A look at the bike in the pub's car park revealed a 1982 Honda CX 500 in fair nick if lacking an MOT. Test ride... none of us sober enough to see the handlebars let alone cars! A quick blast revealed a keen motor lacking only in having no first gear. Don't need it, says the owner, pulls like the pint of bitter you are about to buy for me! Next day we call round with cash in hand, all 250 quid's worth, expecting a now sober owner to invite us to go forth and multiply. But no, the bike's mine!
Take you for a test ride if you want to hop on the back, says he. I, being of sound mind, instead volunteered my mate for this dubious pleasure. The pillion passenger's screams of terror convinced me that the bike was indeed quick enough and can take corners faster and lower than you would expect of a machine of such novel proportions.
I paid the man and began the long push home. In truth it was only half a mile but anyone who has pushed a CX will remember hitting the pain barrier at a quarter of a mile. God smiled and I came to a slight hill. I leapt on to the huge, comfy seat and rolled forward. Where do they come from? Blue lights, siren, catch phrase, (yawn!) - Is this your vehicle sir? Slight creeping got me off with a caution.
Back at base I received the customary beating from my wife for bringing more scrap home. A new front tyre and a bulb ensured an M.O.T. and, fingers crossed, the bike's now ready for the daily trip to work in Liverpool 35 miles away. The machine fired up first time and I set off with a broad grin. Where were all the other riders, I wondered, as I slid through the 5am November frost.
Upon return home my wife's hair-dryer's utilised to release my frozen hands from the bars. The grin takes longer to thaw! Winter riding really can be fun! I saw lots of happy people laughing as I was dragged along on my stomach with one hand frozen to the fully open throttle of my 440-pound sledge. Their smiles soon diminished, as four of them were needed to return the CX to the vertical position. No damage occurred thanks to the sturdy front and rear crash bars.
A huge faring's required. Warmth plus security with a hint of intimidation! An ad in the local rag revealed such an item for fifty quid off a Kwak 750 with twin headlamps. Panniers next on my list, a set found in the same local rag and cost a huge twenty-five notes A large box off some big Yamaha (a tenner) completes the effect. The bike looks massive!
I can picture the sport bike types laughing but I use my bike every day of the year! At this point my sister donated some smart boots! Ta Mave! The engine feels oddly smooth as the vee-twin pumps out torque through the shaft drive to the rear Avon. But as I live in a hilly area first gear would be a bonus. The breaker wants 15 quid a cog for the missing first gear! A fortune!
I placed a wanted advert in the small's for any CX parts. A very nice man rings and gets nicer when he tells me he has left home and his mum wants his rubbish out of her garage. The rubbish turns out to be a complete CX custom (with a seized motor) and two spare engine's. Fifty quid the lot! I love small ads! The gears sorted, it's back on the road.
Reading the CX500 info in UMG's like someone reading tea leaves. 45000 miles - water pump dumps hot liquid on left foot! 48000 miles - cam tensioner goes bang! and 50,000 miles alternator dies! All easy to put right on this simple design. The seized engine from the custom bike had been rebuilt only 2000 miles ago so this alternator was fitted along with a new chain and tensioner.
Winter finally turned to Spring and thoughts of continental trips with the wife begin to form in my slowly defrosting head. I imagine riding on the long hot coastal roads of Spain or maybe Italy. Come and have a ride with me, I offer the better half, to see how you like it. Do I note a hint of reluctance? Helmets on? Check! Intercom fitted? Check! Bike into 1st gear? Check! As the wheels begin to turn an ear-splitting sound emits from my intercom.
My wife screamed for the whole 15 metres we covered. I can only assume 10mph was too rapid for her as she drives a Volvo 340. Then the inevitable happened! Taking my daughter for a ride we left some lights when a lady decided not to see us and turned across our path. She must have thought it was raining bodies as I entered her passenger seat via the windscreen and my daughter rolled over the roof and slid down past the driver's door window.
The only casualties were her car and (sob) my bike. Her insurance said, sorry, son, it's a write-off. Have this new hire car for three months and 650 notes! Okay! One fifty quid screen, a set of forks and a wheel from my stock puts me back in the traffic. 600 notes buys a nice armoured leather jacket and holiday deposit!
On the odd occasions when my bike's off the road I borrow the wife's car. When I drive a car and sit in the jams, if a bike flies past I just wish it was me, but when I'm on my bike cagers seem out to get me! Many a time at traffic lights irate drivers scream, I was here first get back behind me! Sad! I found the best way to deal with them is to blow them a kiss and watch how fast they wind their windows up! Only one ever blew one back!
Once, while travelling to work in Manchester, some football fan tossers were gobbing out of their windows, trying to stain my sacred machine. I overtook them at 80mph and kicked their electric mirror clean off! Ha! Laughed I... Chug, chug, said the CX. Panic set in! Where is that bloody fuel tap? Fumble, fumble, Car approaching from behind dragging a wing mirror!! God not now! Vroom!! YES! Power on! I escaped with only slight botty-staining.
On the serious side, the bike has been great value for money. I have been very lucky with her, things seem to fall right - like the time the seat's base fell into the air-filter on the way to a car boot sale and lo and behold a chap was selling a new real leather Goldwing King and Queen seat. He was wet and fed up so I haggled him down from sixty to fifteen notes! I moved the light unit back two inches and it fitted okay.
My CX has always got me home even though she puts up with lots of abuse. I change the oil, filter and plugs every 1000 miles which is probably why she is always a first time starter in any weather and can still leave most cars standing.
My philosophy is a car is only as fast as the car in front of it, a bike has two limits - power and the rider's nerve! (On a CX it's mainly nerve!). Budget biking is fun and DIY repairs can save loads of cash if done properly. By the way, it's time for MOT No. 4... has anyone seen my big hammer?
Mark Randle
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The old CX was wrecked - an understatement! The bike had scraped along the tarmac at high speed, tearing off the cylinder head and cracking the cylinder/crankcase. The right side of the bike was dented and battered but aside from the engine damage was basically intact; not even the forks were twisted. The owner had taken much of the impact, receiving a six month stay in hospital for his pains. Lack of insurance, MOT, road tax, etc added to his woes and had the cops sweating with glee.
He wanted shot of the machine as fast as possible but managed a perfect rendition of shocked outrage when I suggested fifty notes was about right! After all, I'd have to push the old heap home. I reluctantly handed over twice my original offer after he'd agreed to strap the bike to the top of his cousin's cage's roof-rack. The cage turned out to be an old Mk.2 Cortina with more rust than paint - the roof visibly buckled under the CX's excessive mass. We shuddered the two miles to my house, unloaded the CX which snagged on the roof and tore a large slice out of the car, which seemed to be warped after all the effort. The owner didn't seem to notice, clattered off to never-never land.
What can you say about old CX's? Quite! They weren't exactly on the ball when brand, spanking new. The good news was that once they were running they could be kept going on a shoestring budget. Word was cast around for a replacement engine. The first few were rejected because I already knew that their owners had blown them up. What I ended up with was another crashed CX, but one in which the engine was unscathed (thanks to heavily mangled crash-bars - mandatory fitments) and could be heard running. Any engine without immediate rattling has to be considered good news in CX circles. Mine for yet another 100 notes - the cost was adding up!
So it was out with the old, in with the new, and a few better cycle parts added into the mix. Hey presto - a few bruised knuckles later - one working Honda CX500. And it ran as curiously as it looked. God knows how many miles the motor had done, or how it'd been butchered by past owners, but none of that really explained the way it lurched down the road in a series of kangaroo hops. I was relieved when all the violence disappeared as I knocked the box up to second - I soon decided that some teeth must be missing off first gear - it was that violent!
That was about all the violence the motor had in it, acceleration best described as stately. Just as well, really, because it liked to pull to the left, startling quite a few ped's until I learnt to compensate for it with a bit of counter-steering. The brakes were diabolical - either all or nothing, with a mind of their own that made for uneasy times on slippery, wet roads. Engine braking was like a kick in the kidneys but helped slow the old bus down. Handling was what you'd expect on an aged CX - soft and soggy, predictable in a loose kind of way. It never bit back violently and the whole thing would wobble through the bends with all the precision of a faulty exocet missile.
The main purpose of the old hack was to rush through Central London traffic, which given its density needed neither excess power nor speed. The CX was a bit barge-like at low speeds, needing a determined tug on the bars to get it to go where I wanted. It wasn't that wide, didn't go wild when assaulted by the deeper pot-holes and meandered along with a feeling of total invincibility - this was doubtless all in my mind; if I took the sides of a couple of cars off it wouldn't make the CX any more wrecked than it already was - I'd already taken the precaution of fitting a massive set of crash-bars. Judging by the screams of one ped who got in the way, they were highly effective - he even drowned out the awful racket emitted by the 'silencers' which were about as rotted as they could get without actually falling off. One good kick would've destroyed them completely!
Time went by, mileage built up, without any obvious further deterioration. A gentle hand on the controls needed - your average yob's penchant for wheelie starts, for instance, would've destroyed the engine in about thirty seconds. No, old hacks have to be cultivated, caressed gently along and given the odd encouraging word - works wonders! At least until some terminal mechanical demise catches up with you.
In my case it was the good old camchain blues. The bike actually has pushrod controlled valvegear but the camshaft's driven by a chain which is notorious for its easy demise. With no warning whatsoever, my camchain snapped - metal fatigue, I'd guess - leaving me with a dead motor in the middle of the splendid English countryside. God was out to get me that day, no sooner had the Honda stalled than the blue skies turned black and it was monsoon time! In disgust, I cut my losses, threw the terrible vee into the nearest ditch and waddled off towards the nearest town. Two buses later, I was back home.
My next door neighbour heard out my tale of woe and volunteered his ancient Bedford van for the rescue mission. One soggy CX was eventually pulled out of the ditch by the simple expedient of tying a rope to its handlebars and leaving enough slack so that the van could bounce up to 30mph before the rope caught. Magically, the bike flipped out of the ditch and crashed down on to the road, dragged along for about a hundred yards. The old bruiser did more damage to the tarmac than itself!
A used camchain was fitted and the motor fired up. Somehow, it'd avoided mangling its valves, though there was a bit more top end rattle and high speed runs needed even more effort. More than 90mph was impossible and the bike was turning in about 40mpg - against 110mph and 55mpg from a newish example. Nevertheless, it was still a useful city hack that thumped through the traffic with the added safely factor of its extremely loud exhaust - the deep bass rumble at low revs in top gear seemed to vibrate the tarmac, redolent of a tank on the rampage!
Although the CX was never the most popular of motorcycles in its day, often the subject of open derision, it does have a fanatical following and anyone who rides one today will be subjected to much attention from current and past owners, who will come up with all kinds of interesting theories and observations. I've even seen a couple of chopped examples and they are popular with the rat bike crowd, a category that my bike could easily attain. One guy claimed to have done 220,000 miles on the original engine (more or less, he wouldn't admit to the number of camchains replaced!), many have certainly taken them around the clock - once Honda sorted out their original problems they proved to be tough!
The going rate for a runner is under 500 notes; twice that should buy a very good example. Most engine spares are still available on the used circuit but cycle parts have mostly rusted through. The early, twin shock 500's are considered the real CX's, though the CX650 developed the design into something more substantial and there are still odd low milers around for somewhat over the grand mark.
Me? Sensing that the end isn't far off, I've just bought a GS450 for 300 notes; running engine but smashed up chassis. All I have to do is work out how to fit the CX bits! Gonna be way cool...
H.G.R.
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For those of you who always thought the CX500 was an old man's runaround or the thing corpulent despatch riders dreams were made of, here is the story of XCV 26V. Perhaps, before I continue any further it should be pointed out that although I am below the age of affordable insurance my taste in motorcycles is not of the race replica, plastic enclosed, super-handling variety prevalent in rich people's garages but more for those bikes, few though they are, which can be left on the street at night without too much fear of the local syndicate removing them by van.
Another reason for my taste is an objection to the price of modern bikes, I find it hard to envisage spending four grand on a motorcycle, in fact I find the idea of the four grand hypnotic but that's another story.
The CX500 that I acquired for the princely sum of £325 was the A model and after the heyday period of its first few thousand miles this was the model that was the butt of the motorcycle press jokes. Curious isn't it, how one minute a machine is a technological wonder, one year later an old wreck. XCV 26V had obviously seen better days when I first saw it. There was a nasty rattle coming from the rear of the engine, the fork seals were blown and the crash bars revealed a story of a trip up the road on its side at some point. Still, I was desperate for a large bike to ride and had time and money to contemplate a rebuild if that was what it took.
In short, I wanted it and the seller seemed only too glad to oblige, a point which I later thought long and hard over in more than one pub. The CX was given an MOT by the local blind dealer and I filled it up with oil and petrol and started off on the 100 mile trip home. The ride was a pure joy for someone used to a 250 Superdream, the power and low down torque seemed to indicate that this was an ideal touring bike. The saddle was supremely comfortable and the shaft drive beautifully smooth. For the first few weeks having 50hp on tap seemed like seventh heaven but then it all started to go wrong.
The noise at the back of the engine was identified as camchain rattle and I discovered that the bike was using one and a half pints of oil in a 100 miles. Having decided that I had the time and money for a rebuild I decided to put in a new camchain and replace the valve oil seals.
The various bits and pieces were acquired from the local dealer. The rebuild of the back end of the engine was straightforward enough, just remember to take the Haynes manual with a pinch of salt and use the oil filter bolt to pull the generator off its taper or damage will ensue. Problems occurred when trying to fit a new water pump seal, as it's about 1mm too large in diameter to fit into its place. Drifting it with a bit of tube and a big hammer is out of the question as it is a flimsy piece of aluminium, so it was off to the local engineer with a white face and trembling fingers.
My first rebuild looked ominously beyond my abilities and as always at these times the pub was shut and friends were away for the weekend. However, all was not lost and the skilful application of a blow torch to the casing expanded the aperture just enough for the seal to be driven in. After this hitch the rest of the engine went together really easily much to the surprise of all those who had groaned at the complexity of the vee twin. The valve oil seals were simple in comparison to the camchain. The only problem came after 4000 miles when the pattern gaskets blew.
Taking the rebuilt bike on the road for the first time was fraught with insights into my own mental condition....was that a noise; was that smoke; isn't the handling different? It turned out that all these new idiosyncrasies were after all inside my mind rather than the engine. After 10 miles confidence was restored and I loaded up a mate and set off for a 200 mile trip to run all the new parts in. Cruising along at 55mph the bike felt smooth and quiet; quite a good thing really as I'd just spent a hundred quid on parts.
On the way home a new problem manifested itself. The engine would only fire on one cylinder above 6000rpm. This meant that the bike couldn't manage more than the 60mph that I was maintaining and it proved to be a most elusive and frustrating problem. When the bike was cold it was fine but as it warmed up it wouldn't rev past six grand which is where the power came in. This caused a few exciting moments on the way to work in the mornings as I would find myself halfway past a lorry and suddenly only riding on a single cylinder 250 instead of a 500 twin.
After about three weeks playing with carbs and checking for sparks, I found that what I had taken for a carb problem was something more elusive. This mysterious condition persisted until one day in a fit of frustration I decided to remove the plug cap of each cylinder whilst in motion to isolate the fault on one side or the other. It had been a long day and to top it all as I flicked the plug cap off it flew into the road and broke into two pieces. I let forth with the usual comments about the CX and walked back along the road to pick up the remnants of the plug cap.
I refitted it and found the misfire miraculously cured - the plug cap had been breaking down when it got warm because it had collected a thin film of oil which obviously conducted better as the engine warmed up. I decided to replace the caps until I found a new set cost £15 as they are unique to the CX. Needless to say, my CX is still running with insulation tape and a sadder but wiser owner.
After all this I had hoped that the bike would be pretty sound but the oil consumption problem was no better than before despite the new valve seals. This could only mean that the rings or pistons were worn as I had checked the barrels when the heads were off. The prospect of a complete rebuild with all the gaskets involved seemed too much like tempting fate so I decided to live with the oil problem. I have discovered that later versions have the breather fitted at the rear of the engine where the pressure from the down stroke of the pistons doesn't force oil down the breather and into the air intake. At some point in the future this mod will be made to XCV 26V.
It seemed that, afterall, my £325 bargain was becoming something of a liability and it was at this point that I began to frequent pubs in the hope of being offered a large sum of money to part with my ex-technowonder. It was not to be, so I continued riding around in a perpetual state of hearing noises that didn't really exist and dreading the day when something totally terminal would happen to the engine.
It never did and 10,000 miles later I have developed a strange affection for the beast. It has never left me stranded, never left me lost for an answer to its faults and always performed well for a 500cc pushrod twin. In fact, when the time comes for it to go I think I will safely be able to say that no other motorcycle has given me so much pleasure.
As for whether I would recommend the CX to other prospective buyers I'm not so sure. If you get a good CX then it'll go on forever but if you get a bad one you'll find yourself going grey prematurely, watching your bank balance disappear in gaskets and generally wishing that all bikes had detachable barrels, were air cooled and had proper camchain tensioners. So to avoid the stress of buying a bad CX here are a few things to watch for:
First of all, take a good long look at the previous owner, does he look like a despatch rider? If so, be warned, many a decent CX has met an early grave tearing around on short journeys. Next, check the fork seals, the springs are very soft and seals blow regularly. They are easy to replace but are a good bargaining point, likewise the rear suspension. New Marzocchis will set you back about £60 to firm up the rear end.
If you're looking at the Eurosport ask how often the owner greases the monoshock, these tend to seize if left unattended and don't come cheap. Tyres will last about 8000 miles on the back and 14000 miles front - Arrowmaxes seem to give the best combination of wear and handling. When listening to the engine remember that any noises are expensive to eradicate on a CX and if you hear a ratty one leave it well alone unless you're offered a ridiculous bargain. Check the breather pipe for signs of oil and on early models check the air filter box for any telltale deposits.
CX electrics seem to be pretty sound with the aforementioned exception of the plug caps so there should be no problems there. Check the head bearings as they have a lot of work to do on a bike of this weight and look carefully for signs of the bike having been dropped.
Other things to watch for are handling characteristics - if it's been dropped and bent it should be obvious from the handling. A good CX will be completely stable at top speed, around 100mph, and show no signs of weave or shake. Check the front guard for rust as this is an MOT failure and very expensive to replace. Look into the coolant overflow tank whilst the engine is running - there should be no signs of disturbance, any bubbles indicate imminent head gasket failure. As for mileage, anything up to 40,000 miles will still keep going if it's been well looked after but beware smoke and noises.
Expect to pay £200 to do up a ratty CX and throw in a good weekend's worth of time and a fair slice of your life expectancy in stress.
So what are the joys of owning this over-complex, overweight machine? Number one had to be cheap, easy to locate spares. Your local breaker will have all types and colours of CXs in his backyard and will probably rub his hands with enthusiasm as he sees you approach. Apart from keeping the breakers in business you'll be the owner of a reasonably cheap, very reliable (when it's sorted) motorcycle that will take you long distances in great comfort with no need for messy chain adjustment, little gearchanging and a very stable ride.
Whatever anyone might tell you about the handling of the CX, unless you intend to use the road as a race track you'll have no problems. I recently took an FZR600 owner as pillion in the wet and he was astonished that the CX could be leant safely on corners despite the weather. Mind you, if I had an FZR I doubt I'd even take it out in the rain. You will find the CX remarkably quick for what it is and quite able to cruise at 80-90mph all day. Economy is not all it could be on an ageing bike, but you should get between 50-60mpg depending on how hard you make it work.
Other benefits of late seventies technology are the screw adjustment rockers which are simple to use but must be set every 3000 miles to avoid a clattery top end. The camchain adjustment is by spring tension and should be set every time you do the rocker clearances. Various bits and pieces of add-on gear can be an asset on the CX. Personally, I don't favour fairings but if you want one they can be picked up for about £40. Panniers are likewise available from the local breaker. An essential for any transverse vee twin are crash bars.
If your CX doesn't have them and you can't find them at the breakers then do splash out £25 to buy a new set because if your bike is ever dropped it'll save you buying a new engine - the CX barrels are integral to the main casing and very vulnerable in a spill. Brakes are very good in general but I have found, not surprisingly, that they depreciate with high mileage. At the moment I'm looking for a secondhand set of Goodridge hoses as I can't afford new ones.
A reconditioned 250 Superdream master cylinder is also going to grace my handlebars when I get around to it. So there you have it. The CX is apparently just coming back into fashion which means, of course, that prices are going up. Expect to pay around £600 for a very good one with a sound engine, more for the 650 and more for any low mileage example.
This is probably more than a CX is really worth but prices are going a bit silly at the moment. I did meet a guy who had picked one up from a neighbour for £30 but I couldn't bear to talk to him for very long as I'd paid ten times that and thought I had bought a bargain. As for mine, I may sell it soon or I may keep it and investigate the possibility of fitting a 650 engine into the frame. I suspect the latter because I've grown to love my Plastic Maggot.
After all, it's transported me around for the last 10,000 miles very comfortably and perhaps the ultimate accolade is that I took it around the West Country on honeymoon and never once had a complaint from the pillion. If another bike could offer all the CX can with a bit more performance then I'd buy it tomorrow, given the money, but as it is I foresee XCV 26V continuing to be my transport for some time yet.
Simon Locks
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I ended up looking at a 1983 Honda CX500 Eurosport at a dealers in Stockport, advertised at £995. It was white with a Rickman Trident fairing, Alpine panniers and an enormous rack. The rubber it came with was half worn Roadrunners, and the mileage was just over 15000, which with six owners in the logbook had to be taken with a bucketful of salt.
The dealer said he would give it a full service before it went out and also sort out the rear caliper that had been sticking a bit on the test ride and the seat which was not mounted properly, rocking back and forth on acceleration and braking. I collected the bike as arranged and set off home via the dreaded M63 in the rush hour, pottering along with all the tin boxes, at 30 to 40mph the bike was quiet, comfortable and felt as different from my previous bike, a VT250, as a Transit van is from a tuned up Mini.
The brakes were really good on the front, as twin pot calipers on twin discs with anti-dive should be. But the back was vague and the lack of feel let me lock the back wheel in the stop-start traffic jams without knowing until the seat started to turn inexplicably one way or the other underneath me.
Once I got moving properly, the fairing screen directed the air right at the visor of my helmet, which being a Bieffe caused a noise like I imagine sticking your head in the wrong end of a tornado would be like. By the time I got on the M61 traffic was thinning and I wound the throttle around a bit to see what would happen.
The beast cruised at 90mph with remarkable ease until about 10 miles from Preston it started to lose power and the speed dropped from 90 to 80 to 70 then 60 and finally seemed to stabilise at about 45-50mph at full throttle. The beast had turned into a fruit, a lemon to be precise. A quick once over on the hard shoulder revealed nothing. Setting off again from the hard shoulder it ran fine but by the time I reached my home it was spluttering again.
I suspected the air filter and when the dealer revealed that his full service had in reality been just an oil change and that he would not give me a new filter, I went and bought one. Everything was fine again, but I found they only lasted for 2000 miles! I now run my bike without one, the only apparent ill effect is a nasty flat spot between 5500 and 6000 revs but I suppose engine life will be shortened.
After the dealer's revelation about his idea of a full service, I decided I'd better change the oil filter. The head of the nut that retains this was rounded off and mole-grips did not work. I had to hammer a screwdriver against one of the fins on the filter cover. Blood and flat knuckles everywhere. The filter looked ancient and had several holes in it. The supposedly new oil I drained out was the same colour as road tar. 40 minutes must be some sort of record for transforming new oil to black sludge.
The plugs looked okay, the tappets sounded alright, I changed the oil in the shaft drive and greased everything that looked like it needed it. I covered the wheels with silicone grease to stop the alloy rotting, it actually repels water and doesn't become black and slimy. The rear caliper had been fitted with brake pads of an entirely new material - mild steel. Pads are common at each end and cost £11 a set. The new pads increased the power of the back brake but not its feel, and since it would lock the wheel with the steel pads the exercise was a bit pointless other than to preserve the disc itself.
After running the thing around locally for a week I decided it was time to see what it was made of. I set off for the motorway at 4.00am on a Sunday afternoon with £25 in my pocket and a Collins road atlas in one of the panniers with no idea of where I was going. For some reason Edinburgh came to mind and off I went. I soon found that the tank had at least a gallon and a half left after the gauge showed empty and the bike was averaging 50 to 55mpg.
The CX was easily capable of a constant 90mph, including riding up Shap into a strong head wind, but found it difficult breaking the ton barrier even downhill. By the time the motorway turned into the A74 my bum was aching, by the time I turned off the A74 on to the A73 and A702 it had dropped off. Even though the CX is a big bike the distance between the seat and the pegs is still too small to take any weight through my feet. Because of the fairing deflecting the wind, the amount of weight on my hands made them ache after a 100 miles.
At the first sign of water both ends would start to let go in a most unpredictable manner. The fairing screen was definitely too low and I decided to see about buying a bigger one. I arrived in Edinburgh at the same time as the rain, riding around a strange city in the wet after covering 180 miles to get there is certainly a test of an unfamiliar bike, but I managed to stay on during the heaviest down pour I can remember.
A cup of coffee later I set off for home, the rain had put me off going any further north. Back on the A74 I caught up with a GPZ600 and rode along for a bit, until I sped up to 90mph and left him. I don't think he could see where he was going, at least the fairing screen on the CX kept my visor partially clean. Over the whole 375 mile trip the CX averaged 54mpg, not bad considering the speeds I was riding at.
I have now started a despatch company and have covered over 7000 miles in the four months I have had the CX. Problems so far have been a rusty starter solenoid replaced by a used item off a VF400, a camchain and tensioner at 20,000 miles which cost £130 - the tensioner is automatic and seems to work well in comparison with the manual adjuster fitted to the earlier bikes.
The Roadrunners were used until they wore out and replaced by Conti TKV11 & 12 tyres, which are better but still not brilliant. The standard tyre size on the rear is 120/80H18, you may be surprised to find out how much cheaper and more available 90 profile tyres are - they don't seem to have any effect on handling either, probably because you never know what the rear wheel is up to.
The clutch started slipping soon after the run to Edinburgh, but 7500 miles later is still not bad enough for me to do anything about it. The left- hand front caliper stuck on and had to be bodged at the roadside after I started smelling burning rubber seals. The caliper now needs two new pistons, and all three calipers need constant maintenance to stop them sticking on.
The sidelight bulbs in the fairing keep popping but this is no problem, who needs them, anyway? I bought the taller screen which cost £32 and deflects wind so that it only hits the top inch of my helmet. The other main gripe so far has been with the exhausts, each silencer costs £54 plus VAT and they have both just started to dissolve. When I took them off to weld plates on, the baffles fell out in powder form which has made the flat spot even worse. However, they are not illegally noisy and the outer shell is sound apart from a rotten band three inches from the end of each, now covered by mild steel plate and Hammerite. Pattern silencers for older CXs do not fit because of the bend in the later type, a Motad costs £86, which is too expensive for me.
It is very good at long distances considering it cost less than a thousand pounds - sort of half as good as a K100 BMW for a quarter of the price. The longest day so far was just over 600 miles, the first 300 almost flat out, it didn't miss a beat despite pouring rain and very cold conditions.
My girlfriend never says anything about the pillion which must be a good sign, as she always had a few choice words to say about the VT and Soupdragon I owned before. Because it's all white and fairly big it also impresses other girls who know nothing about bikes.
Distance is all it is good at, it's got no more speed than the VT250 and doesn't handle as well. It's heavy and cumbersome in town and often too wide to go down lines of traffic. The panniers are wider than the fairing and I forgot about this once or twice. The last time resulted in scaring a Cavalier driver in a two lane queue half to death by touching his bumper with the left-hand pannier. A loud bang resulted but no damage. They had to go after that.
The anti-dive is a pain in the arse when you're braking over bumps, it stops all suspension movement and make the thing feel like the steering head is about to snap off. It has four adjustment positions, the lowest feels like there is no oil in the forks when you brake and the hardest feels like they're jammed. The suspension is air adjustable, the front goes from soft to softer, although the rear has a good pressure range.
The extra weight of the fairing and luggage make the bike weave and bob about when you lean over no matter what the settings. While we're on the moans, ground clearance is pretty bad, my size elevens are the first thing to say hello to the tarmac, closely followed by the centrestand - but the thing does not inspire the confidence to do this very often. The final complaint is the front guard, one trip down a wet road needs a jetwash to clear out the debris from the radiator.
This is the first bike I haven't ridden for pleasure. I find it extremely boring and if I was going to keep it long I would have to buy another bike to have fun on, but I think I'll trade it in before the mileage gets too high.
Pete Shone
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Some people insist on trying it on. I'd travelled half way across London to view a 1980 Honda CX500. Words like superb, excellent and beautiful had been bandied about over the phone. The owner was obviously on some kind of nose-snort, the CX a corroded mess that rattled and knocked rather than ran. I didn't even want to try a test ride but the drug abuser insisted that it went better than it looked. A moot point, but the gearbox still worked, the speedo hit 60mph and it wallowed no worse than when it was new. Yes, I was one of those fools who bought one of the first 'uns and rapidly learnt what it was like to be a development rider for Honda. The only payment I got, though, was a CX that worked long enough to off-load before it destroyed its engine again.
Now, of course, most of the magazines reckon it was just a few minor problems that Honda soon put to rights and it was perfectly safe to buy a later model. Maybe. With this degree of cynicism about the CX I should've kept well clear of the breed, but it was cheap and I was in a hurry to find some commuting hack, some cretin having knocked off by previous mount. Only a blind idiot would try to steal the CX.
For £150 I couldn't complain, but that didn't stop me muttering curses under my breath as I headed home via Central London. The rain was pouring down, the road surface like ice and all the car drivers had gone crazy. The same old tale of desperation and dementia that required a crazed bit of riding just to stay with the flow. Not the kind of going a rotting Plastic Maggot excelled at. One bit of amusement I forgot to mention, the clock read 4300, more like 104,300 miles!
Another was the brand new MOT certificate, which with a home-made exhaust seemed so unlikely that I'd examined the form for signs of forgery. At least the noise notified cagers of my mere existence and the rerouted oil breather was perfectly situated to stop moped merchants and cyclists from sitting on my tail. I'm an easy going kind of chap normally but I couldn't take being overtaken by spotty kids on such terrible devices!
I had no intention of looking too closely at the Honda until it stopped working. I had budgeted for an engine swap so it would merely be interesting to see how long it took for the rattles and knocks to turn terminal.
The vee-twin engine varies between falling apart under you and running for tens of thousands of miles without needing any attention. There's no logic to this quixotical nature, some abused motors would run and run, others that were carefully maintained wasted their big-ends, snapped their camchain and blew all the gaskets. So it was with my engine, I never even changed the oil for 5500 miles and the damn thing made terrible noises but ran on regardless.
The end came when I was pushing the engine so hard in third gear that the normally smooth motor turned so rough that the mirror twirled around like it was possessed, flying off to whack into a following car. Rev through it, I optimistically told myself. It suddenly bounded forward, deep into the red then made a detonation like a canon going off.
My reflexes were trained on old hacks, so I'd hit the clutch lever without thinking about it. Pulled over with only the mildest of lurches. It was a bad day, the driver who'd had the mirror flung at his car pulled over and bounded out of his cage. My attention was distracted by the large hole in the crankcase where the con-rod was poking out, but rapidly concentrated when Mr Cager grabbed my throat, pulled me out of the saddle and bruised some ribs after hurling me on to the grass to give me a good kicking. I didn't feel like pushing the Honda home, it was hard going getting to the telephone box and summoning my mate with a Transit.
I'd already bought a spare motor but was bit annoyed when the exhaust reacted to being knocked off with my big hammer by splitting at the collector box. As a temporary measure I put some baffles in the otherwise open downpipes. It lasted for a day, as I soon gave up trying to start the replacement motor. Used silencers off a CB250 went straight on and the motor responded by churning into life. I knew there wasn't much life by the excess of vibes...... tightening up the engine bolts with brutish force helped a little. CX engines are easy to maintain but not to work on, especially in the transmission area, so I started looking for another motor.
Meanwhile, the 50 mile a day commute soon found how tough was the CX - the valves needed adjusting every week as they seemed to be sinking into the valve seats, softening of the latter not an uncommon fault on high mileage CX's. Like the old motor, it wasn't too happy doing more than 6000rpm, about 70mph in top. Accompanied by the kind of dizzy vibes that would make some old relic on a British twin come in his underpants.
It so happened that about the only useful bits left on the original motor were the cylinder heads, so after 3000 miles, when clouds of pollutants were annoying London traffic, I swapped them over. One of the exhaust valves was halfway into the valve seat.....The top ends were easy enough to fit, as long as some goo was used on the gaskets to seal the watercooling. I've seen CX's spewing out great clouds of steam when the gaskets leak. Fun until the pistons seize.
The reassembled motor ran discernibly better, but wasn't fast enough to see off a good Superdream. Not helped any by a lot of wallowing above 50mph, down to soft shocks and a dubious frame design. For a 500cc motorcycle the CX feels amazingly top heavy, like some giant slug that just wants to flip over and die a quick, quiet death. The top-heavy feel was at its greatest at city speeds but going fast just subsumed it under the equally queasy wallowing. I didn't expect much more, could live with it as it was vague in a predictable manner rather than randomly trying to throw me off. A polite way of saying it was bloody awful all the time!
They are quite tough creatures, though. The couple of times the worn tyres let loose on greasy roads all that happened was that the engine tore great chunks out of the badly laid tarmac whilst I slid smoothly off, adding to the scars on my full leathers (I'm old enough to have learnt my lessons with regard to motorcycling clothes). Even after a serious crash the Comstar wheels are rebuildable and the front forks and brakes so fickle that fitting just about anything else is an improvement.
Mind you, I wouldn't take that to the extreme of a friend who somehow fitted a CG125 front end to his aged, abused CX - the legs snapped as it was rumbling along at 45mph. The CX cartwheeled down the road, destroying itself whilst the rider only narrowly avoided becoming a castrato. The Revenge of the CX's!
After about 7000 miles my engine did its usual trick of ruining the big-ends with an almost simultaneous demise of the water pump and pistons. I'm not sure if the failure of one caused a chain reaction or if they all had called it a day due to excessive mileage.
Again, rapid clutch worked saved me from my probably deserved fate, an ignominious dose of tarmac rash. It happened 50 miles from home, which tempted me to dump the beast but I'd fitted a newish set of Avons the week before, so it was time to again summon my mate with a Transit van.
As usual on old Jap engines, once they go there's very little to salvage. It would be cheaper to buy a new Fireblade than the large pile of parts necessary to get the heap running again! CX engines are becoming rare now, so I've had no luck finding one yet. They are great hacks, will keep going for surprising distances even when on the way out.
Howard Jennings
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A Y reg Honda Maggot with 25 thou under its almost bald tyres didn't exactly inspire, but I had to get 30 miles to work and back and there was sod all else on offer at £350. The test ride had revealed a top heavy bike with only a marginal amount of urge. It was about what I had expected from a 450lb, 500cc vee-twin. The exhaust didn't smoke and few rattles came out through the watercooling, so I figured it was only about half worn out!
The most surprising thing about the overweight slug was that, true to its vee-twin nature, as soon as I put the engine into top gear - no easy achievement until I'd become used to the, ahem, loose gearbox - I could motor off with as little as 30mph on the clock. Acceleration wouldn't worry a derestricted TZR125, but seemed to keep ahead of most of the cagers. I was quite impressed with the relaxed style of riding.
The exhaust was a rusty Motad 2-1 that gave out a contented snarl that emphasized its laid back nature. It was a bit rusty but I thought it was good for at least a year. Some hope, a week after purchase the bracket that held the silencer on finally rusted through. The first I knew about this was the silencer bumping along the tarmac. By the time I pulled over the silencer had self-destructed and the open 2-1 made the bike sound like a fleet of tanks.
Anyway, I had to get to work, some five miles away. Even in top gear at 1500rpm the noise reverberated off the cagers who looked around in wonderment that such a device could exist. I made it to work without being booked. A mate took me to the breakers, on the back of a tuned CD175, where a suitable looking pipe was found. This went on with suspicious ease and seemed to give slightly more power and less noise than the Motad. The downpipes eventually rusted through, some three years later, so a new Motad was then put on.
After fixing the exhaust I decided a new set of Avons would do wonders for the handling. Well, they stopped the slides in the wet that had me putting down my boot several times. Although the Honda feels top heavy it's quite easy to pull back with a bit of violent input; after about a month its hefty feel had more or less faded into the background. The Roadrunners lasted around 12000 miles, not enough to my mind but twice I'd hit a patch of grease that had the front wheel sliding away and they had pulled the bike back into shape as soon as decent tarmac was hit. So, I had great faith in them.
The next item on my hit list was a noisy rear drum. It braked alright, there was plenty of meat on the shoes and linings and all the shafts looked like new, so I put it back together. It's still noisy and still works! Shoes lasted 30,000 miles. Which was nearly as neat as the EBC pads at 20,000 miles, although the front brake made up for its apparent frugality by seizing its calipers two or three times every winter. Calipers were not readily available in breakers but I'd eventually tracked down a spare set.
After about three months of reliable service I became pissed off with the rear shocks, which seemed to have neither damping nor springing. Every time a large bump was hit, the back end slewed down the road for about a hundred yards before it sorted itself out. If it hit another bump before then all hell would break loose. A new set of R & R's was rather extravagant, but they were half price at the motorcycle show. They seemed brilliant, the whole feel of the chassis transformed. The forks had gaiters, were in reasonable shape.
The shocks were fitted just in time for the MOT. The bike failed because the rear brake light wasn't working. The switch was perfectly situated for being dosed in water and dirt, had seized solid. One used replacement later I had my MOT certificate. I celebrated by taking a 90mph cruise up the M1. The Honda returned 38mpg when thrashed like that, more normally it'd do 40 to 50mpg and a pint of oil was needed every 300 miles. Coming back, the tacho cable broke after I'd taken it into the red a few times. It proved impossible to undo the cable at the engine end, so I just left it there. Very clever, Mr Honda.
Six months went by with just an oil and filter swap, then the electrics went a little haywire. The horn would sound on its own, indicators flashed indiscriminately and the motor would stop dead. Both handlebar switch clusters had decided they were fed up with English weather. Spraying them with WD40 didn't help, so some ubiquitous Superdream items were force-fitted. Whether this had anything to do with the rectifier/regulator going up in smoke, I don't know. A Superdream item was fitted before it became necessary to replace the battery or alternator. I eventually ended up rewiring the whole bike.
One bit of CX lore I was well aware of was the air-filter, which clogs up in a mere 5000 to 6000 miles. Most evident in a drastic increase in fuel consumption. I know one guy who got the bargain of the year, a 12000 mile CX in immaculate shape for £300, but it was very asthmatic, running like a restricted 125. It was just an original air-filter knee deep in debris. At least it insured that the motor wasn't filling up with crud.
At the same time as the air-filter was dealt with, it was a good idea to put in a new set of plugs (laughably easy after some DOHC fours, due to the cylinder location). If that's neglected starting became very difficult and low speed running went completely to pot. The electronic ignition and coils are still original!
After two years of largely pleasant riding there was just over 50,000 miles on the clock. I thought it was time to move on to something newer, but there was no chance of buying anything decent for the kind of money the CX would fetch. Handling had become a little weird, with some heavy weaves and wobbles above 50mph, some vicious head shaking on the overrun. This turned out to be a combination of leaking fork seals and worn steering head bearings. Before I'd replaced the latter I had a lock to lock tank-slapper at 50mph. I found it difficult to stand up after we eventually came to a halt, after using half a year's supply of brake material.
As well as the seals and bearings, I added some washers to the top of the springs. Ended up with only three inches of travel but it was nicely taut. I turned the R & R's up to match. Fifty miles later I came close to being smashed to pieces when the seat collapsed under me. It was such a violent, sudden disintegration that I thought the frame had rusted through. Disconcerted, I put too much effort into the bars, throwing the plot into one hell of wobble. I always kept the brakes in good shape which allowed me to survive the experience.
A long summer holiday added nearly 10,000 miles to the carnage with a spate of breaking cables, but I had spare ones taped alongside in readiness. The handling started to go again, but kicking, pushing and pulling revealed a distinct lack of looseness. It was safe up to 80mph and with such a high mileage motor I didn't really want to push it any harder than that.
It took another 4000 miles until both sets of wheel bearings were sufficiently loose for me to suss the problem. The old bearings gave every indication of being welded or corroded in their housings. It was a two man job, a mate wielding a blow-torch and myself a metal shaft and sledge-hammer. When I whacked my finger I screamed my head off, kicked the neighbour's dog half to death and eventually ended up in the casualty ward - by the time they got around to looking at it the pain and swelling had subsumed to a tolerable level. Typical!
After that experience I was all for selling the old rat, but no-one would give me any dosh for it. By the time 70,000 miles were done, the terrible gearbox had started jumping out of gear. The best thing to do was put it in the tallest gear that was tolerable as quickly as possible. I ended up starting off in third as first and second were all but unusable, either refusing to engage or jumping out of gear. I would eventually end up with a two speed motorcycle (third and fifth) but there was enough torque, even on the aged, original bores, to deal with that paucity of ratios!
I bought another bike for the main commuting chores but leapt on the Honda quite often over the next few years - it always chugged into life despite my wilful neglect. Fuel was down to 30mpg, vibes were interesting and the clutch had begun to add slip to its natural drag - rather amusing with the lack of available gears. Still, 80,000 miles eventually came up on the clock, an event that coincided with the need for new MOT, pads, tyres, plugs and air-filter - the combined cost more than the CX was worth. I kept riding it for about a month, in a thoroughly illegal state, as my prime machine was off the road due to an accident.
By the time the CX was finally stuffed in the back of my garage, the radiator had split, the swinging arm bearings were shot and the petrol tank was threatening to collapse. It's been waiting for a renovation job for a couple of years, is now in lots of different bits. I have to admit that I like CX's, they seem tough despite their early, well chronicled problems, and have some of the charm that seems inherent in all vee-twins. I'm now riding around on a VT500, which seems even better than the CX but just a little bland. My early Maggot looks so strange that I can't help but feel that a decade or two down the line it will be considered a classic motorcycle. I'm going to rebuild mine completely stock and make a killing. Mad or what?
Chris Larson
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A matt black wreck sporting ape-hangers, square section bars instead of rear shocks and a massive oil leak, consuming a pint a week. But despite straight through pipes posing as silencers, I was clocked weaving down the M40 at 105mph. This is a description of my previous machine, a Honda CB250 Wet Dream twin, bought for £80, with a top end that sounded like it was tap dancing, due to 80 thou on the clock.
After ten months, two chains, four rear tyres and twenty gallons of engine oil - what oil wasn't burnt was ejaculated from the rocker cover, secured by two self-tappers and a tube of instant gasket, and was worn by yours truly as waterproof overtrousers - I had tired of the old wreck. For a huge fifty quid a maladjusted young chap took it off my hands, so I started looking for a replacement with a larger engine
I soon had to face a tough realisation. After 20 months on the dole I just had to find a job. Walking home one evening, on the second week of doing shitty work for a temp agency, I peered over a local garden wall and there she stood. Between the ageing, decrepit hulks of shagged out cars, a matt black CX500 was resting precariously on a bent main stand. Green moss thrived where once a seat had been, covered with bird shite and joined to the surrounding shrubbery by cobwebs. Not wanting a non-runner, I nearly carried on homeward, but noticed the tax had only recently expired. 'Er mate, you wanna sell yer bike?' I asked when he opened the door.
Half an hour later he had bullshitted his way to a sale. I returned the following evening, feeling good having just jacked in my job, handed over £100 and rode it home. Or rather managed to manoeuvre it - images of the Torrey Canyon disaster flashed periodically before my eyes - waddling on semi-deflated tyres. The bike was a nightmare, top heavy and the vee-twin firing pulses seemed to be throwing it from side to side.
The front brake was almost seized, the rear drum brake either barely rubbed or it locked solid with an extra ounce of pressure. The clutch cable was so dry that after pulling it in, you had to physically push it back out again. Once home I inspected every inch. Apart from both tyres being illegal, an oversized bulb had melted and destroyed the rear lamp. The airbox was infested with every kind of garden beastie and a few mutants that would have a scientist wetting himself, and the battery wouldn't hold a charge for more than ten minutes.
Still not convinced that I had bought a hopeless death-trap, I set to work making it roadworthy. I had to sell my stereo and the worst of my album collection, along with the rest of my possessions to purchase the cheapest of bodging materials and an MOT from a guy who would pass the 'Spirit of St Louis' with its original brake pads - if you had the readies.
Aluminium road signs, left laying around on poles by the local council, make excellent seat bases when combined with a bit of foam and carpet tape. The old engine oil gushed out like black water, which I replaced with 10/40 hoping that with regular changes it would prolong engine life. On the CB250 I had used Halfords recycled 20/50 at £3 a gallon with no problems!
After about ten days of bodging, hammering, cursing, hacksawing and welding it was ready for the road. The CX wouldn't run without the choke on full, even when hot. Chronic misfiring occurred above 4000rpm. After a week of testing and inspection, it emerged that the HT leads were disintegrating. The problem was overcome by closing down the plugs' gaps to the width of a fag paper. Incidentally, spark plug caps long enough to reach the plugs are only made by Honda at £32!
Soon, the rear shocks collapsed, instantly transforming the already crap handling into that of a pogo-stick. Thankfully, I was leant a pair of GS550 shocks; no doubt saving my kidneys from total, complete collapse.
The CX had five gears, the top being a tad low and after only 1800 miles neutral became a pig to select - the Maggot's way of telling me it needed an oil change and a rest! The Motad had rotted totally and nothing sounds quite as obnoxious as a CX with a knackered exhaust. It sounded like a buggered tractor and relations with the neighbours suffered accordingly. I fabricated a new silencer from a tiny car tail-pipe that I had found in a skip. With a DIY baffle inserted, it muffled the engine noise well and produced some back pressure, giving higher rev performance.
It soon transpired that the alternator had long since thrown in the towel and not the battery, as I had first suspected. So, as autumn rolled into winter and daytime lights became necessary, the battery didn't last long between charges. I had to carry jump leads for two months and due to the bike weighing about 500lb, bump-starting it was a bastard. A couple of good goes left me as breathless as an asthmatic with a collapsed lung trying to play a mouth organ.
Next, it was the turn of the fork springs to collapse. New oil didn't help, so I inserted one inch lengths of pipe, which made the damping a tad stiff. It's a little frightening on bumpy roads, which tends to give the lights a hard time, not to mention my neck, wrists, spine, etc.....Up front the tyre's a Roadrunner, because it was free. A Pirelli MT68E at the rear, nearly new for a tenner. Top notch in the dry, but a pile of crap in the wet. Thanks to the shaft drive it's wearing fast and will be replaced with something decent - whatever the cost!
The shaft drive is a bonus, however. I changed the transmission oil once and haven't had to bother since, although the nut snapped off and had to be bodged with chemical metal. The rear wheel is dead easy to extract.
Last month, a woman decided to do a U-turn right in front of me. I hit her at about 20mph. The CX survived but just about destroyed her doors and A-post. I was particularly chuffed about that. Taking the accident as a bad omen, I forked out for six months tax; confident that I wouldn't be busted by the cops.
That Friday I packed up and went off to Norwich for the weekend - about 230 miles. Because of my late departure the lights were soon turned on. Before I was halfway there the lights began to fade and in my concern I forgot all about the petrol. Subsequently, the tank went dry after about 130 miles - the tap being permanently on reserve - so I was stuck on an unlit A-road in the middle of the Norfolk broads. After leaning the bike over to redistribute what was left of the fuel, I bump-started it - more lung failure - and turned around, remembering a petrol station three miles back. Phew!
Upon reaching Norwich, sticking to the middle of the traffic to be seen, I had to abandon the well thrashed machine to be collected later - my destination being a pitch black rural area. Three days later it was severely thrashed all the way back home again and it didn't miss a beat, despite its age and mileage. The only real pisser was that my new goggles flew off my helmet and became part of the M2, beneath the wheels of some bastard lorry.
I don't know the exact top speed, probably over the ton, as the speedo freaks out, waving rapidly back and forth. Acceleration is surprisingly good considering its weight - it's faster than two GS550s I know of. Last week I came off, smashing my knee against the kerb thanks to a dozy GPz rider - and now the bike stands engineless, as I wait for a reconditioned alternator. It has set me back £40, nearly half what I paid for the entire bike. A new replacement costs £180.
Most people possess more money than sense and too little time. Being in the opposite position doesn't mean you have to ride a moped. With a little knowledge of bodging, half a gallon of chemical metal and a sledge-hammer, you can keep mobile. Mind you, I am considering selling the CX and buying back my stereo and crappy records.
J.D.Haslam
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As I write this, I am once again in the dock with a damaged back. Not as a result of motorcycles, but due to a poxy job of work. I can barely stand, hardly walk and can't bend to tie my shoes. TV's rubbish, so I have lots of time to think and to relive past episodes. This all started in 1990.
'It's no good,' she said. 'You'll have to get a bigger bike.' It was true. The poor old CB100N was hardly the ideal mount for the 100 mile round trip, two-up, to do the weekend shopping! She started scanning the papers and I looked in the bike shops for a suitable conveyance. GS550, 90,000 miles? A joke, I think. FT500, 16000 miles and £650? Suspicious. CX500, 20,000 miles, £600? We went for a look.
It was red, Sebacs, Avons, stainless hoses, shiny, new seat, 1980 model, four owners (the last for three years) and two previous MOT's which seemed to indicated the mileage was true. The guy had just bought a new VT500. The CX test rode a treat, we haggled and settled on £595 plus new MOT and oil/filter change. And so began a five year and 60,000 mile ownership.
I went to show a mate who was quite impressed. He insisted on a go on it. He returned to claim 109mph and a wobble at 85mph, just as it started to scratch. In all those miles I never had the bottle to lean it over as far as that, and never got more than 105mph out of it. A speed it would hold for as long as I could stand the wind blast!
A week into ownership it broke its first (of many) speedo cables. £4, please. I fiddled about with the tappets which made no difference to either its running or its tapping, and I adjusted the head bearings which tamed the weaves a bit. Two months and 2700 miles, a tacho cable was required - another four quid and a sod to fit.
Back and forth to work day in, day out. Runs out every weekend, regular setting of the tappets and camchain. It's getting a bit clattery. I'd changed the oil every 2000 miles, so was sure I was doing all I could but the thing was clattering like...well, a ten year old CX500! It had lasted three months and a mere 7500 miles. The cam was knackered.
Strip down and rebuild time. I have a pal who's quite an accomplished motorcycle mechanic, so he was pressed into service. As well as worn cam bearings, followers and rings, it had a worn water pump impellor and, of course, a camchain you could tie in a knot. What had I bought?
Well, a ten year old Honda, that's what. To quote my mechanically minded pal... 'If this effer's done 27000 miles I'll eat my effin' hat.' With which he threw an exceptionally repellent flat cap at me. 'What?' Not a happy badger, I.
'Bin round the effin clock, mate, annit?' He spat, scratching his neck with a 17mm spanner.
'What?' I am still not quite with it.
'Lookit effin wear in 'ere. If that's right miles,' with a jab at the speedo with his spanner, 'it's bin frashed from arse'ole to breakfast time, annit?'
It finally sank in but despair dissipated a little when he said he could fix it up for me. £110 later it's back together. Guess what? The guy I'd bought it off had fitted the oil filter all wrong, the spring between the filter and block. Low oil pressure and very little oil flow to the cam, hence the damage.
Back on the road, the CX's pressed into a daily 40 mile commute with up to 300 miles at the weekends. In the next six months it did 10,000 miles with nothing other than oil changes and tappets set every 2000 miles; plugs and filter every 6000 miles.
By the year end it was up to 15000 miles in ten months, with a month off road for repairs. The only other expense was a new back tyre. An Avon AM21 replaced the old Roadrunner. The deed was attempted by a large tyre company who fitted the wrong tyre the wrong way round, and charged £55 to supply and fit it. Four years later I got a similar tyre fitted, balanced and new valve, for £48 on a Sunday afternoon.
Over that winter, paranoia got the better of me. I replaced the fork springs and seals, which cured the weaves completely. All genuine Honda parts off the shelf locally (Sheffield), for a reasonable £50. A myopic Cavalier driver who pulled out in front of me at the same junction four times in succession caused a bit of expense. Not in terms of damage but increased laundry bills then a set of crash bars (£5) and some air-horns. He got a rare old shock on the fifth day when I gave him a 130db blast! He actually swerved off the road and hit a road sign! I changed my route for a bit!
1991 started with another round of snapping cables. This time they were accompanied by the rear brake pivot seizing, and its switch melting. Inconvenient more than anything else. More oil changes, tappet setting, and pile the miles on. The old CX took it all in its stride. Never failed to start, always got me there and back, never really cost much to run.
Then the weaves came back, big style. Felt like the tail wagging the dog this time. I discovered it was nothing to fret over, just the Sebacs exploding and spraying oil everywhere. Oh! I stuck on the first pair of shocks I could find - R R Type 7 for £50. Apart from being shorter they were fine. Hell of a job dragging the CX on to its stand, though!
March arrived. 38000 miles on the clock, both tyres due for replacement. The front did 18000, the rear 11000 miles. No Avons available so it was some Michelin M38's, fitted for £75 the pair. Right rubbish they turned out to be. No grip in the wet, wandered all over the road, speed wobbles at 65mph, etc. Another bloody speedo cable went. Another fiver. Two more months and 40 thou on the clock, the tacho cable popped again. I bought two this time, and they went and broke within the week. They were inserted into the dealer who sold them to me, with eyes watering and cables protruding, he gave me my money back and a replacement cable.
That summer was our first run to London for the Magna Carta Rally at Upminster. Me and the Management, plus enough kit to supply a battalion lashed to the elderly CX with a washing line. 1000 miles over the weekend, new record for me. Poor old sod got a bit hot and bothered in the capital, and so did the CX! In fact, the CX boiled over and developed an oil leak from the rear engine cover. Tragic. A loose bolt was diagnosed for the latter, and in temperatures of 130 degrees who wouldn't boil over? Over the next three years oil wept from the rear cover at a rate of about half a pint in 2000 miles, so I ignored it.
MOT failure. More fork seals and a set of brake pads. Oh, and yet another bastard speedo cable. Front pads had lasted over 21000 miles so that was fine. A week later, bugger me, another speedo cable went pop. Then an amazing discovery was made. The cables I'd had in the past were CB400N kit, three inches too short! £9 purchased a genuine CX cable which lasted for the next four years.
A spate of popping bulbs followed, then the rear M38 wore out - thankfully! It never felt too secure on Frog rubber, and 6500 miles was no good to me. AM21 again, supplied, fitted and balanced for £48 by the local car tyre shop.
Next came my one and only breakdown in five years and 60,000 miles with the CX. Just faded away and then stopped. Everything failed - lights, starter, etc. Of course, it was dark and peeing down. I heaved the 500lb dead-weight under a bus shelter, spent thirty fruitless minutes fiddling about with the fuses then phoned the AA. Four hours later I was back home, with the advice that the alternator was ruined....next day I replaced the fuse holder, all was back to normal!
Over the New Year in 1992, the CX hardly saw the light of day for one reason or another. It rewarded me by churning over for an awful long time before chugging into life. New battery, £20, please. Just to keep me awake another tacho cable went bang. To celebrate two years of ownership I treated the bike to a new air-filter and another rear brake switch. Don't know why I bothered. It didn't appreciate all this expense I lavished on it, and to prove it the rear shocks became incontinent - a new pair of Girlings sufficed, for yet another fifty notes.
Then off bike rallying. Magna Carta, Bulldog, Kent, etc. It was whilst in Dymchurch looking for Angel Park that a recurring niggle finally showed its true colours. You see, the CX had a habit of running quite hot in traffic and when I saw clouds of steam rising from the front I got all confused. I wouldn't even have stopped if the Management had not exclaimed that the rad was trying to tell us something. I don't know whether it was because I was knackered after a 350 mile journey or that I really am as dense as she insists I am.
Anyway, after a look at the pointed end, the little woman almost rubbing my nose into the radiator, I finally saw the leak. A can of Rad-Weld later, we were totally roadworthy. Back home, two days and 400 miles later, I went hunting for a replacement rad. They are rare and £200 new, £75 used. In the end, I paid £58 for a guaranteed reconditioned and recored rad (from European Radiators). Never ran hot again, not even in London on Saturday afternoons in the summer!
More miles punctuated by oil and filter changes. I even washed and polished the beast for an MOT. It was just as grotty within a week, I don't know why I bothered. It never made any difference to the running of the bike. I will never understand these sad sods who spend so much time cleaning their bikes, yet never think of changing the oil, let alone the plugs or filters. Chrome don't get you home.
We were loaded up with camping gear again, buzzing up the M1 at a steady 80mph, when the clutch started to slip. Oh goody, just what I want. Only 33000 miles on the £600 bike and the clutch is failing! Ace. Marvellous. Below 65mph, the slipping stopped but this was rather boring cruising. Got overtaken by everything from a Fiat 500 to a Morris Minor van. Home (eventually) and investigate - a frayed cable jamming up. Relief, that, the replacement only cost a tenner.
The actual mileage was down in 1992 as I'd finally got a reliable hack to cope with my commuting chores. A Bantam, would you believe? The CX only used for weekend runs to the coast and holidays. It still covered 7500 miles, though, and the hack about another 6000.
1993 dawned and the exhaust fell apart. It had been rattling and getting a bit rowdy for the last 18 months but if it passed the test it was left well alone. It was an unknown make, a 2-1, was replaced by a Motad at £110. A pattern system was nearly £200. Needed another back tyre, too, an AM21, after 12000 miles from the old one. The crap front M38 finally expired at 13000 miles, replaced with an Avon AM20.
The difference in feel of the bike with the Avons was amazing. Higher mileage, better braking, ride and handling. Just seemed to suit the CX so well. 1993 was the lowest mileage year for me, the CX did 7000 miles and the hack another 5000.
The next year started off with regular weekly trips to college, 100 miles a day in winter rather character building! I invested in heated grips (the best £40 I ever spent) and a secondhand tri-point screen for a tenner. The screen was as big as a ship's sail but never really upset the handling. Probably due to the CX already weighing so much.
62,500 miles, another set of front pads would be jolly nice. 21000 miles out of a set of Vesrah pads ain't too bad but I still think £25 a set is well over the top. Ferodo pads cost £21.
Did quite a lot of touring in 1994. Cornwall, Edinburgh, Chilterns, Northumberland, etc. One afternoon, just outside Woodstock, the old crate started behaving rather oddly. Over 25mph it was a bit like a speed wobble from the back...the rear tread was bulging outwards. We wobbled the ten miles to Shaftsbury, me gripping the bars so tightly I left deep grooves in them! The Management just hanging on with her eyes shut.
The only tyre shop was about to close down for the day but they did the deed, another AM for £48. Told me to send the old tyre back to Avon despite the fact that it was almost worn out. Avon replaced it free of charge, I had an apology from the customer services' chappie for the inconvenience and a visit from their troubleshooter. Service or what?
69000 miles, I replaced the first bearing to fail in the chassis. The rear wheel, never been touched by me in 49000 miles of use. It had been a while since the cables did anything daft, so they started again. Clutch first, 16000 miles after the last one, then another tacho cable. About this time, the front pads wore out again. Only did 9000 miles on the Ferodo's so it's EBC's next.
72000 miles, the fan fell off. It's a bit of manky plastic with a bit of nasty looking monkey-metal in the middle. Horrible. The alloy reacts with the steel spindle it's bolted to, turns to cheese. Then it falls off. Then it makes a lot of noise as it tries to burrow through the radiator. A new fan costs £73; used, a fiver! Fitting involves removing the rad and quite a lot of knuckle skin!
73000 miles, the front AM wore out after 18000 miles. I can't fault Avons on a CX. 74000 miles meant metal fatigue, with creeping rot. The centrestand broke and a hole appeared in the swinging arm. Prone to it, I'm reliably informed. Loads of welding rod, even more enthusiasm but sod all skill meant an angle-grinder was used to tidy up the stand. Tank off, battery off, lay CX on a pile of old tyres, got a cousin to MIG weld the swinging arm up. Back on the road in an afternoon.
Summer of 1995 was a good one for us. Loads of weekends away at MAG events. The highlight being Glowing Lamb in Cumbria. Clocked 6000 miles in three months. We also did 2500 miles around Northumberland and the borders, in about two weeks in early autumn. The CX really earnt its keep. It soaked the mileage up with hardly a murmur but with a rattle of two, an occasional squeak and one or two whines.
End of 1995, I finally got an insurance pay out that I'd been awaiting several years. I blew the lot on my first, and probably only, new bike. The CX had over 80,000 miles on the clock, but had done more than that. Still running well, only really needing a new rear tyre and an MOT. One of the local lads came forward with an offer of £600, which I took. The boss was annoyed at me for selling our baby but also for taking £600! I thought she'd be pleased, especially because I offered to buy her a new vacuum cleaner.
We had covered 60,000 miles in five years on an old Honda CX500. We went on our honeymoon, broke the family record to Aberdeen (350 miles in seven hours, including stops), fell off it twice, fell over it once and got knocked off once. I suffered cuts and bruises, and a minor fracture. The Honda got away with a couple of bent indicators, broken screen, bent levers and a bent shock.
It never let me down when I really needed it. Averaged 50mpg over 60,000 miles, the front Avon lasted 18000 miles, the rear 12000. EBC pads did 21000 miles up front, Vesrah shoes did 40,000 miles at the rear. Rear shocks regardless of make, type or price, never bettered eighteen months or 18000 miles.
Overall, including oil, fuel, tax, insurance, spares, etc it cost me nine pence a mile to run. I only sold it because I've got a new toy that consumes tyres, brake pads, chains, etc., at an appalling rate; and I need the garage space.
Don't expect a CX500 to be all things to all men. They are much maligned but are a steady, workmanlike machine. It did everything I asked of it and more. The handling, performance and braking are well matched to each other, and for its age - 16 years old - quite good. You can't compare them to anything made in the last ten years, as they come from a different era. Ask yourself what you expect for a few hundred pounds, and then try to find one of the few good 'uns that are left.
Complaints? Well a few, mainly niggles such as crap mirrors, small tank, ugly looks, top heavy feel. But it was all I could afford and the boss loved it! It's still pottering about now with 90,000 miles on the clock, and still going strong. I never did exceed 105mph but even now it still does the ton and returns about 50mpg. But best of all, without a shadow of a doubt, was the shaft drive. I had almost forgotten what a pain in the extremities a chain can be. I can't go near my new 'un without getting covered in chain lubricant. Come back CX500, all's forgiven.
Chris Varney
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The old CX was wrecked - an understatement! The bike had scraped along the tarmac at high speed, tearing off the cylinder head and cracking the cylinder/crankcase. The right side of the bike was dented and battered but aside from the engine damage was basically intact; not even the forks were twisted. The owner had taken much of the impact, receiving a six month stay in hospital for his pains. Lack of insurance, MOT, road tax, etc added to his woes and had the cops sweating with glee.
He wanted shot of the machine as fast as possible but managed a perfect rendition of shocked outrage when I suggested fifty notes was about right! After all, I'd have to push the old heap home. I reluctantly handed over twice my original offer after he'd agreed to strap the bike to the top of his cousin's cage's roof-rack. The cage turned out to be an old Mk.2 Cortina with more rust than paint - the roof visibly buckled under the CX's excessive mass. We shuddered the two miles to my house, unloaded the CX which snagged on the roof and tore a large slice out of the car, which seemed to be warped after all the effort. The owner didn't seem to notice, clattered off to never-never land.
What can you say about old CX's? Quite! They weren't exactly on the ball when brand, spanking new. The good news was that once they were running they could be kept going on a shoestring budget. Word was cast around for a replacement engine. The first few were rejected because I already knew that their owners had blown them up. What I ended up with was another crashed CX, but one in which the engine was unscathed (thanks to heavily mangled crash-bars - mandatory fitments) and could be heard running. Any engine without immediate rattling has to be considered good news in CX circles. Mine for yet another 100 notes - the cost was adding up!
So it was out with the old, in with the new, and a few better cycle parts added into the mix. Hey presto - a few bruised knuckles later - one working Honda CX500. And it ran as curiously as it looked. God knows how many miles the motor had done, or how it'd been butchered by past owners, but none of that really explained the way it lurched down the road in a series of kangaroo hops. I was relieved when all the violence disappeared as I knocked the box up to second - I soon decided that some teeth must be missing off first gear - it was that violent!
That was about all the violence the motor had in it, acceleration best described as stately. Just as well, really, because it liked to pull to the left, startling quite a few ped's until I learnt to compensate for it with a bit of counter-steering. The brakes were diabolical - either all or nothing, with a mind of their own that made for uneasy times on slippery, wet roads. Engine braking was like a kick in the kidneys but helped slow the old bus down. Handling was what you'd expect on an aged CX - soft and soggy, predictable in a loose kind of way. It never bit back violently and the whole thing would wobble through the bends with all the precision of a faulty exocet missile.
The main purpose of the old hack was to rush through Central London traffic, which given its density needed neither excess power nor speed. The CX was a bit barge-like at low speeds, needing a determined tug on the bars to get it to go where I wanted. It wasn't that wide, didn't go wild when assaulted by the deeper pot-holes and meandered along with a feeling of total invincibility - this was doubtless all in my mind; if I took the sides of a couple of cars off it wouldn't make the CX any more wrecked than it already was - I'd already taken the precaution of fitting a massive set of crash-bars. Judging by the screams of one ped who got in the way, they were highly effective - he even drowned out the awful racket emitted by the 'silencers' which were about as rotted as they could get without actually falling off. One good kick would've destroyed them completely!
Time went by, mileage built up, without any obvious further deterioration. A gentle hand on the controls needed - your average yob's penchant for wheelie starts, for instance, would've destroyed the engine in about thirty seconds. No, old hacks have to be cultivated, caressed gently along and given the odd encouraging word - works wonders! At least until some terminal mechanical demise catches up with you.
In my case it was the good old camchain blues. The bike actually has pushrod controlled valvegear but the camshaft's driven by a chain which is notorious for its easy demise. With no warning whatsoever, my camchain snapped - metal fatigue, I'd guess - leaving me with a dead motor in the middle of the splendid English countryside. God was out to get me that day, no sooner had the Honda stalled than the blue skies turned black and it was monsoon time! In disgust, I cut my losses, threw the terrible vee into the nearest ditch and waddled off towards the nearest town. Two buses later, I was back home.
My next door neighbour heard out my tale of woe and volunteered his ancient Bedford van for the rescue mission. One soggy CX was eventually pulled out of the ditch by the simple expedient of tying a rope to its handlebars and leaving enough slack so that the van could bounce up to 30mph before the rope caught. Magically, the bike flipped out of the ditch and crashed down on to the road, dragged along for about a hundred yards. The old bruiser did more damage to the tarmac than itself!
A used camchain was fitted and the motor fired up. Somehow, it'd avoided mangling its valves, though there was a bit more top end rattle and high speed runs needed even more effort. More than 90mph was impossible and the bike was turning in about 40mpg - against 110mph and 55mpg from a newish example. Nevertheless, it was still a useful city hack that thumped through the traffic with the added safely factor of its extremely loud exhaust - the deep bass rumble at low revs in top gear seemed to vibrate the tarmac, redolent of a tank on the rampage!
Although the CX was never the most popular of motorcycles in its day, often the subject of open derision, it does have a fanatical following and anyone who rides one today will be subjected to much attention from current and past owners, who will come up with all kinds of interesting theories and observations. I've even seen a couple of chopped examples and they are popular with the rat bike crowd, a category that my bike could easily attain. One guy claimed to have done 220,000 miles on the original engine (more or less, he wouldn't admit to the number of camchains replaced!), many have certainly taken them around the clock - once Honda sorted out their original problems they proved to be tough!
The going rate for a runner is under 500 notes; twice that should buy a very good example. Most engine spares are still available on the used circuit but cycle parts have mostly rusted through. The early, twin shock 500's are considered the real CX's, though the CX650 developed the design into something more substantial and there are still odd low milers around for somewhat over the grand mark.
Me? Sensing that the end isn't far off, I've just bought a GS450 for 300 notes; running engine but smashed up chassis. All I have to do is work out how to fit the CX bits! Gonna be way cool...
H.G.R.
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For those of you who always thought the CX500 was an old man's runaround or the thing corpulent despatch riders dreams were made of, here is the story of XCV 26V. Perhaps, before I continue any further it should be pointed out that although I am below the age of affordable insurance my taste in motorcycles is not of the race replica, plastic enclosed, super-handling variety prevalent in rich people's garages but more for those bikes, few though they are, which can be left on the street at night without too much fear of the local syndicate removing them by van.
Another reason for my taste is an objection to the price of modern bikes, I find it hard to envisage spending four grand on a motorcycle, in fact I find the idea of the four grand hypnotic but that's another story.
The CX500 that I acquired for the princely sum of £325 was the A model and after the heyday period of its first few thousand miles this was the model that was the butt of the motorcycle press jokes. Curious isn't it, how one minute a machine is a technological wonder, one year later an old wreck. XCV 26V had obviously seen better days when I first saw it. There was a nasty rattle coming from the rear of the engine, the fork seals were blown and the crash bars revealed a story of a trip up the road on its side at some point. Still, I was desperate for a large bike to ride and had time and money to contemplate a rebuild if that was what it took.
In short, I wanted it and the seller seemed only too glad to oblige, a point which I later thought long and hard over in more than one pub. The CX was given an MOT by the local blind dealer and I filled it up with oil and petrol and started off on the 100 mile trip home. The ride was a pure joy for someone used to a 250 Superdream, the power and low down torque seemed to indicate that this was an ideal touring bike. The saddle was supremely comfortable and the shaft drive beautifully smooth. For the first few weeks having 50hp on tap seemed like seventh heaven but then it all started to go wrong.
The noise at the back of the engine was identified as camchain rattle and I discovered that the bike was using one and a half pints of oil in a 100 miles. Having decided that I had the time and money for a rebuild I decided to put in a new camchain and replace the valve oil seals.
The various bits and pieces were acquired from the local dealer. The rebuild of the back end of the engine was straightforward enough, just remember to take the Haynes manual with a pinch of salt and use the oil filter bolt to pull the generator off its taper or damage will ensue. Problems occurred when trying to fit a new water pump seal, as it's about 1mm too large in diameter to fit into its place. Drifting it with a bit of tube and a big hammer is out of the question as it is a flimsy piece of aluminium, so it was off to the local engineer with a white face and trembling fingers.
My first rebuild looked ominously beyond my abilities and as always at these times the pub was shut and friends were away for the weekend. However, all was not lost and the skilful application of a blow torch to the casing expanded the aperture just enough for the seal to be driven in. After this hitch the rest of the engine went together really easily much to the surprise of all those who had groaned at the complexity of the vee twin. The valve oil seals were simple in comparison to the camchain. The only problem came after 4000 miles when the pattern gaskets blew.
Taking the rebuilt bike on the road for the first time was fraught with insights into my own mental condition....was that a noise; was that smoke; isn't the handling different? It turned out that all these new idiosyncrasies were after all inside my mind rather than the engine. After 10 miles confidence was restored and I loaded up a mate and set off for a 200 mile trip to run all the new parts in. Cruising along at 55mph the bike felt smooth and quiet; quite a good thing really as I'd just spent a hundred quid on parts.
On the way home a new problem manifested itself. The engine would only fire on one cylinder above 6000rpm. This meant that the bike couldn't manage more than the 60mph that I was maintaining and it proved to be a most elusive and frustrating problem. When the bike was cold it was fine but as it warmed up it wouldn't rev past six grand which is where the power came in. This caused a few exciting moments on the way to work in the mornings as I would find myself halfway past a lorry and suddenly only riding on a single cylinder 250 instead of a 500 twin.
After about three weeks playing with carbs and checking for sparks, I found that what I had taken for a carb problem was something more elusive. This mysterious condition persisted until one day in a fit of frustration I decided to remove the plug cap of each cylinder whilst in motion to isolate the fault on one side or the other. It had been a long day and to top it all as I flicked the plug cap off it flew into the road and broke into two pieces. I let forth with the usual comments about the CX and walked back along the road to pick up the remnants of the plug cap.
I refitted it and found the misfire miraculously cured - the plug cap had been breaking down when it got warm because it had collected a thin film of oil which obviously conducted better as the engine warmed up. I decided to replace the caps until I found a new set cost £15 as they are unique to the CX. Needless to say, my CX is still running with insulation tape and a sadder but wiser owner.
After all this I had hoped that the bike would be pretty sound but the oil consumption problem was no better than before despite the new valve seals. This could only mean that the rings or pistons were worn as I had checked the barrels when the heads were off. The prospect of a complete rebuild with all the gaskets involved seemed too much like tempting fate so I decided to live with the oil problem. I have discovered that later versions have the breather fitted at the rear of the engine where the pressure from the down stroke of the pistons doesn't force oil down the breather and into the air intake. At some point in the future this mod will be made to XCV 26V.
It seemed that, afterall, my £325 bargain was becoming something of a liability and it was at this point that I began to frequent pubs in the hope of being offered a large sum of money to part with my ex-technowonder. It was not to be, so I continued riding around in a perpetual state of hearing noises that didn't really exist and dreading the day when something totally terminal would happen to the engine.
It never did and 10,000 miles later I have developed a strange affection for the beast. It has never left me stranded, never left me lost for an answer to its faults and always performed well for a 500cc pushrod twin. In fact, when the time comes for it to go I think I will safely be able to say that no other motorcycle has given me so much pleasure.
As for whether I would recommend the CX to other prospective buyers I'm not so sure. If you get a good CX then it'll go on forever but if you get a bad one you'll find yourself going grey prematurely, watching your bank balance disappear in gaskets and generally wishing that all bikes had detachable barrels, were air cooled and had proper camchain tensioners. So to avoid the stress of buying a bad CX here are a few things to watch for:
First of all, take a good long look at the previous owner, does he look like a despatch rider? If so, be warned, many a decent CX has met an early grave tearing around on short journeys. Next, check the fork seals, the springs are very soft and seals blow regularly. They are easy to replace but are a good bargaining point, likewise the rear suspension. New Marzocchis will set you back about £60 to firm up the rear end.
If you're looking at the Eurosport ask how often the owner greases the monoshock, these tend to seize if left unattended and don't come cheap. Tyres will last about 8000 miles on the back and 14000 miles front - Arrowmaxes seem to give the best combination of wear and handling. When listening to the engine remember that any noises are expensive to eradicate on a CX and if you hear a ratty one leave it well alone unless you're offered a ridiculous bargain. Check the breather pipe for signs of oil and on early models check the air filter box for any telltale deposits.
CX electrics seem to be pretty sound with the aforementioned exception of the plug caps so there should be no problems there. Check the head bearings as they have a lot of work to do on a bike of this weight and look carefully for signs of the bike having been dropped.
Other things to watch for are handling characteristics - if it's been dropped and bent it should be obvious from the handling. A good CX will be completely stable at top speed, around 100mph, and show no signs of weave or shake. Check the front guard for rust as this is an MOT failure and very expensive to replace. Look into the coolant overflow tank whilst the engine is running - there should be no signs of disturbance, any bubbles indicate imminent head gasket failure. As for mileage, anything up to 40,000 miles will still keep going if it's been well looked after but beware smoke and noises.
Expect to pay £200 to do up a ratty CX and throw in a good weekend's worth of time and a fair slice of your life expectancy in stress.
So what are the joys of owning this over-complex, overweight machine? Number one had to be cheap, easy to locate spares. Your local breaker will have all types and colours of CXs in his backyard and will probably rub his hands with enthusiasm as he sees you approach. Apart from keeping the breakers in business you'll be the owner of a reasonably cheap, very reliable (when it's sorted) motorcycle that will take you long distances in great comfort with no need for messy chain adjustment, little gearchanging and a very stable ride.
Whatever anyone might tell you about the handling of the CX, unless you intend to use the road as a race track you'll have no problems. I recently took an FZR600 owner as pillion in the wet and he was astonished that the CX could be leant safely on corners despite the weather. Mind you, if I had an FZR I doubt I'd even take it out in the rain. You will find the CX remarkably quick for what it is and quite able to cruise at 80-90mph all day. Economy is not all it could be on an ageing bike, but you should get between 50-60mpg depending on how hard you make it work.
Other benefits of late seventies technology are the screw adjustment rockers which are simple to use but must be set every 3000 miles to avoid a clattery top end. The camchain adjustment is by spring tension and should be set every time you do the rocker clearances. Various bits and pieces of add-on gear can be an asset on the CX. Personally, I don't favour fairings but if you want one they can be picked up for about £40. Panniers are likewise available from the local breaker. An essential for any transverse vee twin are crash bars.
If your CX doesn't have them and you can't find them at the breakers then do splash out £25 to buy a new set because if your bike is ever dropped it'll save you buying a new engine - the CX barrels are integral to the main casing and very vulnerable in a spill. Brakes are very good in general but I have found, not surprisingly, that they depreciate with high mileage. At the moment I'm looking for a secondhand set of Goodridge hoses as I can't afford new ones.
A reconditioned 250 Superdream master cylinder is also going to grace my handlebars when I get around to it. So there you have it. The CX is apparently just coming back into fashion which means, of course, that prices are going up. Expect to pay around £600 for a very good one with a sound engine, more for the 650 and more for any low mileage example.
This is probably more than a CX is really worth but prices are going a bit silly at the moment. I did meet a guy who had picked one up from a neighbour for £30 but I couldn't bear to talk to him for very long as I'd paid ten times that and thought I had bought a bargain. As for mine, I may sell it soon or I may keep it and investigate the possibility of fitting a 650 engine into the frame. I suspect the latter because I've grown to love my Plastic Maggot.
After all, it's transported me around for the last 10,000 miles very comfortably and perhaps the ultimate accolade is that I took it around the West Country on honeymoon and never once had a complaint from the pillion. If another bike could offer all the CX can with a bit more performance then I'd buy it tomorrow, given the money, but as it is I foresee XCV 26V continuing to be my transport for some time yet.
Simon Locks
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I ended up looking at a 1983 Honda CX500 Eurosport at a dealers in Stockport, advertised at £995. It was white with a Rickman Trident fairing, Alpine panniers and an enormous rack. The rubber it came with was half worn Roadrunners, and the mileage was just over 15000, which with six owners in the logbook had to be taken with a bucketful of salt.
The dealer said he would give it a full service before it went out and also sort out the rear caliper that had been sticking a bit on the test ride and the seat which was not mounted properly, rocking back and forth on acceleration and braking. I collected the bike as arranged and set off home via the dreaded M63 in the rush hour, pottering along with all the tin boxes, at 30 to 40mph the bike was quiet, comfortable and felt as different from my previous bike, a VT250, as a Transit van is from a tuned up Mini.
The brakes were really good on the front, as twin pot calipers on twin discs with anti-dive should be. But the back was vague and the lack of feel let me lock the back wheel in the stop-start traffic jams without knowing until the seat started to turn inexplicably one way or the other underneath me.
Once I got moving properly, the fairing screen directed the air right at the visor of my helmet, which being a Bieffe caused a noise like I imagine sticking your head in the wrong end of a tornado would be like. By the time I got on the M61 traffic was thinning and I wound the throttle around a bit to see what would happen.
The beast cruised at 90mph with remarkable ease until about 10 miles from Preston it started to lose power and the speed dropped from 90 to 80 to 70 then 60 and finally seemed to stabilise at about 45-50mph at full throttle. The beast had turned into a fruit, a lemon to be precise. A quick once over on the hard shoulder revealed nothing. Setting off again from the hard shoulder it ran fine but by the time I reached my home it was spluttering again.
I suspected the air filter and when the dealer revealed that his full service had in reality been just an oil change and that he would not give me a new filter, I went and bought one. Everything was fine again, but I found they only lasted for 2000 miles! I now run my bike without one, the only apparent ill effect is a nasty flat spot between 5500 and 6000 revs but I suppose engine life will be shortened.
After the dealer's revelation about his idea of a full service, I decided I'd better change the oil filter. The head of the nut that retains this was rounded off and mole-grips did not work. I had to hammer a screwdriver against one of the fins on the filter cover. Blood and flat knuckles everywhere. The filter looked ancient and had several holes in it. The supposedly new oil I drained out was the same colour as road tar. 40 minutes must be some sort of record for transforming new oil to black sludge.
The plugs looked okay, the tappets sounded alright, I changed the oil in the shaft drive and greased everything that looked like it needed it. I covered the wheels with silicone grease to stop the alloy rotting, it actually repels water and doesn't become black and slimy. The rear caliper had been fitted with brake pads of an entirely new material - mild steel. Pads are common at each end and cost £11 a set. The new pads increased the power of the back brake but not its feel, and since it would lock the wheel with the steel pads the exercise was a bit pointless other than to preserve the disc itself.
After running the thing around locally for a week I decided it was time to see what it was made of. I set off for the motorway at 4.00am on a Sunday afternoon with £25 in my pocket and a Collins road atlas in one of the panniers with no idea of where I was going. For some reason Edinburgh came to mind and off I went. I soon found that the tank had at least a gallon and a half left after the gauge showed empty and the bike was averaging 50 to 55mpg.
The CX was easily capable of a constant 90mph, including riding up Shap into a strong head wind, but found it difficult breaking the ton barrier even downhill. By the time the motorway turned into the A74 my bum was aching, by the time I turned off the A74 on to the A73 and A702 it had dropped off. Even though the CX is a big bike the distance between the seat and the pegs is still too small to take any weight through my feet. Because of the fairing deflecting the wind, the amount of weight on my hands made them ache after a 100 miles.
At the first sign of water both ends would start to let go in a most unpredictable manner. The fairing screen was definitely too low and I decided to see about buying a bigger one. I arrived in Edinburgh at the same time as the rain, riding around a strange city in the wet after covering 180 miles to get there is certainly a test of an unfamiliar bike, but I managed to stay on during the heaviest down pour I can remember.
A cup of coffee later I set off for home, the rain had put me off going any further north. Back on the A74 I caught up with a GPZ600 and rode along for a bit, until I sped up to 90mph and left him. I don't think he could see where he was going, at least the fairing screen on the CX kept my visor partially clean. Over the whole 375 mile trip the CX averaged 54mpg, not bad considering the speeds I was riding at.
I have now started a despatch company and have covered over 7000 miles in the four months I have had the CX. Problems so far have been a rusty starter solenoid replaced by a used item off a VF400, a camchain and tensioner at 20,000 miles which cost £130 - the tensioner is automatic and seems to work well in comparison with the manual adjuster fitted to the earlier bikes.
The Roadrunners were used until they wore out and replaced by Conti TKV11 & 12 tyres, which are better but still not brilliant. The standard tyre size on the rear is 120/80H18, you may be surprised to find out how much cheaper and more available 90 profile tyres are - they don't seem to have any effect on handling either, probably because you never know what the rear wheel is up to.
The clutch started slipping soon after the run to Edinburgh, but 7500 miles later is still not bad enough for me to do anything about it. The left- hand front caliper stuck on and had to be bodged at the roadside after I started smelling burning rubber seals. The caliper now needs two new pistons, and all three calipers need constant maintenance to stop them sticking on.
The sidelight bulbs in the fairing keep popping but this is no problem, who needs them, anyway? I bought the taller screen which cost £32 and deflects wind so that it only hits the top inch of my helmet. The other main gripe so far has been with the exhausts, each silencer costs £54 plus VAT and they have both just started to dissolve. When I took them off to weld plates on, the baffles fell out in powder form which has made the flat spot even worse. However, they are not illegally noisy and the outer shell is sound apart from a rotten band three inches from the end of each, now covered by mild steel plate and Hammerite. Pattern silencers for older CXs do not fit because of the bend in the later type, a Motad costs £86, which is too expensive for me.
It is very good at long distances considering it cost less than a thousand pounds - sort of half as good as a K100 BMW for a quarter of the price. The longest day so far was just over 600 miles, the first 300 almost flat out, it didn't miss a beat despite pouring rain and very cold conditions.
My girlfriend never says anything about the pillion which must be a good sign, as she always had a few choice words to say about the VT and Soupdragon I owned before. Because it's all white and fairly big it also impresses other girls who know nothing about bikes.
Distance is all it is good at, it's got no more speed than the VT250 and doesn't handle as well. It's heavy and cumbersome in town and often too wide to go down lines of traffic. The panniers are wider than the fairing and I forgot about this once or twice. The last time resulted in scaring a Cavalier driver in a two lane queue half to death by touching his bumper with the left-hand pannier. A loud bang resulted but no damage. They had to go after that.
The anti-dive is a pain in the arse when you're braking over bumps, it stops all suspension movement and make the thing feel like the steering head is about to snap off. It has four adjustment positions, the lowest feels like there is no oil in the forks when you brake and the hardest feels like they're jammed. The suspension is air adjustable, the front goes from soft to softer, although the rear has a good pressure range.
The extra weight of the fairing and luggage make the bike weave and bob about when you lean over no matter what the settings. While we're on the moans, ground clearance is pretty bad, my size elevens are the first thing to say hello to the tarmac, closely followed by the centrestand - but the thing does not inspire the confidence to do this very often. The final complaint is the front guard, one trip down a wet road needs a jetwash to clear out the debris from the radiator.
This is the first bike I haven't ridden for pleasure. I find it extremely boring and if I was going to keep it long I would have to buy another bike to have fun on, but I think I'll trade it in before the mileage gets too high.
Pete Shone
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Some people insist on trying it on. I'd travelled half way across London to view a 1980 Honda CX500. Words like superb, excellent and beautiful had been bandied about over the phone. The owner was obviously on some kind of nose-snort, the CX a corroded mess that rattled and knocked rather than ran. I didn't even want to try a test ride but the drug abuser insisted that it went better than it looked. A moot point, but the gearbox still worked, the speedo hit 60mph and it wallowed no worse than when it was new. Yes, I was one of those fools who bought one of the first 'uns and rapidly learnt what it was like to be a development rider for Honda. The only payment I got, though, was a CX that worked long enough to off-load before it destroyed its engine again.
Now, of course, most of the magazines reckon it was just a few minor problems that Honda soon put to rights and it was perfectly safe to buy a later model. Maybe. With this degree of cynicism about the CX I should've kept well clear of the breed, but it was cheap and I was in a hurry to find some commuting hack, some cretin having knocked off by previous mount. Only a blind idiot would try to steal the CX.
For £150 I couldn't complain, but that didn't stop me muttering curses under my breath as I headed home via Central London. The rain was pouring down, the road surface like ice and all the car drivers had gone crazy. The same old tale of desperation and dementia that required a crazed bit of riding just to stay with the flow. Not the kind of going a rotting Plastic Maggot excelled at. One bit of amusement I forgot to mention, the clock read 4300, more like 104,300 miles!
Another was the brand new MOT certificate, which with a home-made exhaust seemed so unlikely that I'd examined the form for signs of forgery. At least the noise notified cagers of my mere existence and the rerouted oil breather was perfectly situated to stop moped merchants and cyclists from sitting on my tail. I'm an easy going kind of chap normally but I couldn't take being overtaken by spotty kids on such terrible devices!
I had no intention of looking too closely at the Honda until it stopped working. I had budgeted for an engine swap so it would merely be interesting to see how long it took for the rattles and knocks to turn terminal.
The vee-twin engine varies between falling apart under you and running for tens of thousands of miles without needing any attention. There's no logic to this quixotical nature, some abused motors would run and run, others that were carefully maintained wasted their big-ends, snapped their camchain and blew all the gaskets. So it was with my engine, I never even changed the oil for 5500 miles and the damn thing made terrible noises but ran on regardless.
The end came when I was pushing the engine so hard in third gear that the normally smooth motor turned so rough that the mirror twirled around like it was possessed, flying off to whack into a following car. Rev through it, I optimistically told myself. It suddenly bounded forward, deep into the red then made a detonation like a canon going off.
My reflexes were trained on old hacks, so I'd hit the clutch lever without thinking about it. Pulled over with only the mildest of lurches. It was a bad day, the driver who'd had the mirror flung at his car pulled over and bounded out of his cage. My attention was distracted by the large hole in the crankcase where the con-rod was poking out, but rapidly concentrated when Mr Cager grabbed my throat, pulled me out of the saddle and bruised some ribs after hurling me on to the grass to give me a good kicking. I didn't feel like pushing the Honda home, it was hard going getting to the telephone box and summoning my mate with a Transit.
I'd already bought a spare motor but was bit annoyed when the exhaust reacted to being knocked off with my big hammer by splitting at the collector box. As a temporary measure I put some baffles in the otherwise open downpipes. It lasted for a day, as I soon gave up trying to start the replacement motor. Used silencers off a CB250 went straight on and the motor responded by churning into life. I knew there wasn't much life by the excess of vibes...... tightening up the engine bolts with brutish force helped a little. CX engines are easy to maintain but not to work on, especially in the transmission area, so I started looking for another motor.
Meanwhile, the 50 mile a day commute soon found how tough was the CX - the valves needed adjusting every week as they seemed to be sinking into the valve seats, softening of the latter not an uncommon fault on high mileage CX's. Like the old motor, it wasn't too happy doing more than 6000rpm, about 70mph in top. Accompanied by the kind of dizzy vibes that would make some old relic on a British twin come in his underpants.
It so happened that about the only useful bits left on the original motor were the cylinder heads, so after 3000 miles, when clouds of pollutants were annoying London traffic, I swapped them over. One of the exhaust valves was halfway into the valve seat.....The top ends were easy enough to fit, as long as some goo was used on the gaskets to seal the watercooling. I've seen CX's spewing out great clouds of steam when the gaskets leak. Fun until the pistons seize.
The reassembled motor ran discernibly better, but wasn't fast enough to see off a good Superdream. Not helped any by a lot of wallowing above 50mph, down to soft shocks and a dubious frame design. For a 500cc motorcycle the CX feels amazingly top heavy, like some giant slug that just wants to flip over and die a quick, quiet death. The top-heavy feel was at its greatest at city speeds but going fast just subsumed it under the equally queasy wallowing. I didn't expect much more, could live with it as it was vague in a predictable manner rather than randomly trying to throw me off. A polite way of saying it was bloody awful all the time!
They are quite tough creatures, though. The couple of times the worn tyres let loose on greasy roads all that happened was that the engine tore great chunks out of the badly laid tarmac whilst I slid smoothly off, adding to the scars on my full leathers (I'm old enough to have learnt my lessons with regard to motorcycling clothes). Even after a serious crash the Comstar wheels are rebuildable and the front forks and brakes so fickle that fitting just about anything else is an improvement.
Mind you, I wouldn't take that to the extreme of a friend who somehow fitted a CG125 front end to his aged, abused CX - the legs snapped as it was rumbling along at 45mph. The CX cartwheeled down the road, destroying itself whilst the rider only narrowly avoided becoming a castrato. The Revenge of the CX's!
After about 7000 miles my engine did its usual trick of ruining the big-ends with an almost simultaneous demise of the water pump and pistons. I'm not sure if the failure of one caused a chain reaction or if they all had called it a day due to excessive mileage.
Again, rapid clutch worked saved me from my probably deserved fate, an ignominious dose of tarmac rash. It happened 50 miles from home, which tempted me to dump the beast but I'd fitted a newish set of Avons the week before, so it was time to again summon my mate with a Transit van.
As usual on old Jap engines, once they go there's very little to salvage. It would be cheaper to buy a new Fireblade than the large pile of parts necessary to get the heap running again! CX engines are becoming rare now, so I've had no luck finding one yet. They are great hacks, will keep going for surprising distances even when on the way out.
Howard Jennings
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A Y reg Honda Maggot with 25 thou under its almost bald tyres didn't exactly inspire, but I had to get 30 miles to work and back and there was sod all else on offer at £350. The test ride had revealed a top heavy bike with only a marginal amount of urge. It was about what I had expected from a 450lb, 500cc vee-twin. The exhaust didn't smoke and few rattles came out through the watercooling, so I figured it was only about half worn out!
The most surprising thing about the overweight slug was that, true to its vee-twin nature, as soon as I put the engine into top gear - no easy achievement until I'd become used to the, ahem, loose gearbox - I could motor off with as little as 30mph on the clock. Acceleration wouldn't worry a derestricted TZR125, but seemed to keep ahead of most of the cagers. I was quite impressed with the relaxed style of riding.
The exhaust was a rusty Motad 2-1 that gave out a contented snarl that emphasized its laid back nature. It was a bit rusty but I thought it was good for at least a year. Some hope, a week after purchase the bracket that held the silencer on finally rusted through. The first I knew about this was the silencer bumping along the tarmac. By the time I pulled over the silencer had self-destructed and the open 2-1 made the bike sound like a fleet of tanks.
Anyway, I had to get to work, some five miles away. Even in top gear at 1500rpm the noise reverberated off the cagers who looked around in wonderment that such a device could exist. I made it to work without being booked. A mate took me to the breakers, on the back of a tuned CD175, where a suitable looking pipe was found. This went on with suspicious ease and seemed to give slightly more power and less noise than the Motad. The downpipes eventually rusted through, some three years later, so a new Motad was then put on.
After fixing the exhaust I decided a new set of Avons would do wonders for the handling. Well, they stopped the slides in the wet that had me putting down my boot several times. Although the Honda feels top heavy it's quite easy to pull back with a bit of violent input; after about a month its hefty feel had more or less faded into the background. The Roadrunners lasted around 12000 miles, not enough to my mind but twice I'd hit a patch of grease that had the front wheel sliding away and they had pulled the bike back into shape as soon as decent tarmac was hit. So, I had great faith in them.
The next item on my hit list was a noisy rear drum. It braked alright, there was plenty of meat on the shoes and linings and all the shafts looked like new, so I put it back together. It's still noisy and still works! Shoes lasted 30,000 miles. Which was nearly as neat as the EBC pads at 20,000 miles, although the front brake made up for its apparent frugality by seizing its calipers two or three times every winter. Calipers were not readily available in breakers but I'd eventually tracked down a spare set.
After about three months of reliable service I became pissed off with the rear shocks, which seemed to have neither damping nor springing. Every time a large bump was hit, the back end slewed down the road for about a hundred yards before it sorted itself out. If it hit another bump before then all hell would break loose. A new set of R & R's was rather extravagant, but they were half price at the motorcycle show. They seemed brilliant, the whole feel of the chassis transformed. The forks had gaiters, were in reasonable shape.
The shocks were fitted just in time for the MOT. The bike failed because the rear brake light wasn't working. The switch was perfectly situated for being dosed in water and dirt, had seized solid. One used replacement later I had my MOT certificate. I celebrated by taking a 90mph cruise up the M1. The Honda returned 38mpg when thrashed like that, more normally it'd do 40 to 50mpg and a pint of oil was needed every 300 miles. Coming back, the tacho cable broke after I'd taken it into the red a few times. It proved impossible to undo the cable at the engine end, so I just left it there. Very clever, Mr Honda.
Six months went by with just an oil and filter swap, then the electrics went a little haywire. The horn would sound on its own, indicators flashed indiscriminately and the motor would stop dead. Both handlebar switch clusters had decided they were fed up with English weather. Spraying them with WD40 didn't help, so some ubiquitous Superdream items were force-fitted. Whether this had anything to do with the rectifier/regulator going up in smoke, I don't know. A Superdream item was fitted before it became necessary to replace the battery or alternator. I eventually ended up rewiring the whole bike.
One bit of CX lore I was well aware of was the air-filter, which clogs up in a mere 5000 to 6000 miles. Most evident in a drastic increase in fuel consumption. I know one guy who got the bargain of the year, a 12000 mile CX in immaculate shape for £300, but it was very asthmatic, running like a restricted 125. It was just an original air-filter knee deep in debris. At least it insured that the motor wasn't filling up with crud.
At the same time as the air-filter was dealt with, it was a good idea to put in a new set of plugs (laughably easy after some DOHC fours, due to the cylinder location). If that's neglected starting became very difficult and low speed running went completely to pot. The electronic ignition and coils are still original!
After two years of largely pleasant riding there was just over 50,000 miles on the clock. I thought it was time to move on to something newer, but there was no chance of buying anything decent for the kind of money the CX would fetch. Handling had become a little weird, with some heavy weaves and wobbles above 50mph, some vicious head shaking on the overrun. This turned out to be a combination of leaking fork seals and worn steering head bearings. Before I'd replaced the latter I had a lock to lock tank-slapper at 50mph. I found it difficult to stand up after we eventually came to a halt, after using half a year's supply of brake material.
As well as the seals and bearings, I added some washers to the top of the springs. Ended up with only three inches of travel but it was nicely taut. I turned the R & R's up to match. Fifty miles later I came close to being smashed to pieces when the seat collapsed under me. It was such a violent, sudden disintegration that I thought the frame had rusted through. Disconcerted, I put too much effort into the bars, throwing the plot into one hell of wobble. I always kept the brakes in good shape which allowed me to survive the experience.
A long summer holiday added nearly 10,000 miles to the carnage with a spate of breaking cables, but I had spare ones taped alongside in readiness. The handling started to go again, but kicking, pushing and pulling revealed a distinct lack of looseness. It was safe up to 80mph and with such a high mileage motor I didn't really want to push it any harder than that.
It took another 4000 miles until both sets of wheel bearings were sufficiently loose for me to suss the problem. The old bearings gave every indication of being welded or corroded in their housings. It was a two man job, a mate wielding a blow-torch and myself a metal shaft and sledge-hammer. When I whacked my finger I screamed my head off, kicked the neighbour's dog half to death and eventually ended up in the casualty ward - by the time they got around to looking at it the pain and swelling had subsumed to a tolerable level. Typical!
After that experience I was all for selling the old rat, but no-one would give me any dosh for it. By the time 70,000 miles were done, the terrible gearbox had started jumping out of gear. The best thing to do was put it in the tallest gear that was tolerable as quickly as possible. I ended up starting off in third as first and second were all but unusable, either refusing to engage or jumping out of gear. I would eventually end up with a two speed motorcycle (third and fifth) but there was enough torque, even on the aged, original bores, to deal with that paucity of ratios!
I bought another bike for the main commuting chores but leapt on the Honda quite often over the next few years - it always chugged into life despite my wilful neglect. Fuel was down to 30mpg, vibes were interesting and the clutch had begun to add slip to its natural drag - rather amusing with the lack of available gears. Still, 80,000 miles eventually came up on the clock, an event that coincided with the need for new MOT, pads, tyres, plugs and air-filter - the combined cost more than the CX was worth. I kept riding it for about a month, in a thoroughly illegal state, as my prime machine was off the road due to an accident.
By the time the CX was finally stuffed in the back of my garage, the radiator had split, the swinging arm bearings were shot and the petrol tank was threatening to collapse. It's been waiting for a renovation job for a couple of years, is now in lots of different bits. I have to admit that I like CX's, they seem tough despite their early, well chronicled problems, and have some of the charm that seems inherent in all vee-twins. I'm now riding around on a VT500, which seems even better than the CX but just a little bland. My early Maggot looks so strange that I can't help but feel that a decade or two down the line it will be considered a classic motorcycle. I'm going to rebuild mine completely stock and make a killing. Mad or what?
Chris Larson
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A matt black wreck sporting ape-hangers, square section bars instead of rear shocks and a massive oil leak, consuming a pint a week. But despite straight through pipes posing as silencers, I was clocked weaving down the M40 at 105mph. This is a description of my previous machine, a Honda CB250 Wet Dream twin, bought for £80, with a top end that sounded like it was tap dancing, due to 80 thou on the clock.
After ten months, two chains, four rear tyres and twenty gallons of engine oil - what oil wasn't burnt was ejaculated from the rocker cover, secured by two self-tappers and a tube of instant gasket, and was worn by yours truly as waterproof overtrousers - I had tired of the old wreck. For a huge fifty quid a maladjusted young chap took it off my hands, so I started looking for a replacement with a larger engine
I soon had to face a tough realisation. After 20 months on the dole I just had to find a job. Walking home one evening, on the second week of doing shitty work for a temp agency, I peered over a local garden wall and there she stood. Between the ageing, decrepit hulks of shagged out cars, a matt black CX500 was resting precariously on a bent main stand. Green moss thrived where once a seat had been, covered with bird shite and joined to the surrounding shrubbery by cobwebs. Not wanting a non-runner, I nearly carried on homeward, but noticed the tax had only recently expired. 'Er mate, you wanna sell yer bike?' I asked when he opened the door.
Half an hour later he had bullshitted his way to a sale. I returned the following evening, feeling good having just jacked in my job, handed over £100 and rode it home. Or rather managed to manoeuvre it - images of the Torrey Canyon disaster flashed periodically before my eyes - waddling on semi-deflated tyres. The bike was a nightmare, top heavy and the vee-twin firing pulses seemed to be throwing it from side to side.
The front brake was almost seized, the rear drum brake either barely rubbed or it locked solid with an extra ounce of pressure. The clutch cable was so dry that after pulling it in, you had to physically push it back out again. Once home I inspected every inch. Apart from both tyres being illegal, an oversized bulb had melted and destroyed the rear lamp. The airbox was infested with every kind of garden beastie and a few mutants that would have a scientist wetting himself, and the battery wouldn't hold a charge for more than ten minutes.
Still not convinced that I had bought a hopeless death-trap, I set to work making it roadworthy. I had to sell my stereo and the worst of my album collection, along with the rest of my possessions to purchase the cheapest of bodging materials and an MOT from a guy who would pass the 'Spirit of St Louis' with its original brake pads - if you had the readies.
Aluminium road signs, left laying around on poles by the local council, make excellent seat bases when combined with a bit of foam and carpet tape. The old engine oil gushed out like black water, which I replaced with 10/40 hoping that with regular changes it would prolong engine life. On the CB250 I had used Halfords recycled 20/50 at £3 a gallon with no problems!
After about ten days of bodging, hammering, cursing, hacksawing and welding it was ready for the road. The CX wouldn't run without the choke on full, even when hot. Chronic misfiring occurred above 4000rpm. After a week of testing and inspection, it emerged that the HT leads were disintegrating. The problem was overcome by closing down the plugs' gaps to the width of a fag paper. Incidentally, spark plug caps long enough to reach the plugs are only made by Honda at £32!
Soon, the rear shocks collapsed, instantly transforming the already crap handling into that of a pogo-stick. Thankfully, I was leant a pair of GS550 shocks; no doubt saving my kidneys from total, complete collapse.
The CX had five gears, the top being a tad low and after only 1800 miles neutral became a pig to select - the Maggot's way of telling me it needed an oil change and a rest! The Motad had rotted totally and nothing sounds quite as obnoxious as a CX with a knackered exhaust. It sounded like a buggered tractor and relations with the neighbours suffered accordingly. I fabricated a new silencer from a tiny car tail-pipe that I had found in a skip. With a DIY baffle inserted, it muffled the engine noise well and produced some back pressure, giving higher rev performance.
It soon transpired that the alternator had long since thrown in the towel and not the battery, as I had first suspected. So, as autumn rolled into winter and daytime lights became necessary, the battery didn't last long between charges. I had to carry jump leads for two months and due to the bike weighing about 500lb, bump-starting it was a bastard. A couple of good goes left me as breathless as an asthmatic with a collapsed lung trying to play a mouth organ.
Next, it was the turn of the fork springs to collapse. New oil didn't help, so I inserted one inch lengths of pipe, which made the damping a tad stiff. It's a little frightening on bumpy roads, which tends to give the lights a hard time, not to mention my neck, wrists, spine, etc.....Up front the tyre's a Roadrunner, because it was free. A Pirelli MT68E at the rear, nearly new for a tenner. Top notch in the dry, but a pile of crap in the wet. Thanks to the shaft drive it's wearing fast and will be replaced with something decent - whatever the cost!
The shaft drive is a bonus, however. I changed the transmission oil once and haven't had to bother since, although the nut snapped off and had to be bodged with chemical metal. The rear wheel is dead easy to extract.
Last month, a woman decided to do a U-turn right in front of me. I hit her at about 20mph. The CX survived but just about destroyed her doors and A-post. I was particularly chuffed about that. Taking the accident as a bad omen, I forked out for six months tax; confident that I wouldn't be busted by the cops.
That Friday I packed up and went off to Norwich for the weekend - about 230 miles. Because of my late departure the lights were soon turned on. Before I was halfway there the lights began to fade and in my concern I forgot all about the petrol. Subsequently, the tank went dry after about 130 miles - the tap being permanently on reserve - so I was stuck on an unlit A-road in the middle of the Norfolk broads. After leaning the bike over to redistribute what was left of the fuel, I bump-started it - more lung failure - and turned around, remembering a petrol station three miles back. Phew!
Upon reaching Norwich, sticking to the middle of the traffic to be seen, I had to abandon the well thrashed machine to be collected later - my destination being a pitch black rural area. Three days later it was severely thrashed all the way back home again and it didn't miss a beat, despite its age and mileage. The only real pisser was that my new goggles flew off my helmet and became part of the M2, beneath the wheels of some bastard lorry.
I don't know the exact top speed, probably over the ton, as the speedo freaks out, waving rapidly back and forth. Acceleration is surprisingly good considering its weight - it's faster than two GS550s I know of. Last week I came off, smashing my knee against the kerb thanks to a dozy GPz rider - and now the bike stands engineless, as I wait for a reconditioned alternator. It has set me back £40, nearly half what I paid for the entire bike. A new replacement costs £180.
Most people possess more money than sense and too little time. Being in the opposite position doesn't mean you have to ride a moped. With a little knowledge of bodging, half a gallon of chemical metal and a sledge-hammer, you can keep mobile. Mind you, I am considering selling the CX and buying back my stereo and crappy records.
J.D.Haslam
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As I write this, I am once again in the dock with a damaged back. Not as a result of motorcycles, but due to a poxy job of work. I can barely stand, hardly walk and can't bend to tie my shoes. TV's rubbish, so I have lots of time to think and to relive past episodes. This all started in 1990.
'It's no good,' she said. 'You'll have to get a bigger bike.' It was true. The poor old CB100N was hardly the ideal mount for the 100 mile round trip, two-up, to do the weekend shopping! She started scanning the papers and I looked in the bike shops for a suitable conveyance. GS550, 90,000 miles? A joke, I think. FT500, 16000 miles and £650? Suspicious. CX500, 20,000 miles, £600? We went for a look.
It was red, Sebacs, Avons, stainless hoses, shiny, new seat, 1980 model, four owners (the last for three years) and two previous MOT's which seemed to indicated the mileage was true. The guy had just bought a new VT500. The CX test rode a treat, we haggled and settled on £595 plus new MOT and oil/filter change. And so began a five year and 60,000 mile ownership.
I went to show a mate who was quite impressed. He insisted on a go on it. He returned to claim 109mph and a wobble at 85mph, just as it started to scratch. In all those miles I never had the bottle to lean it over as far as that, and never got more than 105mph out of it. A speed it would hold for as long as I could stand the wind blast!
A week into ownership it broke its first (of many) speedo cables. £4, please. I fiddled about with the tappets which made no difference to either its running or its tapping, and I adjusted the head bearings which tamed the weaves a bit. Two months and 2700 miles, a tacho cable was required - another four quid and a sod to fit.
Back and forth to work day in, day out. Runs out every weekend, regular setting of the tappets and camchain. It's getting a bit clattery. I'd changed the oil every 2000 miles, so was sure I was doing all I could but the thing was clattering like...well, a ten year old CX500! It had lasted three months and a mere 7500 miles. The cam was knackered.
Strip down and rebuild time. I have a pal who's quite an accomplished motorcycle mechanic, so he was pressed into service. As well as worn cam bearings, followers and rings, it had a worn water pump impellor and, of course, a camchain you could tie in a knot. What had I bought?
Well, a ten year old Honda, that's what. To quote my mechanically minded pal... 'If this effer's done 27000 miles I'll eat my effin' hat.' With which he threw an exceptionally repellent flat cap at me. 'What?' Not a happy badger, I.
'Bin round the effin clock, mate, annit?' He spat, scratching his neck with a 17mm spanner.
'What?' I am still not quite with it.
'Lookit effin wear in 'ere. If that's right miles,' with a jab at the speedo with his spanner, 'it's bin frashed from arse'ole to breakfast time, annit?'
It finally sank in but despair dissipated a little when he said he could fix it up for me. £110 later it's back together. Guess what? The guy I'd bought it off had fitted the oil filter all wrong, the spring between the filter and block. Low oil pressure and very little oil flow to the cam, hence the damage.
Back on the road, the CX's pressed into a daily 40 mile commute with up to 300 miles at the weekends. In the next six months it did 10,000 miles with nothing other than oil changes and tappets set every 2000 miles; plugs and filter every 6000 miles.
By the year end it was up to 15000 miles in ten months, with a month off road for repairs. The only other expense was a new back tyre. An Avon AM21 replaced the old Roadrunner. The deed was attempted by a large tyre company who fitted the wrong tyre the wrong way round, and charged £55 to supply and fit it. Four years later I got a similar tyre fitted, balanced and new valve, for £48 on a Sunday afternoon.
Over that winter, paranoia got the better of me. I replaced the fork springs and seals, which cured the weaves completely. All genuine Honda parts off the shelf locally (Sheffield), for a reasonable £50. A myopic Cavalier driver who pulled out in front of me at the same junction four times in succession caused a bit of expense. Not in terms of damage but increased laundry bills then a set of crash bars (£5) and some air-horns. He got a rare old shock on the fifth day when I gave him a 130db blast! He actually swerved off the road and hit a road sign! I changed my route for a bit!
1991 started with another round of snapping cables. This time they were accompanied by the rear brake pivot seizing, and its switch melting. Inconvenient more than anything else. More oil changes, tappet setting, and pile the miles on. The old CX took it all in its stride. Never failed to start, always got me there and back, never really cost much to run.
Then the weaves came back, big style. Felt like the tail wagging the dog this time. I discovered it was nothing to fret over, just the Sebacs exploding and spraying oil everywhere. Oh! I stuck on the first pair of shocks I could find - R R Type 7 for £50. Apart from being shorter they were fine. Hell of a job dragging the CX on to its stand, though!
March arrived. 38000 miles on the clock, both tyres due for replacement. The front did 18000, the rear 11000 miles. No Avons available so it was some Michelin M38's, fitted for £75 the pair. Right rubbish they turned out to be. No grip in the wet, wandered all over the road, speed wobbles at 65mph, etc. Another bloody speedo cable went. Another fiver. Two more months and 40 thou on the clock, the tacho cable popped again. I bought two this time, and they went and broke within the week. They were inserted into the dealer who sold them to me, with eyes watering and cables protruding, he gave me my money back and a replacement cable.
That summer was our first run to London for the Magna Carta Rally at Upminster. Me and the Management, plus enough kit to supply a battalion lashed to the elderly CX with a washing line. 1000 miles over the weekend, new record for me. Poor old sod got a bit hot and bothered in the capital, and so did the CX! In fact, the CX boiled over and developed an oil leak from the rear engine cover. Tragic. A loose bolt was diagnosed for the latter, and in temperatures of 130 degrees who wouldn't boil over? Over the next three years oil wept from the rear cover at a rate of about half a pint in 2000 miles, so I ignored it.
MOT failure. More fork seals and a set of brake pads. Oh, and yet another bastard speedo cable. Front pads had lasted over 21000 miles so that was fine. A week later, bugger me, another speedo cable went pop. Then an amazing discovery was made. The cables I'd had in the past were CB400N kit, three inches too short! £9 purchased a genuine CX cable which lasted for the next four years.
A spate of popping bulbs followed, then the rear M38 wore out - thankfully! It never felt too secure on Frog rubber, and 6500 miles was no good to me. AM21 again, supplied, fitted and balanced for £48 by the local car tyre shop.
Next came my one and only breakdown in five years and 60,000 miles with the CX. Just faded away and then stopped. Everything failed - lights, starter, etc. Of course, it was dark and peeing down. I heaved the 500lb dead-weight under a bus shelter, spent thirty fruitless minutes fiddling about with the fuses then phoned the AA. Four hours later I was back home, with the advice that the alternator was ruined....next day I replaced the fuse holder, all was back to normal!
Over the New Year in 1992, the CX hardly saw the light of day for one reason or another. It rewarded me by churning over for an awful long time before chugging into life. New battery, £20, please. Just to keep me awake another tacho cable went bang. To celebrate two years of ownership I treated the bike to a new air-filter and another rear brake switch. Don't know why I bothered. It didn't appreciate all this expense I lavished on it, and to prove it the rear shocks became incontinent - a new pair of Girlings sufficed, for yet another fifty notes.
Then off bike rallying. Magna Carta, Bulldog, Kent, etc. It was whilst in Dymchurch looking for Angel Park that a recurring niggle finally showed its true colours. You see, the CX had a habit of running quite hot in traffic and when I saw clouds of steam rising from the front I got all confused. I wouldn't even have stopped if the Management had not exclaimed that the rad was trying to tell us something. I don't know whether it was because I was knackered after a 350 mile journey or that I really am as dense as she insists I am.
Anyway, after a look at the pointed end, the little woman almost rubbing my nose into the radiator, I finally saw the leak. A can of Rad-Weld later, we were totally roadworthy. Back home, two days and 400 miles later, I went hunting for a replacement rad. They are rare and £200 new, £75 used. In the end, I paid £58 for a guaranteed reconditioned and recored rad (from European Radiators). Never ran hot again, not even in London on Saturday afternoons in the summer!
More miles punctuated by oil and filter changes. I even washed and polished the beast for an MOT. It was just as grotty within a week, I don't know why I bothered. It never made any difference to the running of the bike. I will never understand these sad sods who spend so much time cleaning their bikes, yet never think of changing the oil, let alone the plugs or filters. Chrome don't get you home.
We were loaded up with camping gear again, buzzing up the M1 at a steady 80mph, when the clutch started to slip. Oh goody, just what I want. Only 33000 miles on the £600 bike and the clutch is failing! Ace. Marvellous. Below 65mph, the slipping stopped but this was rather boring cruising. Got overtaken by everything from a Fiat 500 to a Morris Minor van. Home (eventually) and investigate - a frayed cable jamming up. Relief, that, the replacement only cost a tenner.
The actual mileage was down in 1992 as I'd finally got a reliable hack to cope with my commuting chores. A Bantam, would you believe? The CX only used for weekend runs to the coast and holidays. It still covered 7500 miles, though, and the hack about another 6000.
1993 dawned and the exhaust fell apart. It had been rattling and getting a bit rowdy for the last 18 months but if it passed the test it was left well alone. It was an unknown make, a 2-1, was replaced by a Motad at £110. A pattern system was nearly £200. Needed another back tyre, too, an AM21, after 12000 miles from the old one. The crap front M38 finally expired at 13000 miles, replaced with an Avon AM20.
The difference in feel of the bike with the Avons was amazing. Higher mileage, better braking, ride and handling. Just seemed to suit the CX so well. 1993 was the lowest mileage year for me, the CX did 7000 miles and the hack another 5000.
The next year started off with regular weekly trips to college, 100 miles a day in winter rather character building! I invested in heated grips (the best £40 I ever spent) and a secondhand tri-point screen for a tenner. The screen was as big as a ship's sail but never really upset the handling. Probably due to the CX already weighing so much.
62,500 miles, another set of front pads would be jolly nice. 21000 miles out of a set of Vesrah pads ain't too bad but I still think £25 a set is well over the top. Ferodo pads cost £21.
Did quite a lot of touring in 1994. Cornwall, Edinburgh, Chilterns, Northumberland, etc. One afternoon, just outside Woodstock, the old crate started behaving rather oddly. Over 25mph it was a bit like a speed wobble from the back...the rear tread was bulging outwards. We wobbled the ten miles to Shaftsbury, me gripping the bars so tightly I left deep grooves in them! The Management just hanging on with her eyes shut.
The only tyre shop was about to close down for the day but they did the deed, another AM for £48. Told me to send the old tyre back to Avon despite the fact that it was almost worn out. Avon replaced it free of charge, I had an apology from the customer services' chappie for the inconvenience and a visit from their troubleshooter. Service or what?
69000 miles, I replaced the first bearing to fail in the chassis. The rear wheel, never been touched by me in 49000 miles of use. It had been a while since the cables did anything daft, so they started again. Clutch first, 16000 miles after the last one, then another tacho cable. About this time, the front pads wore out again. Only did 9000 miles on the Ferodo's so it's EBC's next.
72000 miles, the fan fell off. It's a bit of manky plastic with a bit of nasty looking monkey-metal in the middle. Horrible. The alloy reacts with the steel spindle it's bolted to, turns to cheese. Then it falls off. Then it makes a lot of noise as it tries to burrow through the radiator. A new fan costs £73; used, a fiver! Fitting involves removing the rad and quite a lot of knuckle skin!
73000 miles, the front AM wore out after 18000 miles. I can't fault Avons on a CX. 74000 miles meant metal fatigue, with creeping rot. The centrestand broke and a hole appeared in the swinging arm. Prone to it, I'm reliably informed. Loads of welding rod, even more enthusiasm but sod all skill meant an angle-grinder was used to tidy up the stand. Tank off, battery off, lay CX on a pile of old tyres, got a cousin to MIG weld the swinging arm up. Back on the road in an afternoon.
Summer of 1995 was a good one for us. Loads of weekends away at MAG events. The highlight being Glowing Lamb in Cumbria. Clocked 6000 miles in three months. We also did 2500 miles around Northumberland and the borders, in about two weeks in early autumn. The CX really earnt its keep. It soaked the mileage up with hardly a murmur but with a rattle of two, an occasional squeak and one or two whines.
End of 1995, I finally got an insurance pay out that I'd been awaiting several years. I blew the lot on my first, and probably only, new bike. The CX had over 80,000 miles on the clock, but had done more than that. Still running well, only really needing a new rear tyre and an MOT. One of the local lads came forward with an offer of £600, which I took. The boss was annoyed at me for selling our baby but also for taking £600! I thought she'd be pleased, especially because I offered to buy her a new vacuum cleaner.
We had covered 60,000 miles in five years on an old Honda CX500. We went on our honeymoon, broke the family record to Aberdeen (350 miles in seven hours, including stops), fell off it twice, fell over it once and got knocked off once. I suffered cuts and bruises, and a minor fracture. The Honda got away with a couple of bent indicators, broken screen, bent levers and a bent shock.
It never let me down when I really needed it. Averaged 50mpg over 60,000 miles, the front Avon lasted 18000 miles, the rear 12000. EBC pads did 21000 miles up front, Vesrah shoes did 40,000 miles at the rear. Rear shocks regardless of make, type or price, never bettered eighteen months or 18000 miles.
Overall, including oil, fuel, tax, insurance, spares, etc it cost me nine pence a mile to run. I only sold it because I've got a new toy that consumes tyres, brake pads, chains, etc., at an appalling rate; and I need the garage space.
Don't expect a CX500 to be all things to all men. They are much maligned but are a steady, workmanlike machine. It did everything I asked of it and more. The handling, performance and braking are well matched to each other, and for its age - 16 years old - quite good. You can't compare them to anything made in the last ten years, as they come from a different era. Ask yourself what you expect for a few hundred pounds, and then try to find one of the few good 'uns that are left.
Complaints? Well a few, mainly niggles such as crap mirrors, small tank, ugly looks, top heavy feel. But it was all I could afford and the boss loved it! It's still pottering about now with 90,000 miles on the clock, and still going strong. I never did exceed 105mph but even now it still does the ton and returns about 50mpg. But best of all, without a shadow of a doubt, was the shaft drive. I had almost forgotten what a pain in the extremities a chain can be. I can't go near my new 'un without getting covered in chain lubricant. Come back CX500, all's forgiven.
Chris Varney