Ok i got this bike from my father and it does have some problems, the wiring has been all chewed up, seat chewed up, mirrors busted, slight surface rust, i don't think the motors seized, and since this is my first bike i dont know what it is but its a round cylinder with a wire coming out, but thats been chewed in half, but i was wondering if its a good starter bike or not, and how much time and roughly how much cash am i lookin at?

Please and thanks for all the feedback

 

My friend rode his 81 CX500 cross country, and the bike made it home, albeit with some issues.

There are three common problems with CX500s: bad stator, bad CDI box, and bad water seal. My friend had all three happen at one time or another. The liquid cooled longitudinal Vtwin is a pain to tear down to get to the stator/alternator, and the water seal is a bitch to do as well. The CDI box is easy as pie to replace, but they can be expensive, and a used one you buy is just as likely to burn out as the one you just replaced.

The engine itself is absolutely bulletproof. It is pretty rev happy, 70mph equals 7k rpms in top gear (9500 rpm redline if I remember correctly). It gets good fuel economy, and can run just fine on 87 or even 85 gas.

The one you have sounds like it's a real piece of work. I hate doing electrical stuff, especially undoing the work of some other electrical genius.

It's not so much money as it is time to get it back on the road. I see you're in Oregon, there's a place near Medford (don't know if that's close to you) that has atleast 3 CX500 parts bikes. How do I know this? We stopped by to see if we could get a used alternator for the one that blew in my friend's Custom.

If you want to spend the time, go for it. If you don't want something as involved, try parting hte bike out on Ebay, then using the money to buy a more complete UJM (universal Japanese motorcycle) and work on that.