Honda CB 900F2-B Bol D'or

With a superbly set-up It is said that racing improves the breed and that frame, the CB900FZ has famous saying could be used as an epithet for the remarkably good handling CB900FZ Honda, or Bol D'Or as it is known on the characteristics. Continent. If its specification seems a little familiar,  that can be put down to its racing parentage, namely the one-litre Honda wonders that have been cleaning up in endurance racing for the past few years. 

The 900's evolution is not just a simple matter of racer turned road-burner, however, and in fact goes back to the time when Honda were looking for a new sports flagship. With vast funds available for research and development of new models, the R & D department was given a free rein to develop whatever model they thought fit. Under the watchful eye of Soichiro Irimajiri, renowned for his racing bikes of the 1960s and for his hand in the company's Formula One car projects, two bikes were developed, Both machines were of one-litre capacity, both had approximately the same performance and both used lots of know how from the endurance racing project.

The only difference between the two models was the number of cylinders they had. One was a conventional four and the other was a six. The six became the CBX and was a shade quicker than the four, sounded different and, most importantly, looked different.  Honda, however, had other plans for the one-litre four. It was marketed as the CB900FZ with engine size reduced to '902cc, but only Europe was afforded the pleasure of sampling this model while the United States market had to be content with the similarly styled 750FZ.  The CB900FZ follows the style of the later versions of the 750, but its engine has more in common with the six-cylinder CBX. They share the same 645 mm bore, although the 900 naturally has a longer stroke to compensate for having fewer cylinders. Its stroke is actually 69 mm, which makes the unit undersquare, quite a rarity on a modern motor cycle engine. With a compression ratio of 8-8:1 the 900 produces a staggering 95 bhp at 9000 rpm and this no doubt is due to the motor's efficient breathing by way of four 32 mm carburettors, and four valves per cylinder, operated by twin overhead camshafts. 

 The rest of the mix in the CB900FZ package is quite straightforward with a wet-multi-plate clutch, five-speed gearbox, chain drive, twin downtube duplex frame, conventional swinging arm suspensions, triple discs and alloy wheels. What the specification doesn't say is that the bike has one of the best set-up chassis available on any bike from the Orient and is far superior to the Irimajiri-inspired racing-type diamond spine frame of the CBX. In handling, the CB900FZ is a revelation and it is only at the far end of the speed scale that its manners are anything less than superb. It feels just like an Italian superbike, and that really is high praise indeed.

 The CB900FZ is a shatteringly fast motor cycle. It has a top speed of almost 130 mph and the roads on which that sort of speed is attainable are few and far between. Just as impressive is the 900's quarter-mile time of 12.3 seconds, putting it on a par with Kawasaki's KZ1000 and Suzuki's GS1000, both machines sporting engines larger than that of the Honda. In spite of its rocket-like performance the CB900FZ is a highly refined machine with silky smooth manners and the feel of a true thoroughbred. It is true that the CB900FZ is slightly slower than its big brother the CBX but it has two assets the big six-cylinder machine lacks. For one thing the CB900FZ is surprisingly economical,

Source of review : Super Bikes by Mike Winfield

Motorcycle Mechanics 1981

NEW skin for the old ceremony seems to be the ethos among the world's big bike manufacturers this year. Witness the Katana Suzukis, mostly last year's bikes with supposedly futuristic styling grafted on to bring their appearance up to date. Honda, in a less radical manner befitting their role of market leaders, have gone the same way with the CB900F2B.

They've taken last year's CB900, glued on a very handsome fairing and offered it with a tasty two-tone colour scheme, either grey and white or red and white. No mechanical changes have been made.

Some people would argue that this is a good thing and I would be inclined to agree. Like a large number of you, I find the economics of galloping obsolescence annoying and disturbing. Change for change's sake is never a laudable route to follow and hopefully, the big men in Japan have run out of ideasforthe time being (if you discount the latest folly of turbo-mania that is).

The CB900 has always been a good iron, enough power for most people's needs and indulgences with almost enough handling to match. The addition of the fairing has improved it both practically and cosmetically. You'd have to be some sort of weirdo to say that the bike in its latest guise doesn't took good and a seven foot freak not to realise the benefit of buffet free cruising offered by that vast windbreaker.

Most of the time the bike was in my possession was spent on a two up trip to Scotland where it proved itself a competent if not brilliant tourer. For the boring sections of A1,1 tucked down behind the fairing, wound it on to an indicated 10Omph and just relaxed by counting off the miles.

You have to tuck in well behind the screen though. Try and maintain a more normal posture and you'll end up feeling like you've just gone the distance with a world class heavyweight. Ideally, the screen should be either slightly higher or given more rake, then it would be perfect.
A former colleague of mine in another rag slagged off the fairing for its poor weather protection. Maybe he was standing on the seat or something because we had (as it usual) quite a few rainy days in Scotland but I didn't once have to stop and put on an oversuit.

On the twistery of Scottish back lanes, the 900 had nearly enough handling to keep pace with the performance. Sure it did let go once or twice, but never seriously. Part of the problem, I suspect, was my enthusiasm on damp roads. The slant-eyed Dunlops are fine in the dry but still a bit suspect when the going gets moist.

For a heavy brute, it corners well. As long as your bottle stays put, you can heel it over to silly angles with no wobble or slip but it helps to play with the damping beforehand to get the spring and rebound settings right. Incidentally, the rear springers have a lever at the bottom topped by the legend 'Damping characteristics'. Now maybe my backside is no more sensitive than a block of concrete, because altering the lever to either of its two positions made no difference that I could discern. Sheer gimmickry maybe.

The fashionable but not amazingly useful air forks up front are at least linked and fed from a common valve so if you should wish to tune your suspension with an airline, you won't have much difficulty in getting the balance right. Personally, I experimented over the full range of pressures and found the differences to be minimal. Still, if you don't believe me, the ever thoughtful men from Honda provide a pressure gauge with the bike so you can check it out. If they and others are really intent on continuing to breathe life into air suspension, why don't they go the whole hog and fit a pressure gauge to the bike itself. If we must suffer gimmickry, it should at least be wholehearted.

There's nothing half-hearted about the brakes. In common with the other big meat in the Honda range, the F2B is fitted with the latest dual piston calipers and boy do they pull you up, wet or dry, with frightening efficiency. On the track at Snetterton they were almost too good.

When used to the full, they had both wheels hopping and jumping on the tarmac as the Jap Dunlops relinquished the ghost of friction.

At the top end of the performance scale, the 900 is not as fleet of foot as some of its rivals. A top whack of 124mph is not much to write home about. It shouldn't make much difference but the public seem to have a fascination for silly figures to do with performance, despite the fact that most of
them, if they actually rode at the speeds they talk about, would most likely find when they stopped that the contents of their intestines had emptied themselves messily into their underclothing.

The torque is truly impressive. Overtaking from speedsof 40mph upwards could be done quite undramatically without having to shift out of top gear. The bike was quick off the line too as the standing quarter times show.

Generally, the level of equipment was as much as we have come to expect from Honda. Everything on the bike was well thought out. The headlight, for instance, was adjustable by a large knob in the nose of the fairing. The handlebars too could be adjusted in one plane, forwards and backWards. The fairing was a quality item, robustly made, very firmly mounted and provided with zip-up pockets to carry small items of general use.

To round off the test I took the bike to Snetterton on the occasion of the Maniacs 24-hour test. Out there, where the only things that count are speed and agility, it gave a good account of itself. Its only shortcoming was a lack of ground clearance that had the footrests eating away at the track on just about every comer. I doubt, however that many people would be crazy enough to corner the bike that hard on a public road.

So (pause for reflection), the Honda 900F2B is a fine example of the state of the art Japanese four-in-line motorised bicycle. It's fast, quiet, pretty and reliable, but in the end, little distinguishes it from the similarly unimpeachable products of other companies. Thank heavens for sluggish V-twins and crotchety, lumpy 500 singles. There is some variety in the world after all.

Source Motorcycle Mechanics 1981