Honda CM450 for a newbie

[gcm223]

My nephew is looking at a bike today and wants to know if it is a good deal. He came to me and I thought of this forum right away

It is a 1982 Honda CM450C with 15k miles. The guys says it sat for 11 years before he bought it in May. He had the carbs cleaned etc etc.

I saw a picture and it looks pretty clean. Tires are good.

2 questions

- He is asking $850 for it - Is that a good price?
- My newphew is my size - 6' 215 lbs - Is this thing too small for him? Will he be able to make good turns without hitting his knees?

As always, thanks for your input!

[tymanthius]

The thing I've always heard about bikes that sit up is they rot & die. If it's running well, and your nephew is handy with a wrench, it is a steal.

But might want to have a trustworthy mechanical type look it over.

[gsJack]

<<<My newphew is my size - 6' 215 lbs - Is this thing too small for him? Will he be able to make good turns without hitting his knees?>>>

I had a 81 CM400A that had 2k miles on it when I bought it around 1990 and had 98k miles on it when I gave it to a friend a couple years ago to use re-entering riding. Gaskets tend to dry out and leak when bikes sit a long time unused and I had to replace the head gasket at 30k miles to fix an oil leak. I've had 3 other bikes since I bought that CM400 which I kept for a backup/winter bike. Those Honda Hawk 400/450 engines run forever with little trouble.

I was 6'2" and about 240# most of the years I used that bike and my knee would hit the handlebar when making a tight u-turn but was no problem riding on the street or highways and I quickly learned to swing the knee out of the way when making such a u-turn. I parked that bike for 2-3 years once and when I got it out and got it started to use it again I made a quick u-turn in the parking lot and my knee automatically swung out to miss the bars without giving it a thought. If your nephew's knee is as smart as my knee he won't have a problem. <G>

[flw]

Any bike or car that old is going to have problems with rubber and other materials breaking down. i.e. dry rot of all rubber components, seat foam turning to dust and if liquid cooled, radiator rust seriously adds to motor overheating.

You just need to be aware that any bike that old will require parts/fluids to be replaced, just do to age, so it can be a reliable ride. So a $800 bike can quickly become 1500 or more quickly depending on how much you can do yourself and get parts for a good price off ebay/Web or bike yards.

Great thing to do, if you want a project that will take some time but with the right bike would be well worth it.

I've been thinking of buying a Honda Goldwind 1100, its a early 80's bike that I could never afford a new/newer one. Project bikes can be alot of fun but also alot of frustration as well.

Just my opinion- Dan

[obfg]

I learned to ride on a 1982 honda cm450e. Lest you think it was a long time ago, it was in 2004. I am an inch shorter than the nephew and a few pounds heavier. The bike is low enought that one can flat foot it, always a confidence booster! I found the friction zone to be quite wide, enabling fine control when doing those tricky serpentines, figure eights etc. One thing I found was that the brakes were quite grabby after a rain and care was required when stopping. It was a fine machine in town and on the highway. Easily keeping up with traffic. Good fuel economy to boot.
I just sold it this summer to someone who had been trusting after it for sometime. He was just getting back into riding and want a good dependable bike to reactivate his riding skills. I sold the honda because I wanted a bike with longer legs ( can be a long way between gas stations here) and more horse power. The honda easily keeps up with traffic but if you want to pass someone, you have to pick your spot.
Good luck with the bike if your nephew gets it.

[ceemes]

I started off on a CM400 and used a couple as courier bikes in the late 80's and early 90's. I stand 6' 3' and then weighted around 210 pounds (if only it was so today) and loved those little Honda's. While not overly fast or powerful even by the standards of their day, they were and still are in my opinion the best starter/learner bike ever built. Nimble, very forgiving and very comfortable. Never had any problems with my knees hitting the bars no matter what type of turn I was making.

The only problems I had were they seemed to eat clutch cables and do have a tendency to leak oil after a time. Also, the braking on the drum equipped models was sorely lacking, if you can get a CM with a front disk, you will have much better braking performance. All in all, the old CM line was a winner, pity they discontinued it.