Honda CX 500 Forum banner

Eccles: The Never Ending Build (retroactive to 2006)

101K views 404 replies 44 participants last post by  Speedster  
#1 · (Edited)
Eccles is the CX650E based winter machine that I drive to work every day in the winter. This is the latest pic I have of Eccles:


A few weeks ago, during yet another thread hijack :rolleyes:, I wondered if I should start a retroactive build thread for Eccles. Well here it is, going right back to the beginning, but first a bit of background for those of you who haven't been around that long or are old and forgetful like me.

Before Eccles I had a GL500 for 5 years but never got around to naming (there were several before that but this is really where Eccles' story starts). Over the years I did a lot of work on it and made a few changes. This is what it looked like at the end of its career:


In 2005 I decided it was time for a change.I still wanted a mid sized, shaft drive Honda but i wanted something a bit newer in hopes that parts would be available for a bit longer. I ended up paying too much an '84 CB750SC Nighthawk. On my way home one evening the next spring it let out a mighty moan and stopped. It had thrown its camchain through the back of the cylinder block. Replacement engines, or even cylinder blocks, were impossible to find because, as one wrecker told me, every one they got in had the same problem as mine. It looked like this:


I needed a bike in a hurry and I wanted something that I didn't have to learn a whole lot of new stuff for. I also missed this forum (or at least whichever of its predecessors we were on back then). So I passed up a $900 CX650E around the corner because it was too nice for what I wanted to do to it. And besides, I really wanted a GL500/650 anyway. But they were going for around $1500 (to much for a winter machine) & when I changed my mind a week later the CX was gone. It was starting to look like I wouldn't find anything in time to get it ready. Then I saw an ad in a local online classified ads for a really cheap CX650E The seller sent me these pics:


To be continued....
 
#400 ·
This video is a bit different from my usual because I didn't edit it except at the beginning & end so what you see is what I saw (except I saw the top of the windshield, not the side of the fairing).
 
#401 ·
In case anyone who follows this thread doesn't already know, an ice storm came through Ontario a few hours after my last post and our power was out for 5 days, resulting in a flooded basement that has occupied most of my time since.
More details here

BTW, because our garage was (is) full of stuff related to the basement and I don't have any time I am not planning to take Mr.H out of storage this summer so I will be on Eccles all year.
It also looks like I won't have time to do anything about Eccles' rear shock any time soon either (see post #395 above). At first I was pumping it up every few days but I eventually got lazy and started only adding pressure if I had to go outside of our village on 80 Km/h roads and I finally stopped altogether and just got used to it. I feel the bumps a little more but it really isn't too bad and I have gotten used to having a bit more more leanout.
 
#404 ·
Well, this is interesting. Since I have had Eccles I have inflated the rear shock to 4.5kg/cm2 (the max Honda specifies). With all of the stuff in the garage right now getting the air hose to it isn't easy (it is going to be even harder soon) so I haven't checked it or added air to the shock or tires for over a month so I made the effort yesterday and was surprised to find the shock still had 3kg/cm2, the same as it was after sitting for only 1 week in the spring. Curiouser and curiouser.....
BTW, the tires were OK.