Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126788
~ (.0 C\l l-< (1) ..0 a (1) -.J 0. r~ The Moto Martin CBX kit combines the best qualities of the six-cylinder engine with 1984-quality handling and stability. Moto Martin kit from Action Fours includes frame. bodywork. wheels. brakes and controls; fiberglass tank/seatltailsection lifts off as one piece. The original CBX was shocking at its introduction but was too wide and heavy and too unforgiving in handling to really catch on. ..,.J Chrome-moly steel frame rails wrap around wide bank of six CV carbs; single shock mounts under the seat. near horizontal. Molo Marlin: Six-cylinder exclusivily " By John Ulrich The Honda CBX seemed a technical marvel in 1978: six-cylinders, DOHC with four valves per cylinder and mid-II-second quarter miles. But in this year of IO-second quarters from inline and V-4 street bikes, in this day of the Ninja and F] 1100, the CBX looks like a fat pig of a motorcycle. 22 It was huge, long and wide. It was heavy, weighing 580 pounds with half a tank of gas. And it wasn't exactly a precise-handling motorcycle, but it sounded terrific, the how I of the six cylinders almost making up for the rest of it. Despite shortcomings looming large in the context of motorcycle performance as we know it today, the CBX has its fans. If only tnere was some way to save the endearing qualities and exchange the rest for something better... Enter the Moto Martin chassis kit, made in France. Action Fours sells it for $4995; the kit and the original CBX engine, controls, instruments, . _ .electt:ics. !!'CI<.i _g~ a~termarket tires and exhaust system combine to produce a 504-pound (with half a tank of gas) CBX. The bodywork comes unpainted. What's that mean in terms of performance? The best stock CBX could manage about a 1:43 lap time at Willow Springs. The Moto Martin CBX seen here - owned by John McLaughlin - easily turned 1:39swithout sliding the tires or risking scratching the red and gold custom paint. That witha worn-out engine (CBX valve springs fatigued quickly) and Brembo brake pads that surely will last 1,000,000 miles thanks to rocklike hardness and an absence of friction qualities. The Moto Martin has the same . wheel base, rake and trail as a stock CBX - 58.5 inches, 27.5° and 4.7 inches. It has Martin forks with 42mm stanchion tubes vs. the stocker's..37mm Showa forks and has a single rear shock CO,rIIWred to the original's dual shocks. The Martin has cast magnesium wheels instead of aluminum ComStar~ rlJe Martin wheels are wider, a 2.50 x 18-inch front and a 3.50 x 18-inch rear. Seat h~ight is lower - 29 inches on the Martin vs. the original's 31.9 inches - and gas capacity slightly less - 5.1 gallons vs. 5.3 gallons. Wheel travel is reduced, 4.3 inches vs. 6.3 inches in the front, 3.5 inches vs. 3.9 inches in the rear. The Martin we rode was fitted with Dunlop 391R Elites. On the racetrack, the Moto Martin CBX performs well, being dead-on stable. But on the road, the racer-style seating position - with rearset pegs and clip-on handlebars - sparselyIpadded seat and stiff suspension make for aJqugh, if distinctive, ride. One thing is certain. There isn't a Moto Martin CBX on every comer, a,nd anybody who rides one won't be seeing his double everywhere he goes.