[formz]

Milestone one: I got my bike on the road!

Milestone two: It was the first time I had ever ridden a bike any substantial distance!



Quick cliffs: Bought a 1980 CX500 from a guy in RI. It needed some work. Rebuilt the carbs, put back the front turn signals that had been hacked off, replaced rear brake light switch and did some other repair work on it. And yesterday, I finally was able to ride her! She runs great, and sounds great. I'm going to ride her for a couple weeks then get the mufflers replaced as one of them is completely rotted out, and the eventually I'm going to get her painted. But here she is after the first 20 miles!

Thanks to everyone that has answered my questions on here, you were all fantastic.

 

[AloRaptor]

Congrats and enjoy. Nice looking CX!

 

[marshallf3]

Looks good. Many people use the muffflers from a Harley as you can often find them for free at a dealer or $10 max each. Many Harley riders like louder pipes so these get replaced when new or almost brand new. They also show up on eBay but that's usually the more expensive route.



There are several companies that make exact reproduction mufflers for the C500 Standard and Deluxe, TAS gets them in from time to time as do many other places if you Google around a bit. Exact replacements for a Custom are next to impossible to find, I had to pay $235 to a place in the U.K. to get mine but they were dimensionally exact, very thick steel and have what appears to be a very professional, thick chrome job on them.

 

[Shep]

Great work and the,"Season" to look forward to.Ride safe and anticipate everything

Some useful places to have a quick read to refresh the memory,



http://www.bikerhiway.com/motorcycle-safety-info/motorcycle_riding_skills_techniques.html



http://www.bikesafe.co.uk/Advice-Centre/



Although UK/Left hand biased all good stuff

 

[formz]

Looks good. Many people use the muffflers from a Harley as you can often find them for free at a dealer or $10 max each. Many Harley riders like louder pipes so these get replaced when new or almost brand new. They also show up on eBay but that's usually the more expensive route.



There are several companies that make exact reproduction mufflers for the C500 Standard and Deluxe, TAS gets them in from time to time as do many other places if you Google around a bit. Exact replacements for a Custom are next to impossible to find, I had to pay $235 to a place in the U.K. to get mine but they were dimensionally exact, very thick steel and have what appears to be a very professional, thick chrome job on them.

I already have a set of the harley cans I picked up for $20 on the bay

 

[formz]

Great work and the,"Season" to look forward to.Ride safe and anticipate everything

Some useful places to have a quick read to refresh the memory,



http://www.bikerhiway.com/motorcycle-safety-info/motorcycle_riding_skills_techniques.html



http://www.bikesafe.co.uk/Advice-Centre/



Although UK/Left hand biased all good stuff

In CT, we HAVE to take a 23 hour rider safety course to get our license. I think I'll be pretty well versed after getting yelled at for that long

 

[kingston73]

Looks good, congrats on getting it up and running.

 

[Stubby]

Nice to see another twisted twin on the road. Be safe.

 

[marshallf3]

In CT, we HAVE to take a 23 hour rider safety course to get our license. I think I'll be pretty well versed after getting yelled at for that long

Luckily ours only lasts for two days but it costs over $200, alternately you can trailer or get someone with a motorcycle endorsement to ride your bike to the test track so you can demonstrate your riding skills under all sorts of (I hear) very demanding conditions as well as taking the written test.

 

[Stubby]

Luckily ours only lasts for two days but it costs over $200, alternately you can trailer or get someone with a motorcycle endorsement to ride your bike to the test track so you can demonstrate your riding skills under all sorts of (I hear) very demanding conditions as well as taking the written test.

Ouch!!! It's a two day class in my area as well, but it only cost $25.00.

 

[Ravyn]

out here in washington state after riding many years without an endorsement i decided to get legal and get my endorsement....(i must be getting old, hehehe) i went to the dmv and took a computerized or written test and then signed up for the drive test. i did the test on my 1993, 900 pound goldwing 1500. it was a piece of cake. nothing else involved unless you want to take the msf course.



Ravyn

 

[formz]

Luckily ours only lasts for two days but it costs over $200, alternately you can trailer or get someone with a motorcycle endorsement to ride your bike to the test track so you can demonstrate your riding skills under all sorts of (I hear) very demanding conditions as well as taking the written test.

Same thing for me, $200.

 

[marshallf3]

Still pisses me off, I've been riding for over 40 years without a wreck (the crashes on dirt don't count)



We didn't need any endorsement until about 10 years ago then all you had to do was take the written,

now they've added the requirement of either taking the MSF or going through their torture track.

 

[ramprat06]

Nice to see another twisted twin on the road. Be safe.

+1000

Good job bud~~

 

[formz]

Still pisses me off, I've been riding for over 40 years without a wreck (the crashes on dirt don't count)



We didn't need any endorsement until about 10 years ago then all you had to do was take the written,

now they've added the requirement of either taking the MSF or going through their torture track.

I hear ya. Jan 2011 is when our law kicked in. I shouldn't have waited so long to get a damn bike!!

 

[mist8kn]

Good looking bike. I took the MSF course through the military for free it was a great course to take.

 

[ragbagger]

First, Congrats. Hopefully my turn is coming.



I haven't been on a real motorcycle in over 30 years, that was soon after I got married, figure that one out. When I took the test back in the 70s, part of the test involved 2 rows of orange cones 10 or 12 in each row. The guy said start out riding between the 2 rows shifting up 3 gears, turn around and slalom back through them on the way back and stop where you are now. He had a diagram and everything. I was on a Honda SL 350 and did what he said, ran between, up 3 gears, he didn't say anything about downshifting so I didn't. I stood up on the pegs and threw the bike through the cones. He didn't know what to say but, finally said if I could do that I could RIDE a motorcycle, pass.