This got me reminiscing about the fun I'd had riding as a kid. The CX500 looked and handled a lot like my old Indian (not the famous cruisers, but rather the little trail bike). This bike even had some cool features, such as shaft drive, liquid cooling, electric start, etc. With cash in hand I purchased it - without even a class M license.
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| Similar but not my bike - I don't have any pictures of it |
To be honest, I never did fall in love with this bike. It wasn't a long haul cruiser, just a point A-to-B ride, an hour on this bike you'd feel it. There are not a lot of great rides near Norfolk VA, or at least not that I'd found at the time.
Certainly parking at the end of a Navy pier for extended periods of time didn't do anything to help improve it's disposition. It was out of tune, rusting, and I didn't have the money, space, or time to invest in fixing it up. Every day was a drama; it would stutter and stall, flood, fail to start and generally be poor company.
My biggest problem with this bike was that I didn't know about motorcycle care and feeding. I didn't know anyone else who road. I didn't understand the mechanics and what or how maintenance should be performed. I didn't learn even some of the more important habit's (e.g. checking tire pressure before a ride) until I learned the lesson the hard way.
If there is a mistake you can make with a bike, I think I made it with this one. I learned that a big piece of the riding experience happens before the wheels start turning. A good ride depends upon a bike that has been treated well.
