Hello to all the forum users. Today I decided to share my story about my bike and where's a better place that the whole CX500 community. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.
Let me start a bit about myself:
My real name is Rich Lasman and I am a 23 year old guy from this small country in Europe called Latvia. So first of all sorry for my English, couse as you understand this isn't my native language, but I had a B+ in the exam . Anyhow, in daily basis I work as a photographer and recently based on what I photograph I have to work on some graphic designs(but mostly I am a photographer). In the last few years as my work has grown the need for my private transportation has also grown. In my teen years my thoughts were that I need to get a small reliable car like vw golf mk1(I like the classics ;D), but that idea quickly changed. At that time my brother had a 250cc super-moto, and I also had a few chances to learn to ride this bike. A time later, when I had learnt to drive a motorcycle, I was able to compare which transportation suits me better - and with no questions asked I choose the motorcycle. And than began the pursuit for a bike that will suit me. I stumbled on some images where I first saw a cafe racer - ou boy when I started to learn this culture even more, there was nothing else what I wanted - this retro minimalistic lightweight sports bike. I knew that I need to go for classic 70's or 80's Japanese bike, with 1 or 2 cylinder 4 stroke engine, mid range cc, probably a CB350 would be perfect. But the problem was that here in Latvia there are basically no retro Japanese bikes to buy. All we have here are some big-ass choppers, old Soviet Union bikes and hard driven modern Bandits. Only later when the cafe racer culture was a bit known for other drivers, some people started to import few bikes from Germany - but they were so pricey(about 2500eu) and all of them were 750cc. A few smaller bikes which came up were in so bad condition and had no paper work so that also is no go for me. I had a strict budget and policy what I want my bike to be. Later I even started searching for 90's bikes who had the right lines and potential to be a cafe racer - but no luck. I was dreaming and searching for my perfect bike about 3 or 4 years. But in this year summer I stumbled on an advertisement for this one bike I have never seen before - a Honda CX500, what the hell is this bike?? I made a quick study on the internet, saw some other builds, started drawing some lines and shapes I could get from this bike. Few days later, I had my mind clear and made a decision - I have to buy this bike, couse I don't wan't to end up in another 4 years in searching for another bike.
And I bought it, I bought my first bike which is Honda CX500 1982.
This is how happy I am the day it first arrived at my home
Some info that I learnt about his bike:
Well the bike it self was in great condition - the fact that it has all the papers and a great technical inspection history proves that. And the price I payed for this beauty is a so called bargain - 800eu not to mention he payed for all the paper work, gave me a bunch of great spears(engine and transmission block, rear shocks, fork triple, etc.) and also I was able to sell all 3 travel bags with mount for 100eu. So overall this bike was a great deal for me and is a real budget bike. ;D
Previous owner had stated that originally this bike comes from France and that he has put a lot of work in the past years to make this bike in such a good condition. In technical inspection there is mentioned that this bike has run 95000km - I don't know if this is much for these bikes or is this reading true, couse the engine has a lot of parts changed for new ones. Well also there a few minuses - the cooling liquid and oil sometimes drops a few drops(like literally 3-6 drops and then stops), left front shock has a bad seal, bad battery, rear tire is worn, stator is failing and no fan in radiator. But these are all fixable as I have in plan to do a full inspection and repairment.
So the bike is now at it's new home, I am staring at it and thinking what should I do now - probably do a first test run(while buying the bike my brother was with me and he did the test run there), but all my thoughts were - damn this bike is so big and heavy, I have never in my life ridden a bike so big and the 500cc that's crazy. All I have ridden is my brother 250cc which has like 15hp maybe, and on that I felt a bit wobbly and not so confident. But no matter what I knew that I have to do this and try to ride this bike whatever happens. When I pressed the start button and the engine goes on with it's mean sound I was like "this is how I die", but first gear in, bit of the throttle, release the clutch and the bike starts moving. I was so surprised how easy it is with this bike, it is so steady. Second gear in and damn this bike operates so easy. Third gear, fourth, fifth..I was so stoked how easily this bike goes, can't feel any road bumps, such a majestic maneuverability..I look at the speedo and holy crap 120 already, it felt like 50 at that moment one time when I was riding my brothers bike at about 85 it felt like speed of light . So at this first test run I realized how great this bike is and how much I started to attach to it. I have never thought that a bike so big could feel so lightweight and comfortable.
Here is a picture of my parents testing the bike on the same day:
My dad after a run told that this bike is like Mercedes of the bikes ;D very very comfortable and easy to ride even with a passenger.
As it was a mid summer, I didn't want to start stripping the bike down, I wanted to enjoy it till the end of the season. My plan was to ride it while I can, and when the season ends start working on it so that it is ready for the new season. So first I did was to take all the bags and mount of, put a clubman style bars on it so that it has a bit racery look and drive through summer.
This is how it looked during the summer:
Now the season is over and I have started to work on my bike. I already have put in a new Ignitech unit which fixed my full throttle bogging issue, and have stripped some parts of and started to imagine my custom look for this bike.
My idea about this project:
Well at the start I wanted a lightweight, minimalistic cafe racer. Well for this model somehow lightweight and minimalistic isn't what I imagine. After looking at other people work on this bike, my biggest influence is from mr. Mucci's bike. It looks are all balanced in my viewpoint.
So the main idea is this:
*keep the bikes frame intact. Here in Latvia there is a strict policy about custom bikes and cars. Therefore I can't cut or weld the frame to custom looks. I have to make this build in that way that when I have to do an annual technical inspection I can easily swap my custom parts to original ones. Otherwise there is a pain in the ass paperwork, payments and rules I have to obey to have a permit for custom build.
*this will be my everyday bike. It has to be not only with good looks, but also with great ergonomics.
*i don't have much money to spend on this bike so budged is an issue. Have to work on this bike slowly but smart.
Till the next season my plan is to do all the main cosmetics work. Create the new look for this bike so that it is road legal.
I also have some future plans for it at the technical aspect:
*new modern electric wireing
*new carbs
*(maybe) spoked wheel conversion
*moderns front and rear shocks
Well I have a lot of ideas inspired from you guys. The problem is that I have to choose the right ones so that at the end my bike is the right one for me. Biggest problems will be the small budget I have and the fact that this all is a new thing to me and that I have no previous experience in bikes and fabricating. And my grandpa is the only person who helps me on this bike build. He's the only one who has experience in fabrication and bikes, couse once he owned an 40's or 50's Indian motorcycle. Too bad that he doesn't own it anymore.
But I am willing to learn and do this. Couse the more time I spend with this bike, the happier I am. And I am hoping to receive the needed help from this forum and to be a part of the cx500 family
I will keep updating this thread about what have I done, what obstacles I encounter and hopefully we can solve them together. And of course any other adventure I have with this bike
If you are interested in some other my every day life you can surely add me as a facebook friend or simply follow me on instagram @richlasman
So we'll see how this build ends For now I think this bike is the best decision I have made.
I hope that everyone has the same passion for their bike as I have
Cheers
Let me start a bit about myself:
My real name is Rich Lasman and I am a 23 year old guy from this small country in Europe called Latvia. So first of all sorry for my English, couse as you understand this isn't my native language, but I had a B+ in the exam . Anyhow, in daily basis I work as a photographer and recently based on what I photograph I have to work on some graphic designs(but mostly I am a photographer). In the last few years as my work has grown the need for my private transportation has also grown. In my teen years my thoughts were that I need to get a small reliable car like vw golf mk1(I like the classics ;D), but that idea quickly changed. At that time my brother had a 250cc super-moto, and I also had a few chances to learn to ride this bike. A time later, when I had learnt to drive a motorcycle, I was able to compare which transportation suits me better - and with no questions asked I choose the motorcycle. And than began the pursuit for a bike that will suit me. I stumbled on some images where I first saw a cafe racer - ou boy when I started to learn this culture even more, there was nothing else what I wanted - this retro minimalistic lightweight sports bike. I knew that I need to go for classic 70's or 80's Japanese bike, with 1 or 2 cylinder 4 stroke engine, mid range cc, probably a CB350 would be perfect. But the problem was that here in Latvia there are basically no retro Japanese bikes to buy. All we have here are some big-ass choppers, old Soviet Union bikes and hard driven modern Bandits. Only later when the cafe racer culture was a bit known for other drivers, some people started to import few bikes from Germany - but they were so pricey(about 2500eu) and all of them were 750cc. A few smaller bikes which came up were in so bad condition and had no paper work so that also is no go for me. I had a strict budget and policy what I want my bike to be. Later I even started searching for 90's bikes who had the right lines and potential to be a cafe racer - but no luck. I was dreaming and searching for my perfect bike about 3 or 4 years. But in this year summer I stumbled on an advertisement for this one bike I have never seen before - a Honda CX500, what the hell is this bike?? I made a quick study on the internet, saw some other builds, started drawing some lines and shapes I could get from this bike. Few days later, I had my mind clear and made a decision - I have to buy this bike, couse I don't wan't to end up in another 4 years in searching for another bike.
And I bought it, I bought my first bike which is Honda CX500 1982.
This is how happy I am the day it first arrived at my home
Some info that I learnt about his bike:
Well the bike it self was in great condition - the fact that it has all the papers and a great technical inspection history proves that. And the price I payed for this beauty is a so called bargain - 800eu not to mention he payed for all the paper work, gave me a bunch of great spears(engine and transmission block, rear shocks, fork triple, etc.) and also I was able to sell all 3 travel bags with mount for 100eu. So overall this bike was a great deal for me and is a real budget bike. ;D
Previous owner had stated that originally this bike comes from France and that he has put a lot of work in the past years to make this bike in such a good condition. In technical inspection there is mentioned that this bike has run 95000km - I don't know if this is much for these bikes or is this reading true, couse the engine has a lot of parts changed for new ones. Well also there a few minuses - the cooling liquid and oil sometimes drops a few drops(like literally 3-6 drops and then stops), left front shock has a bad seal, bad battery, rear tire is worn, stator is failing and no fan in radiator. But these are all fixable as I have in plan to do a full inspection and repairment.
So the bike is now at it's new home, I am staring at it and thinking what should I do now - probably do a first test run(while buying the bike my brother was with me and he did the test run there), but all my thoughts were - damn this bike is so big and heavy, I have never in my life ridden a bike so big and the 500cc that's crazy. All I have ridden is my brother 250cc which has like 15hp maybe, and on that I felt a bit wobbly and not so confident. But no matter what I knew that I have to do this and try to ride this bike whatever happens. When I pressed the start button and the engine goes on with it's mean sound I was like "this is how I die", but first gear in, bit of the throttle, release the clutch and the bike starts moving. I was so surprised how easy it is with this bike, it is so steady. Second gear in and damn this bike operates so easy. Third gear, fourth, fifth..I was so stoked how easily this bike goes, can't feel any road bumps, such a majestic maneuverability..I look at the speedo and holy crap 120 already, it felt like 50 at that moment one time when I was riding my brothers bike at about 85 it felt like speed of light . So at this first test run I realized how great this bike is and how much I started to attach to it. I have never thought that a bike so big could feel so lightweight and comfortable.
Here is a picture of my parents testing the bike on the same day:
My dad after a run told that this bike is like Mercedes of the bikes ;D very very comfortable and easy to ride even with a passenger.
As it was a mid summer, I didn't want to start stripping the bike down, I wanted to enjoy it till the end of the season. My plan was to ride it while I can, and when the season ends start working on it so that it is ready for the new season. So first I did was to take all the bags and mount of, put a clubman style bars on it so that it has a bit racery look and drive through summer.
This is how it looked during the summer:
Now the season is over and I have started to work on my bike. I already have put in a new Ignitech unit which fixed my full throttle bogging issue, and have stripped some parts of and started to imagine my custom look for this bike.
My idea about this project:
Well at the start I wanted a lightweight, minimalistic cafe racer. Well for this model somehow lightweight and minimalistic isn't what I imagine. After looking at other people work on this bike, my biggest influence is from mr. Mucci's bike. It looks are all balanced in my viewpoint.
So the main idea is this:
*keep the bikes frame intact. Here in Latvia there is a strict policy about custom bikes and cars. Therefore I can't cut or weld the frame to custom looks. I have to make this build in that way that when I have to do an annual technical inspection I can easily swap my custom parts to original ones. Otherwise there is a pain in the ass paperwork, payments and rules I have to obey to have a permit for custom build.
*this will be my everyday bike. It has to be not only with good looks, but also with great ergonomics.
*i don't have much money to spend on this bike so budged is an issue. Have to work on this bike slowly but smart.
Till the next season my plan is to do all the main cosmetics work. Create the new look for this bike so that it is road legal.
I also have some future plans for it at the technical aspect:
*new modern electric wireing
*new carbs
*(maybe) spoked wheel conversion
*moderns front and rear shocks
Well I have a lot of ideas inspired from you guys. The problem is that I have to choose the right ones so that at the end my bike is the right one for me. Biggest problems will be the small budget I have and the fact that this all is a new thing to me and that I have no previous experience in bikes and fabricating. And my grandpa is the only person who helps me on this bike build. He's the only one who has experience in fabrication and bikes, couse once he owned an 40's or 50's Indian motorcycle. Too bad that he doesn't own it anymore.
But I am willing to learn and do this. Couse the more time I spend with this bike, the happier I am. And I am hoping to receive the needed help from this forum and to be a part of the cx500 family
I will keep updating this thread about what have I done, what obstacles I encounter and hopefully we can solve them together. And of course any other adventure I have with this bike
If you are interested in some other my every day life you can surely add me as a facebook friend or simply follow me on instagram @richlasman
So we'll see how this build ends For now I think this bike is the best decision I have made.
I hope that everyone has the same passion for their bike as I have
Cheers