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Login to post Forums » Sprockets » Non-running bike for sale...should I pounce?

Dec. 24, 2011 10:25 a.m. The_Jed Reader

http://peoria.craigslist.org/mcy/2762020771.html

It's an '82 Honda 550 (from what I've found it SHOULD be a 500 or 650) with 12,110 miles that is "supposed" to run. I'm tempted but a bit worried about what could be wrong with it. I'll bet if I offer $200 it could be mine.

If I look at it I plan to take a battery and check the compression and find some way to get it to fire, but I'm wondering if there are any common failures on these? Think EJ25 headgaskets or Audi transmissions or everything on the Ford Exploder...that kind of thing.

From where I sit it seems like a perfect winter project and a solution to my lackabike sickness.
Dec. 24, 2011 10:30 a.m. Grtechguy SuperDork

It's a UJM Honda. it won't die.

clean the carbs, check the grounds, bump start and ride away
Dec. 24, 2011 10:32 a.m. 914Driver SuperDork

Buy it. Cafe' seat, cluman bars and liberated pipes.

Ride it or sell it for profit.

Dan
Dec. 24, 2011 12:07 p.m. Curmudgeon SuperDork

It's a CX, they were always tough as nails. Poor man's Guzzi.
Dec. 24, 2011 1:40 p.m. Woody SuperDork

That's a CX500 or a 650 Silverwing. They're water cooled, so they should last even longer.
Dec. 24, 2011 2:38 p.m. Dr. Hess SuperDork

Yeah CX500. They were a good bike, if a bit light. My dad had one. He sold it when an 18 wheeler passed him and pushed him into another lane on the LA freeway system. For two or three bills, what-r-ya-waitin'-fer?
Dec. 24, 2011 8:31 p.m. Woody SuperDork

It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but they're also shaft drive, if that matters to you. I like old Hondas, but I never cared for the CX. I'm not a fan of the stamped wheels and the foot controls always seemed particularly cheap on those bikes.

Of course, I'd probably buy that one for a couple hundred bucks...
Dec. 25, 2011 10:43 p.m. minimac SuperDork

I'd pull the trigger. There isn't too much that goes wrong that the average joe can't fix on the CX/GL Hondas..Check out the choppercharles website and you should find all you need to know. The bikes would run up to the redline(almost 10k rpms!)easily, felt just slightly top heavy, tall, and seemed 'short' for a long legged rider, but would go like stink when pushed.
Dec. 27, 2011 9:47 a.m. thunderzy Reader

I took on a project like this 2 years ago. 75 cb550 with the intent to cafe it. Its still in the same condition I bought it. I haven't done ANYTHING.

If you have the time and space to work on it. Buy it. If no then just walk away.
Dec. 27, 2011 10:24 a.m. N Sperlo SuperDork

I have an 81 cb750 carburetor sitting around. If it needs one and you find it matches, yours for cheap.
Dec. 27, 2011 12:12 p.m. pinchvalve SuperDork

Listing is gone, but I always recommend the CX. I never thought of it as light, but I did think that it was top-heavy. If you can;t get it running with some WD-40 and a 11mm wrench, you are doing something wrong.
Dec. 27, 2011 12:24 p.m. stuart in mn SuperDork

The one in the CL ad appeared to be a Custom model, which means it has that terrible 1980s faux-chopper styling...in my opinion the only thing uglier than a standard CX500 was the Custom. The suspension geometry was chopperized as well.
Dec. 27, 2011 12:34 p.m. Woody SuperDork

stuart in mn wrote:

in my opinion the only thing uglier than a standard CX500 was the Custom. The suspension geometry was chopperized as well.

Anything Honda from the 70's or early 80's that says "Custom" on it makes me sad.
Dec. 27, 2011 2:03 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

IIRC the listing mentioned that "the carbs need cleaning". On some of those carbs you might be searching for a replacement set - a friend of mine went through several sets of cleaned/ultrasounded carbs on another Honda because some of the air passages on these can be so gunked up that even a hardcore clean and rebuild won't clear them and you'll end up with an expensive shiny paperweight.

Plus the one thought I have is that if a bike needs something really simple to get it running again, why does the advertiser not take care of it and get a lot more money for it?
Dec. 27, 2011 2:07 p.m. Woody SuperDork

BoxheadTim wrote: a friend of mine went through several sets of cleaned/ultrasounded carbs on another Honda because some of the air passages on these can be so gunked up that even a hardcore clean and rebuild won't clear them and you'll end up with an expensive shiny paperweight.

Honda's of this era do tend to corrode enthusiastically.
Dec. 27, 2011 2:42 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

There's that, too. I think they started with non-corroded carbs, but it also turned out that some of the deposits from the fuel that had been sitting in the carbs for a long time were too hard to shift for carb cleaner of the nasty variety and the ultrasound cleaner a friend of his had access to.
Dec. 27, 2011 6:01 p.m. The_Jed Reader

The pre-holiday madness made a run up there to check it out impossible and it looks like it's gone now. Oh well, another one will come along.

Thanks for the input!
Dec. 27, 2011 6:14 p.m. The_Jed Reader

In reply to N Sperlo:

Thanks for the offer.
March 24, 2012 5:48 a.m. CLNSC3 Reader

How long has it been sitting? Every year I wait until spring for people to take their bikes out of hibernation, realize it won't start then promptly put it up for sale for half its value. With the carb'd bikes I cleaned the carbs, drained the tank and filled it up with new gas at the most. Often times just draining the gas and float bowls worked for me. This method is a great way to ride all summer, re-sell, turn a profit, then do it again next year...

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