
www.clymer.com 800-262-1954 Welcome to On the Lift...episode one, sponsored by Clymer Repair Manuals. I'm James Grooms, Editorial Director. For each episode we'll feature a machine that's in the Tech Center [Vintage and Classic Japanese machines from the past]. We may also talk about staff rides or projects, basically anything interesting in the shop. Maybe even a road trip or two to see what some of our authors are working on [Repair Manual] and riding. Today we have one of my rides [For Sale]on the lift, a 1965 Honda CB450. AKA the Black Bomber... sounds ominous doesn't it. I think this Honda model has an interesting history. While everyone knows about the CB750, and rightly so. The Black Bomber is often over looked in Honda's family tree. When released in 65 it created quite a bit of buzz. The motorcycle press covered its release extensively. Even the car magazines, like Hot Rod tested it. It was Honda's largest displacement motorcycle and at the time they were known for small bikes. [For comparison, Kawasaki was a non player w the 150 B8S, Suzuki had the 250cc T10 and the only real player was Yamaha w/ the YDS3, all 2-strokes.] Their largest was the 305 Superhawk of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance notoriety. Author Pirsig rode a Superhawk, while his partner was on a BMW. [There was also a scrambler version, a CD450 kit. There would eventually be a high pipped CL450, CL.] The parallel twin has dual overhead cams DOHC. At the time, it was the only production <b>...</b>
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