Ghosts from the Past

1978 Honda CX500Z

...the first bike I owned...

Acquisition:

When I still lived with my parents, I had been riding my dad's 1984 Honda CB450SC Nighthawk. When I moved up to Milwaukee with Heather, it was time to get a machine of my own. Somewhere along the line, I discovered Craigslist, and I was off to the races. I started responding to every ad that was for a complete machine for $500 or less.

This was the first bike I went to look at. Honestly, I should not have gotten it. I didn't know what I was talking about and it shouldn't have worked out. The bike was leaning on a shed, buried in 12 inches of snow and ice, with the runoff of the melting ice on the roof running down the bike. I offered the guy, Chad, $250 for it. He said that he was selling it for a friend and that he would get back to me.

Well, he got back to me and said that $300 was as low as said friend would go. I took it for $300. Chad helped me load it into my mother-in-law's minivan and off I went. It took me a couple hours and a bottle of Sea Foam and the thing was up and running. Bulletproof.

History:

Since it was running and I didn't really know much about bikes, I didn't do much of any work to it. I drove it to class every day. I pretty much drove this thing into the ground. It did everything I asked it to without complaint. Eventually, the engine smoothed out and after a while, it would even idle without the choke on. Bulletproof.

Unfortunately, CX500's have stator issues and mine showed up in the summer of 2006. I was testing out the White Wire Fix one afternoon and the engine seized on me in an intersection. I left a nice 'J' skid but the bike stayed up. I dropped it into neutral and coasted home. Lucky for me, I already had the 1985 Yamaha Maxim X 700 on hand.

Where is it Now?:

As of December 2007, my very first bike is sitting in my storage garage without an engine. I have four spare engines that I picked up a month or so back. Over the winter, I'm building one good engine on the bench.