The great Honda CB1000! Over the past few years we’ve seen lots of of reboot retros appearing on the market, for example the Kawasaki Z900RS and Yamaha XSR900. These are great bikes and bring back lots of memories for me when starting to ride bikes in the early 1990s, however the big manufacturers tend to reboot classic lines every few years into their retro range.
This means that you are potentially missing out on some bargain retro bikes from a couple of decades ago, usually providing a much more raw riding experience without the modern electronics and rider aids. A good example is Honda’s CB1000 from the 1990s, which looked to capture the nostalgia from Honda’s early days of big across the frame four cylinder bikes such as the CB900F and CB750.
Rebooting Honda CB range
In my opinion Honda got the 1990s CB range reboot spot on with the CB1000, great looking bodywork, cool colour scheme, sensible chassis, and rock solid engine from the CBR1000F sports tourer which provided bags of torque for effortless riding. Strangely these bikes never sold in huge numbers at the time, perhaps the popularity of superbikes of the 1990s pushed the big retros aside and generally were bought by the older riders of the time.
Finding a good Honda CB1000
The majority of these bikes that have survived are generally in good order because they attract genuine fans of the model and don’t generally get heavily modified or chopped. You’ll often see some useful modifications, such as performance exhaust and reworked suspension for a more responsive ride. The stock suspension is a bit soft when you start to push on through the twisty roads, so reworking the original front forks is worthwhile along with upgrading the rear suspension. Some owners chose replace with parts from other bikes if they are not concerned about originality.
Nice Honda CB1000 on ebay
Ebay is a good hunting ground for a good well maintained original example, and you also have the backup of buying via ebay if something isn’t correct when you inspect the bike after purchase. A recent example we found on ebay ticks all the boxes if you are looking for a nice example. This bike only has 6060 miles and completely stock apart from an after market Micron exhaust. I prefer the red and white colour scheme, however this blue scheme also looks cool and still in good condition for a bike over 25 years old (1995 model).
Please let us know if you decide to bid on this lovely and example and also let us know what you think of the CB1000 range from the 1990s. These bikes represent great value for money and will only go up in value as an appreciating classic that can be used every day as a reliable ride.
If you win the auction please let us know what you think of the bike and if you are intending to use as a fun classic ride or perhaps have something else planned? With summer on the way these will be a cool classic ride to see out on the roads being ridden and enjoyed. Also remember to check out our workshop article if you are intending to undertake some servicing and maintenance at home. With no fairings to remove and accessible cycle parts, the CB1000 is a great bike for someone looking to undertake home servicing.
You’ll also have great access to genuine Honda spares which are still plentiful today and good aftermarket parts for cheaper alternatives, in addition to performance parts. The engine us shared with the CBR1000F, so you’ll also be able to consider parts from the sister bike.
Ride safe,
Al (barnfindmotorcycle.com)
0 Comments