Joined
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17 Posts
Greetings fellow CX & GLers,
I did some minibike, dirt bike and street riding in high school and college but sold my bikes because I needed the cash. Now some 30 years later I'm finally at the place where I can get back into motorbikes. After weighing pros and cons and what kind of riding I want to do vs what kind of riding I will most likely be doing I decided that the CX or GL500 should be a great bike for me. The irony is that I almost bought a brand new '83 CX500 Custom in '85 or '86! What goes around comes around.
On the local Craigslist I found an '82 GL for $700. When I went to look at it I was actually surprised at how easy it started, now nice it sounded, no oil leaks and the like. Here is the listing: 1982 Honda GL500 My thinking is that for this price I can't go too far wrong. If I kept it until spring, put new tires on it, replaced the fork and polished it up I could recover my money or just keep my losses to a minimum.
I have not done much auto repair. On the good side I'm not afraid to turn a wrench so long as I have a good manual. Actually I'd love to learn and do more mechanical repair. The bad is I'm really lousy at diagnosis. For example I couldn't see the "bent fork" even after he pointed it out to me. He said that it gives the bike a slight "head shake" unless both hands are on the bars, I'm thinking (or hoping) that it could be steering column bearings or those horrid tires. I wouldn't ride it around the block on those things. But I read about the 600RR front end swap was thinking . . . Anyway now is the season when I should have some time to get it sorted out.
So what is the advice of those wise in the way of Honda's Twisted Twins? Does this sound like a good, workable plan? Or should someone getting back into motorcycles after 30 years start with a newer trouble free bike, or a lighter smaller bike? Of course I'm currently gathering equipment and looking at the local MSF's basic course (Blasted winter schedule).
Dave O.
I did some minibike, dirt bike and street riding in high school and college but sold my bikes because I needed the cash. Now some 30 years later I'm finally at the place where I can get back into motorbikes. After weighing pros and cons and what kind of riding I want to do vs what kind of riding I will most likely be doing I decided that the CX or GL500 should be a great bike for me. The irony is that I almost bought a brand new '83 CX500 Custom in '85 or '86! What goes around comes around.
On the local Craigslist I found an '82 GL for $700. When I went to look at it I was actually surprised at how easy it started, now nice it sounded, no oil leaks and the like. Here is the listing: 1982 Honda GL500 My thinking is that for this price I can't go too far wrong. If I kept it until spring, put new tires on it, replaced the fork and polished it up I could recover my money or just keep my losses to a minimum.
I have not done much auto repair. On the good side I'm not afraid to turn a wrench so long as I have a good manual. Actually I'd love to learn and do more mechanical repair. The bad is I'm really lousy at diagnosis. For example I couldn't see the "bent fork" even after he pointed it out to me. He said that it gives the bike a slight "head shake" unless both hands are on the bars, I'm thinking (or hoping) that it could be steering column bearings or those horrid tires. I wouldn't ride it around the block on those things. But I read about the 600RR front end swap was thinking . . . Anyway now is the season when I should have some time to get it sorted out.
So what is the advice of those wise in the way of Honda's Twisted Twins? Does this sound like a good, workable plan? Or should someone getting back into motorcycles after 30 years start with a newer trouble free bike, or a lighter smaller bike? Of course I'm currently gathering equipment and looking at the local MSF's basic course (Blasted winter schedule).
Dave O.