Road test on the 1982 Honda CB750 & CB900 Bol D Or, by Ian Parks

Because I owned one of the motorcycles noted in the title, for three and a half years, I think I can write this long-term road test honestly. This bike was my first ‘big’ bike and I have to admit that I thought it was pretty damn good. However, since that time I have owned and ridden many other motorcycles both new and old, and, unfortunately the Honda now gets nicknamed "the old bucket of bolts". Mine was originally a red ‘naked’ 750 with double overhead cam engine. At the beginning, it ran a 17 tooth front and 46 tooth rear sprocket, which meant you were doing 5,500 rpm at 100kph. I later changed this to 18/44 with stock items and got the revs down to 4,500. The bike was later updated to a full touring fairing and the engine stretched to 900cc (the crankcase is the same on both the 750 and 900 thanks to Clive Coble from then Woodys at Tuggerah and who now works for Inskips at Toronto for his help). I will also admit to not looking closely at the bike when I bought it, because, when I took the tappet cover off for the fist time, I nearly shit myself at the sight of 16 valves with bucket & shim valve adjustment. In hindsight the old single cam engine would have been a better choice for me as a home mechanic, changing a 3 hour full service to more like 1 hour.

There were a number of things that I didn’t like about the bike, and they were, - narrow seat which was poor for touring. Rear brake callipers that I later found had a known tendency to seize closed. Front timing chain adjuster locking bolt that had a reputation to strip the thread (I fixed mine with a self tapping bolt used normally in the door brackets of ’78 Ford Falcons). Hi-Vo multi plate timing chains that required replacing every 50,000 kilometres and were $150 per half metre. An engine requiring removal for anything more than tappet-cover removal. Almost impossible to adjust carburettor balance screws, and major servicing intervals as low as 5,000 kilometres. My bike had been stored for some years and I was a little concerned that the oil seals would give up shortly after buying it. The previous owner must have done the right thing with giving it the odd run to keep the seals from deteriorating. What did happen was the fuel bowls clogged up with sediment and took quite a bit of mucking about draining bowls flushing and cleaning to right the system. Prior to the fitment of the full fairing, the engine had a glich where it would ‘miss’ on the outside 2 cylinders, during rain. I did have a ‘fix’ where I carried a thin piece of 5mm thick rubber sheet that I would slide between the frame and head when the drops became heavy.

The oil pressure sender decided to leak and a replacement was $65 back in 1998, but the same sender for a Honda car was $7.95, thank God I found out about that one. Oil filters weren’t cheap either at $18 and the air filters were $65. The first time the rear brake seized on me was at Liverpool south of Sydney on the way back from Albury/Wodonga. The rear disk got so hot, it warped, and I had to bleed the fluid out of the calliper to get mobile again. I stripped and rebuilt the calliper and then the master cylinder, but it seized again at Warners Bay. Eventually, by many precise measurements on the master cylinder, I found the main seal was blocking the bypass hole and so the fluid was not returning to the reservoir. I slightly over drilled the hole and all was sweet.

I never had a problem with any of the electrics, and I am unaware of problems, however, it pays to keep an eye on things i.e. wires rubbing against the frame etc. One thing the workshop manual doesn’t tell you, is to prop the front of the bike up to drain and refill the front forks. I found out the hard way that a 250kg bike is mighty hard to keep off the deck when no-one is around to help.

None of this stopped me from clocking up a huge number of kilometres on the old bike and thoroughly enjoying myself in the process. Being a ‘long’ wheelbase meant planning your cornering very carefully, as the heavy bike was hard to pull back up if you got it wrong. My bike had a 4 into 1 exhaust system with a rather mean sounding can for a muffler, but it was just too loud and I opted for a larger stock Yamaha pipe on sale, to negate the need for earplugs. By far the best note came from the 2 into 1 style original system. Dennis Foran from the Central Coast is able to fabricate new stainless steel systems for all bikes and the CB750/900 was a stock item for around $500 back in 1998. Power in its basic form seemed quite good until I got to ride other bikes such as the 8 valve Yamaha XJ900, however, you could run all day at freeway speeds and safely overtake vehicles while the CB just lapped it up. A 20 litre tank gave a range of about 300 kilometres but quite often you wanted to stop after 2 hours and get the blood flowing back into your arse before you needed to fuel up. Basic suspension was just that, and for any serious pillion/touring work a decent set of rear shocks were required. The 900 rear shocks were a much better option or perhaps the famous Koni’s.

Specifications

Engine Cubic Capacity 748cc/901cc

Bore/Stroke 750-62/62mm 900-64.5/69

Max Output (750cc-45kw 60bhp at ____rpm) (900cc--69.9kw 93bhp at 9000rpm)

Max Torque ____Nm

No. of Cylinders 4

Valves per Cyl. 4

Fuel Supply 4 x Keihin carburetors

Power Trans/Gearbox 5-speed

Clutch multi plate wet clutch –

Suspension swing arm, adjustable rear shock

Spring Travel Front/Rear – 160/110 mm

Brakes front twin disks rear single disk

Wheels Front –

Rear –

Tyres Front – 3.25 x 19

Rear – 4.0 x 18

Dimensions/Weights

Seat Height mm

Weight – Unladen with full fuel tank – 255kg

Wheel base 1520mm

Fuel Tank 20 litres

Fuel Consumption 900cc only @ 90 km/hr = 6 ltr/100km

Acceleration 900cc only 0-160km/h (105mph) – 12 sec

Colours lots of variations.