At present’s Good Value or No Cube Honda takes its styling cues and large single aesthetic from the British bikes of the ’50s and ’60s. Retro seems to be aren’t this bike’s solely calling card; it additionally has a White Brothers massive bore package for some severe energy. Let’s see if we will take this stunning bike’s worth simply as significantly.
There’s a music by the woefully underrated Chicago band, The Good, known as Three Suns, a few man who takes a time machine again to fulfill his real love on the inception of their relationship, simply to inform them that it’s all going to end up simply fantastic. It’s seemingly that the time traveler would have additionally warned their then and future accomplice to not spend $48,000 on the 2014 BMW i8 we checked out yesterday. Most of you commented such a worth was far too excessive for what was basically an experiment of a automobile and, extra importantly, one which wanted a windshield and a few touchup paint. The end result was an 86 % No Cube loss.
Whereas yesterday’s BMW might have been an try and look into the long run, right this moment’s 1989 Honda GB500 is a retro gaze into the previous. Solely made accessible within the 1989 and 1990 mannequin years, the Café-style GB500 is constructed round a sleeved-down single taken from the modern XL600 dust bike.
The monoposto design echos the good British bikes of the Nineteen Fifties and ’60s, proper right down to the duel shock rear swing arm and polished spoked wheels. The title even calls this out, because the GB supposedly stands for “Nice British.”
It’s a handsome bike, albeit a small one, which could extend riders really feel cramped. And sure, whereas it does have two exhaust pipes exiting the air-cooled engine’s finned head, emulating the good twins of the previous, this can be a a single cylinder bike—a thumper within the parlace of the individuals.
An extended time has now handed because the GB500 was supplied than from it and the period that its makers sought to honor, making it one thing of a retro-retro bike. These have additionally change into a little bit of a collector’s piece, and costs have been reflecting that desirability. This one is particularly distinctive as its motor has been embiggened to 601 ccs by means of a period-correct White Brothers massive bore package. That features a greater piston, a bigger bore cylinder sleeve, a re-profiled cam, a bigger Mikuni carb, and a Supertrap exhaust. All collectively, the White Bros. package places the GB500’s efficiency in a complete totally different league, with modern testers saying it rivaled that of bigger inline fours.
The remainder of the bike appears to face up the engine’s hype. The vendor describes it as “Museum high quality” and the odometer backs that up, exhibiting simply 2402 miles on the clock. Together with the larger thumper mill, it has been fitted with progressive forks in entrance and comes within the again, and wears applicable Metzger tires on its 18-inch wheels.
This isn’t only a retro bike; it’s old-school in its personal proper. It includes a single-disc brake up entrance and a mechanical drum within the again. There aren’t any antilock brakes, and the thin tires, low clip-ons, and half-prone seating place could make for considerably squirrelly dealing with. After all, if it’s going to remain museum high quality, the brand new proprietor will seemingly not be testing its limits all that usually. The bike comes with a clear title, its authentic proprietor’s handbook which is in improbable situation, and an asking worth of $11,500.
That’s quite a lot of cabbage for a motorcycle that emulated greatness however by no means achieved it itself. It’s, nevertheless, an especially good instance and has the party-piece massive bore package already put in and dealing. Is that sufficient, although, to make it value that $11,500 asking?
You resolve!
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
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