someone explain a honda cb gearbox

[redbone]

so the local free newspaper shows up on my porch yester and as i page thru i see this ad verbatim....
1981 honda CB900, 2 spd, hi-low gear speed, bags/box, runs good, looks good $1100.

i've never owned a CB of any sort, but what is a hi/lo gear speed??

[CatatonicBug]

This link gives an answer.

Seems that the Hi/Low is actually a sub-transmission, in addition to the 5-speed regular gearbox, allowing for basically 10 individual gear speeds.

[79XS11F]

Originally posted by DGXSER ...
Rob, that CB900 is a ten speed. The story is that the CB900 originated in Japan and Europe, then Honda brought it over to the NA continent for sale to compete with the KZ1000. Well overseas it is a right hand side drive and in the USA we like left hand side, so they had to add a jackshaft to bring the chain to the left side. Honda figured if they were adding the shaft, why not make it a two speed shaft while they were at it, and so it has a hi-lo selection on the jackshaft, but only on this side of the pond. And yes, they are long heavy monster bikes. I rode one for a test ride before I bought my first XS11, the XS11 feels like a MG Midget compared to that CB900.

Rob