Back in the early 1980s Japan seemed to regularly tease American enthusiasts by making really cool motorcycles that we couldn’t buy. This 1982 Honda CBX550FII was one such example. Honda made no bones about it, this baby CBX was built from the ground up to be a sports bike. The CBX550 was a beautiful-looking machine, from its enclosed disc brakes, to the sweeping cross-over pipes à la the CB400F, high mounted and rear set footpegs to ensure ground clearance, to its beautiful sport-touring fairing enclosing an oversized headlight. This bike was made to cover ground, quickly, safely and comfortably. While our Canadian brethren were able to enjoy this nifty Honda, albeit not in large numbers, we here in the States had to satisfy our cravings of a middleweight sport bike by way of Kawasaki’s excellent GPz550.

Back in the early 1980s Japan seemed to regularly tease American enthusiasts by making really cool motorcycles that we couldn’t buy. This 1982 Honda CBX550FII was one such example. (Henny Ray Abrams photo)