Gen 1 VMAX mechanics/service

[RRClassic]

I am happy to have the pleasure of working on such a Gem of a bike ! Hopefully next week I can get started on it . I already had some mechanic work and paint work inline first but am going to try and work on it in between the paint work

Thanks Kyle, absolutely no hurry at all!! I am glad to have been introduced to you to help get this thing in shape!!

Cheers!
Chris

 

[Fire-medic]

I was not able to get that or think of getting that # but when I dropped it off at Kyle's he determined it was a middle of the pack in terms of when it was built in 85 but Kyle said since it is an original purple it is more rare. It appears as though the 992 original miles is legit so this thing is a rare beast. It needs cleaning etc but I think it will be one of the nicest all original Vmax's out there. Whoever stored it was not nice to it but again, it is just cosmetics that can be cleaned up.

From data out there, the USA production run for bikes sold for the first-year '85's, was ~8,800 VMaxes. They start at 0101, for the last 3 or 4 VIN digits. It's not some binary code... . As to color, I think they also offered the purple on '86 bikes. A chart on here posted in the past shows they used purple in '86 on France market bikes. Bear in mind, the '87 USA bikes were leftover '86's.

 

[RRClassic]

From data out there, the USA production run for bikes sold for the first-year '85's, was ~8,800 VMaxes. They start at 0101, for the last 3 or 4 VIN digits. It's not some binary code... . As to color, I think they also offered the purple on '86 bikes. A chart on here posted in the past shows they used purple in '86 on France market bikes. Bear in mind, the '87 USA bikes were leftover '86's.

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Good info! I will have to have Kyle take a look but he did say middle of the production run for 85 initially

 

[CaptainKyle]

Chris's bike is number 1930 so not a low number but not super high either. I am sure it is probably still one of the lowest mile 1985 Vmax's around if not the lowest. Like Chris said just needs a few cosmetics but nothing serious

 

[Fire-medic]

His to do-with, as he likes. However, if I owned one like that, I think I'd keep it as an exhibit model, and pick-up another to abuse! The 'concours' thing really isn't evident for Gen. 1's yet, that I know-of, but I would expect this is probably as-close as an exhibit of a 'reference' model as I know-of. Once it's gone-through to be put in operational condition, it should get a cosmetic restoration, and carried-aloft by Vestal Virgins from show to show, lest all the pushing puts the mileage into the thousands on the odometer.

Honda USA donated many motorcycles to high school industrial arts programs across the country, to be used as teaching aids. One such model used for this was the dual-rear shock CBX. It was never a big seller for Honda, and years after it was out of production, you could still find crated examples for sale. One of my acquaintances here in so. FL bought one, still 'in the crate,' and that's how he told the dealership to leave it. I have a magazine article about a guy who was able to buy the same model from an industrial arts program that was being liquidated, a borescope of the combustion chambers showed that it had never been run!

 

[dannymax]

Looks like the twin to one I owned....#0286

 

[CaptainKyle]

It might be a decoration in my sun room when Chris comes back. I think it would look better than my wife's plants.lol

 

[desert_max]

Honda USA donated many motorcycles to high school industrial arts programs across the country, to be used as teaching aids. One such model used for this was the dual-rear shock CBX. It was never a big seller for Honda, and years after it was out of production, you could still find crated examples for sale. One of my acquaintances here in so. FL bought one, still 'in the crate,' and that's how he told the dealership to leave it.

As a CBX owner, I have read extensively on the model. The school bikes were not twin shock models, but rather Pro Link ‘81 year models.

There are a number of horror stories about folks who have acquired a school bike. They were used as learning tools and sometimes the learning wasn’t fully demonstrated on some specimens. Restorations can be difficult enough with the “typical” dreaded PO and his shenanigans. But when the dreaded PO is a bunch of adolescent, over eager Easy Rider wannabes, imagine the horror.

 

[Fire-medic]

As a CBX owner, I have read extensively on the model. The school bikes were not twin shock models, but rather Pro Link ‘81 year models.

There are a number of horror stories about folks who have acquired a school bike. They were used as learning tools and sometimes the learning wasn’t fully demonstrated on some specimens. Restorations can be difficult enough with the “typical” dreaded PO and his shenanigans. But when the dreaded PO is a bunch of adolescent, over eager Easy Rider wannabes, imagine the horror.

Here's the article I saw, yes the '81 Pro-Link model: School Bikes: The 1981 Honda CBX - Classic Japanese Motorcycles - Motorcycle Classics
I once borrowed my friend's '81 and rode it across the Everglades to Naples and back one fine summer weekend. We avoided a storm front which was just-north of us, we got a few drops, but no boomer thunderstorm. What I recall the most, is the smoothness of the bike, and it sounded like another friend's 911. He offered it to me for $2K, and apart from some weathering of the paint, it ran fine and had no crash damage, but I was saving for a new house, and I passed. That was a good move, because that house came-along shortly-after.