I can't claim to have had experience of the granddaddy CBs, (my only other Honda was a VF500 - much loved but a different generation) other than I had a poster of one on my wall at university (right next to the one with the tennis blonde tucking a spare ball into her undies)
The post however struck a chord.
When I was a lad, I'd go fishing with my dear departed father on a lake.
We used a boat with a British Seagull outboard.
These motors were two stroke; you had to mix the oil and petrol yourself; to start it, you primed the engine by pressing a plunger under the carb until fuel ran over your fingers; if cold (and it was always cold) you needed to use the choke which was a metal slider that obstructed the air intake; you started it (usually) by wrapping a rope around the flywheel, and pulled like heck. No battery, no clutch, no gears.
Since then I have used silky smooth Honda four stroke outboards, which started first time, every time, on the push of a button.
For day to day use, there would be no argument, I'd always go for the modern outboard; but by God, I hanker for a go with that old outboard sometimes for the memories that the smells, oily fingers, grazed knuckles, and cussing would bring, and if I had a youngster, I would go out of my way to source one* to instill a real understanding of what happens in an internal combustion engine.
I suspect that those lucky enought to experience the ancestor and modern Hondas might echo these sentiments.
* EU regs have now outlawed the manufacture of new two stroke outboards, but, the company is still going, manufacturing and supplying spares for their motors - their line is that as long as you can keep your motor alive, you are allowed to keep using it - a classic example of the old adage that your yard brush may have had ten new handles and a dozen new heads, but it's still as good as new!
