10 Best Honda Motorcycles Ever Made

Younger than most motorcycle manufacturers but just as influential

By comparison with the American and European motorcycle industry, the Japanese industry is young, even if the companies that build them might be much older - Kawasaki was founded in 1878 in the field of shipping, Yamaha in 1887 manufacturing reed organs and Suzuki in 1909 manufacturing weaving looms, for example.

Of the four major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, Honda is the youngest, the company being formed in 1937 as a light engineering concern and has arguably been the most successful in personal transport terms, motorcycle manufacture leading to automobile manufacture and a worldwide reputation for engineering excellence. There have been hundreds of Honda motorcycle models, but this is our pick of the top ten from Honda's illustrious history.

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Introduced in 1955, the Super Cub has sold over 100 million units worldwide and the marketing campaign in the U.S. - You Meet The Nicest People On a Honda - was responsible for not only changing people's perception of motorcycles but paved the way for Japanese domination of motorcycling into the 1970s and beyond.

The motorcycle was not Honda's first, but it was revolutionary. It needed to be technologically simple to survive in places without up-to-date know-how and access to advanced tools or reliable spare parts supplies. The Super Cub had large motorcycle-type wheels making it safe to ride on bad roads and a clutchless manual gearbox, easy for anyone to ride. The plastic enclosure of the mechanical bits, including the drive chain, and the leg shields kept the rider clean. Cheap to produce and therefore, buy, easy to ride and maintain, the fact that so many have been built and are still being built in largely unchanged form proves that Honda got it right first time and deserved the success.

For the first time, a Honda had a steel tubular frame in place of the pressed steel chassis used on the Super Cub, along with telescopic front forks. The engine was a parallel twin but, unlike similar British designs, it had a 180° crankshaft, not the 360° crank on Triumphs, BSAs and Nortons. This made it smoother running but, more importantly, the Super Hawk was fast, beating larger-engined British bikes while also being much more reliable and oil-tight. The engine was a load-bearing element of the chassis and even had an electric starter. The writing was on the wall in terms of motorcycle design but the British and Americans were too short-sighted to realize the full implication of models such as the CB77, to their own detriment.

The motorcycle for which the term ‘superbike’ was coined. By the late 60s, the British had become lazy and complacent, thinking nothing could challenge their dominance in the motorcycle markets of the world. In fact, many British manufacturers thought that the Japanese invasion was a good thing, as they produced small-displacement motorcycles that riders would start on, before moving to larger-displacement home products.

In 1969, however, Honda staggered the world with the four-cylinder CB750. Here was a motorcycle that had a smooth, non-vibrating engine that was reliable, didn't leak oil and had electric start! The CB750 was even fitted with a front disc brake! Commonplace now but space-aged thinking back then, and it made every other motorcycle on the planet look old-fashioned. The CB750 set the template for motorcycles for the next 50+ years.

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In the early 70s, Honda wanted to build the ultimate sports motorcycle and introduced the GL1000 Gold Wing, featuring the first Japanese water-cooled four-cylinder engine, this time of a flat four configuration. The bike was big and heavy and Honda soon realized that owners were covering huge mileages on their Gold Wings, using it as a touring bike more than a sports bike.

Honda decided to attempt to create the ultimate touring bike and, fitting the Gold Wing with a huge fairing, panniers and a top box, along with a large, comfortable seat, did just that. Over the years, the Gold Wing got larger, heavier, more complex and ever more comfortable. Eventually, the engine became a flat-six cylinder and increased to 1800cc to cope with the ever-increasing weight. In 2018, Honda revealed a completely new Gold Wing, with new engine, frame, electronics and a whole new dynamic feel.

If the rules had outlawed six-cylinder engines for racing - Honda's twin-cylinder 50cc and six-cylinder 250cc engines had hastened this move - that certainly didn't apply to road bikes. In 1978, Honda revealed the CBX1000, with a DOHC, 24-valve cylinder head engine mounted in a conventional frame with telescopic forks and twin-shock rear.

Although the transversely-mounted engine looks hugely wide, it is actually only two inches wider than the four-cylinder engine in the CB750. Comparing the CBX to the CB900F, renowned journalist LJK Setright said, "The CBX feels better and goes better, and the difference is greater than the difference in price, so the costlier bike is actually the better bargain. ... The CBX engine is as responsive as a racer, the nicest cycle motor to ever reach the street."

Absent from motorcycle Grand Prix racing for the whole of the 70s, Honda arguing that the then-dominant two-stroke engine technology wasn't in line with its road-going motorcycles which exclusively used four-stroke technology, Honda determined to return to racing on its own terms. At that time, regulations restricted 500cc Grand Prix engines to a maximum of four combustion chambers. Honda's philosophy had always been more power through more cylinders, so the engineers came up with a way of making a V8 with only four combustion chambers. They did this by making an engine with four large oval pistons. Within the letter of the law, there were still only four combustion chambers. Each piston had four connecting rods and there was a total of 32 valves - for 500cc displacement! Utterly unsuccessful, Honda finally relented and turned to two-stroke technology and the rest is history.

The VF750 was dogged by unreliability, so Honda's logical solution was to completely over-engineer its replacement, the VFR750, to ensure that unreliability never reared its ugly head again. Even back in 1986, the VFR wasn't an out-and-out sports bike, but it was good enough to mix it with purer sports bike designs while still remaining comfortable enough - for rider and pillion - to be used as a touring bike.

The V4 engine had easy, torque-laden power and was full of character, while the over-engineering meant that it was supremely reliable. With the advent of bikes such as Honda's own Fireblade moving the sports bike goal posts on significantly, the VFR750 became known as a brilliant all-round motorcycle, the perfect example of Honda engineering skill.

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By the 90s, 1000cc+ sports bikes were being manufactured by every Japanese manufacturer. The only problem was that they were large and heavy, which had knock-on effects to the performance and handling. Honda took a long, hard look and came up with the CBR900RR Fireblade. At a stroke, it re-wrote the sports bike rules. Even if the engine displacement was ‘only’ 893cc, it was significantly lighter than its rivals and the twin-spar aluminum frame offered new levels of stiffness, allowing the suspension to do its job much more effectively. Both these attributes enabled the Fireblade to run rings around the opposition, and it wasn't long before rivals were copying the design lead set by Honda. Once again, Honda set the template for sports bikes that exists to this day.

By the mid-1990s, Kawasaki held the title of fastest production motorcycle with the Ninja ZX11. Honda was determined to wrest the title from Kawasaki's grasp and win the publicity war. The Super Blackbird name was a reference to the Lockheed SR-71 jet, the fastest airplane in the world. When tested by Sport Rider magazine, the Super Blackbird achieved a top speed of 178.5mph, beating the Kawasaki by about 3mph.

The arrival of the Super Blackbird to challenge Kawasaki prompted Suzuki to enter the competition and produce the Hayabusa, which took the top speed title with a speed of 194mph. This boom in speed frightened the manufacturers, who feared that European legislators would outlaw such performance bikes, so they entered into a gentlemen's agreement to limit top speed to 186mph (300km/h).

The RC213V-S is essentially, a MotoGP bike with lights and is the closest thing to riding a MotoGP bike as most of us will ever get: if you ever get your hands on one, that is. Released in 2015, it is quite simply the ultimate sports bike, being fantastically light (374 pounds) and with ridiculously top-spec components. In road trim, the 90° V4 engine pushes out 159bhp, but there is an optional Sports Kit that will push the power up to 215bhp.

The Sports Kit comprised a revised ECU, a front ram duct, a revised exhaust, different spark plugs, a quickshifter, a data logger, a cooler thermostat and even a bespoke cover. It was typical Honda, showing off its design and engineering prowess to create one of the most desirable motorcycles of its time. If other sports bikes can match its power output, none can hold a candle to it in terms of exclusivity.

Harry has been writing and talking about motorcycles for 15 years, although he's been riding them for 45 years! After a long career in music, he turned his hand to writing and television work, concentrating on his passion for all things petrol-powered. Harry has written for all major publications in South Africa, both print and digital and produced and presented his own TV show called, imaginatively, The Bike Show, for seven years. He held the position of editor of South Africa's largest circulation motorcycling magazine before devoting his time to freelance writing on motoring and motorcycling. Born and raised in England, he has lived in South Africa with his family since 2002. Harry has owned examples of Triumph, Norton, BSA, MV Agusta, Honda, BMW, Ducati, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki and Moto Morini motorcycles. He regrets selling all of them.