Honda CBX 750 FE

Author's product rating:   

Comfort	Excellent
Handling	Good
Looks	Excellent
Features	Good
Fuel consumption	Good

Advantages:	Comfortable over long distances
Disadvantages:	Somewhat fragile

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My CBX 750 F was a red and black grey import from Japan. As such it featured the standard Japanese market options... Km/h speedometer, red light that comes on above the japanese national speed limit, and a milder state of tune as standard.
Unfortunately mine wasn't standard, someone had taken a craft knife to the airbox to 'improve' the airflow. This made it even revvier than standard, which is revvy to start with.

I covered 30,000 miles on the CBX in a little over 12 months. The WHOOSH in the title refers to the power of the thing, this is a quick bike, it would wheelie on power and mine was capable of an indicated 210 Km/h. Scared me half to death the first time I let rip with it, I had no idea the M6 was so full of bends!
The riding position of the bike felt sporty at the time, but now feels alot more like a trail bike than a sports machine. The handle bars are high, and the pegs are relatively far forward for a sporty bike. The seat is wide, deep and comfortable, I rode over 800 miles in one day on mine and could have done more.

The BANG refers to the noise the engine made... the CBX suffers from a common fault on the alternator chain - yes alternator chain. The alternator sits piggy back on the top of the gearbox behind the cylinder block, the starter motor also lives in the same area. The alternator is driven by a chain directly from the crank shaft and this (as with many 70s and 80s Hondas) has a weak tensioner that is prone to failure. When it fails nothign serious happens immediately, just an awful rattle from the crank area.

I took mine to a local bike shop to be fixed, the fix involves splitting the crank cases, the buffoon they gave the job to put too much gasket sealant on the joint when reassembling the engine, this squeezed toothpaste style into the sump, where it went on to block the oil pump intake. This caused oil pressure to drop dramatically, and the crank to fail.
The engine would have cost a fortune to rebuild, instead I found a low mileage engine from a crashed bike in a breakers. This one seemed to have less power than the original, but was more reliable... right up to the point where I fell asleep on it and hit a roundabout. This was the CRASH! (See I said it was comfortable... yes I really was asleep).

It was 3am, I'd ridden 600 miles so far that day, and the temperature was about -8C. I wasn't hurt but the bike was two feet shorter than it should have been.

I sold it for parts in the end, although I didn;t think there was that much on it that was useable. Hence the WALLOP, a financial wallop on the amount I lost on the bike. Ouch.

So what of the rest of the bike? The engine has another feature-ette in its hydraulic tappets, using the wrong grade oil can make these very noisy. They are handy in doing away with valve clearance adjustments altogether though... pros and cons. The engine avtually lived on in detuned form (down from 90bhp in the CBX) in the CB750 (70-ish bhp). Honda also did away with the CBX's hydraulic clutch in favour of a chepaer cable type, presumably to kepe the cost down. I prefer the CBX's version, much smoother...!

The running gear was standard Honda 1980s fare, air assisted suspension at both ends with a 16" front wheel and 18" rear. The wheels were Comstars, lasted well and don't rot like modern alloys. The suspension was firm enough to be considered sporty, but soft enough to be comfortable.

The clocks are clear and easy to read, black with yellow digits and pointers. The twin headlights are fantastic at night, and the little fly screen type semi - fairing gives a reasonable amount of wind protection. I fitted a taller screen to mine, this made the sind noise around my helmet much worse so it was taken off again... too tall for my own good.
Fuel economy ran between 40 and 45 mpg depending on speed and type of use. The tank range was good by modern standards, the bike comes with an 18 litre tank.
Chain life was hugely extended by fitting a Scott Oiler, a recommended option for all chain driven bikes.
Tyres are narrow by todays standards, but even comparing the handling to my current sports bike it was adequate. The frame is a steel tube cradle affair, none of this fancy delta box alloy stuff here. It did the job, although some here will complain about it 'bending'.
Ground clearance is a bit on the skimpy side, it was quite easy to get something solid to hit the ground when cornering. The centre stand being the prime culprit. Yes, it's a sports bike with a centre stand!

I liked mine, it was a good bike while I had it and I can't really blame it for the big expense items it cost me. The alternator chain was a pain, but most bikes have at leats one common mechanical fault...

I would buy another one, I tried to over winter for a run around but they still fetch more money in goodish (rideable) condition than I would like to pay for a winter hack.

Top 80s tackle!

The most likely place to get hold of one these days is ebay, I would choose a UK model with the higher power output over a grey import but in reality there's not lilkely to be much difference. Ebay, and david Silver Spares in Leiston are good sources of parts, although Honda dealers still carry service items.

Pay from £400 for a scruffy high miler, to about £1200 for a low mileage bike with a service history

One of the best sites to find info on these bikes is teamrc17.net in australia, use google to find it! This site has details on the non-UK variant, the Bol d'Or fully faired version. I think that one is even better looking.. and you should add and extra £300 to the above values.