1987? 250cc Honda CBX250(S?)

Vehicle No. MC12 – 5001060

Odometer 52,185

The phrase ‘Kathy’s going to kill me!’ comes to mind here.

19/12/2010 – Our neighbour returned from a rubbish run to the tip, alight with enthusiasm, to say that a there was a nice motorbike there and the tip attendant said that anybody who wanted it could take it away. We went back to the tip and he was quite right. The bike seemed so interesting, and nearly complete, that I could not resist, despite recent wifely threats of violence if I acquired any more bikes. We loaded it onto the ute, along with a couple of detached panels and odds & ends that were with it, and brought it home.

Do I need another motorbike? – Emphatically, NO! However… it is a pretty little machine, and as Kathy didn’t (quite) kill me, but only demanded (along with a surprising number of other people lately) that I work on the Norton 596 before I touch this one; it has been granted shed room. I must admit that I would like to take a look at the layout of the radial four valve head. Blame the ghost of Excelsior for the whole thing.

It seems to be aimed at a highly urbanised market (possibly a female market at that, considering the low overall height). It has electric-only starting, small 16” & 18” wheels, and suave ‘boy racer’ (?‘girl racer’?) styling.

This sample is rather tatty, with a bit of local superficial rust, but essentially complete. However, there is no oil in the sump and the engine can’t be turned over. This, with the unsettling cardboard gasket under the cam box, may indicate that there is something really nasty in the woodshed. Despite this, I will hang onto it until I can work on it some century; or a good home is found for it.

Because it is such a neat and racy looking machine I have begun to toy with the idea of weilding the angle grinder and brazing torch and fitting one of my 500cc Jawa dirt-track engines etc. into the frame. It would make a most elegant ’Sprint Special’.

Pieces of trivia:

I am having some difficulty determining the exact date and details of this machine. It doesn’t have the usual Vehicle Identification Number compliance plate or manufacturing information (although the VIN was only compulsory in Australia from 1989). Could it be a product of the Brazilian factory? Unlikely; but they made a CBX 250 under the alarming name of the ‘Twister’, and at least a small number are said to have been imported into New Zealand.