The Honda CBR400RR we featured last week was never officially imported to the USA, but its naked stablemate the CB-1 was, although in pretty limited numbers and for just two years: 1989 and 1990. It was a strange choice for Honda to make in the land of extremes, where we only seem to like motorcycles as toys from one end of the spectrum or the other: fat, lazy cruisers or uncomfortable, highly-strung sportbikes.
But although these did not sell very well at the time, the CB-1, along with the Suzuki Bandit 400 and Honda 650 Hawk, have developed quite a cult following: they’re inexpensive, extremely well-built, reliable, and easy to modify into serious little road-burners. Just find yourself a nice CBR600 front end to swap on and go strafe some twisties!
Most small-displacement motorcycles available in America have been very cheap and nasty economy machines geared towards new riders. But many experienced bikers want a sophisticated machine that offers thrills without the fuel consumption or 160mph top speed associated with bigger bikes.
The engine in the CB was almost identical to the sportier RR: valves were smaller, the compression was lower, but gearing was revised so that the bike actually felt quicker around town. The sewing-machine four displaced just 399cc and produced 55hp and could push the 400lb bike to 118mph. More significantly, the CB had much more basic suspension, a single front brake, and used a different frame compared to the racier RR, with tubular steel replacing the aluminum beam construction, although weight was kept within reason by using the engine as a stressed member.
From the original eBay listing: 1990 Honda CB-1 for Sale
Not too many sold in the US making it quite a rare sight these days. I’m the second owner. It is a sweet little bike with nimble handling, low weight and a rev-happy (redline is 13,500rpm) engine.
Easy to handle by a newbie but good enough for an experienced rider, comfortable.
The bike is in excellent original condition. Paint is shiny and deep. No scratches or dents. Tank is like brand new with an exception of two tiny chips(and I mean – really tiny, see pictures).
The bike has never been down.
With just 2,500 miles on the clock, this thing is practically new, and it’s one of the nicest I’ve ever seen for sale. It’s priced on the higher end of the CB-1 spectrum, but still very reasonable at $3,999. Yeah, you can find them for $2,500 but with bikes in this price range, the cash needed to fix them up can very quickly eat into the savings.
A great choice for new and experienced riders looking for a collectible modern classic that will get lots of thumbs up at bike nights and provide thrills on back roads.
-tad
Slowly restoring a 89 model it now was a bit sadder shape than this one. Cbr900 front forks vfr 17 front wheel and going to put a cbr600 f3 swingarm and rear wheel on it. The Japanese model came stock with cooler aluminum rear sets and pegs.
Love these bikes, i just missed a mint one on ebay for my first bike 8 yrs ago, i was so disappointed. Would have cost about 2800 with the shipping.
I ended up with a nice hawk gt instead, still have it.
From my searching constantly over the years these are considerably harder to come by than hawk gts, both whole bikes and parts.
You see a ratty cb1 come up every now and then but nice ones are tough to find. With hawk gts there’s usually always one or two on ebay and lots can be found using searchtempest to look at craigslist across the country. With the cb1 you might find 2 good ones for sale in the entire country on craigslist and ebay combined at any given time.
If anyone ever wants to trade a nice cb1 for a nice 89 red hawk gt let me know.
You’re correct about the build quality on these and the NT650’s; very nice machines. The last one of these I saw was at Loudon being raced and it looked rather “second hand”. How come mother Honda doesn’t build bikes that excite like this anymore?? I demo rode a CBR650F recently and soulless is an understatement…………
because european countries believe in nanny state laws and tiered licensing, we’ll never see the likes of the high po 250 2t and 400 four stroke sport of the early to late 90s, its all about the world model lines for the big four now
Another nice example, although with 31,000 miles, just failed to make reserve – nobody wanted to bid more than $1625! I’d love to have one to keep my Hawk GT company – love that blue paint…
Well the tatty 89 I got locally was a runner with the same amount of miles a little bit less and a kerker exhaust not quite as nice shape cosmetically but I got it for only $850.
Sold for $3400.00 Somebody got a great little bike at a great price.