Spencer, who on a race-equipped CB with a
light-switch power delivery and in excess of
130 horses, really set the world alight. From a
distance this machine, along with the others
in the US Superbike class, looked like the road
bikes they were meant to represent, and were
freely available in the showrooms but close
inspection revealed otherwise. The American
market also received the CB900C version,
a custom-styled machine using different
cams to smooth the power even more.
Although the consumer CB900F engine
differed in many ways from the endurance
racer, the basic layout was immediately
identifiable with a chain primary drive replacing
the gear drive of the racer, unmistakably
Honda. The main changes were a necessity
of transforming a prototype racer into a
viable road-going machine. Looking around
the RCB race machine shows the handbuilt
nature of the beast with most modifications
being a result of in-the-field tests and not
the produce of a proper development
Minimal bodywork on the CB900
cycle expected for an end user machine.
Honda certainly took its time coming up with
a worthy replacement for the single overhead
cam CB750 engine. You could almost say
that, while able to be at the very forefront of
engineering and technology, Honda was, in
reality, very slow to react to the demands of
the market place. This was a trait which cost it
dearly throughout the 70s and 80s as it tried
to force unwanted technology, like turbos
and complex untested, V4 engines, upon the
market place. While the Japanese opposition
launched model after model, in an endless
stream, equipped with double over head
cams (DOHC) and other such modernities,
the original single cam CB range soldiered
on almost to the point of embarrassment.
This was a strange set of circumstances as
Honda had already pioneered such designs
in their race machines of the 60s and yet
seemed reluctant to bring this thinking to
the street. To add to this, the other three
Economical use of dials and switches
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