Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Right out front, we'll declare that Honda makes what must be the ultimate bike in the world for cafe racer types. Unfortunately, few in the good 01' U.S. of A. will ever see one. much less' ride one, and that, in our opinion, is tantamount to a felony . Imagine, if you will , a Honda RCB endurance racer with one rectangular quartz .head lig h t ~nd . a quieter, tamer engme, though It still pumps out three digit horsepower. Got that? Nice red , white and blue paint scheme, full fairing, adjustable clip-ons, rear sets, dual vented fron t discs and anti-dive forks, even a 6.Sgallon fuel tank should give yo u an even better picture. The result is Honda's CBlIOORC. Availabl e in Australia, England. France. Germany and the Netherlands, the " CBII" represents the pinnacle of Honda en gineerin g, performance and racing technology in one str eet-l egal . production-type racer. It not only looks the part, it backs . it up also with a proven track record. For example, in Australia's a n n ua l Ca strol Six-Hour endurance rac e, CBllOOs have reg u la rly occupied the top spot s since the ir introd uc tio n two years ago. The race is for basically stock motorcycl es, to o . A CBllOOR a lso won the GP 4 class a t th e Daytona Amateur Ro ad Ra ce, besting Suzuki Katanas a nd , Kawasa ki G pz llOOs. With a production run of abo ut 1000 units last year and a like number for 'S2. th e CBll definitely falls into the category of the limited 'p roduction racer. Less than 200 of those were tabbed for the Au stralian market, wi th nearly eac h of those units sold before they were even off the boat. Scott Wilcox happened to be in Alan Decker's Freedom Wheels Honda shop "a t the right time, " and managed to scoop up two CBll s-.Wilcox ai:freighted both bikes back to his Veneta, OR, home wh ere he uncrated o ne, put less than 55 miles on it , a n d offered to let us ride it. Checking it out The CBllOORC is a strikingl y beautiful motorcycle, especially for those who appreciate racing bikes which ca n often be a bit cobby or unfinished. The det ailing on it rivals even custo m 'jo bs, and everything blends together wonderfull y. A number of cha n ges from the introductory model mark the 'S2 version. Fir st of all is th e Ia iring., now a nea r replica of Honda 's FWS 1.00Occ V- 4 racer fairing instead of las t year 's CBX·t ype h alf fairing. Manufactured of a super-lig h t carbo n fiber material , the top part is red o ver a bold, slanted blue stripe. The stripe is carri ed over in a visuall y contin uo us line u p th e side panel bodywork and tailpiece, wh i ~h a re a lso made .of ~ r bon fiber. In cidentally, th e tai lpiece detach es this year, a llowing the o wner to convert the red seat from a single sa dd le to a dual arrangement by simp ly removing two screws. The deta chable fairing belly pan is wh ite with " I IOOR" emblazoned near the bottom of each side in bold, outlined red lettering. , Also new this year are th e ComStar wheels. now similar to th e CX500 Turbo but carrying the widest rims for a production street bike yet , a 2:5 x IS-inch unit in front and a whopping 3.0 x IS rear. Dunlops adorn each rim , a lOO/90VlS Fll front and a 130/ SOVlS K527 rear which looks similar to a Michelin M4S. While the rear brake disc appears of art. They are vented but not the same items that come on thi s year's CBXs. All three discs are grabbed by Honda 's twin-piston calipers. The 39mm fork legs . 2mm larger than last year, still permit th e same amount of travel - 5.5 inches - and the sliders are now red. Honda's TRAC (Torque Reactive Anti-dive Control) en ables the rider this yea.r to adjust how muc~ the front en.d dl.ves under braking via a sloued adjusting screw to anyone of four settin gs. Each leg holds 12.3 ounces of fork oil. Rear suspension this year is still twin shock. but the shocks are inverted piggyback reservoir gas/oil units. A knob on top and one at the bottom of each shock permits three-way adjustable rebound damping and compression damping cha n ges. Spring preload is five-wa y adj us ta ble. The units control th e rear wh eel's 4.1 inches of travel. 0.2 inches less than last year. The frame appears to be lik e last year's model. but there are a couple of changes. Steering head angle is .n o t quite as steep at 2So. and th ere IS a fraction less tra il at 4.6 in ches. Those changes' are n ot . doubt th e result of the IS in ch wh eel th is year. Naturall y with the fu ll fairing, there is less ground clearance - 5.5 in ches - 'but the claimed dry weight is down almost five pounds to 513.7 (233kg) .The already low seat height is now down to 3\.3 inches. Honda bu ilds th e en gi ne s for the CB II to satisfy three sets of govern- rne nt reg u la tio ns. T he racier model p uts out a cla imed 120 DIN hor sepower; the Austral ian/Eng lish/French version is rated at 115 DIN hor ses; an d the Dutch / German mill ch u rns ou t a n even 100 DIN hp. All th ree peaks co me at 9.000 rpm , while redlin e comes at 9,500 rp m . Ma ximum torque comes at 7.500 rp m. New this year is a n oil temperature ga u ge to let the rid er know how well th e o il cooler is wor kin g. About th e only other externa l va ria nce is th e gearing, a bit tall er now since a 39tooth sp rocket is fiued to the rear wheel. ins tea d of a 40, to work with the l7 -tooth co u nte rsh aft holdover. The test ride Riverside International Raceway was th e site of our first experience aboard the CBlIOO. It proved to be, well...uh...a bit disappointing, actually. Judging it by looks and its prior track record, we expected a Superbike motor to be stuffed into the double cradle frame, a ferocious. arm-jerking snarler. Wh at we discovered was an en gi ne su premely easy to get a lon g with, one which produced eve r -i n creasi n g amo u nt s of horsepower from idle upwards. Du e to th e newness of th e ma chine, we never took it up to redline; 124 mph a t 7,200 rp~ wa s eno ugh to suit us. There were never a ny surges or flat spots a t any point in the rev ran ge, an d judging by the way it pulled at 7,000. the 16-val ve engine will easil y hit 9.500 or more, which would wo rk out to ap p ro xima tely 150 mph! The rid e at ,a ll sp eeds was more sta ble than any street bike should have a right to be; its racing heritage clearl y shines. On rougher sections of pavement, though , th ere wa s a liule Specifications Engine . . Type Air-cooled four-stroke. vertical parallel four cylinder. Bore x stroke 70 x 69mm. Displacement 1.062cc. Compression ratio 10:1. Carburetion Keihin VB. 33mm (four). Lubricating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forced pressure and wet sump. Oil capacity 4.7 ~.S. qt. Clutch Wet. multi-plate. Transmission Five-speed consta.nt ~esh. Ignition Translstonzed. Starting system Starting motor only. Frame Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,?ouble crad!e. Front suspension/travel Telesco~lc fork/5.5 !n. SWlngarm/4.1 In. Rear suspension/travel Front tire Dunlop 100/90V18 F~ 1. Rear tire Dunlop 130/80V18 K5. 7. Front brake D~uble d!sc. Rear brake ............ ... .. ... •.............. ...... . SI~gle dl~. Rake/trail 28 /4.6 tn. _ Dimensions Overall length 86.6 !n. Overall width ....... . ... .. . .. .. ........ ..... ..... •. .. ... 30.3 !n. Overall height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .• . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . •.. . . 60.4 !n. Wheelbase . . . • ..... .. . .. .. ..........•... .. ..........•.. . 68.6 !n. Seat height . . . ....... •..... ..•...................... •. .. 31.3 !n. Ground clearance ..... •........... ... •......... .......•.. 6.6 In. Fuel capacity .. .. .... •. ... ...... . .. .......... ... ... . 6.8 U.S. gal. Fuel reserve capacity .•. . .. .. .... ..... •. •.. . ....... . 1.2 U.S. gal. Dry weight 613.7 Ibs. Suggested retail price ....•...........•.. •. •........... .... N/A. un cert ainty detected in th e rear end. gen erall y with power o n. T ho ug h th ere wasn 't eno ug h time to try di a lin g it in, the si tua tio n co u ld p rob abl y be rem edi ed by a cha nge in tir e pressu re and sus pension seuings . Seu lin g into th e sea t an d cro uche d behind the bubble, th e rid er 's vision is quite clear , a nd no ra ttles eman ate from th e fair ing. The racing-type of pos ition the seat-bar-peg relationship puts you in is comforta ble at all times. T h ro win g th e bike into corners is a breeze; never does it feel like an 1100. Except for a trac e of top-heaviness caused by a full load of fuel , yo u' d swear the bike was a 550. Heading up through the high speed esses at a good dip required about half the muscle you 'd think would be required on a big bore. Unfortunately, the track was dampened by intermittent showers during th e afternoon we rode. so ~e didn 't push it hard in corners . Sullo the CBll felt great. being predictable and seemingl y forgiving. A few patches 'of tar coming out of 7A caused th e bike to slip momentarily, but it failed to ra ise the pulse by more than a couple beats . Even in the wet , the tires held well. In th e dry, however, it 's doubtful that any part of the motorcycle would ground regularly. . The n ext da y, we went for a spirited jaunt into the mountains and desert. A two-hour freewa y ride was remarkably pain-free. Legs did need to be stretched a couple times, but the sparsely padded saddle was none too uncomfortable. and th e adjustable clip-on type bars in the standard setting didn't cause wrists or forearms to prematurely tir e. Engine and exhaust noise was ' n il , but there was a slight ' vi bra tio n present wh enever yo u ' backed off the throttle a bit at cruising speeds, Mirrors rem a in ed surprisingly useful. at .a l! speeds. _. On the street, the CBll felt much quicker than it had on the track, since there were other. slower. vehicles by wh ich to judge it. Despite its 150 mph potential. though. it never felt overgeared ; pulling away from a stop in first req uired no unnecessary cl utch slip p in g. We did notice a little clutch cha tter at var ious times when geuing underway, but that may have been due to the clutch being sli gh tly out of adjustment. O~her than that, it w.or~ed fin e. and the five-speed transrmssron always sh ifted perfectly. All controls were within easy reach. and everything worked as it should have. We h it rain again. unfortunately. However. we can truthfull y report that th e brakes work well even in a downpour. The tires don 't hydroplane except sli gh tly under th e wettest conditions an d work as well on drenched streets as on damp race track asphalt. Away from th e mainstream roads and into the twisties, everything about CB II that endeared it to us on th e track drew it even closer to our melting hearts. It was a dream come true! It went fa st. s t o p ped qui ckl y , straightened corners predictabl y and was a blast to ride. The only thing that kept us from keeping the bike was that Wilcox had the title to it. Oh how we 'd love to have the best looking. best handling, ultimate street bike Honda makes. We know you'd love it . too. Unfortunately. no more than a handful of CBllOORCs will wind up in this country. But have hope. Sources close to Honda indicate that we may see this model in their 'S3 line-up, but at this time that is very far from being confirmed. But If you 're like us and want this motorcycle available on these shores, don't be afraid to let Honda know about it!. ..... -. l-< 0.. ~ 25 • • ye~a~r.~th~e:fr~o~n~t~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::=.~~::::~~~::~::;.:;;;;.;.;;.;.~:;.• units the same as last to be are very different, ~earlY works

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