[MGR1]

Did anyone notice that parts for the CX range are drying up? What do we do when vital parts are no longer available? I had a very hard time finding brown conrod bearing shells, all the major suppliers are empty. Also other bearings are discontinued, like the main bearings. And pistons, camchain guide, camshaft, brake parts for the early models, and other special parts. Body parts are all but gone. 650 parts are very scarce.



I also ride and restore British bikes, and although NOS parts are virtually impossible to find for most models, there is a very large industry that makes good quality parts to keep those bikes running, 50 years or more after they left the factory. Even body and chassis parts are now being produced, some of better quality than NOS. Also the British bikes are simpler and more robust, so are easier to keep running.



Unfortunately the CX500 has never been, nor will it probably ever be, a cult bike with a strong following like the CBX1000 and other more obvious 'icons', so I cannot imagine the repro part industry will tool up just for this model range.



I fear there will be many CX's rusting in garages all over the world in a few years, due to lack of spare parts..



Michael

 

[kingston73]

I've noticed that myself. I bought parts in 09 that are no longer available, seems like just the past year or so it's happened. Wish I'd invested and doubled up all the parts I originally ordered. I think the smartest thing a new cx/gl owner can do is find an entire extra parts bike, or at least an entire extra motor.

 

[marshallf3]

Slow part of the season, a ton more parts will appear on eBay in a month or two. There will also be bikes that don't start after the winter they'll just give up on. In other words keep your eyes open on eBay and especially CL.

 

[ramprat06]

I'm a bit more of an optimist too, and although it's been that way for the main bearings etc for quite some time, the CX family has noticeably increased since I joined here, as we see new barn finds show up somewhat regularly. Reproducers may need to see that this bike has a pretty stout following, and is on the rise. Take Larry's outfit considering making carb parts for these machines. Nice starting point, and maybe the rest will take a bit of notice......hopefully sooner than later.



Just takes a bit of networking with those that have access to these companies. I bet if a search of registered CX/GL's were done world wide the numbers would be quite surprising. Not to mention those still in pieces being worked on. Just my opinion.



Joel in the Couve

 

[marshallf3]

http://www.allofcraigs.com/2009/08/...RID:11&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=cx500&sa=Search



http://www.allofcraigs.com/2009/08/...RID:11&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=cx650&sa=Search



As if he needs then:

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/mcy/2213106541.html



Find a parts bike close to you, never hurts to post in the Wanted section either as there are a lot out there people would be glad to get rid of.

 

[MGR1]

Thanks for the links Marshall, but Craigslist is no help to us overseas. Complete bikes are very difficult (and extremely expensive) to ship, and many vendors in US refuse to ship parts to Europe (I don't know why).



Michael

 

[marshallf3]

Surely you have the equivalent type website over there.

Try http://oslo.en.craigslist.org/



http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=cx500+for+sale+norway&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

 

[MGR1]

Surely you have the equivalent type website over there.

Try http://oslo.en.craigslist.org/

Didn't know about that one, I must admit. But it's empty as far as I can see? At least I found no motorcycles.



Anyway nobody over here knows about Craigslist, here we have finn.no, and in Sweden blocket.se. These are the major selling sites, although there are not many bikes and no parts. Here the only options to buy parts are the local motorcycle dealers, with prices twice as high as abroad, bike scrap dealers (there are only a few of them and are very expensive), and eBay.co.uk.



I buy almost all my parts from UK, on eBay. Some vendors in Germany also have parts but money transfer is sometimes difficult since it's not very common to use PayPal there, and interbank transfer is cumbersome. Some German vendors refuse to ship to Norway as well, as do some UK vendors.



Michael

 

[Sture]

From an earlier post: I think the smartest thing a new cx/gl owner can do is find an entire extra parts bike, or at least an entire extra motor.



What do you say then about selling a perfectly good, running spare engine - new rewound stator and all? That´s what I´ve just done and still have some anguish for.



Just joking - I´m scaling down my hobby and one of the things that seemed to just float around was my spare engine. Lots of other stuff will go too.Even one or two bikes (those with lowest odo readings - probably easier to sell).



I can´t stand the probable scenario with my kids and / or M´lady some day having to get rid of all the stuff I have. It would probably end up with them taking everything to the dump They don´t have a clue what the parts are for and what they may be worth. Better doing something to it myself, before Dr A. or something similar gets the better part of me.

The UK club (together with the Danish one, or was it the other way around??) had / has?? this thing going: "RESCUE scheme"!



It´s for trying to find companies / people that can fabricate NLA items. AFAIK they did one batch of EURO rear brake discs. They were active in getting 650 pistons, I believe. And so forth..



Yes - quite understandable there are a lot more parts NLA today, than it was when I went into CX-es (1996). I did stock up on some things, regrettably I didn´t on others..



Sture

 

[instructorpilot]

I agree with the extra bike for parts. I have four engines, and extra frame for the Deluxe and a whole partially disassembled GL to augment Heinz 57. They come up on CL every once in a while for around 200 bucks. I use search tempest for CL and I can usually come up with three or four. It is true that Honda is reducing it's inventory of parts in the US, That might not be the case in other parts of the world.

 

[shoreride]

http://www.allofcraigs.com/2009/08/...RID:11&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=cx500&sa=Search



http://www.allofcraigs.com/2009/08/...RID:11&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=cx650&sa=Search



As if he needs then:

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/mcy/2213106541.html



Find a parts bike close to you, never hurts to post in the Wanted section either as there are a lot out there people would be glad to get rid of.

Thanks Marshall.

I have always just done it the old-school way... Maybe the wife will be happier now

 

[Shep]

Not long after getting my 1st CX I decided I liked them so would stick with them.I refurbished them using old and new parts from all the engines so the two I have in now are in good condition and will most likely last me out.

The 2nd CX was made out of spare parts as one of the Ebay deals was a complete bike but in crappy condition so whilst I rode the 1st one I made up another bike in my spare time which is my present ride e.g the Red one in my Avatar.The other one is off the road due to lack of money but is getting a slow re-fit just to make it better.It's been mega reliable over the past 6 years apart from a few minor glitches,nothing bad inasmuch as I swapped a better serviced engine as the original engine I built was getting tired and as my knowledge of the engines grew I could do better.

If you like these bikes and are going to keep one then get another cheap that is crapped out and work on it at your leisure.There are good cranks that come up on Ebay if you need to do a full engine bottom end re-build and the crank in my present ride was from the US

My 10 penn'th.