Honda CX500: Road to Ruin

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.