This Affordable Vintage Motorcycle Has A Wild Engine That Sounds Better Than Most Cars

What is the best car you’ve ever heard? The bellow of a Hemi V8 is iconic. The Lamborghini Murcielago produces a demonic V12 shriek. The Lexus LFA is a symphony. But I know of a motorcycle with a soundtrack that beats most cars ever built, and it won’t cost you half a million dollars to buy. The Honda CBX 1000 arrived in 1978 with a goofy inline six-cylinder engine that went like hell and sounded like your favorite Formula 1 cars of the naturally aspirated era. Christmas may be gone but there’s still time for one more gift.

There are a handful of Honda CBX motorcycles for sale right now around America, including one on Bring a Trailer. These motorcycles weren’t huge sellers, but Honda still moved enough of them that they aren’t incredibly rare, either. That’s a good spot to be in because this means you can ride and even modify a CBX without much guilt. Yet, they’re also just uncommon enough that people are going to get excited when they see the girthy engine under the tank.

And that engine is a hefty work of art. We’re talking six cylinders spread transverse right in front of your feet, with three pipes snaking under each of your heels to trumpet their magnificent music. Yet, in true Honda fashion, riding this would-be beast isn’t like wrestling your in-laws after Christmas dinner.

The 1970s Were Fun

Six-cylinder bikes are still uncommon today, and chances are if you’re riding a motorcycle with greater than four cylinders, you’re either on a Honda Gold Wing or one of those newfangled Great Wall Souo things. Back in the 1970s and the 1980s, however, Japanese motorcycle firms were patently crazy with their technology demonstrations, and competition between brands to out-innovate each other was fierce.

From the late 1960s through the 1970s, Japanese motorcycle firms were in a bit of a speed war. Honda, which had spent the 1960s fine-tuning its four-stroke technology, launched the CB750 in 1969. This motorcycle would go on to become an icon.

The CB750 had way more going for it than a fetching design. Its transverse-mounted overhead cam inline-four provided thrilling power while the rest of the chassis, suspension, and ergonomics made for a comfortable ride. Journalists called the CB750 a masterpiece and some called it the world’s first production superbike. It also went on to become the representative for the so-called “Universal Japanese Motorcycle.”

The rest of Japan didn’t let Honda have all of the fun. Later, riders would see firepower from the Kawasaki Z1 and multiple Suzuki GS series entries. The 1970s were a fascinating time in Japan, where motorcycle brands were obsessed with finding the next greatest and the next fastest bike. Yamaha cranked up the power in an apparent effort to take the motorcycle crown from Honda while Suzuki put water-cooling in a hefty two-stroke engine. Everyone was enamored with the theoretical promises of the Wankel rotary. In the 1980s, Japan’s brands experimented with fuel injection and turbocharging.

But let’s go back to the 1970s here. In 1972, Honda launched an effort to create a new flagship motorcycle. By this time the CB750 was already world-famous, but the competition gave buyers a reason to buy something that wasn’t a Honda. That wouldn’t do, so Honda set up a new engineering division and put racing driver and engineer Soichiro Irimajiri in control of it. Irimajiri, who was originally educated in aeronautical engineering, led Honda’s five- and six-cylinder motorcycle racing engine development through the 1960s. He was a perfect pick to make Honda’s new flagship.

As Old Bike Barn writes, Irimajiri’s mission, among other things, was to make the four-stroke engines that Soichiro Honda loved competitive with the two-stroke engines that were common in the era. Of course, Irimajiri was working with 1960s technology, and at the time, he cranked up the power by piling on cylinders and engineering engines that could rev to the moon.

That 1972 flagship project would evolve into the 1974 GL1000, the very first of the famed Gold Wing series. It was a great machine, even if it was a little confused at first. But it was not the answer to the horsepower wars.

The CBX

As Motorcyclist Magazine writes, in 1976, Honda invited motorcycle journalists to a motel near Los Angeles International Airport. At the meeting, Honda asked the writers to be honest and tell them how they felt about the brand’s lineup and where Honda should go next. Motorcyclist is quick to note that it used to be commonplace for motorcycle manufacturers to ask the media what to do next, but that’s not really the case anymore. I can confirm this.

Sadly, while the journalists were complimentary about Honda’s quality and reliability, they didn’t have good things to say about riding excitement. The CB750 was the high mark, but that was now seven years ago. It seemed Honda might have focused on cars a bit too much rather than following up on the CB750.

This was bad news for Honda, but the brand wasn’t going to let it stand. It was going to produce the final word of the 1970s horsepower wars and it was going to do so in an extravagant way. Forget an inline four, Honda was going big with a chunky six.

Irimajiri was pinched for the project and his team wasted no time in adapting Grand Prix technology for the road. Honda already had six-cylinder Grand Prix racing bikes in the 1960s (above), so Irimajiri and his team used the racing engine technology as a template for their beast. Reportedly, using existing technology is how Honda went from that motel meeting to a real production motorcycle in just a year and a half. The resulting engine was a beast. It featured six cylinders adding up to 1047cc and featuring dual overhead cams plus four valves per cylinder. The resulting engine made a healthy 103 HP.

Honda was serious about this effort, so it had a second team building a competing engine that also employed racing technology. That team created a 1000cc inline-four that made 98 HP, borrowing ideas from Honda’s mid-1970s RCB1000 racer.

This engine was actually faster than the six, but the team felt the six had attributes that you couldn’t measure on a dyno. The engineers loved how the six was buttery smooth, stunning in appearance, thrilling in acceleration, and had an engine note that the four just couldn’t come close to comparing to. While Honda wanted to win the speed wars, simply being fast wasn’t enough. It wanted to make a grand statement, and only the six could do that.

When the CBX hit the road in 1978, it blew everything out of the water. The 105 HP of the production model hit like a hammer and at the time, the riders at Cycle World said it was the fastest thing they’ve ever ridden with a license plate, going over 130 mph in their testing.

The motorcycle press was intoxicated, from Cycle World:

The production line CBX is finally here. It’s still the head-turning flash bike it was last year, and it still arouses strong emotions. More significantly, the CBX is still the fastest bike we’ve ever tested. In fact, it’s even faster than the prototype, streaking down the quarter mile in 11.36 sec. @ 118.11 mph, a full tenth of a second quicker than our first CBX.

[…]

A four-valve Four might have as much power, as clean an exhaust, almost as smooth an engine, but it would lack the six glistening head pipes; the massive, attention-riveting engine; the Porsche-like sound; the decal on the tank declaring “Double Overhead Cams, 24 Valves.”

One shouldn’t underestimate the emotional appeal of a machine that incites double-takes and looks of awe from other riders and non-motorcyclists alike. It’s hard to resist some satisfaction when you pull the CBX up to a stoplight and the guy on the Z-l in the next lane never looks at you. never brings his bike’s rpm past idle in your presence and slowly, ever-so-slow ly slinks away when the light changes, pretending to not see you. doing everything he can to avoid an embarrassing impromptu drag race. You’re riding a CBX, the meanest. most exotic, most expensive street machine you’re likely to meet and that in itself commands respect.

How does a CBX sound when it’s just right? Here, I’ll give you a moment to experience this:

Cycle World goes on to describe that the CBX is more than just a GP engine mounted to a street bike’s frame. Honda’s engineers were concerned about weight given how the six was heavier than a four. To compensate, Honda made the fenders, seat base, and side covers out of plastic. That’s common today, where even Royal Enfield has plastic side covers, but metal was still common back then.

More dramatic weight reduction methods came from using cast aluminum for the controls and pegs, using hollow cams, eliminating steel from the clutch, and even drilling the countershaft sprocket and oil pump drive gear. Even the handlebar was made out of forged aluminum in the name of shaving weight. The biggest weight loss came from engineers designing the cradle to use the engine as a stressed member. Loaded up with oil and fuel, a Honda CBX weighs around 600 pounds, not bad considering the big six.

Technically, me calling the six “big” is also a bit incorrect. Yes, the engine was a beautiful work of art and its components did take up more space, but Honda employed clever methods to keep the engine narrower than you’d expect. Normally, Honda placed the motorcycle’s alternator and primary drive on the ends of the engine. However, that wasn’t going to work here because the six was already wider than a four.

To compensate, Honda moved the ignition components and alternator to a position central and behind the engine. Not only did this mean that the mighty six was only two inches wider than a four, but it protected those vital components in the event of a tip-over.

But of course, the reason you bought a CBX was for the sound and the power. Cycle World continues:

The sound of the engine is still electrifying. The CBX starts easily when cold and demands varying amounts of choke for one or two minutes, but can be ridden away about 60 seconds after firing up if the choke is used. The bike will leave a stop at almost idle if the clutch is used carefully and will pull smoothly from 1500 rpm to redline in fifth gear. Few people start away from a stop at idle or lug down to 1500 rpm in fifth, but the fact that the CBX will do just that says a lot about the motorcycle’s smooth power delivery. As for vibration, there isn’t much, but it is present at about 4000 rpm, generating a slight buzz through the handlebars and blurring the mirrors slightly.

Serious power kicks in about 4500 rpm and by the time the tach needle passes 6000 rpm the rider better be pointed in whatever direction he wants to go because the CBX is headed there fast. The Six is the hardest-accelerating carbureted stocker ever built, and has enough power to thrill anybody.However, the CBX wasn’t the perfect motorcycle. It handled well and went like hell on the road, but testers found cracks in the CBX’s armor on track. The big Honda beat everything so long as it was on the street. Further, the fancy engineering meant some maintenance challenges. You now had 24 valves to adjust, six carburetors to maintain, and Honda warned that you couldn’t use typical chain lube because it would damage the drive chain’s rubber O-rings. Also, all of those neat lightweight parts weren’t cheap to replace if you did dump your CBX.

This 1982 Honda CBX Super Sport

All of that being said, the heat and the track performance really didn’t matter. The CBX was the motorcycle you bought to rule the stoplight drag and to excite children. Honda achieved its mission and then some.

Honda didn’t sell a ton of these bikes, but did produce enough of them that they aren’t super rare. If you do nationwide vehicle searches like I do, you’ll usually find at least a few CBX examples for sale at any given time. There were two on Bring a Trailer on this week alone! The one you’re looking at today is the second CBX and its auction bows out tomorrow.

While the launch CBX was a superbike, Honda eventually realized that the smooth big six and comfortable seat gave the CBX the makings of a great touring bike. In 1981, Honda launched a sport touring model featuring air-adjustable suspension, side cases, and wind protection. Reportedly, the touring CBX also gained some frame reinforcements and a brake upgrade to handle the weight from the touring goodies.

That’s what you’re looking at here. It’s the CBX that’s been my bedroom poster motorcycle for years, but a bit more friendly for long rides. Sadly, these later CBX are detuned to about 100 HP, but they’re still stupid fast.

What I like about this CBX is that while it presents well in photos, it’s a motorcycle that has been well-loved for more than 40 years. The odometer shows 46,000 miles and it’s been dropped on both sides. So, this bike has some scratches, the tank is dented, and some small parts can probably stand to be replaced.

However, we’re also told that the bike is in good mechanical shape with a fresh carburetor overhaul and some engine maintenance. I feel like this is a CBX you can swing a leg over and ride off happy.

But is this one not for you? I get it. Like I said earlier, these bikes aren’t super rare. I did a basic search and found 12 Honda CBXs for sale within 500 miles of my home. From my digging, it seems like you’ll pay around $8,000 or so for a CBX that was daily-ridden, in the ballpark of $15,000 or so for a museum quality example, and I’ve seen complete non-running examples go for $4,500. So, depending on your budget, this is a classic motorcycle that’s affordable. That’s right, one of the best-sounding vehicles you can buy won’t even cost you $20,000 for one in minty shape. This one is bidding at only $5,500 thus far.

The Honda CBX never topped any sales charts. They hit the market for $3,998 ($20,181 today) and the model bowed out in 1982 after producing around 38,079 units in Japan and another 3,150 bikes in America. While that’s not a small total number, Honda is used to selling up to hundreds of thousands of a single model each year. But that didn’t matter. The CBX was a halo that was meant to show the world that Honda still meant business at this motorcycle thing.

The CBX was also a bit of a stop-gap. Sure, it was amazing, but Honda had bigger plans in the works such as its fabled V4 engine series and the famous motorcycles they were bolted into.

Still, stop-gap or not, the Honda CBX proved that Team Red could do anything it wanted to. Back then, that meant making motorcycles and compact cars for everyone, and today that includes a weird private jet and quiet generators. The CBX didn’t need to exist, but I’m glad it does because even today, that engine sounds better than most cars out there.