Contents:

• Intro
• some tips
• Buying a Blackbird
• Linked Brakes
• Delinking the brakes
• Mallory Park Trackday
• The Fast Bikes '99 XX-test
• Rider magazine Blackbird test

Cover photo's: Tony Borg - Malta

Intro

Welcome to the third edition of the Blackbird NewsLetter. In this issue you can read that buying a motorcycle (Blackbird)  is sometimes a real adventure. Read the story written by Henk van Aggelen when he purchased his Blackbird.
The linked brakes are for some Blackbird riders a problem and especially for those who like to ride on racetracks. Dave Hodgekisson send me a summary of a discussion  from the CBR-mailing list about linked brakes. Included are two photos of Dave in action on Snetterton. In one photo  he is passing a R1 at the inside :-)))
Mike Dolling does not like the DCBS or LBS and  he send a tip about delinking the brakes.
Some Blackbird owners like to ride on a racetrack and Dave Hodgekisson is one of them. Those who are subscribed to the CBR-mailinglist will recognise his trackdays story, but this time a photo of Dave, in action on his Blackbird, is included.
"Fast Bikes" an English motorcycle magazine had a test of the '99 Blackbird in their March issue. I made a scan of the whole article. Fortunately the OCR software provided with my HP scanner works fine so I did not have to type over the whole article. I do not know if I will get any problems about the copyrights but I think the test is good information for you. Donald Buell send me two JPEG's of scans from an test in "Rider".

I hope you will enjoy reading this issue,

Arnold

Some tips

Do you want to know the speed in every gear in miles or kilometer?   Now it is possible to calculate it very easy with GearCalc.

There is a program called GearCalc.  It graphs RPM vs. MPH (or Km/H) for all gears on a bike.  The program is free.  It can also be downloaded at http://www.ironjungle.com
The information and printout the program provide is really very interesting for any biker.

Ever wonder... The bike's RPM at 60MPH/KmH? The bike's engine RPM when cruising down the highway? How will adding a tooth to the rear sprocket effect the top end? What gear ratios are right for the new track? The bike's top end at redline? Is putting on a taller tire a good idea? Wonder no more!
Welcome to GearCalc!

GearCalc has a standard Windows point and click interface that allows you view graphically RPM vs. MPH/KmH for your specific motorcycle gear ratio set up.

Requires Windows 3.x, Windows 95, or Windows NT

Gary S Mckaig send me a message for all Blackbird owners:

I have a new never installed beautiful Muzzy titanium 4-1 system for the XX that I never had a chance to put on before my bike disappeared. Complete kit with stage 1 jetting and header gaskets cost me $800(USA), sell for $600. At 6.5 lbs, chops around 33 lbs off stock and soups up torque and horsies, according to Muzzy specs, a conservative 10 to 15%. A buddy of mine did his XX with the same system and he's thrilled with the sight, sound and conversion from a GT to a true hi-performance toy!
If you are interested you can send Gary an email.

Just a little suspension mod tip: As we all know the rear shock can be rebuilt (race tech, etc.) but that still leaves us with only rebound and near impossible pre-load adjustibility. Solution short of buying expensive after market shocks (ie. Ohlins $1000), is to find a used CBR 900 shock for a few bills or less, replace the 13kg/mm spring with a 15 to 17 kg rate (depending on your own weight/driving style etc.), and VOILA! It fits in beautifully like a match. Now you'll have complete instant adjustibility: pre-load, compression, and rebound. Gone is that annoying over damped high speed compression. Even the stock valving seems to work great. Enjoy!
Gary McKaig
PS. Circuit One Suspension out of Oregon City, Oregon, took great care of me! Cheap too.

Extreme machines

The Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird on TLC's "Extreme Machines." Or... How Gawain Reifsnyder got his Blackbird on TV.
Gawain wrote an article about his experiences that day. Visit Gawains website (http://www.guitar.net/cbr/exmachines/article.html)   for the very well written article and have a look at the photo's of the making of the Blackbird episode of "Extreme Machines". I hope that it is possible to see this episode on tv in Holland (Europe) too.

Buying a Blackbird

If you want to buy a motorcycle you will go to a dealer. Sometimes you want to trade a bike in and if you get a fair price you can ride in a few days on your new bike. but sometimes it is not so easy at all. Read the story written by Henk van Aggelen.

To deal or not to deal... Further to Peter Fitzgerald's Blackbird Vibration problem, which was really a dealers' problem, read my troubles while collecting the Bird after the sale was made.

When collecting the motorcycle 030199 from the Abu Dhabi showroom:

The registration plate was not fitted correctly (out of centre and tilted). Holes where made in the mudguard using a screwdriver, which at a particular point was even stuck in the mudguard. However I excepted it because I wanted the motorcycle as soon as possible. Then the motorcycle did not start. The salesperson kept on starting (shifting the choke lever back and forward: as if that would help?) until the battery went dead. After that the salesperson found out that the fueltank was empty. He brought a huge jerrycan, which he could barely lift, with petrol. There was no funnel at hand at this moment. A helper cut the bottom of a plastic water bottle and was going to use it before drying it properly. I stopped him and told him to dry the bottle before using it as funnel. So he did. The salesperson and the helper made an effort to fill the fuel tank but spilled a lot of fuel. Fuel was all over the place, on the motorcycle, on the showroom floor, it was a big mess. In the end the motorcycle was started with jump starters.

After collecting the motorcycle 060199:

One of the drivers at my work collected the invoice for me, as was discussed earlier with the salesperson. What was not discussed was the fact that the driver would have to sign on it. To my surprise the driver came back with also a ‘Vehicle Delivery Check List’ attached to the invoice. I noticed that on the list all the actions to be taken were ticked on the positive side. However, in my presence (I am repeating some checkpoints from the list here):

1. Check exterior-note defects: - Paint work - Registration plate/fitted correct - Tyre pressures correct - Owner's manual - Tool Kit. Nothing was checked on delivery! (Also in the dealer's 'Motorcycle Warranty' booklet the Pre-Delivery Inspection is not filled out). 6. Service requirements and warranty / benefits explained? Never happened! 7 Workshop staff introduced? Never happened! But understandable since the workshop is not near the showroom. 8. Operations of all controls and features explained? Never happened! But I really wanted to leave quickly and besides I know probably more about motorbikes than the salesperson anyway. 9. Customer signed invoice after signed by sales executive. Never happened! The driver signed, two days after the sale.

The driver signed not knowing all of the above. I would have never signed anything drawn up like that.

During a (appreciated) call from the dealers' customer service I was suggested to call the Motorcycle Manager in Dubai (Head Office). I did so the same day on 060199.

First of all I told him that I am very happy and very impressed with the motorcycle itself. However I was not impressed with the proceedings during the handover of the motorbike after the sale. The salesperson could as gladly be selling horseshoes, he just doesn't know sh... about the product he's about to deliver and he'll die before he gives a sh... either :-( If this guy has ever riden a bike is must have been in a bad dream.

(Just have look at the attached picture and dare tell me that the expression on the sales persons' face is not something like: Aha, so this is a motorcycle. Wow, look at all those buttons. Or even whorse: Yes Sir, it is black! Even the tyres... of which, how odd, you have only two?)

We discussed some more, which is not really suitable for release here. Wisely he agreed with me on all points. I had lost confidence in the Abu Dhabi staff totally and therefor I took up his offer of having the bike serviced in Dubai (160 clicks away from Abu Dhabi, but what can I do).Since the manager motorcylces is a biker himself (rides a Firestorm) I feel I can follow his advice / instructions with a mind at ease (?)

Am I kidding myself...? If anything weird happens with this first service (or later) I'll be back with a continuing story, if not... I am a happy man.

Henk van Aggelen

Linked Brakes

Altough the majority of Blackbird owners do not have any complaints on the LBS or DCBS ( Europe name) some XX-riders do. For daily use under all kinds of road and weather conditions they work fine. For myself speaking I like the DCBS. I have bought my first Honda in '93. The CBR 1000F was equipped with the DCBS for the first year. In the beginning I had to get used to it.
Some XX-riders like to ride on racetracks and they do not like the feel of the brakes on as track. In the CBR-mailinglist there was a thread about the LBS. Dave Hodgekisson send me a summary of that discussion. He explained it very clear what he feel about the brakes during a trackday at Snetterton. For the CBR-mailing listers who have read the thread: new for you are two fantastic photo's of Dave in action at Snetterton.

Subject: Re: [cbr] XX Linked Brakes & Snetterton Track Day
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 22:27:56 +0100
From: Dave Hodgkisson <dave.hodgkisson@virgin.net>
Reply-To: cbr@katana.com
Organization: Design Quest
To: cbr@katana.com
References: 1

Stevely Mike wrote:
>
> Richard Roberts said:
> >I've been thinking about picking up an XX for sometime, but the
> >negative press re: the linked brakes has put me off somewhat. I would
> >like to get some feed back from owners about the linked brakes, and
> >also if anyone has replaced them with conventional stuff off something
> >else.
>
> Don't believe everything your read in a magazine.

But they can't all be wrong!

> Linked brakes just
> plain work. There are a number of us XXer's who have put lotsa miles on
> and like the linked brakes. Heck, even Doubting Dave Hodgkisson (who had
> some protracted problems with his LBS) is now singing their praises.

I'm afraid the protracted problems have just got worst, Oh dear, .......  And I was so hopefull :-(

For road use, yep, they work great. But now my XX has had it's track debut, I have grave reservations about the use of DCBS on mega performance bikes.

I found that the using the rear pedal AT ALL was a real no no. Clearly you do not use the rear on it's own for track use, but in some combination with the front lever. Whenever I touched the rear pedal there would be a load chattering from the rear as the rear loads and unloads, and it would slide if used when leaned over. I had the same problem with my ZZR600 - simply cured by not using the rear brake at all. Whilst at Snetterton, I met Keith, (Hi Keith) a fellow Lister (but lurker) riding his XX there. If I remember right, Keith also came to the conclusion that you do not use the rear pedal. I spoke to another XX rider there, he also had the clattering problem using the rear pedal, but thought the linked brakes were OK when the front lever was used on it's own.

Oh, another problem with the brakes - they boil too easily. On track the front lever was firm, but once at a standstill the heat would soak into the fluid. Before the next session, the lever could be pulled straight back to the bars without resistance. Pumping twice would make them firm again. The reservoir fluid level has dropped. The cure for this is at least simple - higher grade brake fluid.

Also, when braking for Sears Corner, the front wheel persistantly locked-up, resulting in several off-track excursions. At least it gave the marshals something to do with their yellow flags!!! Not the best way of improving lap times, or gaining confidence in your motorcycle.

The most alarming problem was when braking from 160mph, the whole of the front end vibrates violently until we drop to below about 100, where it smoothes out. Quite, quite disturbing. This also extends the braking distance some 50%. . Keith reckons he was breaking at the end of Revett Straight just before the 200 marker, whilst I was having to break well before the 300. So much for Honda'a legendary consistant build quality.

So, once again, my XX is booked into Pidcock's workshop. This time they are going to change the delay valve and the proportional control valve (PCV), and upgrade the brake fluid. We independantly came to the conclusion that the high speed vibration at the front is caused by hydraulic resonance. What's that you ask? Well.....

When the front lever is pulled it operates the outer pistons at the front. The left caliper reacts against the secondary master cylinder, which pressurises the rear hydraulic circuit. The PCV splits some of this pressure to the inner front pistons via the delay valve and a pressure limiter. This increases the reaction at the left caliper, which increases the pressure in the rear circuit, which.... Well, you get the picture. Forced feedback, or self servo action. If it aint just right.....

This warranty work, together with the 12k service, will be just in time for my next track day at Donnington Park. Here's hoping again.....

Ben T, you may be interested to know that my front rotors are a definite shade of blue. The rotor material now has a mottled appearance with finger-nail sized grains of blue surrounded by a matrix of grey. This must have improved the friction coefficient. On the ride home, I noticed that the front brake lever needed very little pressure to generate quite a strong deceleration, even 2-up.

Summary: The DCBS works great in normal road use, albeit with little feel. But the system is totally out classed by conventional independant brakes for track use. This is a great shame. For me this squarely relegates the XX to the status of a great tourer. If a motorcycle can not aquit itself on the track it can not be considered to have any sporting pretentions.

I have read today in MCN that Honda are planning to fit linked brakes to the Fireblade. Oh Hell. The RR gets enough critism for not being at the sharp end of sports bikes any more, LBS will seal it's fate for good. Did you know that to bleed the LBS on the VFR800 you have to remove rear caliper? Madness, shear madness......

So, a real plea. Has *anyone* fitted an independant brake system to the XX yet? I really do need to know.

To end on a brighter note: Bearing in mind my XX has Microns and has been rejetted, I had no problem catching up the R1's on the Revett straight! Awesome acceleration. But once into the braking zone the little buggers would just piss off. A real Bummer.

My most memorable moment at Snetterton was when chasing some R1's. I over-cooked my drive out of Sears - resulting in a massive power slide. One of those 'slo-mo' moments. I remember thinking as I ssloowlly rolled back the throttle: 'please, please, please do not grip'. I really thought a high side was going to result. Very, very thankfully, I somehow kept control. My thoughts were with Chilly this weekend when he did the same thing in the Parabolica at Monza. Phew!!

Delinking the brakes

Until a week ago I did not know any XX-rider who really had done the job of delinking the brakes. A week ago I received from Mike Dolling, new on the list for a few weeks, a message that he found a way to delink the brakes of his Blackbird.

To anyone interested in junking the linked brakes.
Together with the people at Cannes Moto Services [00334 9346 2676], I have come up with a system of Goodridge steel braided pipes to replace all the linked system. Basically it's a double banjo bolt on the front master cylinder and two hoses, one to each caliper and a double banjo bolt on each front caliper with a short link pipe. On the back I used a double bolt and two pipes to the rear caliper. Get a garage to bleed the system for you with the correct machine, it's nearly immpossible at home and with this bike you dont take chances! Result? Very powerful normal brakes. Watch the back at first, it's stupid. Benifits? You lose nearly four kilos of brake valves and pipe, stoppies and doughnuts are easy! I junked the center stand too, it's getting near to a sporty weight now. The price for the kit from Cannes Moto Sevices is FF 1800.00, about £180

You can send an email to Mike Dolling if you need more info.

Mallory Park Trackday

Altough Dave Hodgekisson has some mixed feelings about the LBS/DCBS he likes to ride on a racetrack on his Blackbird. Read his very well written Mallory Park Trackday story.

Mallory Park Trackday on a CBR1100 Blackbird Putting aside the inevitable comments about the damn silly brakes on the Blackbird, today's KRC trackday at Mallory park has been rather brilliant. OK, the weather could have been better: generally warm overcast with late morning showers. Regular listers will know that the KRC assign me to the advanced group, were I tend to circulate slower than most. Fellow lister Ian Macleod was also in attendance on his ZX-6R in the intermediate group.

For the benefit of those who don't know Mallory, it is a short track around 1.5(?) miles long. It's great feature is Gerrards, a 200 degree rh curve of almost constant ¼ mile radius: plenty of time to settle the bike before pushing to find the envelope. I've been here before on the ZZR1100, but never really got that curve quite right. Previously, once into the curve, I had tried to maintain a constant offset from the inside track marking line. This time I was directly behind one of the instructors, John Stevens, on the sighting session. But JS entered wide on the left, would come to an apex clipping point at 1/3, drift out to 2/3 at 2/3 before clipping a late inside apex. This felt strange, but following with minimal pressure on the bars, the XX just carved a nice even line. Much better.

What's a lap of Mallory like on an XX? Well, coming under the bridge on the start finish straight at 140+ in 5th brake early, but as hard as we dare, taking care not to lockup the rear: as I said, damn silly CBS. Enter Gerrards in 5th and settle the bike for the long curve at about 90-95 mph. With the limited ground clearance of the XX this means hanging off *a lot*. So much so, that at times it felt like elbow sliders would be useful. I tried changing down to 4th through here but this meant hitting the rev limiter midway down the next straight. Still in 5th at 6k, relying on the grunt to give a good drive out onto the straight, pass the 2nd apex, roll onto full throttle feeling the huge urge of the engine pushing up past 110 at the cresting exit and lunge down the straight topping out at 140+ before braking for the Esses. This is a right hander entered fast and wide, clipping the apex at 90 in 4th, ready for a flick over for the left, where compression allows it to be taken flat out. The rh has a slight bump just before the apex which inevitable grinds the rh peg. A little unnerving the first time!

After the lh, charge down a short straight where there's the best chance to out-brake the early breakers: a touch tricky on the XX with the limiting retardation of the linked brakes. The front forks tend to bottom out here. Next is the very tight rh hairpin, best taken in 2nd for the short squirt up to the left-right-left 'Bus Stop'. Short shift into 3rd on the exit and carefully open the throttle as we drop down, off-camber into the lh Devils Elbow. Trying to shift up mid-corner whilst leant hard over is difficult: ones toe get caught. Increase to full throttle, taking care not to slide the rear too much, not as some poor guy did over cooking it into a high-side. As the compression returns, shift into 4th at the redline, then into 5th as we re-enter the start finish straight. Phew, great fun. A lap is around 1 minute or less.

The highlight for me was the last session, where I could hear a well prepared RGV250 howling angrily behind me. Once he managed to get along side me on the exit of Gerrards, but the superior surge of the XX would leave him for dead. But come the Hairpin, he would close right up, snapping angrily as he tried to jockey for entry to the Bus Stop. Once out of Devils Elbow the XX would distance itself again, but come the breaking zone for Gerrards, he would be there again, trying the longer way round the curve. It was only on the last lap that he squeezed past into the hairpin under late braking amongst traffic. A really great session. Wow, an XX holding back an RGV on Gerrards......

I spoke to the guy afterwards. The XX is a wide bike to get past. The snaking rear end of the XX, as it fought desperately for grip under hard braking, was quite off-putting apparently! He commented that he wished he had bought welding goggles with him.... Huh ?... Throughout Gerrards sparks were flying from the XX, although I could feel nothing from the rh peg. Later inspection revealed the full length of the exhaust collector box now has a rather worrying chamfer down it, along with marks on the bottom of the lower fairing. Opps...... Titanium skid needed here. He also noted that the Microns were skimming the ground but with their improved clearance over the stock silencers, they are unmarked.

A damn good day out, CBS notwithstanding. Even though, as many have commented, the XX is not really suited to such an environment. No such excuse for those of you with F's and RR's. And not too many offs. The worst being the highside at Devils Elbow. Next up for me is Silverstone on the 3rd September. Now there's a track that the Blackbird should really shine on. Assuming I still have it.

So, to any of you listers who have not yet tasted the immense thrill of a trackday, I hope this will encourage you all to try one. Highly recommended.

Fast Bikes Blackbird test

This is the text of the Blackbird test written by Rob Frost, editor of Fast Bikes magazine and published in issue 96 march 1999. I hope i will not get any problems about the copyrights of this article, but I think it is useful information for all Blackbird owners. I do not think Fast Bikes can be bought all over the world, so those who can not buy it can read it too.

Wo-ah! Perfectly metered fuel injection stylee throttle response, dude! The new Super Blackie pulls such slick fourth gear mingers that Shakey and I just couldn't help our- selves from indulging in a little who-could-wheelie-the-length-of-the-Mont-Blanc-Tunnel'compecition. I wasn't sure at the time hut having seen the replay in the Police interview room I think Shakey got the verdict on aggregate. "Er.. how do you say 'Sorry' in Italian, Shakey?"

"I dunno.'Gratsi', innit?"

And so it was that we both sat there, thanking the two officials of the law, for pointing outhow dangerous our wheelies through the tunnel had been and grateful that new-bile female recruit at FB, Heloise, was there to charm the truncheons off the neopolitan nippleheads. Well I ask ya. What else are you supposed to do with a Super Blackie through 12 kilometers of fully enclosed tarmac that has the only dry asphalt you've seen in four hours, not to mention the only 12 kilometres of the journey where the air temperature's been above freezing? After the wheelies, with the diesel fumes and extra lead of the lorries, I could have gone to sleep there and then. Once out of the warmth of the tunnel the steady deep freezing process started once again; it's always the little finger on my right hand that goes numb first (not surprising I'spose when you realise it's amassed a total of sixteen fractures with- in its two inches over the years). My left thumb is always next (a bust scaphoid fucked up the circulation a couple of years ago); followed by my left foot (twelve fractures in one hit has left me with no feeling in most of my toes, anyway, but when the foot gets cold it gets seriously painful). After a couple more hours both hands and feet had gone completely numb as had my face. Boy, we were really havin' fun now. But I guess that's the penalty for combining work with pleasure. A lot of pain for a little pleasure, as it happens. Maybe I didn't want to go snowboarding that badly. I was deeply regretting giving Shakey those handlebar muffs. It had been thirteen hours since we'd shared half a cheese sandwich each and my body was running on empty. I started going down the I’ll-just-rest-my-eye-lids-for-one-second routine, and before long I was heading straight for the central reservation fast asleep. Now might be a good time to stop for something to eat.

Refreshed and rejuvenated, I decided to see just what I could get out of the Honda - not the best idea I'd ever had given the minus three air temperature, wet, not to say icy road, and thick freezing fog. But I had a go, nonetheless. Once the rear wheel had stopped spinning the Blackie surged forward reaching 150mph far too quiekly, but then seemed to struggle for the next 20mph or so before I realised that the handlebar muff that I'd just nicked off Shakey was being blown against the front brake lever and holding the brakes on all the time (1 wondered what that strange smell coming from the front end was). As soon as I released the lever the thing surged forward again with unbelievabie velocity. Almost immediately I had to brake for a fast approaching corner so I tried again but this time holding the hand muff away from the brake lever. (Apparently the old model used to get this problem whether it was fitted with handlebar muffs or not 'cause the wind pressure on the old brake lever at near on 200mph was enough to engage the brake light at least, so the new bike features a more aero-dynamic lever - wonders will never cease, eh?). Straight round to 180mph with the sort of power delivery only the R1 could match before I once had to brake for the faint outline of traffic fast approaching through the fog. lt is atmost impossible to communicate just how awesome the new Blackie's engine is. lt'll pull from 2,000 rpm in top right round to at least an indicated 200mph; it'll out accelerate anything, and it's pretty darn comfortable too - comfortable enough to fall asleep on as it happens.

Apart from the fuel injection system it's hard to find anything that's different to the carburated bike, but apparently there's a few new goodies hidden beneath the bodywork; a new Direct Air Intake System; a Detonation Sensor; an Automatic Bypass starter; a re-designed stainless exhaust system; air Injection, and a few other little gems here and there to try and improve on what was already a pretty amazing motorcycle and keep it just ahead of the new competition from Suzuki this year in the shape of the Hayabusa. Firstly, then, let's look at the all new PGM-Fl Programmed Fuel Injection system. Nicked from the RC45 Superbike racer, the system integrates its ECU with the digital electronic ignition in one black box and ensures ultra-precise fuel metering in all conditions, even at 3000ft in minus nine ambient temperature. The Fl system improves fuel consumption by 8% as well as reducing emissions. As fuel is fed to the four 42rnrn throttle bodies it is pre-heated for optimum atomisation and even the injector bodies' plastic velocity stacks have been narrowed at their base to maximise the effect of their respective venturis and accelerate the air flow into the cylinders. Air flow to the airbox is managed by the new Direct Air Intake System. The air scoops in the upper fairing may look the same as last year's model but those were only there to direct cold air to the oil cooler. The new system, on the other hand, feeds large volumes of high-pressure air directly into the air box at constant high speed. The ideal shape of the air ducts would be dead straight but at low speeds a sudden opening of the throttie would suck all the air from the system before it had a chance to replenish stocks, so for this reason large air cavities were designed within the system to ensure a steady supply of air at any speed. The only visible difference from last year is the rernoval of the rnesh screens just inside the ports which at high speed deflect as much air as they let past. These have been replaced with a set of vertical louvres positioned deeper in the ducts to keep debris out while allowing a steady build up of air pressure inside the duct.

The new Detonation Sensor automatically and precisely adjusts the spark advance to maintain it at the optimal setting whatever the engine speed. Detonation occurs when the ignition timing becomes too far advanced so generally the spark advance is set below the lowest level in the entire rev range to be sure of eliminating detonation. Wich the sensor transmitting information to the ECU the new Blackie can run far more advanced timing to greatly improve engine performance, response and driveability without the risk of promoting detonation. Air Injection is also used on the CBRXX for the first time. This relatively simple system directs a jet of fresh air from a small airbox above the cylinder head down each cilinders exhaust port. This shot of extra oxygen into the hot, pressurised gasses rushing out of the combustion chamber prolongs the burning of any residual fuel and pollutants for a more complete and efficient combustion which helps keep emissions within the current EURO-1 regulation. Another great little gizzmo on the new Blackie is the Automatie Bypass Starter. Although the new fuel injection system can deal with most conditions, when the coolant temperature drops below 40 degrees liquid viscosity becomes too thick, internal mechanical friction increases, and fuel tends to condense along the inside walls of the throttle bodies. These factors combine to necessitate an extra shot of air to ensure quick and simple start-ups and minimum warm-up. The system features a smallpiston which opens and closes an internal air passage, an actuator automatically adjusts the position in response to engine temperature. And last, but not least, the exhaust system is now in stainless steel and features a new 4-2- 1-2 design to boost rnid-range power. lt's also 640 grams lighter than the previous set-up.

But of course, the engine is and always has been only half the story. Almost as remarkable as how Honda have built such a fantastic power plant is how they have housed it in a big touring stylee package that handles like a CBR600. The first time I ever rode a Black Bird was at Le Luc and I thought I'd hate it. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In actual fact, I loved it, and no-one could get me off the thing for the rest of the day. Contrary to speculation, the linked brakes work beautifully and really help to turn the bike in, the front end gives loads of feedback and loads of grip and mid corner it is quintessentially Honda - perfect balance and total neutrality. But it's corner exit that is my personal favourite on the Bird. Give it stacks and get it wallowing and sliding and bucking all over the place and the softly sprung, forgiving suspension just lets you get on with it - and stay on it. It's as much fun as you can possibly have on a motorcycle. One day I shall own a Black Bird and I shall refuse to ever go on a cross-continental trip without it.

Rider Magazine Blackbird test

Donald Buell send me a scan of a Blackbird test in the motorcycle magazine Rider. I am sorry but it was not possible for me to make this test look like the Fast Bikes test. I hope you can read the text in this JPEG-file.

Idea and lay-out: Arnold de Graaf
Contributions: Henk van Aggelen, Gary S. Mckaig, Pat Hensley (tip GearCalc), Mike Dolling, Dave Hodgekisson, Donald Buell.

© Copyright Blackbird Newsletter: Arnold de Graaf 1999