NEWS / EVENTS / SPECIALS / TOM'S TIDBITS

The bikes that made me Part 3.

I bought my red 1979 Honda CBX in around December 1978 when they first hit dealerships. The hype and media surrounding this motorcycle was incredible. At that time, the fastest and most powerful Honda was the GL 1000 Goldwing. So, when Honda released the CBX, Honda brand lovers like me just had to have the new most powerful motorcycle in the world! It was a 1000cc six cylinder with six carbs, made 103hp and sounded like a jet fighter plane. I remember riding up next to what was then the king, Kawasaki 900cc Z1s, and they wouldn’t even look at me for fear of being embarrassed by racing and losing to me. The sensations of riding that bike were absolutely exhilarating. I felt like the King of the road when I road my CBX!

Touring and commuting were still my main interests, but the drag strip beckoned! My club, the Road Toads, started drag racing and it opened new horizons of riding. I went down the quarter mile over 100 times on that bike and getting into the 11 second bracket. That was just insane back then for a stock street bike. I began to hone my drag racing talents and I wanted to get better going around corners too. That’s when I started going way too fast in the twisties of the local mountains. In January of 1980 I went to work for American Honda in the Service Department, and that job gave me the opportunity to ride, drag race and begin my road racing story on so many different motorcycles.

My first road race on my CBX was at Riverside Raceway in 1980. I was one of the first to road race a CBX and it was one hell of a bike. Heavy for a superbike but god awful fast! In my first race I screwed up the start and was about 8^th going through the “esses.” Everyone in front of me crashed going into turn 5 and I was busy dodging crashed bikes and riders, winding up sliding into the dirt hill upright. I restarted that race but still sucked because I was a beginner. I’ll never forget that in practice for that race, Eddie Lawson came up next to me, on his Superbike, entering turn 9 and I followed him until the apex when he took off like a rocket ship. Memories like that are priceless!

I did all of my own maintenance and work on it and was constantly trying new performance exhaust systems, suspension components and engine tuning. It was a pain to work on because you had to lower the whole engine to get the six carburetors off not to mention adjusting 24 valves. Having so many bikes to ride from my job at Honda had me just playing with my CBX. I installed a sidecar and to this day my brother Tommy says I tried to kill him when he rode in the sidecar.

My CBX had been raced so much that the leak down was tremendous, so I rebuilt the engine and put a custom paint job on it. Tommy did another mural on my CBX, and it won best bike in show at the Long Beach Motorcycle show!

I still have that exact bike and it’s on display at So Cal Motorcycles. The memories of all the rides and racing I did on it will be with me forever! Damn I love motorcycling!

2023 Royal Enfield Hunter 350 Review

Royal Enfield’s most accessible motorcycle arrives in North America.

Royal Enfield and parent company Eicher Motor Limited have paved a new space in motorcycling in recent years, bringing heritage from the shores of India to the streets of America’s largest metropolises at an accessible price. Key to this success is a diverse lineup of uniquely styled bikes built around three engine configurations. These platforms include an air-cooled 650cc parallel twin, a 411cc single, and a 350cc single.

Each engine serves multiple models through the RE product lineup. And now, the 350cc J-series platform receives its newest model, the Hunter 350 (starting at $3,999).

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