The CX500 was criticized for being over complex and overweight when introduced. Yet it is only 20lbs heavier that the CBX550F and some journos thought it quite stable and had tyres that gripped well. Compared with the ludicrous CBX1000, which was launched at the same time, who can criticize a Maggot for being complex?
I am sure you all know about the engine specs if your are interested in them, if not I won't bore you. All I can say is that my servicing of CX cost me time and a little money, yet when a friend of mine put his six cylinder, 24 valve, CBX in for a service it cost over a hundred quid. Now tell me what's complex?
Despite three years R & D by Honda the first customers had to finish this off for them with regards to camchain failure, etc., but this was due to poor quality control rather than lack of research. There was a fault with the way the crankcases were cast. Despite this, all varieties are despatched and even hire companies provide them, which wouldn't be a viable option with an out of production bike unless they were basically reliable and economical.
I had the choice of a W reg CX500B or a Q reg LC350 Yam, both owned by a workmate, for the £500 I had to spend. I did the sensible thing and bought the 1980 Honda, a red 'un with 20,000 miles on the clock which appeared to be genuine. It was stock except for the 100/80 watt headlamp bulb.
The height and top heavy feel, even compared with an RT BMW, took a while to get used to. This was the first bike that I was to feel a genuine affection for. After nearly three years it was all ended one morning when the Honda lost a head-on confrontation with the Terminator (a bloody great Merc van). I suffered a broken toe, a dislocated thumb and suspension of my no claims bonus. The Honda suffered terminal wrenching of the engine mounts which are cast into the crankcases and a hole the size of a 50p punched in the side of the engine. It was a write-off.
Prior to this accident I had completed about 20,000 miles in all weathers, including deep snow, not an experience I will be repeating if I can help it. The bike held up well to my indifferent and haphazard maintenance routines. The only problems I can recall were a snapped throttle cable, and a dead rev counter cable which I never replaced owing to the inaccessibility of the screw at the engine end. Oh, and once, one of the tappet locknuts worked loose owing to my determination to leave a twat in a TVR behind at a set of lights - the engine sounded just liked a BMW until I fixed it.
I replaced the bolt for the oil filter housing with a big 17mm job as some gorilla had rounded the stock one off. I replaced the standard exhaust with a Motad which, I feel, improved the top end and sounded better. I bunged a couple of spotlamps on the crash bars but took them off after the vibes started to get to them.
My main gripes were the front guard rusting through across the mounting points and the brakes which squealed despite attention to pads, pins, calipers, operating rods and cams. But then a lot of 'em do it so it can't be me. Also the little inspection window on the caliper which should allow you to check pad wear but doesn't. The engine was great, it only needed oil and filter changes, whilst a full service took about two hours. The steadily deteriorating handling was improved with a set of replacement Marzocchi shocks.
I even tried my first continental touring holiday on this Honda. Me and a mate, also CX mounted, travelled across France, Belgium and Germany to the Munich Oktoberfest, a Teutonic beer festival that has to be experienced to be believed. Bloody marvellous. The only problem was loss of the brake pedal return spring but a piece of bungee cord did the trick.
The Honda's fuel consumption only dipped below 50mpg once, and that was when the air filter needed changing. On long hauls to the West Country I would get up to 60mpg. It didn't burn much oil. I tried Pirellis on it but the rear only lasted 4000 miles. I only changed the front once so I must have got 10,000 miles out of it. The AM20/21 Roadrunners were the best, a nice compromise between wear and grip.
Overall, I did have good memories of the plastic Maggot, I suppose it is relatively slow and handles like a tea trolley compared to some of the boy racer kit costing a lot more, but they are reliable and economical, which is what I want without having to resort to MZs and the like.
I once saw a bloke do a 50 yard wheelie on a CX500 at Chelsea bridge one Friday night - it just shows what you can do if you put your mind to it.
After the accident, once the plaster had been removed, I had to replace the departed Maggot. I decided on the 650 Super Maggot. It's not actually a 650 but a 674 (sharp intake of breath). It has a lower compression ratio, bigger bore and stroke, as well as transistorised ignition instead of capacitor discharge.
It looks a darn sight better than the 500, which admittedly isn't hard. The TRAC and air assisted forks are a bit gimmickry and difficult to set up, as is the rear Pro-Link (which sounds like a help line for whores). And several times I felt that the rear end was out of its depth coping with my weight and the loads I felt necessary to strap all over it when bitten by the touring bug again.
The CX650E (1983 version) was love at first ride. Despite my trepidation after the accident, I was soon settled into the comfy saddle after paying the £1000 cash to the previous owner. The fact that he also had a new BMW brick and a brand new Morgan only impressed on me his good taste. It came with Krauser panniers and a top box plus some spares. I used the bike at the slightest excuse between April and September.
I had to replace the awful Metzelers with some new Roadrunners, and three sets of pads plus Goodridge hose on the brakes. I found that the bushes on the Pro-Link rear suspension have to be dismantled to be greased. Typical penny pinching to save the cost of a grease nipple. And I would prefer a drum rear brake.
Apart from that it is better than the Plastic Maggot. It has bags of power over the rev range and pulls well from as low as 3000rpm. It handled well, was quiet and comfortable, returned 55-65mpg, and would do a ton when fully laden with luggage. I call it the thinking man's BMW. The full Krausers left me indifferent - they are wide and ugly and if not precisely balanced when loaded induce an awful weave.
September '88 saw me on the beer trail to Munich again, this time via East Germany and Berlin. My friend had a Kawasaki GT750 after his unique attitude to home maintenance - even CX's aren't that indestructible. We rode London to Berlin in one go. En route I suffered the worst tank slapper of my biking career. It had rained the whole way and as I accelerated across two lanes, going uphill, the bike shook from the handlebar all the way along its length. I nearly had to change my underwear.
The whole thing was brought under control by veering from the nearside to the outside lane and praying. I think the tank slapper was due to a thick strip of mastic and the wet road surface combined with too much junk in the panniers. The latter problem was solved by a myopic cretin in a Noddy car running into the back of me in East Germany and destroying my panniers, rack, exhaust, fairing, etc.
Eventually, I managed to get the bike back home after temporary repairs had been completed in Munich. I had to spend five days going to the beer festival and getting drunk whilst the bike was repaired. When I got home I found the swinging arm was twisted, which combined with the other bits brought the cost of repair to £2000. Yes, I know I should have fully comp insurance but I couldn't afford that and going on holiday. I had only had the damn thing 5 months and 7000 miles.
It sat in my garage for 8 months while I haggled with the East German State Insurance, until the day I started to buy the bits through breakers, plus odds and ends through contacts. So now all it needs is a respray and I should be back on the road for £500.
The East Germans eventually paid up in July. I have not decided whether to keep the born again CX650 or trade in for a new Guzzi or perhaps a turbo CX650. Decisions. The end result is that all CX owners or ex-CX owners agree they have faults but they are one of the better bikes to come from Japan. Me, I love 'em, warts and all.
Steve Axon