Like most tearaway bikers I'd always dismissed the CX500 for its obvious and well publicised faults. Then I started clocking up a thousand miles a week...
It all began when I was kicked out of college and, with no fat grant cheque to support my biking, it was time for biking to support me. Becoming a motorcycle cop was out of the question and so I started despatching. Not in London, where a job from the city to Heathrow is considered long distance and gutless learner bikes are ideal, but Birmingham, where to make a decent wage you need to cover at least a thousand miles a week.
The mileage and maintenance that an average biker (if there is such a creature outside of DOT figures) does in a month is packed into one hectic week. And this has a dramatic effect on your bike. My Yamaha SR500 was pensioned off within a week. There are no doubt less suitable bikes, but it didn't seem so at the time.
Low purchase cost and reasonable economy prompted me to buy a GS425. The novelty of the digital gear indicator (Suzuki's sales gimmick for '78) soon wore off - it broke anyway - and I was left with a bike that had to be red-lined in fifth to enable me to complete motorway journeys before I fell asleep, and that required a three monthly service each weekend. The final straw was two engine rebuilds in as many months - the latter terminating halfway along a single lane contraflow on the M1. It was one occasional of many I was grateful for having been accosted at an M-way services area and coerced into RAC membership. Incidentally, the RAC are getting clued up these days — some of their patrolmen actually know a bit about bikes and it's no longer so easy to con them into believing your bike has expired in order to obtain a free lift home.
Following the demise of the GS, some desperate grovelllng to the bank manager produced a £500 loan to buy a new machine. Yippee I thought but what bike to buy? Obviously reliability and running costs were critical, but reasonable cruising speed, long life expectancy were also important. Every blke I fancied seemed to have at least one serious drawback (like I couldn't afford it). In the end I was convinced by the arguments of several of my colleagues who had been in the same position - it had to be a CX500.
Slagged off in the bike press as the Plastic Maggot, the CX had a reputation for mechanical problems and styling that could only have been designed by a disgruntled Honda employee working his notice to quit. Nevertheless, it was the best selling bike in its class for several years and there couldn't be that many half-witted bikers in the UK, could there?
After a few phone calls and separation from my £500, I found myself holding the keys of a two year old, 20000 mile CX500. Sitting on it for the first time it was difficult to believe it was only 500cc. The seat was vast enough for a couple of Sumo wrestlers as well as my spindly body. The rocker covers sticking right out by my knees and the wrap around crash bars (necessary if you want to prevent even a minor spill costing a barrel and a crankcase casting) just added to the impression of size. Never having ridden a brand new CX, I can't comment on them, but by 20000 miles the FVQ shocks had indeed faded very quickly and left the handling very soft and decidedly peculiar.
The silencers were well on their way to the bin and the collector box was looking more like something from an abandoned trawler despite the previous owner's attempts to keep it rust free. It was only on its second camchain but had been modified with a later camchain tensioner. Honda seemingly changed the design of the tensioner every year of the CX's life in an attempt to cure the camchain wear problem - finally ending up with the Silverwing which was as bad as the original CX.
The scare stories of (very) premature crankshaft demise were mostly confined to the first batch (the punters doing Honda's R & D again) but all these bikes should be in breakers or canals by now.
After riding the CX for a time I had very mixed feelings about it. All the horror stories about the handling seemed to be true and the first time I filled up the tank I was horrified to find fuel at 30mpg. Replacing what appeared to be the original plugs and air filters restored fuel consumption to around 50mpg for all but flat out use. Running with the air filter removed later became a popular modification among DRs — it was worth an extra 5mpg with no apparent detrimental effects.
After a few weeks use the handling begins to feel less dangerous. Like most shaft drive bikes the cornering technique has to be adapted to suit the bike. Brake before the bend, set the line, speed and gear sorted out and accelerate round the bend. If you misjudge it and get it wrong, it's best to rely on the CX's reasonable ground clearance, and maybe a prayer or two. Shutting off the throttle, or worse still braking, causes a complex series of forces that only a physics professor could calculate, and that results in reduced ground clearance, pogoing rear shock, bottomed out forks and gyrating handlebars. It wasn't always that bad, but a poor road surface was usually sufficient to start the rider contemplating the odds of extracting the bike from the hedge or lamp-post. And with the CX's weight they are not good.
One consequence of this cornering technique, especially in the wet, was that the obscure and highly suspect Jap tyres were junked. Ideally they should be donated to ice speedway riders for use as kneepads — it's about all they were good for. Tyres are a highly subjective issue and everyone has their own opinion - but I found Roadrunners or K181s a reasonable compromise between wear and grip. The rear lasted 6000 to 8000 miles, the front about double that. There ls little point buying a stickler tyre if you have to keep riding when it's illegal because you can't afford to replace It.
My opinion of the bike improved the more I rode it. It had the pub car park credibility of a CZ but, handling apart, It was beginning to grow on me. The brakes were adequate even for the CX's excessive mass, and pads don't wear at such a ludicrous rate as many. It sounded a bit noisy at tlck-over but a three hour 90mph cruise up one of Britain's motorways didn't make It any noisier. Holding a 90mph cruising speed for a bike wlth a top speed of only 105mph ls quite respectable.
The large seat is comfortable and provides plenty of space for moving about to relieve an aching backside, and for strapping on the large parcels customers always seem to want me to carry. The only delivery which I couldn't fit on was a poster in an eight foot tube. The CX felt a bit top heavy In the wet, although no amount of rain ever affected the electrics, unlike some of Honda's earlier bikes. Even the headlamp was pretty good - although I was more used to the 45/35W candle that was standard Suzuki issue at that time.
I was even more impressed when it came to routine servicing — the basic service interval is 7000 miles - more like a car than a bike. Even at 1000miles a week, I only had to look at it every six or so weeks. And the service itself was simple — even a rock ape like myself could manage it. Change the oil and oil filter, which is at the front of the engine with no obstruction from the exhausts as on most fours. The oil filter bolt tends to seize on but once off the standard 12mm item can be swapped for a 17mm one. The tappets are a cinch as there is virtually unlimited access unlike on many fours where you seem to need eight inch fingers with universal joints. The camchain tensioner is semi-automatic — the bolt only needs slackening off but this is little consolation considering it's a pushrod engine. Such a staggering bad idea could only have come from Honda and must have been done by the same Nip as the styling.
All in all, however, I was beginning to like the bike when, one rainy evening, in a rush to deliver a parcel, I started to overtake an artic which then decided to turn right. Fortunately, I was going slowly and the lorry had been stationary, but I was left with nowhere to go and the trailer wheel ran over my bike. The driver didn't even notice and continued for a few yards before he stopped.
On close inspection the CX escaped quite lightly — the lorry had run over the front end but the frame was still straight. One of the drawbacks of despatching is that .after an accident (or a blown up engine) you can't work and earn until you've fixed the bike and often you can't afford to fix the bike without work. So the CX was rebuilt as quickly and as cheaply as possible. The forks and yokes were straightened. Replacement headlamp shroud, front wheel and discs were purchased from breakers. Most breakers have CX bits and with a bit of shopping around and haggling parts can be obtained quite cheaply (eg front wheel £10, disc £5).
Obviously, this is far more reasonable than Honda's new prices - new plug cap £12. Everything else damaged was either left as it was, removed or welded back into service. The total repair bill came to less than £100. This included two pattern silencers — the originals had disintegrated, causing the bike to splutter like a consumptive If the throttle was opened too quickly. Two into one exhausts are available but tend to wreck fuel and/or ground clearance.
Although the appearance of the bike continued to deteriorate — helped by a few trips down the road and my disinclination to clean the heap - it continued to run surprisingly well. I derived a great sense of enjoyment from racing faster bikes. One advantage of the CX was that if you lose you have a great excuse — but if you win... Following a weaving, wobbling CX around a bend is often enough to frighten off faster bikes.
By 45000 miles the mechanical seal that separates the water pump from the rest of the camshaft was worn out, so an engine stripdown was needed. Although I'd been dreading such an event, it was not too difficult although Honda's economy measure of using 8mm bolts was most irritating as my socket set didn't have the appropriate size. With the engine out and the seat and tank removed the CX even looked quite attractive.
On removing the rear engine cover a well stretched camchain could be seen and was replaced. CXs can run for several thousand miles with worn camchains without them snapping or jumping off, although they will eventually break the tensioner blade.
Over the following summer months the CX was despatched less but thrashed more in an attempt ot keep up with mates on faster machines. It never really objected - all the problems that did occur came from rider neglect, such as not checking the brake pad wear often, with obvious results. Fortunately, I was pulling into a layby at the time. At first I couldn't understand why I fell off, but soon realised that the pad had worn so thin it had worked loose, rotated with the disc before jamming in the caliper and locking the front wheel.
Unable to free it, and armed with only an adjustable spanner, I removed the disc, calliper and housing. However, in refitting the front wheel, the delivery parcel - which had been placed on the top box to raise the front end - fell off. The bike toppled forwards, trapping me under the forks. I was unable to move and eventually liberated by a truck driver who tried to sell me his GT380. Anything else and I would have been tempted. The drawback of having only one front brake was only one of the problems caused by this mishap. The front mudguard snapped in half so I was treated to a personal rainstorm on anything other than dry roads.
Also a centrestand that broke in two (combined with a snapped side-stand from the artic incident) left me like an incontinent canine looking for a lamp post whenever I wanted to park.
By 70000 miles the oil consumption was pleasing no-one but OPEC, and the difficult gearchange had finally rendered first inoperative. Another strip-down resulted in replacement of the selector fork. The burning oil was nothing more serious than sticking piston rings. Remarkably, the main bearings, big ends and pistons all had little or no signs of wear.
At the onset of winter the bike started showing a reluctance to get moving in the morning almost equal to my own. This was sorted by replacing the battery and using the proper 10W40 oil instead of the cheaper multigrade.
Another winter despatching didn't appeal, so by 80000 miles I was an ex-despatcher, and the CX celebrated this fact by demanding another camchain. As a treat I even replaced the transmission fluid for the first time ever, as well as a few new cables and wheel bearings, etc.
Although in retirement, and no longer doing ridiculous mileages, the CX continued to be abused as it was lent to a variety of mates for a variety of reasons. By 85000 miles the alternator ceased to be anything other than a large weight on the end of the crankshaft. This resulted in lots of energetic pushing and even more (less energetic) use of the battery charger, but at least the engine had self generating ignition so, once running, was self supporting.
Nobody bothered to do anything about the alternator until at 90000 miles disaster struck. A friend was riding the CX home when it went down onto one. As it still ran and ticked over he continued to ride home (20 miles) where a quick inspection revealed a snapped con-rod, which had also ruined the crank bearings.
After some debate ("it's not worth the effort mate"), the necessary spares were found and the engine rebuilt around a new crankcase block. The CX was ready for a new lease of life - it even charged properly. The same mate who had blown it up (and rebuilt it) had barely finished running it in when he fell off and broke his leg. I decided to repossess the beast before it hurt anyone else.
It saw occasional use as my spare transport and i started riding it regularly again in the snow and ice of last winter. I was hoping to reach 100000 miles and then rebuild it as a trike, perhaps, or maybe as one of the dirt track CX's with 100hp. However, none of these plans seem likely to happen now, as some toerag decided he wanted it more than me and removed the bike from outside my house one night. I hope he reads this article and now realises he didn't steal a 13000 mile CX.
This magazine won't let me say what I really think of him, but I hope the engine blows up on him.
John Cresswell