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The CBX is very different ride than a 1300, both are great bikes for great era in motorcycling.

The 1300 is just so well mannered for it's size, you want to compare the two, but really they are apples and oranges. Both have their own personality.

The CBX always feels like it is trying to race itself, the 1300 is just the opposite, it never seems to have care in the world, at home cruising at 30 mph or 130mph, the speed matters not.

Mechanically they both have issues and both machines are maintenance intensive to keep running.

The carburetors on the CBX like many of Hondas machines from that time are terrible... really truly terrible. The 2 barrel odd-ball carbs on the 1300 while temperamental are far, far better.

Great to hear that Tyler! Having both would be great, but I think the 1300 will fit my riding style better. I often enjoy just cruising at 30 - 40 km/hr on winding over the hills roads in the forest, but also like to open the throttle on wider longer stretches. Ignoring the purchase price differences, I am glad to be working on and having the 1300. I will probably never own a CBX, unless someone gives it to me which has a pretty nil chance of happening. If I could afford one other bike in the future, and that's my plan, is the Vmax 1700. If I can't have another inline engine motorcycle, the 1300 will be for me the one and only and a great representation of the inline motorcycle engines.

Extract from a 1979 road test of the 1300, in New Zealand magazine Two Wheels. I thought it might be of interest.

' The engine (of the KZ1300) is considerably lower stressed than the Honda CBX's, and its midrange power is such that one seldom redlines it in normal riding. Watercooling, with its resultant quick warm-up and more constant running temperatures, should further aid longevity.
We particularly mention the engine life aspect here, as we had occasion to jump aboard our 1300 test bike again a few thousand km after our road test was finished. In the interim, the bike had been road tested by numerous other publications, and used as a practice bike for racing, yet when we rode it the second time round the bike was as mechanically quiet as it was when brand new. This contrasted starkly with a similar demo Honda CBX we rode at the same time, which was very rattley in the engine and clutch after only 4400km, although its power appeared to be undiminished.
The mechanical silence of the 1300 allows the rider to enjoy the exhaust note all the more, though the 1300's sound is not quite as electrifying as a CBX's becomes up near the redline...........'

I must say, in common with many of us on this forum, I would love to own a CBX in addition to the KZ1300. I'll never forget how excited I was to read, back in 1977, about the latest superbikes from Japan: the CBX, XS1100, and GS1000. I vowed to own one of them, and after considering at length the merits of each, I chose the Yamaha. Wonderful machine though it was, the launch of the Kawasaki 1300 in 1979 sowed the seeds of desire once again. What a golden era that was!

Yes, I remember seeing photos of these bikes in the magazines from the same years, so shiny and humongous! Suzuki was big and Honda of course. We had mopeds and at the most two stroke twin Jawa bikes at the time, so those looked like rocket ships to me. I couldn't afford a bike anyway, not to mention it was about the time when I just got my car driving license and was still a kid. But yes, the seeds were planted deep and strong.

I am so glad to hear yet another confirmation that the 1300 is just my kind of a bike. I don't take the bikes to the red line often, and these days pretty much never. Love the quieter engines so I can listen to the deeper sounds of the exhaust. It's so calming! And now looking at the guts of these bikes, I see how solid mechanically and still new after use they look.

I've been going down the memory lane a bit, to see the photos of where I started with my project for reference, and came across the forgotten bit where Tanto showed the engine paint job on his Vmax. If Tanto reads this, or anyone else who rides both 1300 and 1200 Vmax, how do you compare these two?

I owned a V-Max for about seven years, it was the full power version with the V-boost system. I absolutely loved it, in fact I still regret selling it. It was a fantastic machine with endless power, when the v-boost kicked in it took off like a rocket. The handling however was not quite so good, someone once said it handled like a shopping trolley, it wasn't quite that bad, but under hard acceleration it did like to wobble a bit. My way of thinking was it added something to it's character. Strangely, if you rode it with a passenger it handled a lot better. I don't think you can compare it to the KZ1300, they're two totally different bikes, the power delivery of the 1300 is silky smoothe compared to the brutal delivery of the Max. 100mph comes in the blinking of your eye. The 1300 is much more sedate for cruising around.