Like I said, that’s the Reader’s Digest version. That’s what the CG engine was all about…it was designed to be an engine that could survive with little maintenance. The CG engine development happened back in the 1970s, when Honda set about designing an engine that could, like the old Timex ad used to say, take a licking and keep on ticking. Honda recognized this well before the Internet came along. If you’re the manufacturer, you can’t afford to have people bitching for any reason, and Honda realized this. When folks bitch, it doesn’t have to be rational, and the most of the time the bitcher doesn’t care if the bitchee is at fault. You might be thinking hey, how can you blame Honda if the people buying their bikes weren’t maintaining them, but if you have that thought, maybe you don’t know as much about the motorcycle business as you thought you did. Honda was getting clobbered with maintenance issues and folks badmouthing their bikes. So you might be wondering…what’s the story behind this engine and why is it so reliable? The Reader’s Digest version goes like this: Honda was building bikes in Brazil a few years ago, and those Brazilians just wouldn’t take care of their motorcycles. I’ve written about the CG engine when I used to write the CSC blog, and you might want to look at a couple of those stories, too. So I travel a lot, and after my exposure to the Mustang replicas, I started noticing bikes in China, Thailand, Singapore, the Middle East, Mexico, Colombia, and elsewhere, and the overwhelmingly dominant engine was (you guessed it) the CG clone.
I’d say they were selling like hot cakes, but hot cakes couldn’t keep up with the San Gabriel’s sales pace. Same story on the CSC San Gabriel…it was presented to CSC as a 150, we asked to get it as a 250, and, well, you know the rest.
No problem, they said, and the rest is history. I told the Zongsters it would be cool if we (i.e., CSC at that time) could get the bike as a 250. It was hard for me to pay attention in that meeting because Zongshen had a white scrambler on display outside the conference room, and my gaze kept turning to it. That bike came about as the result of my being in an RX3 meeting, in Chongqing, in one of the Zong’s many conference rooms. It is an engine that is, in a word, ubiquitous. There are companies all over Asia (and elsewhere) doing it. And it isn’t just Zongshen making these engines. Whatever, there’s a CG clone to fit your needs and wants and the budgets of your intended markets. You want 4 speeds or 5 speeds? Counterbalancer, or no counterbalance? Black? Silver? Some other color? No problem. How about a 250? Yeah, we got those, too. Then I had my first trip to Zongshen, and I saw that they were using variations of the CG clone in many different motorcycles.
I’d seen the engine everywhere I just didn’t know (at the time) what I was looking at. I didn’t know anything about it at the time, although I am a well-traveled fellow with the frequent flier miles to prove it. When I first hooked up with CSC 10 years ago, the CSC Mustang replicas used a CG clone motor. Cash, I’ve been everywhere, man, and I’ve seen these engines there. I first heard the term used by a Harley dealer when he was describing that little thumper, and did he ever get it right. The dictionary tells us it means existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time, and folks, that pretty much summarizes the Honda CG clone engine.
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