Page 46 - 100% Biker (January 2020)
P. 46
BIKE FEATURE HONDA CX500
kay, so it’s not unusual
for a CX to produce
such a reaction, but it’s
usually because people are
O puzzled at how so many
seem to have survived (with the
unkindest voices adding ‘Why?’).
After all, ten or so years ago
you barely saw one of Honda’s
infamous ‘plastic maggots’ and
yet now they’re everywhere.
Perhaps some mad genius bought THERE ARE USUALLY THREE DISTINCT STAGES
every example he could lay his
hands on in the 1980s and has OF REACTION THAT PEOPLE UNDERGO WHEN
been quietly storing them away in
a huge underground facility (that SEEING TWEETY FOR THE FIRST TIME
sounds much more impressive
than a shed or a warehouse) for Ger Conlon at C&C Choppers bike or a dispatch rider’s hack as
and has now unleased them on in Cork to fine tune over the last so many did, but rather grandly
an unsuspecting 21st century two years. There are usually as a police bike used by the
audience. Or maybe they’ve been three distinct stages of reaction Garda in Dublin. Now, before
replicating in basements like that people undergo when seeing you snigger at the idea of a police
some two-wheeled version of Tweety for the first time. Trust me, CX, don’t forget that forty years
Night of the Living Dead. I’ve watched it happen many times. ago, the CX500 was ground-
Although Tweety, as this The first reaction is when people breaking with its electric-only
CX is known (there will be an first spot the bike from a distance start liquid cooled V-twin, tuned
explanation later), was basically and the expression on their face dual CV-type carburettors and
completed surprisingly swiftly, says; “Oh, that looks like a cool low maintenance shaft drive. It
it has been an ongoing project streetfightery sort of café racer, I’ll was reliable and economical and
go and have a closer look.” used by police forces across the
As they get closer to the bike, the world—in the United States, a
second reaction is—and sometimes company called Grand Spaulding
you will hear this said out loud— Dodge contracted a Chicago firm
“Bloody hell, it’s a CX500!” to make a CX500 trike to replace
The third reaction is when the Cushman three-wheelers that
they are standing beside Tweety had been supplied to the Chicago
and you can watch a look of police since the 1960s. Around 200
bewilderment and mystification CX Trident trikes were made (for
spread across their face as various police forces) and later
they spot just how clever this models were fitted with a reverse
motorcycle is and the first question gear after it was found that the
is usually, “How does it work?” Chicago PD was pretty adept at
But that’s getting a little ahead breaking Honda gearboxes. With
of the story. This Honda CX500 low gearing, they accelerated
started life not as a commuter surprisingly quickly and had a
46 | 100% Biker | issue 256 | www.100-biker.com
