My first Bike the Honda CX 500 Deluxe

[Mr D]

My first Bike the Honda CX 500D I bought about 3 weeks ago, I paid $1,000 for it, I had the seller ride it over to my house he only lives a couple blocks away and has an at home motorcycle shop, this guy has HUNDREDS of old dirt bikes!

Now here is the interesting stuff, First off I live in Wasilla Alaska, thats about 35 miles from Anchorage, 6 months of winter and 6 months getting ready for it. Anyway I have not rode for over 30 years so I decided to get bike into my old homebuilt trailer and I hauled it into town where I have a huge shop with my Snapon tools, I maintain a fleet of concrete mixers, a diesel mechanic most of my life.

I'm not impressed with the Harley image and even an old used one is WAY too expensive, actually anything over 100cc is outrageous and rarely can you get something over 500cc for less than $2,000 so when I saw this I decided fate was being nice to me. After changing the oil checking tire pressures and the lights I decided to take it for a spin, now this is a classic, its a CX and for those not familiar the engine is a flying V like a Moto Guzzi but its water cooled, electric start and has a driveshaft, this one also has a Vetter Vindicator II on it.

The right side crash bar had a broken brace and a broken bolt in the head, fixed the bolt stainless welded the bar. Bike started easily and I slowly got used to turning, stopping and shifting, found out it had some erratic performance and thus I pulled the carbs and cleaned them, some parts needed to be replaced like some deteriorated air cutoff valves, bike was in storage and has 23,000 miles on it if thats correct, it looks in good shape anyway.

After a another weekend worths of riding I find that after it warms up I can only get up to around 55mph or hardly past 5,000rpm, apparently from another forum dedicated to the CX 500 and variants its the stator. And it requires an engine R&R to get at it.

Bought a rebuilt stator and some seals that should be replaced while engine is out and am now waiting for a gasket kit.

When I went out another time this saturday I noticed a weird wobble and found that my rear tire was half flat, the bottom half mind you smart aleks. It was a pinhole and when I pulled the tire off the rim it was a steel rod about as thick as a bicycle spoke., maybe thinner. Patched it for now because it does need a new front tire seriously its all weather cracked. Will be buying a new set this winter.

I may ride it again weather permitting in the next couple of weeks but winter is approaching fast and usually by mid oct its too cold anyway.

I love this bike it was just right to start out on even with the Vetter on the front which seemed to make steering a little harder. I'm glad it found me and I'm going to completely restore it properly and keep it around for my son who is 15 right now, or my grandaughter thats 12. I keep thinking of getting bigger and newer but with the economy bad and winter coming on I can spend a few dollars here and there and have it ready to roll next spring.

[jmillheiser]

Congrats. My first bike was a CX500. Its a really nice riding bike for its age. The engine has plenty of power even down low, and is a real easy bike to ride.

Its pretty comfortable for in town riding, but above 70mph it does vibrate a bit. In good working order they will do 90+ mph and will cruise all day at 75-80 (though the vibrations will make you want to stop every 50 miles or so of highway riding).

If its a bit noisy adjusting the valves will fix that most of the time (valve adjustments on this bike are really easy, it has screw type adjusters like an old aircooled VW engine)

[TorontoBoy]

Congrats on the bike and the process to get her running. The CXs have an interesting past. Many British bike couriers used to use them for their job, supposedly they can go "'round the clock", or over 100,000 miles.

[Mr D]

I have neglected this forum as I was posting frequently on a CX 500 forum the last month but here is a recap of mostly everything I have done.

Found out that when warmed up I get no rpms past around 5,000, ascertained after tests it was a weak stator building up resistance, it has been replaced, while case was apart I replaced the water pump seal and cam seals. Some other owners find that the fan hub is prone to cracking and ultimately exploding so it was removed and I mounted a pair of Vantec Tornado case fans on the radiator with a thermostatic switch. Works flawlessly for my cooler weather, may have to get a larger single electric fan if this bike was in warmer climates I think.

Also I replaced most of the lights with LEDs and any day now a new set of Bridgestone Spitfires should be in the mail, I have an extra cam chain and tensioner, pistons and both cylinder heads of which I am going to clean up and overhaul.

Being that its Alaska and its now almost October our weather is turning with daytime highs in the mid 40's and winter is approaching fast, I was able to get a couple of hours in riding just a day after I put the engine back together this weekend, I can cruise comfortably at 55 but any higher I get that "buzzy" feeling, I would not want to do any long distance touring with it and though this is my first bike I have learned a lot recently and I am thinking of taking the plunge and buying a larger V-Star 1300 Tourer. Out of almost all new bikes it is the best value with features for the money.

[jmillheiser]

The CX is no fun on the highway.

The longest I rode mine in a single stretch was 100 miles or so my hands and butt were completely numb by the end of it .

For comparison my second bike was a 600 bandit, I did a couple of 500+ mile days on that bike and it was comfortable to ride almost any distance, and a lot of fun in the canyons.

For being a rather heavy 500 the CX still had plenty of power and a good sounding engine (it sounds like a ducati when you get into the upper rpms).

[Gummiente]

Ah, memories...I also had a CX500C as my first bike. Bought it new from a dealer in Montreal when I was stationed there in '81 and then took it over to Germany with me. It was a good, solid bike but I was certain it had a hinge in the frame directly underneath the seat - I learned very quickly that one does NOT alter the throttle halfway through a corner! The Germans called the CX a "gulle pumpe", which roughly translated means the pump used to transfer sludge from a septic tank into a "honey wagon". It is a design and sound similar to that of the CX's motor.

I rode that bike all over Quebec and Germany and the only problems I recall having were an electrical glitch that kept shutting off the lights (fixed under warranty), a snapped clutch cable, leaking water pump seal and at the 80,000km mark a broken oil pump that caused the motor to seize up solid. Ended up selling it to a friend who tore it down but never did get around to rebuilding it.

[catnip]

My "own" first bike was a '79 Honda CX500 Deluxe. (My husband and I shared an '82 Suzuki GS450L to learn on). The Honda was purchased from a friend, and it was in PRISTINE condition. I really enjoyed it, and rode it for a year, then our friend, who missed the bike so much, begged to buy it back! He still has that bike, 10 years later. I then got into sport bikes.

[Mr D]

The CX is indeed not comfortable ring around at 55 for any long stretch, I have everything rebuilt on it and runs perfect but its still a 30 year old machine with some vintage parts.

So.....

I went out and bought a new 2009 V-Star 1300 Tourer, the pic above is not of the actual bike but is exactly the same.

I have in indoors in my hobby room for the winter up here in Alaska and I'm about to start doing some changes to it, its awesome on the highway!