Honda's custom dream

The SuperDream was one of Honda’s all time biggest sellers, so was the CM250 a classy custom addition to the clan, or a parts-bin special designed to mop up sales from the factory custom craze?

In 1979 the Honda SuperDream CB250N was the biggest selling bike in Britain. That year 17,215 punters parted with their hard-earned sponduliks to own an example of Honda’s ‘euro-styled’ four-stroke twin. It was a sales phenomenon which both baffled and bemused everyone from Honda’s sales department to the hapless opposition, left haggling at the roadside to shift the occasional XS or Z250 which, on paper at least, were bikes of equal merit.

Both press and trade were equally mystified by the bike’s popularity. Writing in Which Bike? magazine, our own John Nutting openly wondered why the bike was selling in such huge numbers despite its lack of scintillating performance, and had to conclude that it was simply basking in reflected glory from the delicious CB900F. Over on the grubby fingernailed side of the bike trade, we wondered why punters continued to buy bikes with such an abominably designed rear sprocket mounting which would destroy the wheel hub in record time, to say nothing of the quick-rot exhaust collectors and exploding ignition system. And that pressed tin top yoke did look awfully flimsy…

But planned for or not, Honda had a sales success on their hands, and it’s a foolish manufacturer who chooses not to milk an unexpected cash cow when it wanders into the yard. For 1980 the bike lost its kick-starter and gained new colours, and for the 1981 season the super-dooper CB250NDX-B gained reversed comstar wheels and a subtly restyled tailpiece to more closely echo the CB900F. With hindsight, all these measures look like gentle tinkering with an unexpectly successful formula, an attempt to add a little extra icing to the cake without risking losing the qualities which were proving so successful in the showrooms.

Sales success

But the design was clearly capable of filling a few more gaps in the market, and the sales success of the CB250N left Honda with a little elbow room to play with some more radical styling ideas. So with the words ‘factory custom’ echoing in their ears and a box of bits from the CX500C to play with, Honda’s stylists were let loose with a Superdream, a hacksaw and some clay to see what they could come up with.

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