S
urging fuel prices.
Americans are involved
in a controversial war, far
away from our shores. Scan-
dals in the White House, where
a U.S.
president denies being a
lawbreaker.
Yessir, 1974 was the kind
of year you just don't want to
come around very often. In fact,
if it wasn't for The Godfather II,
"Come and Get Your Love" by
Redbone, and of course,
the Honda CB200, the
whole year might have
just broken our hearts.
Cycle News tested the little
Honda in its June 25, 1974, is
-
sue, just as the price of gasoline
was pushing its way
toward a
whopping 45 cents per gallon.
The industry was saying "sayo-
nara" to plug-fouling, two-stroke
mavericks
like the Kawasaki and
Suzuki triples, and "konnichiwa"
to small-displacement machines
that sipped gasoline in the same
relaxed manner that a Southern
gentleman nurses a smooth,
20-year-old bourbon.
The Honda CB200 was a
pretty straightforward machine,
with twin shocks in the rear and
one disc brake up front. The
only added goodie was an elec
-
tric starter, which brought the
little Honda's
air-cooled, four-
stroke twin and its five-speed
transmission to life. The CN
staff went looking for the red
-
line on the CB200, which appar-
ently gave them the illusion that
they
were going really fast. "The
engine just loves to rev," the tes-
ter wrote. "One neat thing about
riding
a little motorcycle is the
fun you can have running it very
hard without having to worry as
much about speeding tickets
like you would if you were riding
a larger machine."
The 200 could hit 63 mph in
the quarter-mile and top out
at 80 mph. With a nationwide
speed limit of 55 mph, the
Honda was actually quite ca
-
pable of landing its pilot in the
hoosegow for a night.
CNII ARCHIVES
P138
BY KENT TAYLOR
HONDA'S 1974
CB200
A PRETTY
FINE
LITTLE
MOTORCYCLE
In 1974, when gas prices
were surging to 45 cents per
gallon, the Honda CB200 came
along at the right time.
