs. Yes, I am a CBX fan. The CBX was a ‘hyperbike.’ It provided a jump start for motorcycle design for the Eighties. Motorcycles took a huge jump up in design and performance with the CBX.”

Scott keeps an eye out for CBXs, and saw this one on Craigslist. “The bike was in Idaho. I contacted the seller. I base a lot of buying decisions on what I hear from the seller. I feel that I am not only buying a motorcycle, I am buying the seller –what they have done with the bike, how they have stored it and maintained it. I found out that the first owner was a Honda mechanic who kept the bike in his living room. The seller was the second owner. The bike was kept in a garage, under cover. It had all the accessories purchasable from Honda at the time, including Honda’s special cover and Honda color-matched helmets. I thought, ‘This is a good bike.’ I bought it sight unseen, from the description and photos.”

Once unloaded from the delivery truck, Scott took his new acquisition into the garage and looked for a spot where it could be hooked up to a battery charger. “I have all my bikes hooked up to battery chargers and keeping the maze of wires under control is a challenge.” A close inspection showed that Steele had come out ahead on the deal. “It was actually better than expected. There are usually a few flaws not fully advised. This bike needed detailing. The front master cylinder leaked, and there was a rodent nest in the airbox. The two owners did a good job of preserving the bike.” A good scrubbing, replacement of all fluids, eviction of Ms. Mouse, and some work on the master cylinder rendered the machine ready for the road. “I got lucky on this one,” Scott says.

“I try to get it out every month for a short ride. It is a pleasant bike to ride. The ’79-’80 CBXs were naked bikes and Superbikes. The ’81-’82s are sport tourers. It’s a different concept of motorcycle.” Mitch Boehm, editor of the AMA Magazine and a man who keeps his 1979 CBX in his living room, said in a recent editorial that the ’81 and ’82 version is a “totally different motorcycle” from the ’79-’80 CBX. Steele continues, “The ’81-’82s are more refined in terms of handling. They have a better front end and rear suspension. The power curve is more torquey. They have a more even power band, refined handling and a nicer riding position. A few other tweaks were the improved brakes and changes to improve engine longevity.”

Since the CBX is air-cooled, Steele changes oil annually, and the brake fluid every two years, regardless of mileage. He makes efforts to only run aviation gas, which has no ethanol. “If I don’t use ethanol fuel, the gas doesn’t go bad if the bike sits. The carbs only go out of synch every three to five years if I keep good fuel in them.” When the carbs (all six of them) do need to be synched up, he uses a synch gauge made to tune a four carburetor bank. “I just do four at a time, just like a regular four cylinder. Working on a CBX is not too much different than any other old motorcycle.”

On the road with a Honda CBX

Before Scott goes out on a ride, he does what he calls “pre-flight” checks. He checks the tires and lubes the chain. He gets on the bike and makes sure the brakes and steering feel right. Then he starts the bike by engaging the choke, leaving the kill switch on and hitting the start button to get the oil moving. Then he disengaged the kill switch and starts the bike. “Some CBXs are more cold-blooded than others, and this bike is one of the more cold-blooded. It takes 4-5 minutes to warm up and then I ease the choke off.

“I roll out of my driveway and shift out of first at 10-15 miles an hour. The fairing does a pretty good job of redirecting the wind. It’s a very smooth and quiet ride. The bike will cruise at 80mph. It’s full size but pretty nimble. I would say more on the nimble side. Comparing it to a Kawasaki Concours, for example, it is more nimble than a Concours. Especially given its age, the seat is good, and the ride is smooth and quiet. It’s not far off from modern sport tourers.”

Period testers complained the saddlebags don’t hold enough, but Scott disagrees. “I like the saddlebags — they are effective and useful.” Then again, he is not trying to fit a week’s worth of camping gear in them. “They fit the lines of the bike and are aerodynamic. You don’t get the feeling of bulk with the CBX.”

The one big difference from a modern sport tourer is the care Scott takes to keep pump gas from sitting in the tank. If Scott is out on a longer ride and has to fuel up, he gets out his suction pump when he gets home and drains the tank. “I put the gas in the car. It will burn anything. This sounds a little involved but it works well for me.”

But why?

“Why do I own this CBX? It’s the history — CBXs are significant. It’s the looks. It’s the engine hanging out in front — the CBX is a MOTOR cycle. It’s the unique and great sound. It’s a pleasant motorcycle to ride, especially the ’81-’82 bikes with the fairing. If they made a modern version of the CBX, I would be waiting on the showroom floor for delivery. Riding a CBX puts a smile on my face.” MC

Originally published as “Young at Heart” in the July/August 2023 issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine.