"The legendary Black Bomber!"

[JJ]

Remember this one from Honda?

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1966-honda-cb450-6/

[tazio]

YES!!
THE Honda I'd love to own.

[pressureangle]

Remember this one from Honda?

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1966-honda-cb450-6/

I owned one circa 1984. Megacycle cams, Arias pistons, Bub exhaust, clubman bars. One of the first engines I ever built up. It was ridiculously fast for the time, had no brakes whatsoever and the swingarm was made of spaghetti. A plain scary ride. Lost it to impound after an...incident...whe re I hung the footpeg bracket on a pavement change at an intersection.
Memories.

[JJ]

BEST QUOTE OF THIS THREAD!! 

It was ridiculously fast for the time, had no brakes whatsoever and the swingarm was made of spaghetti. A plain scary ride.

[kingoffleece]

I spent a lot of misguided youth on a 71 CB450.  What fun!

[JJ]

I spent a lot of misguided youth on a 71 CB450.  What fun!

Back in upstate NY, where I grew up, the closest motorcycle dealers to my home were Yamaha / Triumph (Hyde Park, NY) and Kawasaki (Pleasant Valley, NY)...so the first 14 years of my motorcycle career were on Yamaha's and Kawasaki's.   Those brands were all I could afford also...

Ironically, of the 34 motorcycles I owned and rode in 54 years, the only Honda I ever owned was a used 1967 Honda S-90 at age 15.

[JJ]

Here is a good video of a "Black Bomber" being restored! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsLPKyp1UX0

[Canuck750]

I have been lusting for a 1st gen CB 450 for a long time. If a Whale tank CB 450 ever crosses my path I am going to own it! The Super Hawk may have been ground breaking but the Black Bomber rewrote the book on what a parallel twin could be. Who ever thought of torsion spring valves? W compared to contemporary bikes I doubt the Black Bomber had inferior brakes or handling. The Black Bomber is the One Japanese bike I would love to own,…. Well there is the 1975 GL 1000, Z1, 1969 CB750, LC 350 Yamaha…….

[twowings]

These came out when I had a Honda 175.  Superbike territory!! 

[guzziart]

I spent a lot of misguided youth on a 71 CB450.  What fun!

I hear you, these were mine...

[wymple]

Never struck my eye, as I was in to 2 strokes. Looking back it's retro cool, sort of. The 1st Japanese 4 stroke I liked was the TX650 Yamaha.

[Muzz]

Ironically, of the 34 motorcycles I owned and rode in 54 years, the only Honda I ever owned was a used 1967 Honda S-90 at age 15.

My brother had one of those JJ, quite rare here in NZ.  Had a death knock when he bought it off a guy who knew diddley squat about bikes.  He replaced the toothless oil pump drive and proceeded to thrash it mercilessly for the next 30,000 miles.  It was still going great when some b******d stole it.

We had a 90 stepthrough; that 90 engine was an absolute jewel.  The main bearings were bigger than the ones in my Matchless 350.

[larrys]

Back in upstate NY, where I grew up, the closest motorcycle dealers to my home were Yamaha / Triumph (Hyde Park, NY) and Kawasaki (Pleasant Valley, NY)...so the first 14 years of my motorcycle career were on Yamaha's and Kawasaki's.   Those brands were all I could afford also...

Ironically, of the 34 motorcycles I owned and rode in 54 years, the only Honda I ever owned was a used 1967 Honda S-90 at age 15.

My first bike! It was only two years old when I bought it, but was really hammered. Stripped kickstart splines, bump starting was the only option...
Larry

[ohiorider]

Spring 1966.  I'd owned my BSA650 Spitfire Scrambler for 5-6 months, when several of us college students decided on a group ride.  One of the guys had just purchased a new "Black Bomber" and had had it 'cleaned up' with a small teardrop tank and a solo saddle.  I'm thinking 'I'll have to show this newcomer a thing or two about how fast British iron is.  Wrong!  The Honda walked away from my single carb 650.  I didn't consider that my A10 pushrod engine was technically a few generations behind the Honda.  I was still operating under the old adage of "there's no replacement for displacement!" 

[Stevex]

I owned the follow on CB500T for a couple of years. Enjoyed it at the time, but moved onto a Guzzi V50. The V50 was a much nicer bike.

[JJ]

QUOTE: I didn't consider that my A10 pushrod engine was technically a few generations behind the Honda.

Yes...then, 3 years after the "Black Bomber"...in 1969, the motorcycle world changed forever...

[Rough Edge racing]

The wonderful bikes you had as a young man often are not so wonderful now...

[Howard R]

A used '72 was my first "real" motorcycle, looked a lot like Art's picture except mine was green.  It only took me a couple of times reaching down to remove the key and having my hand contact the exhaust header (yes, I can be a slow learner) to make a bracket to relocate that {u$#!ng ignition switch.  Ended up trading it on a used '78 CX500, starting me on the path to V-twin righteousness.

[Ncdan]

I’ve owned several 80s inline 4s but never one of the 60-70s twins.
I have read Articles and heard tales of these early 450 twins spanking much larger displacement motorcycles like, triumph, BSA and even HDs in the quarter mile.

[ScepticalScotty]

Even HDs eh?? Depends on the one, but Mick Walkers "American Racing Motorcycles" is a great book and IIRC Harley and previously Indian were behind the curve pretty much straight after WW2 as far as speed and power goes. The rules had to be changed over and over again to make them competitive with UK and continental singles and twins. Made for great racing though!!

[Ncdan]

Even HDs eh?? Depends on the one, but Mick Walkers "American Racing Motorcycles" is a great book and IIRC Harley and previously Indian were behind the curve pretty much straight after WW2 as far as speed and power goes. The rules had to be changed over and over again to make them competitive with UK and continental singles and twins. Made for great racing though!!

Well, you know how 50 year old rumors can go🤔😂

[Moparnut72]

When I was in the Army a buddy and I put in for a 3 week leave to tour the Northwest. I had a R7/5 and he had a 450. Two weeks before we were to set off the Honda broke a torsion bar. I lived off post in a small cabin. We pulled the motor and put a new bar in the engine on my kitchen floor. I worried about it for the first couple of days but it did the whole trip with no issues. I'd like to have one also.
kk

[Ncdan]

Even HDs eh?? Depends on the one, but Mick Walkers "American Racing Motorcycles" is a great book and IIRC Harley and previously Indian were behind the curve pretty much straight after WW2 as far as speed and power goes. The rules had to be changed over and over again to make them competitive with UK and continental singles and twins. Made for great racing though!!

I got curious after reading your response “even HDs eh??” So I googled the 1/4 mile time for the 1966 CB450 and the 1966 HD electric glide. Low and behold the rumors must have been true.
The Honda CB450 was over a second faster in the quarter mile. These stats were from both company  specs.
So yes, even HD👍

[ScepticalScotty]

Indeed Dan indeed! Micks book is excellent - there was a lot of shennanigans going on when HD and Indian ran the AMA and pretty much controlled the racing classes. When Manx Nortons started being put in featherbed frames they had a full on tanti and the rules were changed to it having to be a garden gate frame on fancy dan imports. And they couldn't be bigger than 500s. Dick Klamforth won anyway. So I think they banned the cammy Nortons! So people started riding G50s  - and winning as they were lighter faster and handled better than Harleys and Indians. So there were restrictions there.. IIRC Dick Mann was very fast on a G50.

[Huzo]

some b******d stole it.

How many esses in “bastard” Muzz..

[Muzz]

How many esses in “bastard” Muzz..

I just hit the key a few times Peter.  Looks like I was one out.   Of course, I may be likening the perp to being a file, which of course could then be barstard and would then be correct.   But I digress....

[Muzz]

And now, for something completely different.

The Black Bomber, as it got older, could sometimes develop a fault, in the form of a miss.  People tore their hair out trying to track down this intermittent miss.  Finally, it seems that the connector that went on to the coils was not a good fit to the coil.  As they aged, and got a bit of scunge in the joint, the connection would open contact.  A better connector fixed the problem.

[Moparnut72]

This the exact issue thatgot me back into motorcycling. I had quit riding for a number of years. Then one day a co-worker buddy invited me to his house to hang out and help him with a friend's Ironhead Sportster. It seems the Sporty would run for a little bit and then die. We found that the bullet connector to the coils was loose and would lose connectivity. I think there was an ulterior motive involved. I did the test riding and got to be the one to push the damn thing back to the shop. Or, maybe he figured he could rekindle my love for motorcycles and I would buy the R100RS BMW he had for sale. I didn't really like the Beemer, too much like the Airheads I had owned. Shortly afterward I did buy an Evo Sporty which are great bikes and wish I still had it but my V7 is a great alternative.
kk