CB - What does this mean?

[JustPassinThru_imp]

According to someone it means cross beam because the motor is between the frame. But most of people said the meaning is lost or did not exist realy.

Remember, Japan does not use the Latin alphabet as we do - their characters do not correspond. This was obviously a coding done for the Western market - who knows why it came up that way?...but any meaning must have been for convenience and then kept up for continuity.

The Honda model coding does get confusing; but in so many markets with so many different cultural meanings for words..."Nighthawk" has a strong, stealth meaning in the States; in some parts of Europe, I understand, it's a slang for a grave robber - a body snatcher.

So we get the CB series, and all the other series...it would have been great if they'd used a logical flow, but that's probably never going to happen. Honda, like many Japanese organizations, is deeply wed to tradition.