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News May 2023
Honda CBX1000
windfall, May 28
Owners of Honda CBX1000s in the USA might
be thinking Christmas has come early, given the recent
extraordinary prices paid for early naked versions.
The machine
you see here, in prime condition and claiming a
fairly low 14,000 miles (22,500km) has sold for a
staggering Au$$56,700 (US$37,000, GB£30,000) – a new
record set with Bring a Trailer.
We covered two other sales earlier in
the month. The price tsunami started with the sale of a
machine with just 21 miles (33km) for Au$47,000 (US$31,750,
GB£25,100).
About a week later a second
machine with 18,000 miles (30,000km) sold for
Au$39,000
(US$26,000, GB£20,800).
See
the Motorcycle
Specs backgrounder.
Norton Cafe
Racer launched, May 27
The revived Norton factory has launched a new cafe racer, based on its V4 powerplant. Dubbed the V4CR, it claims 185 horses and 125Nm of torque from its 1200cc 72 degree engine. Price? Don't know yet, but it won't be cheap. More at the Norton site, here.
Ducati auction,
May 15
A 1998 Ducati 916 biposto is one of
the highlights at the upcoming Shannons auction.
Showing a little under 14,000km (9000 miles) it's carrying
an estimate of Au$28-32,000 (US$19-21,000,
GB£15-17,000).
Plus the one
that was in our shed;
And the
contemporary Classic Two Wheels road test.
CeeBee day, May
14
A quick front brake caliper rebuild and an afternoon cruise...a good way to round off the weekend.
See our Honda
CB750-Four profile.
Shed-finds –
will they run? May 13
There's something weirdly attractive
about watching people go through a shed full of
abandoned motorcycles and see if anything will
run...kind of the mechanical version of waking the
dead. Here's a
recent one from Ride Apart.
Blade Benchmark,
May 12
Honda's first-gen FireBlade of 1992 was an important
benchmark in the development of sports bikes.
See our profile
and the accompanying video review.
Plus the Classic
Two Wheels period road test.
Flashback: the
Great Key Conundrum, May 10
Pondering the great disappearing key mystery...see the story here.
Isolastic
innovation, May 8
.
Anyone who has owned a classic Norton
Commando will be aware of the teeth-rattling vibration
they can produce and the factory's attempted fix for the
issue – isolastic mounts for the engine/transmission.
What we haven't seen till now is the
period (circa 1975) USA ad for a Commando 850 Roadster
explaining the innovation.
It begins: "The big-bore vertical twin is
an ideal superbike engine. Almost. It has tremendous
torque over a wide power range – plus a low center
of gravity and narrow profile that sits deep in the frame.
This gives the bike itself a doubly low centre of gravity,
and results in the kind of road handling that has made
Norton Famous. But the vertical twin has an impolite
habit. Vibration."
So now you know...
There's a
Commando in our shed...see it here.
See the
Classic Two Wheels period road test.
Honda CBX1000
& the devil in the detail, May 7
This stunning 1979 European model Honda CBX1000 sold recently in the USA, via Bring a Trailer, for Au$47,000 (US$31,750, GB£25,100), which we suspect may be a record for this model. In mint condition, it had just 33km (21 miles) on the odo.
That price is about 50 per cent up on what's previously
been realised for good examples with modest but not
super-low miles on the odo. An additional factor is the
USA market is stronger than the Australian at the moment,
and we doubt it would have reached that level here.
Another clean example, this time a 1980 US variant with 18,000
miles (30,000km) on the odo, is now up for auction.
We would expect bidding to pull up at a much lower level.
(Ed's note, May 12: this bike exceeded our expectations
with a sale price of Au$39,000 (US$26,000, GB£20,800)
Something we noticed with these bikes is the devil is
sometimes in the details, such as the instruments dictated
by legislation in different markets. First is the full
240km/h item from the Euro market machine and second is
the 85mph unit from the US market bike.
The latter came about in 1979-82 when the USA had mandated a 55mph
national speed limit and that instruments should not
show more than 85mph. It was a short-lived experiment but
has an impact for anyone considering an older import.
We highlighted a similar issue in our feature on
the first model Suzuki GSX-R750. Most markets ran
with the two-dial dash shown.
However Japan market units ran with a three-dial set, including a 180km/h speedo. This example has been retrofitted with a UK market gauge.
See the GSX-R750F
feature here.
Meanwhile, we'll work on bringing you a CBX1000 profile
in the near future.
Feisty Suzuki,
May 6
Suzuki's mighty T20 250 two-stroke twin promised the old
'ton' or 100mph (160km/h) and a respectable 15.1sec
quarter mile time – enough to give some bigger
four-strokes a fright back in 1966.
Of course the company was soon to launch its big brother,
the 500 Titan – see the profile here.
Favourite Bimota, May 4
From Ian Falloon:
I'm
now getting going with the book on Bimota for Veloce.
This will be a complete history similar to the MV Agusta
book. This is my favourite Bimota, the SB2.
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