austin
Well-Known Member
My youngest son had one of those as his first big bike. I bought of Alan??? In Bristol who used to post a lot on Xrv.org. Brilliant bike. I shoved some washers in the inlet manifold to restrict it for his licence but never really knew if they worked or not and also strongly suspect they were removed very soon afterwards anyway. Used and abused in the way only a 17 year old can yet it continued to purr and scrub up the way only 1980s Hondas can. They don’t make them like that anymore.Took this out again, first time in a year or so.
It nearly broke me.
I always say I'll fit on whatever I want to fit on, and I do like this thing, but after 2 hours my back and wrists are killing me.
Every time I get on it I have to grin, it's such a giggle. The first 7000 rpm it's a nice kind bike that's surprisingly luggable (Pottering around town, 30 mph in top gear, 2500 rpm, perfectly feasible!) but it's got that second 7000 rpm...
Perfect little sportsbike, where a modern liter bike with hundreds of horsepower, you give one half-hearted tug on the throttle in first gear and you're doing speeds that are a hazard to continued possession of a licence. This you can take to 5-digit rpms in all gears and not fracture the speed limits too badly. So it's not fast, but it sure feels like it is.
But I never really get on it. Because it kills my back, and because my internal satnav is hardwired to the GS and the kind of bumpy shite roads with grass in the middle are not compatible with a sporty little pocket rocket with clip ons. Oh well. But it sure is a giggle to wind one of these up to 14000 rpm.
Eldest son had a CB250 hornet at the same time. If you think that CB1 was is fun, the hornet was even better. Similar power to the CB1 but Redlined at 17000 rpm it felt like you were thrashing it even when you weren’t, gear valves etc etc. Fantastic handling, son could ride rings round me on the Varadero I had at the time. He rode from here to Cornwall and back in a weekend once. He said he ran it in 5th on the motorway at 14,000 rpm+ the whole whole time. Never missed a beat.