CX500 Memories

[Simon Davey]

Seeing a thread about a CX500 frame reminded me.... 

 

35 years ago, I swapped a fish tank for a non-running CX500, but I never had the time to get it roadworthy. I had a DT125 so wasn't desperate to get it going. 

A "friend" of my neighbour offered to take it of my hands, and I my girlfriend's mum was glad to see it gone. 

 

Two weeks later, bang bang bang on the front door at 03:00, coppers wanting to arrest bleary eyed little me for some robbery or something, they reckoned they'd chased me up the Uxbridge road on that CX500

[manxie49]

CX500 isn't what you consider to be the ideal get away vehicle  I had one myself years ago, first shaft driven bike I ever owned.  I remember picking it up and riding it home, through Leicester, in the pouring rain.  I came up against a traffic hold up near Welford Road prison, went down through the gears and locked the rear wheel ....... Nearly shit myself!!  Learning lesson that shaft driven bikes can be pretty unforgiving.  That said, I kept the bike for a few years, put nearly 40k miles on it, and it never missed a beat.  Ridden year round in all weathers, and subjected to my own personal idea of what servicing should be 

[Simon Davey]

1 hour ago, manxie49 said:

CX500 isn't what you consider to be the ideal get away vehicle  I had one myself years ago, first shaft driven bike I ever owned.  I remember picking it up and riding it home, through Leicester, in the pouring rain.  I came up against a traffic hold up near Welford Road prison, went down through the gears and locked the rear wheel ....... Nearly shit myself!!  Learning lesson that shaft driven bikes can be pretty unforgiving.  That said, I kept the bike for a few years, put nearly 40k miles on it, and it never missed a beat.  Ridden year round in all weathers, and subjected to my own personal idea of what servicing should be 

 

Yes, they seemed bomb proof, probably why the were the despatch riders choice, in the days when cities were full of despatch riders showing off their skills.

Followed by the Kawasaki GT550 (I had one that did run).