Copyright (c) 2008 GoodMotorcycles.com
I don't know how many Honda CD175's I've owned. Twenty years ago I started out on one. Moved on to bigger and better machines, but often had a hack CD to hand for winter work and for when I was between serious machines. When one wore out, another was acquired, and it ended up I had about ten of the discarded things clogging up my garage! I probably had more spare parts than Honda UK!
There are two types. The sixties version with a pressed steel frame, no down-tubes and an engine that had its top end inclined forward - if you replaced the hefty mudguards and squinted it actually looked quite butch. Not something that could be said for the later, well known model, which was dumpy any way you looked at it.
My latest one is a 1969 CD175, 30,000 miles on the clock, quite a lot of surface rust and a desperate need for a new(ish) set of consumables. Mine for £275. I've seen CD's advertised at as much as £1000, so this was a bargain in CD terms. After I fitted some used consumables from my stock, I was looking forward to testing out the little Honda twin.
The early models are much faster than the later ones. 85 against 70mph! Mine wouldn't do more than 60mph! It only had a four speed box and needed to be wound up through the gears otherwise it lost so many revs that it couldn't break into the real power. Honda were quite cunning in the design, as it will plod along rather happily at lower revs and if you don't know about the high rev power you might conclude that the engine was mild if incredibly reliable.
Thus it's possible to buy a bike off a commuter that has never been thrashed despite the high mileage on the clock. Honda designed the airfilter, hidden inside the pressed steel frame and accessed by taking the seat off, so that it clogged up with age, choking off the high rev power but letting the engine plod away nicely. Sure enough, mine was all clogged up. The engine won't run without the filter, although removal of the silencers' baffles doesn't make much difference.
I had a used airfilter in better shape, bunged it in and headed for my favourite country road. The high speed performance was transformed, the bike happy to bounce along at 75mph, topping out at an indicated 90mph! In reality this was probably 80 to 85mph. The CD doesn't have a rev counter but it's pretty obvious when the redline's breached because a grinding vibration assaults the chassis, in contrast to the normal smoothness.
It might seem a little odd to thrash such an old bike, but these Hondas thrive on revs and seem to run better the harder the throttle's used. The later CD175 has the same kind of low rev power but goes dead when it's thrashed, it just doesn't want to know about revs. Both share the same single carb design, I suspect the newer bike's either choked at the carb and/or has milder cam lobes.
Both have just a single set of points to serve the two cylinders (a dead spark occurring on the downstroke as well as the real spark), neither needs regular setting. If starting becomes difficult it's often the condenser going dead, letting the points burn out. The single carb obviously needs no attention and the four valves can be left for tens of thousands of miles - like the spark plugs, they are easily accessible without ripping the bike apart. The camchain tensioner needs the occasional tweak.
The only area of concern's oil changes - every 500 miles as there's no external filter. Honda designed the gearbox to turn full of false neutrals if the oil changes aren't done (or at least it seems that way) so there's really no choice in the matter. Novices will find the gearbox full of false neutrals but you get used to it, eventually being able to feed the gears in!
Generally, the engines are well designed and tough for the first 50,000 miles even when thrashed. Given regular oil changes and mild use they can do amazing mileages, but commuters do tend to neglect them a bit. The first signs of engine demise are found in smoke out of the engine breather. Occasionally, the camchain snaps without warning but I've never had this problem even on engines which have done more than 75000 miles. Must be the occasional tensioner tweak and regular oil changes.
Handling is limited by the lack of damping in the suspension - just about anything available from the breakers offers a massive improvement. The frame itself is very strong, with the engine forming a stressed member. The front SLS brake fades from high speed use, whilst the rear can lock up on wet roads, sending the bike into an interesting skid. Once used to the CD, though, it can be thrown around with gay abandon, although it's a good idea to remove the centrestand to stop its prong pivoting the bike into the nearest ditch. It kills the restricted learners dead, much to their annoyance given the aged appearance!
One real limitation comes from the appalling six volt electrics - the front light would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous. Indicators are trash that last for less than six months and the horn's a pathetic squeak. The only one I converted to twelve volts burnt out its alternator! Rectifiers can burn out and bulbs blow. By this time, the wiring's also falling apart but it's a pretty simple circuit.
Rust attacks the wheel rims, silencers and handlebars, although the pressed steel frame seems immune to corrosion and the petrol tank only goes off because fuel leaks out of the cap when it's fully filled. Rust from inside the tank clogs the reserve switch, meaning it's easy to end up in the middle of nowhere with no motive power. As most recent Jap's seem to return to dust in less than ten years, the quality of these old Honda's isn't in doubt! If the 125 law hadn't come in, loads more would probably have survived. As it is, they never recovered from the indifference of that period.
It's the mixture of surprising performance and staid appearance that appeals to me. The bike isn't particularly frugal - 50 to 60mpg - unlike the sluggardly later model, but the rest of the consumables cost next to nothing as I always fit used stuff. It doesn't really mind cheap Taiwanese tyres and it's hard to break even the flimsiest of chains. Basically, we're talking a cheap and cheerful bike that offers a surprising amount of fun.
Dave Small
A 1968 Honda CD175 for thirty notes was too good a chance to miss. Even if the engine didn't work and the bike looked like it had been run into ground. The mileage was an open question, the speedo didn't work. Back home, out with the plugs to find there was no spark. This wasn't too surprising, the plugs looked so covered in crud that they'd been there for a couple of decades. New plugs did not produce a spark. The points were so worn they hardly moved when the cam lobe hit them. New points produced a weak spark. A new condensor got the spark a nice deep blue colour.
I adjusted the valves, put in some new oil and gave the camchain tensioner a tweak. The twin cylinder OHC engines are dead simple to work on with the aid of a Haynes manual. There wasn't an electric start, so I had to spend half an hour on the kickstart. Despite some encouraging noises the motor was unwilling to burst into life. I took out the plugs, heated them on the gas stove and shoved them back in. Handling red hot plugs is not much fun and I nearly cross-threaded one in the cylinder head. Second kick we were in business.
Took a while to warm up but then ticked over okay and pulled nicely during a quick blast up the lane. The motor was relatively quiet; I'd heard nearly new GPz305s that made more of a racket. The chassis was blurred with rust but otherwise surprisingly sound. The tyres and chain were far from needing replacement, so all I had to do was remove the corrosion and touch up the paint. The MOT certificate wasn't a problem despite the lack of baffles in the much patched silencers.
The CD looks less than appealing at first glance, with a pressed steel frame and large mudguards. The angled forward cylinders does make it look quite modern from certain angles but the dull grey paint put it firmly in the commuter camp. I was therefore somewhat surprised to find that the old heap burnt off a TZR125, making the bemused rider look like he was riding a fifty.
As the speedo didn't work I never knew exactly how fast the horrible Honda went. But flat out motorway work revealed that the bike could keep up with the slow lane, occasionally needing to burst into the middle lane to overtake something like a Metro driven by some old dame. At least 75mph, then, maybe as much as 80mph. The Honda wallowed slightly flat out but it never seemed to be dangerous, despite cheapo tyres and suspension that was 25 years old.
One problem with the suspension was that there was not much movement, each and every bump was fed through to my backside and arms. For this reason, the bike was more enjoyable flat out on the motorway than being thrown around the back roads. There was an annoying tendency to run wide through bends and to dig the centrestand into the tarmac when leant over at extreme angles.
The latter would attempt to flick the bike off the road, but was easily remedied with a flick of the buttocks and modified cornering line. In town the CD was narrow, nimble, and showed a surprising turn of acceleration in races with enraged cagers. The only problem was the four speed gearbox, which had large gaps between ratios and was dead easy to throw into false neutrals. But there was a lot of feel in the box and after a while I was able to successfully work my way through the gears; I was used to old hacks with temperamental motors.
After a month I was impressed enough to persuade a mate with a spray gun to do a quick respray in black. He only charged me for the paint, the bike ended up looking rather good, only spoilt by rusty rims and exhaust. Both were treated to a wire brushing and a dose of black Hammerite, which if not exactly an immaculate finish was a great improvement.
The bike needed loads of fuel poured in the tank (I guess 50-60mpg) and continuous topping up of the sump. A small amount of oil was burnt out of the exhaust and a little leaked out of the gearbox seals and cylinder head gasket. The engine bolts looked so virgin and so corroded that I could believe the engine had never been touched internally by human hand. If that was so, it speaks volumes about how tough they used to make old Hondas.
In six months I must have done about 5000 miles, buzzing around at weekends and commuting to work in the week. The only problem I had with the CD was that fuel would piss out of the single carb every so often. Easily fixed by playing around with the float height. Oh, and one of the cylinders would cut out for no apparent reason and then clear up just as suddenly.
I sold the bike for £275 as I'd found a cheap CB400/4. The day before the new owner turned up I went for a final thrash on the CD, with a friend on the 400. Up this nearly deserted dual carriageway we screamed. I had to thrash the Honda in third to keep the bigger Honda in sight. With my head down on the clock, I held the throttle wide open, the engine surprising me by continuing to rev. There's no rev counter so the only way I knew I was in the red was the way the whole bike blurred beneath me from the vibes.
It was usually rather smooth despite having pistons that moved up and down in unison. When the vibes became unbearable I changed up to fourth, then moved my feet to the pillion pegs (themselves on the swinging arm). I was one with the machine, the throttle still open, the bike ever so slowly gaining speed. With the heavy dose of vibes once again afflicting the chassis, we drew abreast of the CB400/4 and edged ahead. Once I was clear of the four, I rolled the throttle close, amazed at the little Honda and slightly sad to see it go.
Admittedly, if I'd held the speed for any longer I would have suffered a bout of seasickness and probably blown the engine to pieces. My mate on the CB never would admit what kind of speed he was doing when I overtook, but he looked at the CD in amazement when we came to a stop, demanding to know what I'd done to the motor.
In the nineties the CD is just about adequate fare for modern roads, back in the sixties it must have been quite an amazing giant killer. Buying and selling the CD175 goes to prove that it's still possible to buy a bike for next to nothing, fix it up, have some fun and then sell it on at a nice profit.
Phil Goodwin
After seeing about a dozen machines this little red Honda twin turned up. 22000 miles despite being 20 years old and having endured an excess of owners. This one had been stored for a while as it wouldn't start, but there was not much corrosion and it looked complete and original. £100 was demanded but I talked him down to sixty, with tales of having to pay hundreds and wait months for spares to turn up. Pushed the bike three miles home with a grin rather than grimace on my face.
I had no idea what was wrong with the motor. It kicked over okay, although the battery was flat so the electric boot just clicked. The Honda has 12 volts so the first step was to connect up a car battery after putting some new oil in the engine. The white sludge that reluctantly dripped out of the sump wasn't too impressive. The motor churned over on the starter but didn't fire. I checked the plugs, they were black with carbon, giving a faint yellow spark.
It wasn't until the next day that I was able to buy new plugs. These gave a faint blue spark. The CB has points ignition so that was the next step. There are timing marks so a bit of wire with a bulb and battery was all that was needed to set the ignition timing. First, though, I cleaned up the points and set the gap dead on. With perfect timing the spark was a bit stronger. The motor still didn't start but made some encouraging noises. I had a spare condenser from a car so I replaced the old one. A big fat blue spark.
It still wouldn't start. I had to take off the carb bowls and clean all the gunge out. By then the car battery was flat, so I had to resort to the kickstart. Fired up first prod. I reconnected the bike's battery, fired her up again and was all set for a quick spin around the block. Lovely! Well, I had been hacking around on a 60,000 mile RS125. The tyres had cracked sidewalls so there was no way I was going to get an MOT until they were replaced. I also had to replace the puny swinging arm bearings, as the arm was waving all over the place and put a new battery in as the old one wouldn't hold a charge.
Total on the road cost was £125, which turned out to be a bargain. I know some people knock old Japanese bikes but it really was a neat bit of design. A simple OHC vertical twin engine, developing an impressive 20 horses. Despite the lack of balance shafts it didn't really vibrate any more than a newish Superdream; indeed, I found I could burn off a friend with a CB250N which had suffered a similar mileage. His alloy and paint were in a worse state than mine!
The Honda had a classical simplicity to its lines that, to my mind, made it rather more attractive than the Euro-bland Superdream. I used to annoy my mate no end by racing with him, as the CB175 was lighter, could be banked over further and responded better to my desperate body language. Ultimately, the smaller twin couldn't quite match the other bike's 85mph top speed, but the Superdream needed a mile long straight to get past 80mph, which the CB175 could match.
About the only area where it was deficient was the gearbox. There were supposed to be five speeds available but I was only ever sure of getting into second and fourth. The change from first to second was so treacherous that I usually took off in second with a touch of clutch slip. The second to third change went okay, initially, but the box would bounce out of that gear without any warning so it was a good idea to hit fourth as soon as possible.
The gap between second and fourth was quite large, which meant that three or four thousand revs could quite easily be lost. The engine was happy to run at low revs but below 6000rpm there wasn't much by power. This may have partly been down to rotted exhaust baffles and a holed airfilter. To ride fast the engine had to be caned into the red in second and a double shuffle on the gear lever up to fourth done as quickly as was humanely possible. Done right this would drop the revs to 6500-7000, which was exactly where the motor burst into power. I wasn't that surprised to be getting just 50mpg!
The OE shocks had long been junked in favour of some stiffer units, but the front end was a bit elastic. Nothing a decent pair of springs wouldn't cure but as the Honda only weighed 300lbs it was easy enough to keep under control. Helped by a large TLS front drum that could twist the forks under hard stops and needed to be treated with care in the wet. The back drum wasn't too sensitive and didn't seem that powerful. Overall, though, it was quite an easy package to manhandle just about everywhere.
There were a couple of problems down to its age and the need for steel to turn into rust. Most worrying was the petrol tank. There was so much crud that the reserve filter in the bottom of the tank was permanently encrusted. No amount of cleaning would make it work. The underside of the tank was speckled with rust spots. The guards were also half rusted through and paint was flaking off the frame at the welded joints.
For about six months and 7000 miles all I did was change the oil, check the points and valves, and tweak the camchain tensioner. The drive chain wore at a ferocious rate, ended up with a couple of links taken out. The tyres didn't seem to wear, a trait shared with the brake shoes.
Then, with just over 29,500 miles under its wheels, there was a lot of misfiring in the exhaust and somewhat constipated performance. At first I thought it was just the silencers rotting through but after applying some Gum-Gum to the holes the poor running wasn't improved. A local garage did a compression test; way down.
I was not amused by the camchain. I'd been told I would have to drill out a couple of rivets to split it. After I'd done that I found it had a split-link further down the run. It looked a bit ropy so I bought a new one (with a split-link). The problem with the engine was burnt out exhaust valves. After waiting a couple of weeks, the dealer handed over a set that were too big. He wouldn't give me my money back! Or even tell me what they were off so I could try to sell them.
I located a seized engine for £25, found the whole head was in good shape so just bunged that straight on. Whilst I had the engine out I replaced a couple of gearbox seals that were dribbling oil and had the cases bead-blasted. I swapped selectors between engines in the hope of improving the gearbox. The motor went back together without any traumas, I even got the valve timing right first go. There was a lovely mechanical rustle when it fired up that indicated I had done everything right. Not bad going, considering it was the first four stroke I'd ever built and the Haynes manual became annoyingly vague at important points in the reconstruction.
Top speed was 83mph, all five gears could safely be engaged and fuel consumption improved to 55mpg. There was a little bit more vibration when riding flat out but nothing too worrying. It would cruise in the 70 to 80mph range, depending on conditions, with winds or hills making it faster in fourth than fifth. I often ended up using the pillion pegs when cruising fast, as the forward mounted pegs meant for the rider were a bit cramping, strange pains developing in my thighs after half an hour. The seat was one of those soft/hard jobs that had the rider squirming around after about a 100 miles, when given the lack of working reserve it was time to stop for fuel.
The bike wasn't ideal for long distances, then, but with a bit of tolerance on the rider's part it was possible to cover a few hundred miles in a day. Its best point was the feeling of having an unburstable engine that could be flogged relentlessly for hours on end without worrying about it blowing up. They built these old Honda twins very tough as evidenced by a CD175 I bought for spares.
The CD only has one carb and no electric start. The clock read 79000 miles and I didn't think the engine was going to start. After putting in a new fuse, charging the six volt battery and cleaning the carb, the old dear surprised me by firing up on the fourth kick. I put the CB's numberplate and tax disc on, then took the bike for a quick blast. The four speed gearbox was terrible but the CD bounced up to 75mph without too much work and seemed to run okay. The chassis was dangerously rusted, but I was sufficiently impressed to do a quick renovation job.
If anything, with its strange styling, reminiscent of a sixties BSA twin, the CD175 has more character than the CB. It's certainly more relaxing to ride, with a stately feel where the CB demands to be ridden at its limits all the time. With a fully enclosed chain and 70 to 80mpg it's a much cheaper way of doing the commuter chores and a big windscreen looks perfectly in character, whereas the CB would look plain silly.
The CD now has an incredible 92000 miles done and is still going strong, although there's no telling if it's on the original engine or not. The CB is approaching 49000 miles and judging by the smoke out of the exhaust it's going to need its first rebore soon. I've found there are a lot of near wrecks around that can be persuaded back into life without too much financial pain, so they may well be the ultimate hacks.
Peter Bowden
The deal took some doing. The old man's immaculate CB175 was the target of my lust. I dropped a few lines about him looking like an elephant on a fly. And 20 years on one bike must be getting boring. And wasn't the engine getting a bit rattly. It wasn't, not even with 37000 miles on the clock. 500 mile oil changes and religious servicing had proved wise investments. I passed the test on a GS125 and sold the bike to a friend who also wanted to get into motorcycling. The old man knew what I was after but being a good sport he eventually gave in and bought himself a new CB500 twin. The CB175 was mine.
For those ignorant few who don't know about them, the CB175 was a prime piece of learner tackle back in the early seventies when youths were allowed to ride 250s of whatever power the manufacturers could safely extract. Yamaha had the RD250, Suzuki the GT250 and Kawasaki their infamous 250 triple, whilst Honda ploughed a lonely, if successful, path in the form of four stroke OHC vertical twins, ranging in capacity from 125 to 350cc.
The CB175 shared much of its engine with the infamously indestructible CD175. Honda added sharper cams, an extra carb and an electric start. 20 horses were claimed, backed up by the bike's ability to put 80mph on the clock on a good day (ie the first day I had the Honda). The old man rarely went above 60mph, not giving in to the little twin's high revving nature. It's an engine that absolutely thrives on revs, only limited in its fluid nature by the nasty five speed gearbox that not even loads of tender loving care from the old man could temper. He reckoned the gearbox was an acquired art; I thought it was just a nasty piece of excrement.
Even compared to the thumper delights of the GS125, the CB thrummed away quite heavily. Judging by the beaming face of my father the new sophistication of his 500 had alerted him to how out of touch he'd become with modern motorcycle engineering. My brief taste of the bigger bike left me amazed at its velvet feel. But after a few weeks the 175's vibes went into the background, only really annoyed when I went deep into the red in the lower gears.
Highlights of the first couple of months included an 80mph, flat out, motorway drone, stopping every 80 miles to fill the tank up; bouncing the bike through the bends on its stands to keep an RD350LC from overtaking (the antics probably scared him off), and getting the Honda up on one wheel in the High Street - quite inadvertently, officer - which resulted in the chain snapping half a mile from home! The clutch didn't like it, either, slipping for the rest of the week, though it still dragged when stone cold. Snapped chains could break the back of the crankcases, but mine just left some scar marks - if you see any oil leaks around the gearbox area take the cover off to check.
The old man couldn't understand why the chain had broken, it was only 9000 miles old and had been lovingly treated with Linklyfe. One advantage of having a fanatic in the family was that he insisted on doing the 500 mile services himself, leaving me free from worry. Servicing consists of points, valve clearances, carb balancing and camchain tensioner, plus the oil changes. Nothing too difficult, or so it seemed to me as I looked over his shoulder. I got nagged because I didn't clean and polish the bike every day but it was a small price to pay for a free motorcycle.
The bike had a pair of Girlings out back, stronger springs in the forks and a sensible riding position right out of the sixties. That meant it was an easy bike to throw around in town, a joy in the back lanes and yet not uncomfortable to cruise flat out along the motorways. The saddle could've done with thicker padding, my bum complaining after about 80 miles, which coincided with the range. Fuel was much heavier than the GS125, 40 to 50mpg depending on the throttle abuse. The old man reckoned he could get 65mpg, but then he claims 70mpg from the CB500, which he rides like a pensioner (probably because that's what he is). The GS, even when heavily thrashed, still turned in better than 100mpg. On the good side, the bike neither leaked nor consumed any oil between the frequent changes.
After three months of riding the CB175, I managed to persuade a girl on to the back. Neither of us were particularly heavy, but our combined mass took its toll on the Honda's performance. Acceleration was slow enough to have cagers trying to run us down, whereas solo I'd had no trouble burning them off up to 50mph. The handling also went rather squirmy, the babe complaining that the bike felt like it was falling apart. I ignored her hints about getting a cage, wasn't that surprised when she went off with a Metro owner.
The Honda never seemed quite the same after that experience, perhaps I was becoming too used to it and able to handle all it could give out. As I had no money of my own I couldn't move on to something bigger, had to make the best of what I had. The summer of 1997 I loaded the bike up with an excess of camping gear and headed for Scotland. The great adventure, the open road...bloody hailstones and incredible rain!
The CB added to the amusement by cutting down on to one cylinder, coming back on with its full power and generally skidding all over the road. I thought about turning back but rode through it. I used the motorway to eat up the miles. About 500 miles in a day. Just as we crossed the border, the darkness of night descending, the top end of the engine went into machine gun mode. It sounded like the rockers were breaking up. I bowed to the wisdom of my father, who'd insisted on paying for AA coverage. Especially when I pulled over to find that the motor had blown all its gaskets and was spewing out oil and fumes! Looked like I'd melted the bugger, with 46000 miles on the clock.
Back home I had to endure a lecture along the lines of the bike lasting for over twenty years before I got my hands on it and done for the poor thing. After the expected tirade, it was revealed that a hundred quid CD175 engine had been secured and would be fitted over the weekend. And it was. The cunning old bastard left me with a machine slower than the GS125, which died a death before high revs could be achieved, so mildly tuned that it's impossible to thrash it. Meanwhile, the CB175 engine's being rebuilt but I won't be allowed near the finished result. No justice in the world, is there? To be fair, they were great machines in their day, still have their uses.
F.R.
The motorcycle was an L reg Honda CB175 with 15000 miles on the clock in a very clean condition. My father told me about it, and at first I was horrified that it might be the plain Jane CD175, but the CB had class looks, twin carbs, 20hp and electric start. The power was unbelievable compared to that of a sports moped, a slow progressive build up to max power at 10500rpm with a top speed which would nudge the 80mph mark.
I rode the bike for 11000 miles during my year of ownership. It had a few little bugs. A slight weep from the cylinder head gasket that never became worse. On one run back from Kent it started running on one cylinder - I eventually found the cause, a blocked reserve pipe in the tap, a common problem.
Riding home from college, without a care in the world, the bike suddenly died on me. A fuse had blown - a rummage in a nearby dustbin found a fag packet and some silver foil but it started burning as soon as I turned on the ignition. A long push home followed. A loose wire in the headlamp was eventually found.
I had three punctures in a row, the last coming as I was leant over at a racing angle, the back end hopping across the road in a frightening way. Another long push home. The sharp end of a spoke was eventually found to be the cause.
The bike was relatively cheap to run. Between 60 and 70mpg, meagre oil consumption and cheap insurance compared to the 250s. The performance could not match the two stroke twins, which always meant I was last to arrive anywhere. On long hill climbs the lack of engine size meant that the engine had to be knocked down a couple of gears.
The bike had been fitted with trials type handlebars which made motorway riding a bit tiresome.The quality of the paint was excellent, especially the frame which is more than I can say for today's bike. The chrome also stayed in good condition.
A year with the bike and I was hankering after something bigger. I was taken with four strokes and the reliability of Honda and part exchanged the 175 for a Honda 400/4. I was given the same money I had paid for the bike by the dealer I purchased it from a year before. My impression of Honda reliability was soon to be shattered but that's another tale.
E.N.Chudley
I purchased the CD back in May '88 for the sum of £300. It had 5000 miles on the clock, was V registered and was very CDish. The bike had a Michelin M38 fitted the wrong way round on the rear but it was almost due for replacement so I left it. It didn't make a lot of difference to the handling except when going through a patch of freshly spilt thick oil.
The first long, 165 mile, trip was greeted with torrential rain all the way there. My Belstaff became like a funnel and seemed to suck more water in, my boots were no better and the dye in the gloves had run, making my hands blacker than engine oil. Initial impressions once the rain had cleared, were that she went around corners quite well and serious enjoyment could be had.
Except, that one morning she refused to start. I went back in the house and by the time I'd tried again she had changed her mind and went first prod of the button.
I fitted a Rickman handlebar fairing and had a Pirelli MT15 put on the rear wheel. These MT15s give good service and last for around 8000 miles. The fairing proved to be a real winner during the winter as it kept all the wind off my hands and face.
All went well until some idiot woman tried to defy the laws of physics and coexist on my bit of physical territory. I went flying up across the central grass reservation towards the other carriageway. The AA took us home that night. The woman didn't stop and the plod were not interested.
In the summer I was hit from behind whilst waiting at a roundabout so I used this accident to repair the damage from the other one. The other insurance company played all the usual games until I got ratty with their head man which finally produced a cheque for the full amount. I managed to obtain a new Honda rear mudguard which wasn't really damaged but had split so badly it had only half an inch of metal holding it together (£90 for a new one). Despite large dollops of chrome protector the carrier developed a bad case of the brown fever within a few weeks of its fitment.
The little four stroke twin got me through two Toy Runs at Christmas, various trips to Donnington, Mallory and general commuting. Last month I hit a bus that left it too late to try to turn in front of me but that claim is proceeding nicely at the moment.
Four star petrol is used, unleaded was tried but gave rough results and apparently caused an oil leak in my mate's CD125! Very little oil is burnt although some of it is lost through a duff seal on the left-hand side. NGK CR7HS plugs seem to be supplied with the right gap size and are replaced with the points whenever I think about it. I am very fussy about oil changes and use Shell four stroke oil every 1000 miles. Timing and camchain adjustment is carried out occasionally. The valves have been done once in 11000 miles.
Drive chain and sprockets were replaced at 17000 miles, although the new chain is terrible needing frequent adjustment.Very few problems have been experienced except when it occasionally refuses to start. Due to badly worn points. During foggy weather the carb slide tends to stick open.
All round then, these are good commuters that are adequate for the odd run. Maintenance is minimal as is cleaning, whilst reliability is excellent. Mine has 21000 miles on the clock and has been on the deck three times now but only needs a little persuasion to come back into shape and away we go again.
Shaun Malin
Having owned a CB200 several years ago, I couldn't come to terms with this esteemed organ rating it as Honda's best small twin. Surely, that term describes the twin carb CB175, which did all the things the 200 ever did, but did it more economically, with better handling, style and far superior braking. Let's set the record straight, I thought, let's tell them what a dog the 200 is. However, on deeper recollection, the little twin did qive quite a reasonable account of itself, and whilst I still can't rate it as one of their best, the bike did have a certain degree of reliability but lacked any real character that could endear itself to an owner. Also, the ones I've seen around of late are so over-priced as to make a mockery of the concept of value.
Mine came complete with a full fairing, top box, handlebar muffs and a seized brake cable, from an acquaintance near Oxford who was sort of emigrating. A new cable soon had the front brake working as well as it ever would, and was eventually replaced by a TLS drum from a CB175. To those unfamiliar with CB200 brakes, on first appearance it seems to have a normal disc set up on the front. Well, yes, it does have a disc but it is cable operated, using a worm mechanism which people who have pulled certain clutch actuating mechanisms apart may well recognise. Consequently, not only do riders have wet lag to cope with, but also a brake with very little feel or overall efficiency.
This being my first machine with a full fairing, it took a day or two to become used to not being able to see immediately in front of the bike. At higher speeds the thing did keep the worst of the weather off, so it was forgiven for the unpleasant effect of amplifying the engine's rattles and mixing them with its own reverberations. At its first MOT it needed a new set of shocks, although if I'd avoided the Honda Five Star dealer and gone to a back street dealer I might have avoided that. Still, the new Konis were good and actually quite cheap at the time.
The first real problem occurred near Kennilworth one day as I headed back to sunny Manchester. Just prior to the fuse blowing, the starter motor cut in of its own accord. A quick prod at the switch and wiring plus a new fuse seemed to improve matters, so off I trolled. By the time I got to Lichfield I was out of fuses and patience.
Sat on a street corner in the gathering gloom under a street light, temptingly close to a very good pub, I finally discovered a tiny split in the insulation of the starter switch wire as it entered the headlight. The cut was so small as to be hard to see but in the dark the sparks as it shorted out were visible. After taping up the wire, a fag packet was disembowelled to provide some silver paper, with an old fuse wrapped in foil off we trucked on our belated way home.
Other than accepted problems, such as the stands seizing up and then breaking off, quite a thirst for oil when thrashed and poor fuel consumption (I don't regard 55mpg as very impressive), all was reasonably well, until in the middle of a torrential downpour (not a rare occurrence in Manchester) it decided to cut out and discharge its battery. No amount of cajoling could persuade it to start, so it was thrown into the back of a van and taken home.
With a freshly charged battery and dry plugs, the problem went away and never returned, but a new battery was fitted shortly afterwards as the original was looking very rough. Whilst normally starting tolerably well, provided the plugs, points and camchain were occasionally tinkered with, it did sometimes shock with its starting ability. Take, for instance, the February we went hand gliding (it makes motorcycling seem positively safe and healthy). Camping in a field outside Ashbourne, we awoke to discover several inches of snow over the tent, ground and bottles of Guinness.
The bike was almost indistinguishable from the drift it lay in where it was propped up against a wall. We weren't too sure of getting back to Manchester, as it was very cold and beginning to snow again. Brushing away at the snow, we located the bike and disinterred it, more out of curiosity than any hope of getting it going. It started first kick and ticked over like new! The ride back was the coldest, most unpleasant journey I've ever made, riding into a blizzard driven by a bitterly chill wind, sliding all over the place on a road which was officially closed. However, St Christopher must have been in a good mood as we eventually got back in one piece.
As it was only ever treated to secondhand tyres, I don't know how long a new one would last, but tyre wear seemed pretty low. Handling with the huge fairing fitted was never much to write home about, but the bike displayed little need to throw the rider off, so it wasn't that bad. The pads never appeared to wear, nor did the brake shoes and the chain and sprockets were only changed the once.
I suppose it says something for the engine that it achieved over 40,000 miles before wrecking its big-end on the M6 one (actually) sunny day. As the camchain had no guides, when it thrashes around between tensioning sessions, it removes alloy from the chain tunnel. The resulting swarf eventually built up and caused the left-hand big-end to seize. Whilst the oil was changed frequently and the centrifugal oil filter scraped out occasionally, I'm sure if the bike had a proper oil filter fitted this end could have been avoided.
A friend's CB200 with less than half the mileage of mine did the same trick - fortunately, just after he sold it - so I'll be tempted to suggest that this is likely to be a problem with any 200. Interestingly, I never had any problems with the essentially similar CB175 and CD175, so presumably their lubrication system must differ somehow. Although a used engine was fitted into my junked heap, it turned out I went to the wrong breaker, as the engine was well, er, worn. It was simply used as a back up bike, a 250 Dream took its place.
Phil Duffin
The local dealer was having a closing down sale. Everything had to go, best offers accepted. The three wideboys who ran the place seemed to have got religion. Shaved heads and beards halfway down their chests. Perhaps they wanted the punters to feel sorry for them. I couldn't stop the laughter bubbling out at their absurd appearance.
To this day I'm not sure what mixture of madness and magic made me hand over a hundred notes for three non-running Honda CD175s. Remember these early seventies twins, the Japanese equivalent of the MZ 250 with a heart of gold but only a little more performance than a restricted 125? 17 horses, four gears and the kind of looks that make you want to throw up. Some poor wretches actually think they are classic motorcycles.
They all sported more than 60,000 miles, none of the motors having a chance of starting up. It took a month to strip them down, pick out the best bits and create one working engine. Even then the match between pistons and bores was not perfect, but in the context of hack motorcycling it was adequate.
The cycle parts were good for a laugh. The only thing made out of steel that wasn't rusted through was the frame. I had three good ones but only one logbook so it was pretty easy to chose which one to use. I didn't spend much on cycle parts as I had an adequate selection from past endeavours; even ended up doing a swap with some CD fanatic for a good tank and guards, so from a distance the resurrected rat looks quite authentic.
The front end's off a 185 Benly, the rear shocks replaced by a pair of Girling's finest (circa 1965, though) and the bars genuine Vincent patterns! I was quite proud of the front lamp, a car unit fitted into the CD's shell with 90 watts of main beam to cut a path through the night. Er, yes, the CD did have 6V electrics but as the wiring was rotted it was easy enough to fit a 12V regulator/rectifier and upgrade everything to suit.
The horn was pinched from an abandoned artic (well, it'd been parked outside my house for two weeks so I assumed it was abandoned) and a large car battery was located in the top box. Indicators? Who needs them! The alternator puts out sod all power but the battery holds sufficient charge to keep the light going for half an hour and the horn for two minutes!
Starting the reluctant engine was only possible after paying out for a brand new pair of spark plugs. An expense repeated every 3000 miles. The alternative was to spend about an hour pumping away on the kickstart. Bump starts proved remarkably difficult, as the bike would try to fall on its side whenever I jumped on the saddle.
Once the engine was running much blipping of the throttle and juggling of the choke was needed for the first ten minutes. With just a single carb there shouldn't have been much hassle, but a float needle that stuck open, thus swamping the engine in petrol, provided many a memorable moment of insanity. I cured it eventually but only after two fires and losing more fuel over the engine than ever went through the combustion process. Would you believe 30mpg?
Oh, these are rotten engines. Strong enough mechanically, I suppose, but utterly miserly in the way they produce power. Gutless at low revs, they need to be ridden everywhere with the throttle to the stop and there are such huge gaps between ratios in the dreadful four speed gearbox that once a gearchange is accomplished the motor's back to sulking in the lower reaches of the rev range.
As this sudden lost of power would often happen whilst trying to overtake some cage it would really make me mad! I'd stamp the lever back down a gear with the throttle to the stop and my heart in my mouth. Half the time the bike would hit a false neutral, making the engine strain at what felt like 20,000 revs in so much noise that cages would swerve off the road assuming their engine was blowing up, and with so much vibration my poor old marital tackle was chaffed against the back of the shuddering petrol tank, rendered useless for days afterwards.
Even with the carb fixed the motor was only turning in 45mpg when thrashed and about 60mpg when I decided the only thing to do was pretend I was ninety years old and potter through town like I was on a bloody C50. Riding any bike in a slow and sane manner is an open invitation to cagers to try to knock you off the road. No chance of that, though, as the CD was worth sod all I was quite happy to bash it into erring cagers, the newer the better, then scamper off up the road at an indecent clip. Strangely, when aided by fear and adrenalin the gearchange worked precisely and I could almost put 75mph on the clock. Jolly good fun, or what?
Handling was a bit strange but it usually went where it was pointed when upright, only deflected by the larger of the potholes which made the whole bike shudder horribly. Cornering was limited by the Chinese tyres and running wide through the faster bends. Hitting bumps in such a state required a boot down and a vicious wrench on the bars. It took a while to get to grips with the hack, but most of its nastiness was predictable.
I came to enjoy the massive back wheel slides in the wet, the disappearing braking could be laughed off, but I had to draw the line at total engine failure when the ignition went dead due to water ingress. Not only did it leave me at the mercy of the cagers it'd also leave me sitting in wet underwear after spending a load of dosh on cans of WD40, refusing to start until at least half an hours worth of prayers were said.
Some black, tar-like gunge acquired from a building site and applied to the coil seemed to do the trick, but the landlady was in a rage for well over a week over all the mess in her garden. I told her it would keep the dogs away but she didn't seem impressed. This was nothing, though, to the time I'd 'watered' her geraniums with old engine oil. The can sort of fell out of my hands as I walked past them!
There was never any point taking the CD for an MOT, even in the unlikely event of a pass I could never buy a tax disc because insurance was way beyond my means. As the bike did attract the attention of the plod, not least because the silencers were missing (although I had stuck the baffles up the downpipes), it meant I always had to be on my guard and willing to take unlikely escape routes.
One time we rattled down about twenty stone steps, the bike zig-zagging all over the shop and myself suffering bruised ribs. Another, I ran the bike through a wooden fence, across someone's nice bit of lawn and out the other side through another bit of fence. Luckily, the wood was crappy, just splintered and shattered without doing any damage to the bike.
Despite this wanton vandalism, the CD ran for over 8000 miles with only the odd oil change, regular spark plug swap and occasional kick of the tyres. The end came from that old Honda bogey - the camchain. I'd bodged the tensioner to stop the rattles but one false neutral excess was too much. The chain snapped, the valves tangled and took out the pistons. On striping down, I found that the four bearing crankshaft was the only thing that wasn't trashed.
The chassis was good, or at least not so terrible that I could afford to throw it away. CD175s are getting on, these days, so it was down to the breakers searching for a replacement. I almost bought an RD350LC motor. That would've been something, but good sense won out and a CD125 Benly motor was carried home in my haversack. What a hassle I had getting the damn thing to fit but after a week of swearing I was back on the road.
The gearbox was brilliant, the lack of vibes soothing and the performance utterly pathetic. I don't know if it was this bad new but she would only go up to 65mph, a mere 50mph being more normal unless I was willing to ride with a deathwish. The engine had cost £100 so I felt cheated.
Still, it went back and forth to work every day in complete reliability, always coming to life with a half-hearted kick, and doing 95mpg. A miser's dream. I used it for two months, the time it took to get the bike registered as a 12hp learner. A remarkable improvement in handling occurred when I stripped down the forks and replaced the springs - the old ones looked like each had been sourced from a different bike! No wonder it'd been a bit weird. As a 12hp learner the old rat was suddenly very valuable and I had no trouble copping 300 notes. That meant I'd had a year's biking for nothing. Neat!
Mark Groves
Problems, problems, problems. Okay, I'd only paid £150 for the CD175 but within a hundred miles I was in trouble. The first sign was petrol pouring out of the single carb. Off with the float bowl, adjust float height by pure instinct and bung it all back together. Fine until the fuel ran out. I nonchalantly went for reserve only to find the engine's burping deepening. I pulled off the road before I was run down and ripped the fuel pipe out. Just the slightest dribble dropped out.
I kept going by leaning the bike over on its side so that fuel could flow into the tap half of the tank. Got me to a gas station. A full tank of petrol meant that the fuel sprayed out of the cap, explaining the blistered paint and 55mpg. When I later tore the tap out the reserve half had a gauze filter full of crud, bits of the petrol tank rusting. Easily cleaned out but it clogged up every 50 miles or so. In the end, I pulled the gauze off and fitted an in-line filter, which took minutes rather than hours to clean out.
I've never come across another bike with such a vicious gearbox. Not only was there no feel to the lever, which ended up knocking the box into false neutrals all the time, but also there were huge gaps between the ratios. Every time I wound the little twin up to full revs I'd lurch into the next gear only to end up with a deep exhaust note and a marked reluctance to rev. The CD was so slow that even restricted 125's could burn it off. The only moment of excitement was when I'd hit a false neutral with the throttle held wide open...the engine felt really frantic with vibration trying to split open the petrol tank and my feet buzzed off the pegs. It never seemed to do any damage to the engine which defined itself as extremely tough.
Even the 70mph top speed caused the back end to wallow all over the place, which had my bowels feeling loose. Even more distracting was the front SLS drum brake. It worked alright at town speeds but 40 or 50mph stops had the braking fading away to nothing. Brown trouser time as the obstacle I was hoping to avoid rushed towards me. The Honda wasn't heavy but by some trick of the steering it was tough going to change direction rapidly. Usually I managed to avoid hitting things as I didn't want to spend any money replacing the spindly forks and marginal tubular frame.
The suspension was something of a joke as age had worn it into a softness that had everything down on the stops just under my own eleven stone. The seat was large and well sprung, which saved my backside and spine from the worst of the pot-holes. It contributed to a lack of steering accuracy that made the CD difficult to navigate through the ruined road surfaces, a strangely modern obstacle course given the huge amounts of money that the government steals in taxation.
After the first couple of weeks which seemed full of hassles, bike and I sort of settled down to life together. The regular daily commute into work, some weekend work and the odd dual carriageway blast to clean the old girl out. Huge mudguards and full chainguard made the bike as practical as an MZ. The machine came with one of those huge clear screens that was marvellous in the wet or cold but made the front end twitch every time I went over 40mph. I took it off fast but use it in winter.
It was with the wet, cold spell at the end of autumn that starting became poor. Unlike the CB175, the CD only has a kickstart. It needed so much use that the shaft kept coming loose, which ended up stripping its retaining bolt's thread. I had to spend hours, and about six drill bits, before I was able to drill right through the lever to fit a nut and bolt. Some bikes end up with the kickstart (or gear lever) welded on to their shafts.
I cleaned up the points, went over the wiring and tried an MZ coil (the electrics are a pathetic six volts) but the only thing to help was new spark plugs every 500 miles...in the cheap hacking game an outrageous expense! A new coil or set of points might've cured the starting but I compromised by cleaning up the plugs every 200 miles, which allowed them to last a more acceptable 1500 miles.
The electrics weren't in the least impressive. A horn that wouldn't have been acceptable to most cyclists and a front light that made most moped efforts luxurious. I just couldn't see where I was going on unlit roads and the flickering rear lamp was an open invitation for any cagers in the area to back end me. When I tried to upgrade the front lamp either the new bulb blew or the battery rapidly drained off.
I ended up in a ditch once and with the front wheel lodged in a man-hole after the cover had disappeared! Both times I was rudely awoken by being thrown over the handlebars. It happened so fast that the first I knew about it was head-butting the ground. As I was wearing an open-face lid and goggles it hurt, reprofiling my nose and scarring my face. You see a hell of a lot of action on old hacks of this type!
So, I had a bike with no lights, little more by way of braking and the kind of dull looks that made the uninitiated laugh out loud. On the other hand, it cost sod all and ran for 18000 miles without any major expenses. If the clock could be believed, that meant it'd done 75,456 miles until the engine gave up in a big way.
I'd noticed that the top end was rattling a bit more than normal but wasn't too concerned. I should have been, as it presaged both the tensioner and camchain breaking up. The bike gave a lurch, a bang, then free-wheeled when I hit the clutch lever. However, it wasn't the clutch that freed it but the drive chain breaking. The latter left a couple of holes in the back of the crankcases whilst the broken camchain and tensioner finished off the tired engine internals.
For some reason, which I can't figure out now, I actually pushed the bike all of eight miles to my home. Actually, the chassis wasn't in bad shape and the tyres were newish, so that must've been it. A used motor was found for the extravagant sum of fifty quid and was fitted within an hour. It even started easily but the performance was very poor, with a 60mph top whack, and the alternator didn't work. I could've used the old one but it was easier to charge up a car battery every night and carry it around in the top box.
The major hassle was the monotonous vibration, present at all revs, that left both feet and hands shaking. It was okay for the short hop to work but ruled out any serious motorcycling. I tried to find another engine but they were all nearly dead. Some sods wanted up to 500 notes for low mileage bikes, ridiculous given that you can buy a nice Benly for that kind of money.
I decided that CD175's were a bit of a lost cause at this stage of the game. I sold mine for £200 with the spare engine, which meant I had a few years of motorcycling for next to nothing. If they appeal to you, and you find a nice 'un, buy it by all means but don't expect anything special. Me? I bought a cheap CD250U that had minor crash damage. Once I fixed it up I then had a bike that was about ten times better than the CD175; superior on fuel and consumables as well as being faster. Time had moved on and the CD175 has had its day.
Nick Goldman