CB550

Honda introduced this middleweight inline-four in 1974 as the successor to the CB500 Four, expanding the original formula with a slightly larger engine and a stronger emphasis on usable midrange performance. It arrived during Honda’s highly influential air-cooled four-cylinder era and sat between the smaller CB400/4 and the larger CB750 in the company’s road-sport lineup. Over its run, the CB550 appeared in several closely related forms, including standard and sport-oriented variants, while Honda continued to refine details such as exhaust layout and styling. In Honda’s own CB history, the Japanese CB550 Four-K is identified as the final model in the domestic series in 1977, while export-market versions carried the nameplate into the 1978 model year. The CB550 is remembered as one of Honda’s most balanced classic fours: less intimidating than the 750, but more relaxed and flexible than the 500 it replaced.