Honda CX500 Deluxe 1980 - 2up Butcher Special

[mindactivated]

So I bought this Honda CX500 Deluxe (1980) March 2010 as my first bike. I rode it around the GTA, commuted with it a bit, and otherwise got comfortable, and now it being a year later I want to put in some more serious work into it.

*Disclaimer: I know f@$^ all about motorcycles (& cars), but I can fix your computer. That pretty much sums up my skill level, and I'm also still collecting the tools necessary to work on this thing.

Nevertheless, here it is when I first bought it:


Honda CX500D (1980) - future project


The wiring is the real treat on this baby. It's a real birds nest on the inside. Exposed wiring (which I mostly wrapped up), certain wires not even going anywhere... it is a nightmare. Luckily I feel more at home with wiring than I do with mechanical things, but this one's truly special.

This is what the bike looks like at this moment:


CX500D - Wrenching

I want to keep this 2up for now for my gf, but when/if I get a second bike I'll fully convert it into a cafe racer. This being my first build, I'm getting inspiration and quite frankly stealing some ideas off of some of the bikes I've seen here and on choppercharles.

Here's the flickr set, and thanks in advance to anyone who helps!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/miketrent/sets/72157623711799931/with/5554589939/

 

[mindactivated]

The wiring crapped out on me last week for the final time so I have decided against the better judgement of some of my friends to re-wire the entire fuckin' bike. I intend on replacing actual wire and re-laying it line-by-line so to speak, as a lot of it was exposed, and there are quite a few places where there are multiple breaks in the wiring, hence the title "Butcher Special". This bike must have been butchered on a number of different occasions by the previous owners.

Things done so far:
- Replaced straight-thru pipes with harley sportster mufflers. (They're not sitting great and the muffler system needs to be either replaced completely in my opinion)
- replaced the bars that came with it with standard ones last year.
- replaced the shocks (March 2011)
- replaced headlight brackets (March 2011)

Things I will do before riding it again:
- re-wiring entire bike
- installing Ignitech CDI
- putting on Tomaselli clip ons
- upgrading headlight brackets + buying a new headlight unit (the current one is in poor shape)
- installing new directional lights

This project bike may go slowly but there are many things I would love to do to it in the near future, like:
- Fix the seat, or better yet get a new one!
- new muffler / exhaust setup + pod filters + properly tuned afterwards.
- change the back end
- powder coat & paint it

I'm sure I'm not the only one with lists!

 

[Juggernaut]

Good luck with the build. I went to a small junkyard today and saw two of these. I kind of want one for my second build later. Just take everything one piece at a time and it will go smoothly.

 

[rat_ cxn]

watching with anticipation

 

[mindactivated]

For some strange reason, having an audience makes me want to try harder, don't know why.

Juggernaut, they definitely get the "What is that???" question at bike meets and what have you. Plus vtwin sound, and it's fast enough. Being 6'3" I also found this bike to fit me well. My friends' CB500 & CB650 are too small for me, I find.

 

[mindactivated]

Got some 23 year old Japanese Whisky in me, and away I went...



Honda CX500D 1980 - Ripping off the front

 

[RpBet]

23 yr old Japanese whisky, you say..... I could go for some 23 yr old Japanese!!

 

[mindactivated]

23 yr old Japanese whisky, you say..... I could go for some 23 yr old Japanese!!

When you throwing a BBQ at your place? I'll bring the bottle over, it'll be your most expensive hangover yet!

 

[hillsy]

The picture on the right scares me - I hope you haven't been riding this thing around like that

 

[mindactivated]

The picture on the right scares me - I hope you haven't been riding this thing around like that

Haha no, this was in the middle of a disassembly. I had the screws back in for a short while when I took this pic. Not to worry, I have both torque wrenches so everything will be to spec!

Right now everything save for the forks is off the front. Gotta figure out how to take the forks off so I can slide on my new headlight brackets & clip ons tomorrow night, but the trusty Clymer hasn't failed me yet. The more I read up about stuff the more I realize people end up changing on this bike (like the fork spring or whatever it's called to reduce the softness of the forks).