When Honda Scored A Six With Its Legendary CBX1000

Wobbly Phil looks back at Honda's six cylinder CBX1000. How was the legendary motorcycle reviewed in 1978, the year that it was launched?
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Video links:
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#classicmotorcycles #vintagemotorcycles #hondamotorcycles #hondacbx1000

[@Banditmanuk]

The CBX is such an iconic looking machine. We covered the last Stafford Classic Auction that had a nice looking CBX. Guided at £10,000 - 14 it actually sold for £9,000. Chatting to the owners club, the naked bike sold well, but they could hardly give away the faired touring version. Entertaining as usual, I do remember the late 70s, but being born in 64, I was just lusting after an FS1E when the CBX hit town.

[@3Phils]

Yes, saw you’d covered the Staffordshire Classic Auction on your channel and that CBX looked gorgeous! Do reassure me that you haven’t got an FS1E, there’s nothing more tragic than seeing a, er, more mature gentleman on one of those! 🤣 All the best!

[@Banditmanuk]

@3Phils err no 😆 6ft4 at 16 I was a tragic sight even then!

[@3Phils]

🤣

[@kathrynwhitby9799]

i was there too (it really was shit), and it looks like we're about to revisit it - - - without the CBX though.

[@3Phils]

When I was going through the archive footage I got a sort of visceral, gut-wrenching feeling of ‘Bloody hell, I’d forgotten it was THAT bad! But it was!’ And yes, it did bring on a kind of dread that it could happen again. 😳

[@johnking6252]

Helluva introduction 👍

[@3Phils]

Thank you. It really was that grim back then. But I guess, like most teenagers, I had other things on my mind. Jeez, I almost bought a Bullworker! 🤣🤣🤣

[@DustyVisorMotorcycles]

I think we have arrived..................

[@TerryClarkAccordioncrazy]

I was there in 78, it took days to dig snow out of the lane we lived in and then the school heating failed so we had to stay home and play snowballs and toboggans. Best week of my childhood that I can remember.

[@3Phils]

Yes, it was all fun at that age! I rode my Lambretta a couple of hundred miles in it and couldn’t feel my fingers for a week afterwards!

[@oldoldbikebiker]

Roast gravel..? Luxury! (Sorry couldn't resist). Yes I was there too. It still seemed like things were improving from the 3 day week and rolling blackouts of a few years before. I really do need to get myself a CBX while I can still get my leg over.....

[@3Phils]

Ay, we were living in shoebox int’ middle o’ road. I’d really love a CBX, and as my 80 year old acquaintance testified, you can still keep it up even at his age!

[@jfu5222]

Thanks Phils, I've always been fond of the CBX, certainly my favorite of the truly excessive machines of my youth. I recall reading somewhere that it's only a fraction of an inch wider than the old CB750.

[@3Phils]

Yes, I think you’re right about the width, thanks to Honda’s ingenious trick of placing the alternator behind the cylinder block. Thanks for the thanks! 😊

[@dnswhh7382]

I really like your channel. Nice topics and always with a sense of humor I personally like a lot. Greetings from Germany!

[@3Phils]

That’s very kind, thank you. Greetings to you too, from the UK! 🇬🇧

[@jonnypollard4304]

Thanks for another great video! I was there too back then, alas the CBX was out of my price range, so a Z650 had to do instead. But what a great disparity of bikes we had, all at the same time: Guzzi Le Mans, 900SS, Jota, R100RS as well as the CBX. Still riding my Morini Maestro nowadays, how lucky we were to have lived through those times!

[@3Phils]

You’re very kind! 😊 Yes, it wasn’t all bad. Great bikes, great music, and the only time you heard the word ‘influence’ was in the phrase ‘driving under the influence’! I’d have liked a CBX too, but I’d have settled for a Z650. And those Marini Maestros are lovely looking machines.

[@ML-dh6ly]

Still use my bullworker today 😅

[@3Phils]

🤣

[@joeblow5037]

Bought a brand new silver '79 out of the crate at my local Honda dealer in the winter of '84. Immediatly put a 6 into 1 equal length header, rejetted it, ATK fork brace, S&W street stroker rear shocks, and a beautiful color matched tracy sport fairing..........because those were the best known mods. Drove it for 10 glorious years........although I did have to put 2 base gaskets in it. (the first one they sold me was cardboard old stock, instead of the upgraded neoprene reinforced one.....grrrr) Sold it when I became self employed.......should have robbed a bank. Yup, T100R Daytona owner OKC Neal bought a 3 cylinder T160 and a 6 cylinder Honda. I truly am strange.

[@3Phils]

Strange? Not at all! That’s precisely what I would do, apart from not having the dough for a CBX! We were eating hot gravel for dinner here in the UK in the 70s, after all. 🤣 Nice to hear from you again. 😊

[@tonycraib5939]

Thanks for the great video. I rode one back in the early 80s nice bike

[@3Phils]

And thanks for the thanks! 😊

[@loneRider3910]

Coming across a group of Screaming Banshies whilst riding my Honda 6, I contemplated staying for dessert. But, realising the pleasure from my bike wouldn’t lead to a nasty rash, as opposed to the Banshies, I hastily remounted and sped off.

[@iancooll12]

I had an original silver 78 one, with a Bassanni exhaust system K&N filters, up-jetted and Dailed in Carbs, until very recently, when I Had to sell it due to a Broken spine and two failed Spinal surgeries and old age!, so I just couldn't move it around anymore and finally had to give in and part with Her. I did a few things to the chassis, needle roller conversion and Koni Shocks, Goldwing front forks were the same as originals but 41mm in diameter, and then I Race tech'ed them. A thick pair of T6 Head steady plates, reamed to fit heavier bolts and studs, plus tapered roller Brgs. It handled great even on those skinny tires and as I screamed through the sweepers, coming into town it sounded fantastic and went even better, I rode it even while I was in the chair, luckily people around here were great, and feet were held on with thick rubber bands courtesy of my wife and I lent on a car if I had to stop but mainly unused farm roads, very lucky!!! Great memories thanks, I'm Sad I had to part with her, but it has to be light Bikes now, like Nortons, I've been out of the chair for quite a while now, but the problems are returning as I age and they were never really fixed? so I've been lucky and I put a 100,000Kms+ on that CBX and even in parting with her she gave me something else, a really good friend, so who can say anything bad about that, I love it.

[@3Phils]

Great memories of the CBX there, thank you. Sorry to hear you had to part with her, but it sounds like you’ve got some plans for getting back on two wheels despite the medical issues, which imo is just great! Keep on riding! 😊🏍️

[@iancooll12]

@@3Phils Thanks, that's the main thing isn't it, we all get old, and the day has to come live while you can. All the Best and it was and is one hell of a Bike.

[@gavmusic]

Liked and subscribed for dry humour and reminding me that the 1970s in Britain were full of such contradictions - the country was going to the dogs for much of the '70s but was accompanied by a soundtrack of great music and great bikes. Oh, how i wanted.the Suzuki GT750 in the window of CMW's in Chichester in 1974 when i was twelve!!

[@3Phils]

As they say, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be! Seriously, though, like you I remember the 1970s being exciting and troubling simultaneously. Perhaps it was the three day weeks, the rolling blackouts, the rubbish piling up in the streets, the constant threat of nuclear war, etc. that gave us the urge to party, the impetus to create great music and the need for two-wheel speed? I’d still like a GT750! Thanks for the sub. 😊

[@Free_Ranger_CT110]

I remember first seeing one at the bike show at Earl's Court in the late 70's, it was outrageously impressive. Weren't the FVQ rear shocks cynically given the moniker 'Fade Very Quickly?' You forgot to mention at least in the 70's we had F1 world champ & 500cc GP world champ, so it wasn't all bad 🙂

[@3Phils]

Ha, yes, I should have mentioned the FVQ shocks. I think most owners swapped those out very quickly. The 70s weren’t all that bad. I rather enjoyed the rolling blackouts in 1973! We also got punk, if that’s your thing, and plenty of smashing new bikes to gawp at. 😊🏍️

[@Free_Ranger_CT110]

@@3Phils and the drought, with standpipes on our street...But at least we were young!

[@3Phils]

That too! A Minister for Drought, followed immediately by a Minister for Rain! 🤣

[@gordonyoung3668]

Who needs a Bullworker when you have a CBX at your disposal...in Red please.

[@3Phils]

Yep, red is definitely the best colour! 😊

[@octive8]

🤔 lady's bottoms, gravel roasting, shut down the Gov,..... 🤣🤣

[@3Phils]

Oh yes, December 1978 was hilarious! 🤣🤣

[@octive8]

@@3Phils yep so was 1969, hahaha,... man on the moon 🤣🤣🤣 in a coke can with no computers, no technology,... 🤣🤣🤣.

[@geoffreypiltz271]

I always thought the looks of the motor were ultimately spoilt by the smooth die casting making it look like silver painted plastic. Sand cast is much, much cooler.

[@3Phils]

Indeed it is. Hence the whopping prices being achieved for the sand cast CB750s, I suppose. 💰💰💰

[@888jackflash]

O that they would make a modern, lighter version today! But alas, your lovely Euro commissioners have squashed so many good engine designs; Inline Fours may go the same route, hope not. By modern standards CBX's were pretty clunky.. I seem to recall a camshaft issue..(?).. and TUNING them was a real b*tch, trying to sync the carbs and such.

[@3Phils]

I forgot to mention the tuning!! It wouldn’t have been for the fainthearted! My CB1300 feels a bit like a CBX wannabe, I guess the Japanese manufacturers have continued the development of large, inline, multi-cylinder machines - the UJM - despite all the legislation. But remember Suzuki ducked out of their six cylinder concept in the mid 2000s? Perhaps today’s V4s are the way to go?

[@888jackflash]

@@3Phils As a long-term '96-'00 Suzuki 1200 Bandit owner (I'm on my third one; I put 175.000 miles on #2 before getting hit at a stoplight), I'm a huge fan of Large Bore Standards. I've always been jealous that you Euros got the Suzuki GSX 1400 and yes, the Honda CB1300. Care to do a vid on that bike? Or both?

[@3Phils]

The CB1300 is currently awaiting a new battery, and then its MoT/Roadworthy. But once that’s done I’ll take it out on the twisties and do a short report. I have to say it’s the bike I use least, but when I’m on it there’s always a big, fat grin on my face! 😁 Who’d have thought a lump like that could get its front end up with just a flick of the throttle?!