[cmerriman]

A friend on my FB page showed a pic of the 1984 GL700 Interstate that he picked up. He states that it is a "Limited edition, made for the local japanese market and inported to Norway in 2001. Even got the original japanese registration card. Totaly original with only 26000 km on the clock." I wasn't aware that they made a 700 Transverse Twin. Would it have been a "beefed up" 650? Here is a pic he posted.

 

[Cobram]

It's just a badge thing, the bike (GL650/700) are the same.



6 of 1, half dozen of another.



Mickey Mouse cosmetics, here's a site with the minuscia.

 

[cdyoung1985]

It's the 650, but they called it a 700, saw it yesterday on wikipedia, it's at the bottom of this link



Also in Australia, the CX500 Standard's were called CX500 Shadows, then they released a true 500 Shadow and it confused the hell out of people.



Did you know they discontinued the 650's because they had a Shadow that was 750 and only wanted 1 bike in that era? They cancelled the wrong damn bike....... (Also found that out in the wiki I linked)

 

[cmerriman]

Thanks, I thought the badges looked a lot different - kinda like them! Just seemed odd to me. Thanks for the info.

 

[JohnW]

My understanding is that it was a limited edition because it was the end of the production run. Small differences like a 4 bolt rear gear hub mount(which was standard on the CX650E but was a 3 point on the Gl650 at least in North America) tend to point in that direction of end of lines.

 

[ramprat06]

I think, aside from posted references, that this was the transition period Honda went into as the market forces plied pressures, and other makers were sporting lower framed machines, so the Shadow evolved. CC sizes were market specific for the local regulations, but as said, were labels and not specifics. Most of that came from the taxation. In a fluid market where there is turmoil, odd choices get made. Why the CX/GL twisted twin was ceased continues to baffle me.

 

[Harry]

I own two of these GL 700's and I was told by a very knowledgeable member of our Aussi forum that a lot of Japanese riders wanted to buy the Goldwing 1000 in the early 80's, but at the time their government had a 750cc limit on all bikes. To fill this hole in the market, Honda did a limited run of approximately 800 bikes which had all of the features of the Goldwing but with a smaller capacity.

It has the same 673cc engine of the CX650, but they decided to call it a 700.

 

[GL700Wing]

Also in Australia, the CX500 Standard's were called CX500 Shadows

In Australia there were quite a few differences between the 1978-79 CX500 Standard model and the 1980-82 CX500 Shadow models (and even within the Shadow models changes were made each year).



Here's a PDF I've compiled that contains information, including a list of all the changes made each year, about the range of CX500/CX650 models that Honda imported into Australia: Australian CX500s and CX650s



And here's a picture of my 1980 CX500 Shadow:

 

[DanCX500]

In Australia there were quite a few differences between the 1978-79 CX500 Standard model and the 1980-82 CX500 Shadow models (and even within the Shadow models changes were made each year).



Here's a PDF I've compiled that contains information, including a list of all the changes made each year, about the range of CX500/CX650 models that Honda imported into Australia: Australian CX500s and CX650s



And here's a picture of my 1980 CX500 Shadow:

Neat!



Were the duel brake rotors standard?



EDIT....Just read your PDF....Yes they were std!



Great job on putting that info together!