Each Wednesday Insidebikes takes a look at the internet auction sites and shares with you some of the gems that we’d love to find a way into our dream garage. Sometimes it’ll be a dream bike, or a bike we wished we’d bought in the past but never did. Maybe it’ll be a nostalgic hug, a perfect everyday set of wheels or just a straight up bargain. Maybe they’ll never reach our dream garage, but they’ll always find a place on our eBay watch list. Today we kick off with the unique Honda CBX1000…
Without a doubt, the CBX1000 was the best six cylinder production bike of the 1970s. Sure, Benelli got in their first with their 750 and 900 Sei models and Kawasaki would take the bulky biking notion in another direction with their water cooled Z1300, but Honda kept things simple(ish) with their 24 valve six potter. The chassis is pretty basic seventies fodder, skinny forks, skinny wheels and skinnier spindles. The wheels, forks and shocks were nothing more than Honda CB900F items.
The 1047cc six cylinder engine is what the CBX is all about, and it’s not surprising that specials builders have used these to power all manner of street and track specials over the last four decades, meaning that plenty a good stock bike has died over the years. It’s still something that goes on even now, and if you’ve seen the CBX specials on display at the Stafford show you’ll be fully aware that there’s no boundaries on what can go into creating the ultimate CBX.
Certain owners will only ever consider standard bikes and these are still pretty plentiful if you can bide your time when looking for one. Finding a genuine UK registered machine is slightly tougher, but again they do appear for sale, either on eBay or within the selling pages of various owners clubs magazines.
This red CBX1000 is a rarity, it was registered new in 1980 after the customer had waited a few months for his dream machine to arrive. Since then it’s spent its life with the same chap! How cool is that?
Under his ownership it’s racked up 37,395 miles, it comes with a fat file of paper history, invoices and receipts. That’s always a nice thing to get with any bike, whether it’s a pukka classic or just a potential commuter hack. Other than a replacement exhaust system, the candy red CBX is all genuine. The original shocks also come with the bike.
With older machines it’s always hard to pin a value on them, at the end of the day something is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. This time machine is on the market with a price tag that’s twenty quid short of £18,000. That is a lot of money, but the CBX1000 is a lot of bike!
What to look for if you’re CBX1000 hunting.
- UK bikes make a premium over imported models.
- Models that were born in the USA are fitted with higher handlebars and they have a cat flap in the tail piece. The lid is often missing.
- Later ProLink models are worth much less than the twin shock original. If you want to build a turbo charged crazed special these unloved models make a good starting point.
- Join an owners group, there’s plenty of knowledge to be gained and they are also a good place to buy parts.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F202284893266
