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A Pretty Fine Little Motorcycle
By Kent Taylor
Surging fuel prices. Americans are involved in a controversial war, far away from our shores. Scandals in the White House, where a U.S. president denies being a lawbreaker.
Yessir, 1974 was the kind of year you just don’t want to come around very often. In fact, if it wasn’t for The Godfather II, “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone, and of course, the Honda CB200, the whole year might have just broken our hearts.
Cycle News tested the little Honda in its June 25, 1974, issue, just as the price of gasoline was pushing its way toward a whopping 45 cents per gallon. The industry was saying “sayonara” to plug-fouling, two-stroke mavericks like the Kawasaki and Suzuki triples, and “konnichiwa” to small-displacement machines that sipped gasoline in the same relaxed manner that a Southern gentleman nurses a smooth, 20-year-old bourbon.
The Honda CB200 was a pretty straightforward machine, with twin shocks in the rear and one disc brake up front. The only added goodie was an electric starter, which brought the little Honda’s air-cooled, four-stroke twin and its five-speed transmission to life. The CN staff went looking for the redline on the CB200, which apparently gave them the illusion that they were going really fast. “The engine just loves to rev,” the tester wrote. “One neat thing about riding a little motorcycle is the fun you can have running it very hard without having to worry as much about speeding tickets like you would if you were riding a larger machine.”
The 200 could hit 63 mph in the quarter-mile and top out at 80 mph. With a nationwide speed limit of 55 mph, the Honda was actually quite capable of landing its pilot in the hoosegow for a night.
The Honda was a fine-riding scooter. “The bars, medium height and rather narrow, were very comfortable. The seat width and padding were better than we expected. A small amount of vibration is felt throughout the rubber-mounted handlebars and the footpegs, but it isn’t enough to bother. Altogether, the comfort rating of the bike is quite good.”
There were a few niggling, small-bike problems that the staff mentioned, including the turn signals, whose pace seemed to match that of the motorcycle’s forward motion. Speed up, and the blinking tempo increased as well, to the point that revving the bike up to 9000 rpm would present the nighttime street crowd with “a lightshow.” Reducing the rpm and the blinking rate would slow as well.
Another problem was the horn. Today’s road tests feature nary a mention of the motorcycle’s horn, but turn back the clock to the 1970s, and most magazine staffers will mention the efficacy of the push-button tooter. Were the automobiles that shared the roads in the ’70s louder? Are the drivers less aware of motorcyclists? Perhaps the car stereos, blaring “Come and Get Your Love,” were creating chaos that demanded the use of the cycle’s horn? Whatever the situation was at that time, horns were a big deal to the magazines, and the Honda’s version was subpar, “acceptable around town but not loud enough for freeway use.”
Miles per gallon! Saving the best for last. Once upon a time, a dedicated curmudgeonly motorcyclist groused that “anybody who talks about the kind of gas mileage your motorcycle makes, just really isn’t getting it.” To be sure, when an Isle of Man racer crests Hailwood’s Rise or hits 170 mph at Sulby Straight, it is unlikely that squeezing more miles from a gallon of petrol is making him feel tingly all over. But this is 1974, when 45 cents can buy two hamburgers at McDonald’s. There is an oil shortage, and new motorcyclists are coming into the fold. They are looking for frugal ways to get around.
“The worst mileage we got out of it, redlining in every gear…was 60 miles per gallon. The best we got, deliberately trying to squeeze out every drop, was 63 miles on one half gallon.” No need for a tiger in your tank. The Honda drank fuel like a kitty lapping up warm milk from her dish.
At just $915, the Honda was cheap. Cheap to buy, cheap to own ($5.64 for a piston) and cheap to ride. At a time when a Ford LTD was netting about 15 miles per gallon, the Honda was another 50 miles better. If that doesn’t get you to your friendly Honda dealer, as Redbone sings, “What’s the matter with your head, yeah?”CN
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