Well at long last the Bike I bought last summer is ready for me to use, when or rather if we have any summer here in 2007!
It still needs a fair bit doing on it to get it into the condition I want, but not bad for something 20+ years old. 😉
I had mega problems rebuilding the brake calipiers, after new seals and spending hours polishing up the calipier cylinders, they kept on binding and took them apart loads of times and could not find anything wrong. It turned out the return feed to the master cylinder reservoir on the handlebars, it became blocked and was not letting the fluid back to the reservoir and hence after you applied the front brakes they stayed on. One of the rear exhausts if quite badly pitted and starting to blow. Going to be a hard job to get the exhausts as I want the orginal and not the 2 into 1 motads, as in my eyes they look crap.
Still now with a new clutch as that was also worn out and slipping bad and a few other bits, its ready to ride when the bloody weather warms up! lol
Still for a old bike, it runs really well and I can remember back to when I owned one of these brand new, many many years back when I was a London Motorcycle Courier (and survived to tell the tale 😉 ) It does not seem to feel any different riding this compared to all those years back. However I had forgot how top heavy these are and how there was always a qnack of riding these around bends, especially when they jump out of gear while you are banked over. I dare say it will take a few days riding regular again to clear off the rust of my riding skills again.. After all it was some 11+ years ago since I last rode a bike properly.
Hi.
I am looking to buy a CX500 today, but the top heavy question is in my mind. I have driven my friends and I did find it top heavy when stationary, but very well balanced when moving.
Can you explain more about your technique re top heavy?
I have owned a vintage BSA Sunbeam scooter 250cc for many years. I am road savvy, but 62, and worried about the weight.
Can you help?
My dad had 2 motorbikes, I always wanted one, but he only let me have this scooter all those years ago. Regards.
Sorry Martin, I missed your post mate.
Indeed the CX500 is top heavy , as you will notice if the bike ever leans over when say you are pushing it off its main stand 😉 Beyond a certain angle left or right side, you will need lots of strength to stop it falling over 😉 But also when going around a corner and the bike jumps out of gear you can def feel how top heavy it is then. However it is still quite easy once you are used to it, to chuck this bike around corners etc, and from my motorcycle courier days, you can indeed throw this bike around the traffic. But I dont think you will be using it like 😉 and it is a easy bike to chug along, the engines are almost bullet prooth, the original cx500 is in my eyes a better handling bike than the cx500 eurosport though. Great bikes , although getting much harder now to find one that is in good condition, parts still okay to get, unless its a original or pattern eurosport exhaust, almost impossible to find.
hi there my cx 500 euro sport has problems with rearcaliper ceasing ,up i ave stripped and cleaned manytimes any suggestions, also some one told me the engines have to be rebuilt at 40,000 now 43000,she seems to over fuel and is not running rite at moment could thius be carb trouble, as you say the engines are bullet proof thanks paul inverness…
hi there my cx 500 euro sport has problems with rear calliper ceasing up i have stripped and cleaned manytimes any suggestions, also some one told me the engines have to be rebuilt at 40,000 now 43000,she seems to over fuel and is not running rite at moment could thius be carb trouble, as you say the engines are bullet proof thanks paul inverness…
Hi there Paul, I had big problems with the Calipiers on mine, both fronts kept binding. Was just a case in the end of stripping them right down, talking fine sand paper and rubbing down pistons and inside calipier until totally smooth and polishing the pistons and barrels up after so the pistons slide down barrels really nice, then fit piston seals. Did take a lot of tlc , but doing that and new seals (be careful seals stay seated correctly on re building or they will bind again! I trashed my first set of seals , so had to get another set and was careful second time around. After that they now work really well again 🙂 As for engines, I have a really really old cx500 with over 200,000+ miles on the original engine, it was used when i was a London courier , so it never had a nice life, but regular oil changes these engines dont die 😉
Hiya,
I have been off the road for a while (10 + years) and I had always had smal two strokes (Yamaha 250lc and 350lc)
The thought of a four stroke always worries me as it had more bits to look after 🙂
Anyway I scraped together 350 quid and got a cx500 from a bike breakers. Ive just sent off for a new log book and as soon as that turns up ill be trying to get it through an MOT. I realy need the bike on the road asap as my train fares are around 14 pounds a day where the CX will only cost me 100 a month in fuel (in theory at least).
Can you tell me, if Im having trouble pushing the bike around, is that due to the shaft drive or do you think the calipers are also binding? I cant hear any scraping on the disks, it just feels bloomin’ heavy to push.
I admit the tires were flat and needed air, so after puting air in them it was easier to push but stil heavy and I was thinking that it would be because its a shaft drive.
Cheers
Glenn
Hiya again,
Well, looked like the disks had a coating of rust or some form oxidised metal. after a few laps around the block and a couple of pulls on the brake levers its a lot easier to push.
I then had problems with it running on one piston but a new set of plugs fixed that
All I got to do now is find out why its soooooo bloomin twitchy on the corners.
Hi mate, your story is similar to mine. I had a brand new 79 cx in London and used to dispatch it and I’m still very alive. I bought a eurosport 3 years ago and it will be on the road next week(weather permitting). by the way there are a few companies out there who have pattern exhausts in stock. you can get everything apart from the heat shields.
nice to see someone else appreciate these old slugs as they are great. honda’s tour de force.
best regards
andy
Hi Andy, sorry for the very late reply!
Nice to hear from another ex courier and nice to know you also made it through working as one 🙂 I did look around and from pics I see online the pattern exhausts for this model all looked different, I really wanted the original looking ones, as I have a org replacement for one side now, I am still hoping to lay my hands on a original for the other side.
These were indeed great workhorses for the time, so reliable and like you, worth grabbing hold of one to keep them alive.
Im back after 8 months and what a solid bike the CX is! I even crashed it with minimal damage and got it back on the road with just a replacement rocker cover and spark plug cap.
Still handles like a dog, replaced rear tyre with an Avon RoadRider and now looking at replacing front tyre. Not convinced Avon Road Riders are that good so looking at a semi trail (nearly nobbly!) tyre.
Any suggestions?
G
RECHERCHE le dimensions des pneus de la HONDA cx500 EUROSPORT annee 1982
Having had 16 of these in all models, over 20 odd years, & my pal still has his first one from the same era, (now over 200,000) but it is triggers broom!
the tyre set up for euro’s was an avon am21 on the rear, (cannot get them,) & now is the roadrider (crap) and what is now the metzeler lasertec on the front. this helped a lot with the whitelining, & slow headshake on long fast high speed bends.
current bikes: cx650 euro D reg, 69k, wrong tyres, & cx500 maggot S reg, scruffy, 42k genuine, electric 12v fan instead of mechanical, adds a little extra something.
My CX500EC, bought new in 1982, was a revelation. I’d taken my Norton 650SS off the road a year before to smarten it up and, having covered a few thousand miles on the Honda, put the Norton back on the road. At first it seemed as though something was seriously wrong: it vibrated like a road drill, there were no brakes to speak off and the whole thing just felt agricultural. Of course, I checked the magneto timing, the float levels, etc, but nothing made any difference, it was still a dog. Then the truth dawned – I’d been spoilt by the Honda. Here was the “New Motorcycling” – quiet, smooth, civilised and reasonably economical. A bike that would hold 100 m.p.h. the length of a French Autoroute and, at the end, tick over like a sewing machine with no puddles of oil beneath and no knackered chain hanging down (mainly, I suppose, because there wasn’t one…).