Honda CBX 1000 with 6-into-6 exhaust review plus the story behind Honda's iconic 70s superbike

[Music] welcome to a new harry's garage video and this one is actually going to be on the three road bikes i own from the 70s first one is this kawasaki 750 h2 750 two-stroke and we were all running around on mopeds and the very thought of a 750 two-stroke was just crazy to us how could such a manic fast bike exist that was 1974 this example and then honda 1978 launched the honda cbx 1000 cc and six cylinder four valves six carburetors oh to a about 19 year old it was just as good as it got and then september 98 kawasaki came out with a z1300 120 horsepower this thing produced um anyway this video i'm going to do them in three separate videos in this particular video i'm going to concentrate on the honda cbx now this example i've owned for just over two years it's an american cbx which you can tell because it's got the higher bars i would love it to be a uk version because they actually got lower handlebars and a slightly different footpeg arrangement just because of the lower bars but it was a stunning example it's unrestored it is 26 000 miles from new and it's just rides absolutely magic how this rides the other thing if you know cbx's they don't come this is not a standard exhaust this is a six into six exhaust i have the standard exhaust and i fully intended putting it on but the more i've lived with this cbx the more i think a six into six exhaust is what it should have had in the first place and it's howls as this goes towards the nine and a half thousand rpm redline so what happened just a brief history why does this bike exist in the future why did honda do this they came out 1969 honda cb750 when we're all rattling around on our british leaking motorbikes and things honda gave us the cb750 that had electric start four cylinders and just worked straight out the box 120 miles an hour and it completely changed motorbiking for everyone right around the world and i don't think there's been a bike that made such a bigger splash as the 750 cb750 kawasaki then came along z1 900cc 73 i think that was and that basically took over the super bike mantle and honda wanted to get that back and they looked at their history and what was the greatest bike they'd ever produced it was thought to be the honda 250 six cylinder bike mike halewood road to huge success and and some other riders as well four valves cylinder crazy six megaphones coming out the back of this small 250 grand prix bike technical tour force and it was almost honda's greatest moment in motorbikes and they thought you know what if we want to get our superbike crown back we need a six cylinder bike and this was it and it was benelli had had a six cylinder on the market as well but that was actually developed from the honda 550 and it was sort of italian bike had a few issues but it it was almost the single cam honda when they came out with this it was extraordinary engineering i and as a just an observer just the way that engine is on show look at that they're confident of the cant over like that and the six cylinder and the whip and the twin cam so obviously here hanging out the frame and the six carburetors it was like nothing you'd ever seen it was honda just trying to prove a point we know engineering we know motorbikes and we're going to make the greatest sports bike of all and yeah so that's how cbx came about it was 105 horsepower it was the most powerful bike on sale at the time and it was just a shock to everyone the one thing it was also was expensive so you used to be able to buy cb 750 9078 at about 1500 pounds this was 2800 pounds new it was almost double the price of the general sports bikes at the time and then there was a sort of slight backlash do we actually need all this complication suzuki came out with a gs thousand that was almost as quick etc and it was funny watching cbx from the initial wow to sort of sort of go into decline because of this sort of battle i say it's too expensive it's too complicated and then honda completely missed the boat on developing it instead of doing a sort of hotter version they did a cruising version they had pro-link suspension they dropped the horsepower it came with panniers and a fairing on the front and got heavier and the market said you must be joking and it just quietly disappeared off the scene i think in 82 or 83 but this is the original knight it was 1979 this one is the zed cbx 1000 zed this is one you all want but i just look at it and there's some things i can't get over engine completely dominates as you can see straight across i love the way if you look at this kawasaki this is how you normally do a frame and the down tubes go in front of the engine like this not so at honda they said there's no room for down uh tubes we'll make the bike the engine part of the frame so the frame stops there and all you see is engine that's all this thing was it was to show honda engineering off that's what they thought this is a bit thin if you look at the forks on this they're the same size as this you know this is 1974 bike it's a bit spindly it's a bit weak really um they struggled on weight so we've got plastic um mud guards on here if i go over this lump of a bike this kawasaki 1300 that's that's steel this is 300 kilos dry it's a monster and this is kawasaki were actually working on this way before cbx this is 120 horsepower and it was actually banned in germany you're only allowed up to 100 horsepower in germany so you couldn't buy this in germany he actually did a d a restricted version actually but not the full fat one like that one we'll come to that another time but they try to keep the weight down of this to keep it sporting and it was quick it was a quoted 11 a bit standing quarter 112 miles an hour something like that and 140 mile an hour top speed for a naked bike like that that is very quick and i say naked it's a technical term in bike world no fairing whatsoever you are in the breeze all three of these are like that and i like that because it keeps the speed down on road if you go 100 miles an hour on this bike you think the world's going to end god knows what 140 miles an hour feels like it's a very clever engineering on this honda one of the things they did to try and narrow the bike imagine a six cylinder bike would be very wide it's not that much wider than the 750 and because what they did was there's normally an alternator sitting there and the electronics they've that's the ignition pack is actually there they actually put it above the engine rather than on the end of the crankshaft go around here this is the sort of generator and it sits there rather and on the end of the engine and that narrowed it up i mean it's still wide engine and when you when you're riding it they also angled in those carburetors six carburetors but there you can just see when you actually have it there they're not in line with the head there's a slight angle all of them and uh it's remarkably narrow for a six cylinder bike but it's all engine and i find actually when i go you'll see when we ride it you can sort of scratch it a bit you can certainly corner put more lean on than you expect you can and way more than that kawasaki that was a proper lump compared to the cbx but i just think these 70s superbikes hyperbite muscle bikes calling what you will are a very special moment in time and this is i is the greatest air cooled motorbike made biggest most glamorous car bike because they then went water cooled on the on the bigger bikes there is something glorious about the engineering all being on show like that and but it's the sound it makes and it almost stops i find only this means i don't own cars like the f40 or the carrera porsche carrera gt i can get my kicks from this and values of these have gone up but this is say 15 000 pound motorbike and the experience it gives is very special so i'm gonna do now take it outside take it for a quick ride i struggle with doing sound on the bikes the voice is slightly broken up but i want you to get a flavor of what this bike is like to ride and just how it sounds as i pull round to that nine and a half thousand rpm red line i have to say with a six pipe there's a sort of degree of harshness to the sound on the cbx on standard pipes is sort of turbine smooth sort of just going through little towels like this under 13 stuff trickles along but there is a very different sort of sound when you're on this six and a six system for a special bike i don't mind it at all if i was somehow commuting on it i think it would get a little wearing i'm in third at the moment doing 30. i can take it down to first might as well suppose so you can hear it okay accelerate up the hill through the gears me i slow things right down yeah it just gives you a sense of that top end how i'd love to be able to um be going quicker and show it more but it's this two sides i love about the cvx this easy-going nature of sort of high bars the weight yeah it might be 250 kilos i don't notice the weight at all it's the easiest bite to handle and it's got all this low-down torque easy you know it's not a doesn't weirdly doesn't feel a big bite when you're ascribed it but you look at it and it's enormous but it has a very ex exciting top-end sparkle to it that you wouldn't quite expect when you're just around like that but that's the beauty of sort of sports fights but yeah it's exciting bike especially being naked as it were and with these higher bars yeah over 80 miles an hour is quite something hmm [Music] try it through here i mean the suspension isn't great on this especially the rear end shockers aren't the best in the world and it's a bit bouncy but hey we forgive it it's 1978. [Music] it makes a really nice road bike [Music] [Music] that gave you an idea what this bike's like to ride some of the other things on this bike they are fickle they need maintenance with keeping everything in tune um the six carburetors they quite like getting it slightly out of tune they don't like fuel sitting them for too long so i always use the storage fuel on this bike and that sort of thing but actually it's a pretty robust bike and because they sold 25 000 or thereabouts of this zed model this first edition worldwide spares are pretty good the backup for this bike is very good indeed and they are about they they have been collectible for some time now so there's some fantastic examples out there if you really want to learn about cvx there's a glorious book it's about 450-500 pounds now you see them occasionally on ebay that gives the complete backstory to this including the design of it and then features some of the bikes from the late 70s 80s when this used to go street racing or this and reasonably successful um i just love it for its simplicity i can park it over in the corner i can come across it hit that button and have the most glorious rides with it i think it's an absolute bargain for what you pay for one of these i don't it's weird that you can buy basically the ultimate muscle bite from the 70s for 15 000 pounds yes it's a lot of money but you just put that into car world and you'll be you know they're into millions aren't they f40 in crow gt things like that after this they tended not to be a naked bike went faring some fantastic sports bikes but for me i want the bike to appear like this where everything is on show it's glorious engineering i know the moment i open that garage i see that six cylinders those six pipes i think just wow i don't i almost don't need to ride it that much because just the visual impact this does and that's precisely what honda was aiming at when it launched its bike in 1978 so absolute firm favorite in the garage this one and why i am so proud to own such a glorious example as this so there you go hope you enjoyed this video if you have keep watching keep subscribing more videos coming along very soon [Music] [Music]

Channel: Harry's garage

Views: 293,248

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Id: UH4ZIsWy4SE

Length: 16min 51sec (1011 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 14 2022