A Quartet Of Low-Mile 1980s Hondas Are Up For Auction Right Now

Do you have a thing for classic Hondas? If you do, you’re definitely going to want to see four gorgeous examples that government auction website GovDeals has listed in June, 2021. They’re being offered by the College of Western Idaho, and the story behind them is pretty great. 

Back in the early ‘80s, American Honda provided some of its bikes to colleges and technical schools, to train future riders and motorcycle mechanics alike. As anyone who’s ever worked for a college or university can tell you, many tend to hang on to their equipment for an extremely long time. Often, they’ll squirrel it away in some dark room, only to be rediscovered decades later. These aren’t barn finds; they’re even better. I mean, where else are you going to find two separate three-mile 1981 Honda CBXs, as well as two 1983 CX650Ts with 9 and 13 miles on their clocks, respectively? 

Did we mention that they’ve been stored indoors, and maybe even in a reasonably climate-controlled setting this whole time? Now, it’s definitely important to note that none of these bikes has been run in 40-plus years, as far as the school knows. Plus, there’s some minor cosmetic damage to consider. One of the CBXs had a brake fluid leak from the front master cylinder which damaged some inner fairing plastic. As well, one of the CX650Ts is missing its starter button and has a broken brake lever. There are some other minor nicks and blemishes as well. Still, it’s four early ‘80s Hondas with under 20 miles apiece on their clocks, stored indoors for the past 40 years.  

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One CBX also comes with both the factory service and owner’s manuals, which as a total documentation nerd, I very much appreciate. Even cooler, though, is the fact that both of the CX650Ts come with their own Honda turbo diagnostic tool kit. Each of those kits comes complete in its own tidy little red, blown-plastic case. I’m willing to bet that both of them smell just like a toolbox from the early ‘80s that’s rarely been opened, too, and please rest assured that I mean that in the best way possible.  

Anyway, the College is willing to work with bike transport companies, and all four of these bikes come with clean titles if you’re a winning bidder. All four of these auctions are scheduled to end on June 29, 2021, although GovDeals has some auto-extension rules in place. According to their current policy, if someone bids on one of these in the final 3 minutes before the scheduled auction conclusion time, that auction will automatically extend by 3 more minutes until there are no bids in the final 3 minutes.  

These vintage Hondas aren’t the only bikes available on GovDeals right now, but they may just be the most interesting. There’s also a 1965 Harley-Davidson Hardtail 900 listed as of June 18, 2021, as well as a number of ex-police Harleys, a handful of 2016 Victory Cross Countries, and two mystery motorcycle frames on a pallet in Sacramento, California for a starting bid of $5.