‘ EXCLUSIVE! RappingWithltaly’s Mr Big And ‘ Riding Ducati’s 500ccV~twin SameAgain 2250? ..,_ in “may £1 .‘ . A‘ 7 2 . Giuanest:650uCusiomGrahbersFuzeHonda’s€upMin Sensible Captain Sensible Follow the West Coast Custom Route said Yamaha, so Kawasaki did. And Honda. But so far Honda haven’t released them in Britain. Instead, they've opted for yet another stock transverse ’four’. Are Honda being Y inscrutab boring or do they know something the others don’t? Such as what makes a practical motorcycle? Whatever, they’re all 650cc upper middleweight (or lower heavyweight) four strokes. Is the Honda’s lack oi pizzaz compensated by its superb performance? Does a custom grabber rum you into an instant Hells Angel? Testers Simon Grey and Dave Calderwood. Photography Duncan Cubitt. bike 55 Honda C8650 wow, ANOTHER FOUR-ACROSSJ’HE irarne Honda. it goes last and it handles alright. But will somebody give Honda’s bac- kroom boys a swrit kirk up the khazi because they got so inro building Good Motorcycles that they’ve lorgotten onevii ingredient. . . soul. Kawasaki put a spoonlul into Ihelr2650 and that should keep it ahead in the sales stakes unless it is by drnr oi ihat curious phenomenon spawned olblind brand loyalty. the Honda owner. can it he rhat we were all mistaken about Honda back in Ihe days when they helped hammer in the linal nails on the comn lid ol Britain’s motorcycle induslry? Looking back, we all thought that these shiny tour-cylinder hikes were heralds ol a bright new era in motorcycle design. Cone were the twins and singles that had carried us laithlully ro work (or years, everyone who is anyone rides with four cylinders now. And certainly a new technological era was heginnin . The industry took a gi antie breath o lresh Japanese air and surgedsbask riding a wave 01 massive capital outlay and mass pmducliom not has all [his enthusiasm lor high technol- ogy gone stalei ll Honda produce another four-across»lherlrzme bike, I reckon even they will have lrouhle remembering how many times the e done it below There nova ons like the Gold Wing, not a big seller in this country but a smash hit in the States where obese is beauli~ lul. Then came the cxsoo, possibly one ol the ugliesl motorcyles oi modern times and car» tarnly one ol the most iinxed. it would he naive to suggest thar ir was the early mechanieal problems with their mid- weight Valwin experiment that drove Honda’s design team back to more larniliar round lor their 550 ollering. | preter ro shin it was a question ol economics. Basic economies tells us rhat il you are sellln a product successlully in one package. you on‘l change ll, unless you‘re sure you can do better with a iresh approach. Honda are plainly oi the opinion thar while Iheir car. like engine units are still being hou hnhere’s no poimri ingallopandlel’snol orget that the design does have a lot ol very cammend- able leatures. lnlormation lrom lapan reailirms rhls alrirude because the cassn is rolling oil the same production line that lairerly gave us the 550. Don’t assume this means the new bike is just a bored-out 550; it’s almost all new but with bores and studs in the same posirions it saves on mull-l costs. How much o this saving has heen passed on (0 us, [he consumes, isn'l (Ital bu! the 650 comes across the showmom “00! a! {1475 — cm cheaper than lhe srraighr Kawasaki 1650C. That's pretty reasonable all round. My lirsl impression ol the bike was how much is reminded me of the latest 750 Honda with ils slightly rearset ioorpegs and llarrrsh 'hars. This is a direct response to years oi European en ism oi the so