lmp.ression: Honda CBX SSG FII
Our man in Europe tests the
"little" CBX .
By Hanny Ray Ab rams
It's a little cruel of us to go around Europe
testing machines ljke Honda's CBX 550 F II,
because, after all, you can't get them in
America yet. So what's the point?
The point is that yo u don ' t
know what vou 're mi ssing. Like
,
h'
3
th e ): ~ m a a ~D . 50 LC, th e
sma ller CBX invites a n archy
12 '-.....
o n th e stree t. Just sitti ng still, it look s
like so me thi ng th at will ge t yo u in
troubl e. It ap proac hes th e ul tim at e
distillation of th e sporti ng bik e an d
ai ms to tak e yo u pl aces tha t yo u 've
never been and won 't soon forget.
It mak es sen se. Big brother is th e
lat e notorious CBX with its six cyli n ders and record for lawl essn ess. Why
not tame it , shr ink it a lilli e, but keep
th e mi schievous qualities.th at mak e
it p opular w ith th e ca fe cro wd in
Europe.
Th e en g ine is an in -line fourcylinder with four valves per cylinde r
drawingfueIthroughabankof25mm
Keihin con sta n t vacuum ca rbs that
mak es a cla im ed 60 bhp a t 10,000
rpm . It isn 't ca nted a s far forward as
big brother a nd is not a stressed
member of th e fram e, but wha t it
lack s in size, the do uble over hea d
ca m pow er plant mak es u p in p ow er
to weight ra tio. Weighing in a t 440
pounds pUISit in a bo ut th e m idd le of
t~ecl a s s w ~ th
th e Kaw asak i GPz 550 a
~l_lli e hea vier an d th e Y~maha Seca
",,0 a co uple o f pou nds Iigh ter.
It doesn ' t feel like a m id dleweigh t,
th ough. Co m pa ri ng th e numbers o n
th e sta t shee t you find that it has a
smaller wh eelbase than th e FT 500
Asco t wh ich acco u nts for the quick
steering. Th e seat height is abo ut th e
sa me as th e Asco t a nd wi th th e widest
p oint bein g the two separa te a lu rni num h andl ebars; wh ich mount independentl y to th e top o f th e tripl e
clamps, i t's even a foot n arrower th an
th e thumper.
The co ntrols fall eas ily to hand.
T he cho ke is thumb-operat ed o n th e
left handl ebar sta lk an d with half
cho ke a n da Ilick o f rhe sta rter buuon
th e en gi ne fir es up ri ght awa y, hot or
co ld. As yo u look down you see th e
tw o meter s for g ro u n d a nd engine
speed separa ted by a pessimisti c gas
ga uge. T urn indica tors a nd ligh ts for
th e high-beam, o il pressure, a nd n eutral sh ar e space near th e igniti on key.
The igni tion key a lso work s th e sea t
lock a nd gas cap with sepa rate keys
for th e fork-m ounted fork lock a nd
th e lock in g secu ri ty ca ble wh ich js
ntinued to
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