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198 Posts
I have always been intrigued by the CX500. Unusual engine layout, some engineering quirks that were a bit ahead of its time, and what seems like a pretty good supply of parts and knowledge available online. When some friends got together and started planning a "cheap bike challenge", I knew I had my excuse to buy another old bike.
Initial build parameters are - total budget $1000 not including tires, must be appropriately titled and registered for the street, and must be off road capable due to the route the ride would take. Once this challenge is over, I do plan to continue the build and actually make the bike "right", but for now fabrication and used parts are the name of the game.
After some searching, I settled on a 1980 CX500 Deluxe that was about an hour and a half away from me. The seller had bought it to turn into a "cafe racer" in the cheapest sense of the word, but had lost motivation and interest. Original purchase price was supposed to be $725, and I was all set to pay that...until the title came out. Uh oh. Don't you know you can't use white out on a title!? The owner had never transferred the title to his name when he bought the bike 5 years back, but he had filled it in. Unfortunately, he had now turned his titled bike into a parts bike in my eyes, since there isn't enough time in the schedule to deal with a court ordered title process, nor are all the court fees worth it for a cheap bike. However, the bike had a lot of positives, so I still brought it home, for $400.
I got the bike home, and quickly got it running - the carbs had been fiddled with at some point and were all kinds of out of adjustment. After working on the bike, I discovered Progressive 412 shocks, an Ingnitech ignition, and an electric fan conversion, and the seller professed to having replaced the timing chain and guides. Apparently no leaks from the water pump, either. I have since discovered it also seems to have Progressive fork springs, along with a missing rear fender, big old cheap non-DOT headlight, chintzy plastic mini blinkers, and clubman bars. All the usual cafe-racer 101 stuff, fortunately without any sawzall or angle grinder action.
Initial build parameters are - total budget $1000 not including tires, must be appropriately titled and registered for the street, and must be off road capable due to the route the ride would take. Once this challenge is over, I do plan to continue the build and actually make the bike "right", but for now fabrication and used parts are the name of the game.
After some searching, I settled on a 1980 CX500 Deluxe that was about an hour and a half away from me. The seller had bought it to turn into a "cafe racer" in the cheapest sense of the word, but had lost motivation and interest. Original purchase price was supposed to be $725, and I was all set to pay that...until the title came out. Uh oh. Don't you know you can't use white out on a title!? The owner had never transferred the title to his name when he bought the bike 5 years back, but he had filled it in. Unfortunately, he had now turned his titled bike into a parts bike in my eyes, since there isn't enough time in the schedule to deal with a court ordered title process, nor are all the court fees worth it for a cheap bike. However, the bike had a lot of positives, so I still brought it home, for $400.
I got the bike home, and quickly got it running - the carbs had been fiddled with at some point and were all kinds of out of adjustment. After working on the bike, I discovered Progressive 412 shocks, an Ingnitech ignition, and an electric fan conversion, and the seller professed to having replaced the timing chain and guides. Apparently no leaks from the water pump, either. I have since discovered it also seems to have Progressive fork springs, along with a missing rear fender, big old cheap non-DOT headlight, chintzy plastic mini blinkers, and clubman bars. All the usual cafe-racer 101 stuff, fortunately without any sawzall or angle grinder action.