Post Sale Update: This CB650 sold to a Bike-urious reader in England – more on that coming soon!
Thanks to the extremely low mileage, this is the nicest looking CB650 I can remember seeing. It’s a two-owner bike that changed hands two years ago with just 218 miles on the clock. The reason for the small odometer reading is that the original owner could not ride the bike soon after he bought it new due to illness. He “refused to sell it and kept it in his living room where he polished and admired it for 29 years until his death.”
The CB650 was introduced in 1979 with two coloroways: Black/Red and the Candy Muse Red/Maroon of today’s featured bike. Gold pinstriping, a 4-into-2 exhaust, black Comstars, and in Honda’s words in the below advertisement, “large, stylish rectangular turn signals” came together to complete the standard styling. In 1980, Honda introduced a SC model that featured styling designed to target cruiser riders for an extra $250 (base model price was $2,398). Both models were available through 1982. The motor was Honda’s last SOHC air-cooled inline four design, a 627cc powerplant that produced 63 horsepower and 38 pound feet of torque. That was enough to hit about 110 miles per hour thanks to a dry weight of 437 pounds, which Honda claimed was 25 pounds lighter than the “4 cylinder competition.” That was their way of ignoring the fact that their CB was 33 pounds heavier than a Triumph Bonneville. In a 1981 review, Cycle World summed up this bike by saying “The middleweight Honda balances solidly between extremes. Performance is good, the bike is simple to maintain, and for most buyers that will be enough.”
I’m not sure any of the above matters with this bike – will the next owner put any miles on it at all? After the bike was sold in 2015, the carbs were cleaned, the oil was changed, and a new battery was installed. It’s highly original – and as the seller points out, it’s still not broken in! I suspect it’s going to stay that way as I’m guessing the next owner will be putting this in a collection of some sort.
Find this CB650 for sale in Gulfport, Mississippi for $4,995 here at French and Sons Motorcycle.