The wife just bought her first bike

So the wife took her safety class (I still have to), and passed with flying colors, and it was off to craigslist, where we found this:

It's in pretty damn good shape for the most part.

Very cool. Looks like it's in real good shape.

+1 on the 'in good shape' part. With a little maintenance, they're also more or less indestructible. CX500s used to be the mainstay of bike couriers in London for years.

You need some GT rims for that Metro

I rode my CX500 for many years and many thousands of miles. Great bike. I let most of the parts go with it, but still have some hard side bags if you are interested. (The OEM mounting bracket is harder to find than Elvis riding a Unicorn, but the bags are OEM Hondaline with about 100 miles on the total.) I may also have some engine guards and highway bars. I'll look if you are interested.

As for what to do, I replaced the rear shocks and put fresh oil in the forks and it really improved the ride. The CX is pushing 30 so it is probably time if it hasn't been done already. The only part that ever failed on me was the clutch cable. Mine was a 1980 and it was the original cable, so that is really not too bad. Change the oil and it will run forever.

pinchvalve wrote: I let most of the parts go with it, but still have some hard side bags if you are interested. (The OEM mounting bracket is harder to find than Elvis riding a Unicorn, but the bags are OEM Hondaline with about 100 miles on the total.)

Is the only (non-fabricating) option the OEM bracket? If there's a good way to mount them I'm interested. She wants to commute wiht it when it's nice (and in the "new" metro behind it when it's not)

I may also have some engine guards and highway bars. I'll look if you are interested.

Also interested if you still have them around.

I fabricated brackets myself for them, other than that, they are just boxes with holes in them and I don't know how else to mount.

I will be in the garage tonight and see what I've got.

pinchvalve wrote: I fabricated brackets myself for them, other than that, they are just boxes with holes in them and I don't know how else to mount. I will be in the garage tonight and see what I've got.

Thanks. We're headed out of town until Sunday night, so there's no rush.

Just 'the wife' chiming in so that I can track this thread a little easier. Bike rides real nice - looking forward to having decent weather for riding - been snowing here all day. And tires. Definitely tires.

Snow? Still? It's practically summer here. Some modern tires should really wake it up--I remember when I changed my front tire from a cheapo tire to a decent one--what a difference! Do you have any other plans for it?

Nice CX500! My first bike was a CX500, a bit heavy but really comfortable for long trips.

forestermel- that's a great choice for a bike.The liquid cooled hondas are virtually indestructible, comfortable drivers, and dress up parts are plentiful, if you know where to look. That bike will run with many larger bikes with no problem, but is docile enough to install confidence in a beginner. Chopper Charles has a good cx/gl500 site that's fairly active and the ads are a good source of parts.

It's almost summer here too... see? The ice is almost all off the lake (Superior):

Thanks for all the tips - I'll be sure to check things out.

Great starter bike, should do everything you need it to for a few years, and I'll bet northern MN is a great area to ride. For tires I replaced the old OEMs on my similar sized Suzuki with Cheng Shin tires and they made a huge difference. I think the two tires only ran me $100. CS has come a long way in tires.

The bike is coming along nicely. In the past week, I:

-- burned my fingers (yes - I did.) -- changed engine/trans oil -- changed final drive oil -- flushed/bled brakes -- fixed the speedo (loose cable @ the wheel) -- replaced the borked headlight screws -- got new tires put on (Bridgestone S-11's)

Still need to flush the coolant out and put the original speedo back on (since the problem was at the bottom end, no sense in keeping the non-stock one on there). Also hope to rearrange the wiring behind the headlight to get the fit a little nicer - it's all a bit squashed in there right now. However, it's roadworthy now - runs like a champ.

Rode it to the shop yesterday, and the first thing the guy said when he saw it was "I hope you're here for a tire." Yes indeedy.

Thus far, northern MN is a really nice place to ride, if a little chilly in the AM - lots of bikes out there on the road, and not too many jerks driving up your tailpipe. (There are still some.) Of course, I've only put on 55 (ish) miles so far. Rain for the next week (at least) in the forecast. :(

Finally cleaned out the garage and found much less CX500 stuff than I thought! I guess I cleaned house when I sold it and everything went with it. (I had a second one in boxes, so who knows what was in there!) I do have the side bags, which will probably go on E-bay once I get to my spring cleaning project.

Try to let me know when you do - I'll definitely take a look. Thanks.