Bertie’s bull...
As usual I’m going to turn this around on its head and mainly shy away from the air-cooled aura that Scottie is blowing hot and cold about. Now, I could make a case for the modern retro air-cooled CB1100 here, but they are ‘new’ and way too expensive, so how about this for a Ujm-styled series of Hondas that may just spin your crank. Firstly, the CB750 name lived on into the 1990s in the competent (if hardly exciting) CB750 F2, or RC42 as Steve ‘Scoop’ Cooper likes to call it. This was supposedly a challenger to the 750 Zephyr from Kawasaki, but where Honda went wrong was probably by taking the CBX air-cooled motor and actually neutering it still further. For a machine that was available from its entry in 1992 through to its demise in 2001 it was simply not good enough. But, if you want such a machine there are plenty out there with low miles and even lower prices. Scoop managed to bag his for around £1500 if I recall correctly, but even he got bored of the thing. What we want is a Honda with more bite and attitude, which is why we are avoiding the name ‘Nighthawk’ by the way… So, okay, you’ve got it. Two closely-linked models coming up here and yes, there are no substitutes for cubes. Firstly, take a gander at the Honda X4. Yup, it’s a bit like a Kawasaki Eliminator, but built by Honda in a bid to tackle the popularity of the Vmax. I know the styling isn’t everyone’s cuppa, but there’s something about it… The X4 was around in Japan from 1997 to 2003, so if you find one in the UK, it’s an import. The same goes for its more traditional brother, the first-generation CB1300. At the heart of both was a 1298cc, liquid-cooled motor, albeit geared and carb’d for more low-down oomph in the X4. Then there was the mighty (and Uk-imported) CB1300 itself. Here was a bike that was the better of its contemporaries, such as the ZRX1200R, GSX1400 and XJR1300. Sure, again it was liquid-cooled and based on the previous model (now 1284cc), but it handled well and was a real modern version of the naked Hondas of old. When it was allowed into the UK in 2003, this big piece of beef set you back £6649. A bargain! Later models that came into the UK were only the S/sa-model with useful half-fairing, but ignore those, they’re way too expensive and way too new. Somewhere in between all of this there was ‘The Big-1’ a stupidly daft name for a seriously under-rated bike. With a softly-tuned CBR1000F motor in a traditional frame but with twin-shock Showas at the rear and chunky 43mm Showa forks up-front, this was a much better bike than the 750 ever was and probably as sweet as the 1300. Rumoured to be built by Honda engineers in their spare time, management liked it so much they built it: only to name it after a brand of loo cleaner, if the legend is to be believed. Today, I’d simply call it ‘CB1000’ or ‘Super Four’ (as it was renamed) and head online to find bikes priced from £1300 upwards. My dream is to find a Bol D’OR in beautiful black, like the one that’s pictured here. Eye-achingly gorgeous.