"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
05/28/2019 at 08:00 • Filed to: None
4
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"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
05/28/2019 at 08:00 • Filed to: None | 4
| 11 |
Who knew a paint job could be so transformative?
That’s right; my 1980 Honda CX500, my first bike stolen and then recovered blown up, rebuilt, and now broken again has been retired temporarily to the storage unit with unknown maladies including but not limited to idle issues, failing stator, and every seal on it is pouring out fluids of various types. Furthermore in my pursuit of a particular style I had hacked off the passenger seat and now found myself with my wife wanting to tag along and no bike to carry her on. So enter this red ode to the 80s.
This is a 1981 Honda CX500 Custom with a Vetter Windjammer and full luggage. I paid $550 for it from the second owner who bought it from the original owners for $1500, rode it once, realized he wasn’t able to manage such a heavy bike, and then parked it in the grass for two years where it accumulated some surface rust and a lot of dirt and refused to start.
Cleans up nice, doesn’t it? The obvious differences between this and the 1980 I had before is the fairing and bags, but this also has front air suspension, a nifty trick absent on my 1980 model.
Low miles indeed.
Came with literature, which I love. Also a brain bucket painted the same color as the bike which I’ll probably never use because anything less than a full facial (eyyy) helmet is a death wish.
The bike has two issues:
1. Carbs could be better after sitting for two years. Unsure how to approach this. I put my clean carbs from my other bike on there and it idles funny so I guess I suck ass at cleaning carbs somehow despite the aid of compressed air and an ultrasonic cleaner.
2. The starter button doesn’t work consistently which, aside from not starting the bike, means that the headlight also doesn’t work consistently because the headlight circuit runs through the starter button to enable pushing the starter to interrupt the headlight so the starter gets all the amps it craves.
Both issues should be quickly solvable I hope. Tomorrow I’ll take the carb out which will enable me to access the starter button. Then hopefully that part is serviceable and I can take it apart to clean off the contacts some. The carbs... I’m not entirely sure. I may just slap the carbs back in that it came with and run as much fresh gas through them as I can, maybe with some Seafoam for good measure.
Other than all that the plan is to just ride the crap out of this thing. It’s a super weird product of its time and an absolute time capsule and I kinda love everything about it despite being staunchly anti-fairing for a while. Once I get everything fixed and make sure the mechanicals are solid I’ll probably be taking a few road trips with the wife on it!
I only rode it two blocks with a funky idle due to my messed-up old carbs from the other CX and the lack of proper tags but it rides brilliantly if not quite a bit more top-heavy than I am used to. The front air suspension is the most hilariously smooth thing in the universe and the nose points defiantly skyward any time I touch the throttle, dipping down to acknowledge the common man when I shift gears.
shop-teacher
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
05/28/2019 at 09:22 |
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Oh man, that is really cool!
TheRealBicycleBuck
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
05/28/2019 at 10:05 |
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What a great find! Watch out for the fairing/air suspension combination as you reach higher speeds. That front end was never meant for a fairing and it may get compressed or extended, depending on the downforce (or lack thereof) exerted by the aftermarket fairing. My ‘83 Turbo Seca had a similarly weak front suspension, but the fairing was designed to induce downforce at speed, making the bike more stable as you went faster. When it lost the front seals, the front end was all over the place when driving at less than freeway speeds.
Your boy, BJR
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
05/28/2019 at 10:16 |
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XJDano
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
05/28/2019 at 10:16 |
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Looks good.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> TheRealBicycleBuck
05/28/2019 at 10:19 |
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I believe these forks were shared with the GL500 which in “Interstate” trim had a fairing so I’m hoping they can hold up. I may play around with air pressure in the forks and see how it changes things, as well as changing the fork oil.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Your boy, BJR
05/28/2019 at 10:20 |
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So you’re saying I need a burgundy velvet suit?
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Your boy, BJR
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
05/28/2019 at 11:45 |
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Everyone does.
Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
05/28/2019 at 12:07 |
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So now we can actually do bike things when it’s nice out?
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
05/28/2019 at 12:59 |
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You know it
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Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
05/28/2019 at 15:23 |
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*looks at weather forecast*
At this rate m aybe sometime in... July? Lol
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
05/28/2019 at 15:30 |
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Per the weather forecast this morning Armageddon was supposed to start an hour ago yet I see freakin sunshine outside so who even knows anymore.