Honda CX500E - Between the Hedges

My experiences with the sick BMW R100RT had left me disenchanted to say the least, not only with the bike, but to some degree with motorcycling. Having aspired to own the "ultimate riding machine" I had been severely let down by it. Was it time to buy a car and be done with my pursuit of a two wheeled career?

Thankfully I decided to continue motorcycling. I was however going to take no more risks at this point with so-called exotic machinery and I wanted something tried and true that I knew would bring me back the real pleasures of the open road without all the headaches of parts breaking down or falling off. What did I do? I bought another Honda CX500. By this stage the CX had moved through its various marques and the "E" (supposedly meaning "Euro-styled") was the last and reputedly best in the family tree. There'd been the "B" (almost identical to the "A", the "C" which was the rather ungainly Custom Harley lookalike version, the "D" (can't remember what it looked like), the esoteric Turbo 650 which hadn't captured the buyers' imagination much and then the "E" - a semi-sports roadster. I paid £1300 for a very clean one with low mileage in the autumn of '84.

I've already covered the main points of merit in the CX500 in my article about the CX500a so I'll not repeat them here. Instead I'll concentrate on the differences the "E" offered. Most notably, the 'Eurostyle' model was a leap towards the modern in terms of styling. It had a new shape which was less rounded and more angular, sharpening up the entire image and bringing it more into line with the vogue of the era. The evolution of bike aesthetics had joined the tank to the side panels, which in turn meshed imperceptibly into a tailpiece, obscuring almost all of the tubular framework. This was all quite tasteful and pleasing to look at. There were mechanical alterations too however that made the "E" a slight improvement on the original "A" that I'd owned. To be honest it would have been hard to make it vastly better, it being so good in the first place.

Mechanically it was broadly similar but it had quieter exhausts, new instrumentation including a fuel gauge amongst it's modifications. It now had twin calliper disc brakes front and rear (the "A" had a drum on the back) and at last proper alloy wheels appeared as Honda had finally reached the conclusion that Comstars were ugly. The most radical change in my opinion was to the suspension. Honda totally revisited this department and gave it a "Pro-Link" single-shock arm on the rear and air assisted forks. This worked extremely well on the rear but I couldn't honestly feel any real difference to the front. Most of the modifications I felt were genuine improvements except for the rear disc.. I wasn't convinced about that.

On the open road it felt more sporty than the "A" and the handling and general 'flickability' were improved. Perhaps this was due to the more forward seating and rear-set footpegs giving the bike a more sporting feel. The Metzeler tyres may too have helped reinforce this perception of security. Whether it actually went faster or not is something I don't know. I certainly felt like it did.

Then Honda went and did what they always do.. they get a good formula working for them and they discontinue it before the public stops wanting it. In exactly the same way as they'd done with the CB400-Four years before, they ceased production of the CX500. The bikes commanded good prices in second-hand showrooms for quite a while after that.