PICK SOME JAPANESE ‘STAND OUT’ BIKES FROM the classic period, the editor said, “and make sure they are machines everyone should know about!” Trying to shortlist so-called significant machinery from the Orient is bound to be difficult and doubtless what follows will have left out several – especially as the Suzuki GS1000 has just covered the last few pages! Oh, and without question, someone’s personal favourite will have been omitted. Apologies if that’s the case, but the pages of CBG are a finite entity. Just as well really, as the list could just run and run. Anyway, here are a few from the perspective of a sometime classic test rider and lifetime fan of Japanese bikes.
Honda CB450, aka ‘Black Bomber’ 1965-1974: 450cc, four-stroke, air-cooled, twin-cylinder
Quite possibly the bike that made the established marques sit up and take notice of Japanese motorcycles. Compared to the competition, almost unbelievably sophisticated with double overhead cams, torsion bar valve springs, electric start and so on, this was the machine that signalled the forthcoming sea change in the bike market. The CB450 scared both manufacturers and the sport’s governing bodies to the point where it was deemed to have an ‘illegal’ engine design. Although heavier and with poorer handling that British
