These old Honda CM’s are a decent little bike. They have that unusual half cruiser half standard design that was oh-so popular back in the early 80’s. All the Japanese companies were slowly shifting their design focus to try and be more in line with American demand. This of course means laid back cruisers, bleh. These Honda CM bikes, Yamaha’s XJ Maxims, Suzuki GS L models, and Kawasaki CSR bikes all have very similar styling. They are also all middle of the road bikes that offered no particular appeal to anyone and aren’t too stylish or well built.
That being said. This bike does ride pretty smooth, and isn’t a terrible machine for what it is. It is now residing with a middle age woman who bought it from me as her first bike. And I must say, there aren’t many first bikes that are better than this. Low seat, reasonable handling, and smooth motor make this bike a comfy and easy ride to learn on. If only the sport bike babies with track dreams were into learning safely.
It is unfortunate that this bike has no stand out characterisics. At least the CM400A had an automatic transmission to define itself.
