The successor to the short lived Dream model, it had a series of revisions including a six-speed transmission and what Honda termed as European styling [6] which resembled the CB750F and CB900F.

[8] It had a 360° crank layout similar to many traditional British parallel twins, but with two balance shafts to reduce unwanted vibrations.

It was a popular model in the United Kingdom due to the licensing laws at the time allowing learners to ride any motorbike with a capacity under 250cc.

[10] Its popularity in the United Kingdom waned along with many in the 250cc class when in 1983, the maximum size of learner machines was reduced to 125 cc (7.6 cu in).

[6] The instrumentation had different markings for the rev counter and speedometer to reflect the higher top speed and lower RPM redline.