charlatan
Pack Dog
Thought I'd start a thread about my latest acquisition... 1980 Honda CX500, aka the plastic maggot. The story goes something like this: My BIL's wife's dad bought the bike in '96 (as far as I can tell). He took it home (in EL), rode it around a bit, and then his wife put her foot down. There were some "discussions", ending with him parking it in the garage under a cover, refusing to sell. As far as I can tell, he must still have ridden it from time to time, but not in the last 5 years, maybe longer. Current mileage? 15513 km.
Sadly he passed away last year, so long story short (about a year later), the estate is now winding up and the bike was delivered to my house in Cape Town on Monday.
First impressions? "Holy shit it's ugly!" :tongue11: Like, every-branch-of-the-ugly-tree-on-the-way-down ugly. So ugly, it's almost cool... but not quite. So... do I restore it to it's former "glory" :sleepy3: and flog it to pay for my other projects (2x CB550s needing a lot of work), or do I cut the ugly off it and build something cool? Initially I thought it'd be sacrilege to chop this up, but fkit... there's more than enough of them out there still. Saw 3 today at the Toy Run. Plus, I have small kids, just moved into a new house that needs tons of TLC, and if my heart's not in the project, chances are it will never finish.
So yeah, jury's still out, but leaning strong towards modding it. First things first though... there's plenty to do before I'd have to change anything permanently. Get it running well, roadworthy & registered, polish up the engine & forks & stuff, then I'll see how I like riding it. Heard good things about these motors.
Anyway.
Gave it a wash, wheeled it into the garage, checked oil (looked & smelled good, didn't taste it), checked water - nice green anti-freeze colour, levels still good. Checked that the engine still turned over, good... clutch seemed slightly stuck but came loose on the second fwds / backwards rock. No rust or debris in the tank, so I put in fresh fuel and hit the starter after hooking it up to a car battery. Spark good, turns over, but not even a cough. Switched the petcock to reserve, et voila! Coughed on the first try, ran for 10 secs on the second, and eventually I got it to idle with the choke slightly open.
Running rough and only on the right cylinder, and the radiator was leaking water (had it repaired on Wed). Ran it just until I could see the temperature gauge starting to move, and rode it at walking pace up & down the road. Brakes seem fine, if a bit hard, & clutch also behaving. No other leaks, oil, water or forks.
Carbs in dire need of cleaning, but first I've gotta sort out my workspace. And that's not very high on the overall priority list! I did manage to sneak in a few hours to build a workbench though...
Sadly he passed away last year, so long story short (about a year later), the estate is now winding up and the bike was delivered to my house in Cape Town on Monday.
First impressions? "Holy shit it's ugly!" :tongue11: Like, every-branch-of-the-ugly-tree-on-the-way-down ugly. So ugly, it's almost cool... but not quite. So... do I restore it to it's former "glory" :sleepy3: and flog it to pay for my other projects (2x CB550s needing a lot of work), or do I cut the ugly off it and build something cool? Initially I thought it'd be sacrilege to chop this up, but fkit... there's more than enough of them out there still. Saw 3 today at the Toy Run. Plus, I have small kids, just moved into a new house that needs tons of TLC, and if my heart's not in the project, chances are it will never finish.
So yeah, jury's still out, but leaning strong towards modding it. First things first though... there's plenty to do before I'd have to change anything permanently. Get it running well, roadworthy & registered, polish up the engine & forks & stuff, then I'll see how I like riding it. Heard good things about these motors.
Anyway.
Gave it a wash, wheeled it into the garage, checked oil (looked & smelled good, didn't taste it), checked water - nice green anti-freeze colour, levels still good. Checked that the engine still turned over, good... clutch seemed slightly stuck but came loose on the second fwds / backwards rock. No rust or debris in the tank, so I put in fresh fuel and hit the starter after hooking it up to a car battery. Spark good, turns over, but not even a cough. Switched the petcock to reserve, et voila! Coughed on the first try, ran for 10 secs on the second, and eventually I got it to idle with the choke slightly open.
Running rough and only on the right cylinder, and the radiator was leaking water (had it repaired on Wed). Ran it just until I could see the temperature gauge starting to move, and rode it at walking pace up & down the road. Brakes seem fine, if a bit hard, & clutch also behaving. No other leaks, oil, water or forks.
Carbs in dire need of cleaning, but first I've gotta sort out my workspace. And that's not very high on the overall priority list! I did manage to sneak in a few hours to build a workbench though...
