Honda CB1300 family tree
Our journey here may help you choose your ‘modern’ big-bore CB.
First comes the Honda CB1000 ‘Project Big-1’. Yes, it’s a daft name but thankfully it was soon dropped (it was an American brand of toilet cleaner) and re-badged the CB1000 Super Four. This 1993 machine used the CBR1000 motor and was a sweet-handling, grunty thing. Despite this, it failed to shift in big numbers in the UK before deletion at the end of 1997. Prices: well, you can now get a Big 1 for around £2000.
The CB1300 came along in Japan in 1998, using the motor from the V-Maxa-likea Honda X4, which was popular there. CB1300 colours harked back to a golden era, aping schemes worn by bikes like the CBX1000 and CB900F. For 2003, the bike would get an update and finally be imported nto the UK following its launch n Sicily early that year. The bike was a 1284cc inline four with liquid cooling and fuel-injection. Frame was a steel double cradle, albeit with good Showa suspension and Nissin brakes nabbed from the then-current Fireblade. Decent ones now start at £3k.
An update came in 2005 when the bike was mildly re-engineered with slimmer side-panels to help those who are challenged in the inside leg department touch the ground. Honda also later released a scalloped seat which took around 30mm off the seat height. Engine timing and fuelinjection settings were also changed to improve low-down throttle ‘feel’, making it less lurchy. The big addition for 2005 was the inclusion of a new model, the half-faired SA, which brought more practicality to the range with a weatherstopping stylish bikini cowling.
In the UK, the later SA models aped the look and colour scheme of the original Honda CB1100RB of 1981 – the bike that started Honda’s ‘R-type’ family – with red frame and gold wheels. Colours have included black, silver, blue and the popular Honda racing white with red. Interesting fact: the CB1300’s project leader Hara-san had been with Honda since 1971, he therefore knew big naked bikes the first time round. As well as that, he was project leader for the CB1000 Super Four/Project Big 1.