[Wyre]

I just aquired a 79 cx500. couldn't tell you which style, but i plan to get some pictures online soon enough. Like most people i'm not rolling in money but i thought i would ask about some upgrades I'd like to make. I love the seat thread on the old forum and want to get rid of the monstrous sissy bar on the back of it. The faring will probably go away and I'd like to lower it some. I'm only 5'10" and find it a bit tall lol. Since you guys know a lot more about modding these I thought maybe i could get some tips on what to look for

 

[DicipleofWar78]

i put harley sportster shocks on mine and dropped it 2.5 inches gota adjust the kick stand though

 

[CalebPhotographer]

If you look behind the steering on the left side you can find the model.



see below:

It's on the bottom left of the sticker with the year on it.

(blurry but it says CX500C)

 

[Wyre]

sweet i'll have to check that out in the morning



thanks much

 

[DakotaMK]

Watch your seat options. I have a Road King seat on mine, and my mental image of it has been changing. The seat added about 2 inches for the driver, and about 5 for the passenger. I'm not planning on having any passengers- ever- and won't be a passenger on my own, and with the way it looks, I'm now opting to not go with a sissy bar. Until I got the seat on I wanted a sissy bar- now I found a luggage rack similiar to one I saw for sale on this site, and when it comes in I'm hoping to mount it slightly lower than the passenger seat. That way, I'll have a small shelf to butt my backpack/ lunchbox, etc up to. If I find a smaller sissy bar that I think would look right, I might add it.



Don't think you're stuck recovering- find something that fits width, etc and if you or someone you know can weld... it's always possible.

 

[Wyre]

oh I don't think recovering will work on this seat. it's completely shot lol. But I was reading in the old forum about the dyna seats that seemed to drop it a little and went on with little modification. But at least I know to avoid a road king seat. I couldn't get on the bike if I raised the seat any hehe

 

[kingston73]

If money's tight, the first modification I'd make would be brakes.  Minimum change to a steel brake line and put a rebuild kit in the caliper and M/C.  Get a picture or 2 posted so everybody can see what you have to work with and go from there.  The 2nd thing I'd personally do would be upgrade your forks, bare minimum drain and replace the ATF with 20W fork oil.

 

[LowLife1220]

another good lowering mod is to drop the front forks by loosening the mounts at the trees. i'm only 5'8" and that helped alot to get my feet back on the ground. plus i hardtailed it and dropped the rear about 4" that was probably more dramatic.

 

[Wyre]

well caleb, I can't seem to find the model number like that, but from what i can find on the internet the carbs are at least a cx500c, so i'm assuming for now the rest is. also something about the vin starting as pc01 seems to lean toward a 500c.....lol



but I got a few pics now.



sorry for the size of the pics, I didn't realise my camera made pics that big.....

and please don't mind the height of my back yard....I have to fix my mower

 

[CalebPhotographer]

That looks like it could be a 500c. I'm still a bit of a newbie though. The gas tank and tires are the same as mine, however exhaust is different, seat is different, and the whole outer front is different. The tach/speedo is the same though.

 

[kingston73]

You definitely have a Custom there, with a few mods to it.  The exhaust is different, and your fairing looks like the Honda version of a Windjammer?  The seat's aftermarket too, changing that might help with your vertical problems without needing to lower it further.  There have been many who've taken the front fairing off, but I don't know where any of those threads are right now.  And one of your mirrors was replaced at one time.

 

[Blindstitch]

The speedometer going up the 120 would indicate that the speedometer is at least a 1979.



That fairing is your id problem. If it wasn't there with all the brackets you could turn the handlebars to the right and read the honda plate that says years, model and vin.

 

[Wyre]

well i can see under the fairing by the trees, but i can't find the plate. i think i did, but it's all black and only shows a serial number lol





and yeah, i've noticed that someone screwed with the mirrors lol. I've got to get that straightened out too

 

[DakotaMK]

I'm 5'9".... and I like the Road King seat

It's just a trial and error, personal preference thing

 

[Blindstitch]

The brackets will completely or almost completely cover the plate.

 

[DakotaMK]

Made a post- "My summer so far" and it has some pics before during and after the seat modification, to let you know what we went through to put this seat on. It was pretty easy and with the way we did it- if I ever wanted to or needed to go back to the stock seat, I can with minimal changes! There was no cutting to the frame or anything like that during the process!

 

[Wyre]

sweet, gonna check that one out

 

[LowLife1220]

17 posts in and we still aren't sure what model he has.

 

[Wyre]

pretty sure its the 500c.....can't get the fairing off to find the plate that says what it is lol

 

[DakotaMK]

what other pics do you have???