It is a truth universally acknowledged that some vintage motorcycles, when provoking intense attraction, must be in want of a new owner.
Granted, what those exact designs are and who they're made by will vary based on who's doing the looking. After all, we all like different things, and as I've said before and will no doubt say again, it'd be kind of boring if we all liked and rode exactly the same bikes, wouldn't it? Variety makes for a good group ride/bike meetup, not to mention a life. But as usual, I digress. You're probably used to that by now, I'm guessing. (And if not, hi, nice to meet you!)
For those familiar with Brick House Builds, you're probably already well aware that this shop and YouTube channel are no strangers to a variety of vintage Hondas. To kick off the new year, BHB's Seth recently completed a road trip spanning 2,700-plus miles to bring not just one, but two Honda CX500 Turbos back to Missouri. One is more complete than the other, with the second one having been purchased by the owner who sold both of them to BHB as a parts bike.
But honestly, they're both just so glorious to see. Cosmetically, they're in awfully good condition, particularly considering that they're from the early 1980s. In fact, they made me more than a little wistful and wishful that my VF500F Interceptor was in half as good a shape as these looked to be. Seeing a video isn't the same as seeing a bike in person, but man, they look nice. Take a look for yourself.
It's hard to know where to start. The bodywork? The paint and graphics scheme? That iconic, glorious dash? Those fantastic wheels? The big, awesome TURBO spelled out on the exhaust covers? The fact that it is, in fact, both turbocharged (the first production turbocharged motorcycle, in fact) AND fuel-injected rather than carbureted?
There's clearly a lot to appreciate here, not the least of which is that by the end of this video, you WILL actually get to see and hear one of these bikes running. It starts out not quite right, as it's only running on one cylinder, but BJ sorts it out and gets it running on both cylinders a short time later. That bike still needs a good going over, fluid flush, and all the checks you'd want to do to make sure a bike is truly roadworthy when you've just picked it up, even if it appears to have been very well cared for and had a single owner for 25-plus years, as this one did.
I, for one, can't wait to see how these CX500 Turbos shape up. What about you? Would you drive almost 3K miles to pick one or both of these bikes up, given the chance? Or what bike would prompt you to make a road trip like that if you had the opportunity? Let me know in the comments.
