1979 Honda CBX1000 SS – $35,000

Honda CBX1000 SS for sale

SELLER SAYS:  Honda CBX Super Sport. March 1978 manufacture in rare original condition. Only changes are braided brake lines and rear Koni shocks. Recent maintenance includes oil change and filter, air filter, new tyres, new battery. Front master cylinder has been ceramicoated and a new kit fitted. Front calipers have been serviced with new pistons and seals. Bike is a dream to ride. Sale is only because age has caught up with me. 24,762 miles. Contact Graham on 0448 125 647 (Rockhampton, Qld.).

EDITOR TERLICK SAYS:  The global motorcycle industry worked itself into something of a frenzy in the 1970s. Honda started it with the CB750 – disc brakes, four cylinders, no oil leaks and plenty of room for your bestie on the back added up to a whole new chapter in motorcycle design. And of those innovations, it was the four-cylinder 750cc engine that really set tongues wagging. Shortly afterwards, Kawasaki released its Z900. “Seven-fifty?” it teased. “Cop this! Nine hundred and three!” And so the bigger-is-better brigade got their legs, and the race for biggest and bestest was off and running. Honda’s initial counter-punch was the GoldWing, a water-cooled 1000cc flat-four which Honda described as “the ultimate motorcycle”. When buyers decided the big Wing was more a tourer than a sports bike, Honda tried again. The result was the CBX, and it was a project in which the motor was undeniably the star of the show. Six cylinders across the frame made the motor look absolutely huge. It was, indeed, a big motor although it was not really any wider than an airhead BMW. But the designers wanted everyone to notice the motor, and so they did. And what a motor it was. With 24 valves and six carburettors, the big Honda was good for 105 horsepower and a claimed 140mph – numbers good enough to make it the fastest bike in the world when it was released. Those numbers don’t sound as amazing now as they did back in the day, but the noise from the exhausts at full song (keeping in mind that big motor can happily spin to 9000rpm) remains one of motorcycling’s most recognisable icons. Something akin to a fighter jet or a Ferrari. This bike of Graham’s looks like an absolute stunner; unmolested and ready to sing that wonderful song for anyone brave enough to let it loose. Glorious.