Crash Bars!

I went home this weekend for some R&R, and wound up being sick on the only day good enough for riding. I brought the crash bars home and soon realized that these probably aren't CX500 crash bars. The mounting points didn't match up as well as they should have; this could have been off a '78 CX500D, since I believe that's the most different CX out of the whole 500 line (Within the C, D and GL5/650 lines of course, excluding the Euro, Turbo and CX650 variants) Or this is off a CB550 or something. But who cares, we got it on anyway.

Note the extension bracket under the reflector.

Since I wasn't able to hang around the garage all day, my Dad did most of the work. For the extension bracket, he repurposed some chromed steel from a handlebar-mounted fuel can luggage rack he had made in the '70s for his GT750. Our welder wasn't around, so he double bolted the bracket together; it should hold pretty well.

A little later in the day, I felt well enough to take it out for a spin. The highway pegs on the bar are kind of a pain in the backside; they're cheap generic pegs (most likely an aftermarket rear set) mounted to the bar and they wiggle like crazy. When you fold them up, they hang loosely. When you ride with them, they are SO loud from 20-60mph. Once you reach 60, they pretty much stop vibrating. I like the option of having them because it's nice to be able to stretch your feet out in front of you (at the expense of looking really funny) when riding far, though the position lets air flow into my pant legs and makes them balloon up, while freezing my legs off at the same time.

I'm going to buy a slim, solid foldable set to replace these; I don't plan on using it that often and I can't ride one more time with that nuisance in my ears. I could fix them and make them work, but I like the look of the thinner, all-chrome ones.

Aside from that, I think they look really good. It complements the larger tank and makes the front end overall more beefy. Oh, and it won't screw up my engine if I drop it. That helps too.

Well, I hate to say it, but that was my last ride of the season. Tank is filled with gas and Stabil, battery's removed and its tucked away in the garage until April. The T500 however, is going to be getting quite a lot of attention over the next few months. Waiting on a service manual from the UK to be delivered!

Crash Bars!

I've waited years for the right crash bar to show up.

And here it is :)

No rust except for a little light surface rust on the brackets and a little scuffing on the sides. Other than that, it's the right size and condition I wanted. I mean, it would be awesome if I could get 100% new ones, but I got a great deal on it. Not sure if I'll keep the footpegs on it, I'll have to see if I like them.

I just wish I had found this earlier! I'll put them on the next time I go home and winterize my bike.

I realized I have a lot of tanks. Plans?
The tank on the far left is an '80 CX500C tank. Full of rust, sounds like its filled with sand when you shake it around. Petcock is useless, and the bumpers were sacrificed for the working CX. Uses? gas cap, gas cap lock and the back half can be hacked off to make a cafe seat.

The middle tank(s) is off a Harley Fat Bob (Don't quote me on this), and are of no use to me. They're banged up pretty bad and they won't sell. A neighbor gave them to me. Trash can?

The shiny tank is another '80 CX500C tank. I'll keep it around for shits and giggles, though I can't see myself putting it back on any time soon. It took a day to get the CX500D modded so it would fit right, and it has twice the fuel capacity and just looks cooler.

The brown tank on top is off the '73 Titan. I've been looking around for other Titan (And GT line tanks, they'll fit) if the stock one I have doesn't work out. Hoping the 20 year old Bondo on it will sand down. If there's luck with that, I know a guy that can paint it professionally. Should have done that with the CXC tank the first time (rattle can jobs are useless once gas is spilled on the tank).

UPDATE 2/12:
The Harley tanks (as well as the banged up exhaust and windshield) were given to my cousin, who knows what he will do with them. Cool, because they are of absolutely no use to me and wouldn't sell on eBay.

T-500 Update

After a whole summer of hemming and hawing over whether to sell the T-500 for scrap or not, college caught up to me fast and the topic was sidelined yet again. Two weeks after I moved away for school, I received a notification from eBay that my family's account had purchased a T-500 starter gear. I hadn't ordered the part, and an email to my Dad confirmed that he was interested in working on it again. Finally, he agreed that a little investment into the T-500 would certainly be worth it. I went home that weekend and started tearing the little guy apart.


After taking off the seat and tank, I removed the side cover/oil reservoir and drained it. It was a lot more full than I had expected! The airbox was already removed as well as the battery, so I worked on cleaning the rims up with WD-40. They polished up super well with just that, so I figured I'd just leave them be. After removing the exhaust, I was disappointed to see that the headers are beyond a decent polish job. They're pretty atrocious, and I'll have to look for a new set soon. The pipes themselves are okay, they have a few scratches and gravel dings on them, but they're not terrible. After an hour's worth of scrubbing dirt off with WD-40 and 3 applications of chrome polish, they turned out pretty good.

The chain guard was a real PITA to clean, as it had big globs of tar on it. In this situation, Bug+Tar remover doesn't help no matter how hard you try or how long you soak it, so my Dad suggested I use brake cleaner or carb cleaner. Worked like a charm! Shined it up pretty well too, didn't marr the chrome or anything.

Then it was time to take it to the car wash. I had waited for this moment for two years! I hit it with the hose this summer, but nothing beats a real pressure wash and a whole can of engine degreaser. We ran up to Menard's, rented a truck for 25 bucks, bought an 8 foot 2x4 and drove back and loaded it up and strapped it down and drove to the car wash. It looked great after that!

Didn't get any pictures after that, but I'll get some when I come home. Next time: dropping the motor, hauling it to the workbench and an inspection! Maybe some carb work. Keeping an eye out for any year 500 fender and misc. rubber parts.

Canada ride- Part VII

The Mad Dash to Chicago.

Indiana wasn't as bad as I always thought it was. It's a lot like Iowa, but with more trees. We took a route that took us through several large Amish communities and it was nice to see them again. I have a great deal of respect for the Amish. To be able to keep up a tradition and lifestyle like that despite the changes and advancements around them is unbelievable to me. Over the years they have accepted small parts of new technology into their lives (for safety reasons, mostly) but they're still keeping it old school. And as long as you don't gawk, point, take a picture or tease them, they're the nicest people you'll ever meet. They just don't like to be treated like a tourist attraction (which unfortunately, they almost always are). Every time I passed a buggy I gave them a honk and a wave and the old drivers always give a big smile and a friendly wave back.

We continued on Rte. 30 until we reached Hammond (nasty town, never going there again btw), then got onto 94, then 294, then 55 to get to Bolingbrook. That transition from Indiana to Chicago traffic was the most thrilling riding I had gone through yet. I wasn't used to the traffic on a motorcycle (and this was a Friday night at 9:30, mind you) and I was dodging from lane to lane in tight traffic, rolling on the throttle and it was the biggest adrenaline rush ever. I'm usually not that aggressive on a motorcycle, but I had to be. I had a general idea of where I was going, so I wasn't that worried about losing my dad, who was doing the same. When we finally arrived in Bolingbrook and got to a stoplight, he opened his visor and said "THIS IS WHAT I PUT UP WITH EVERY WEEKEND WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE!!". I could tell he was burned out, but I just replied with a "THAT WAS #&@%ING AWESOME!!!" By the time we got to the hotel, I was still pumped from what I just did. For being a high-traffic situation, it was way more fun than going through Denver, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Topeka, Lincoln or Lansing traffic on the bike.


It was about 10pm and we hadn't had dinner yet, and we were craving a Bolingbrook favorite- PaPa's Pizza. We took a route that took me by my old high school, and came to a stoplight with two bikers on my age next to me on crotch rockets; helmetless and shirtless, wearing just shorts and flipflops. (We tend to refer to these guys as "squids"- Without the right gear, that's all you'll look like once you hit the pavement) I could hear one guy go "wtf bikes are those!?" "wait...that one says Suzuki. idk what the other one is, but they're really effing old. let's race 'em"

Knowing our 500cc and 750cc bikes (with all gear unloaded) couldn't race anything compared to their 1000cc+ engines, I watched them laugh and pull out and ride into construction where one of them almost hit a pothole and had to swerve into oncoming traffic. I had the last laugh on that one :) We laughed about again it over my favorite pizza in the world, then took a ride around my childhood neighborhood, which was awkward on a motorcycle. I drive through it in my car all the time, but on a bike it just seemed better.

The next morning we headed out to a Suzuki dealership in Joliet my dad used to frequent, but got lost for about an hour because they apparently moved in the last five years. We finally found it but as soon as we left, we got stuck in the worst downpour we had encountered yet. Stranded with no rain gear besides my rain pants, we hustled towards Romeoville to get back to Bolingbrook, but my bike started to have those infamous issues again. It was really a challenge this time to keep the bike running, but I had already figured out the process to keep it moving, which involved strange gear changes and lots of revving on the engine. (bad for the bike i know, but I had to get out of there)

Back at the hotel, we thought we would have to hire a U-Haul to take it home, but as soon as it dried up the bike was fine again and we left for home. It took us about 5 hours to get home (usually takes 2.5) because of numerous thunderstorms and construction along I-80.

So that was it. It rained about 75 percent of the time, but I had most of my fun outside of Canada. Canada was too cold and the people weren't exactly friendly, but I really enjoyed my time in Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. For the rest of the summer I didn't touch my bike too much because I was exhausted from the travel, and was super busy taking summer courses and prepping for my transfer from community college to a state University. Next summer? Hopefully short distance travel, which will allow for more time and money to be spent on fixing the Honda and Suzuki. Hopefully more camping trips!

Canada ride- Part VI

So our friend ___ is the president of our motorcycle club and has the largest collection of Suzukis I've ever seen sitting in his basement. I've met and ridden with ___ and his wife before, and they're really fun and nice people. They're about my dad's age and have been involved in the club ever since its inception in the 1970's. After sharing a few drinks, I settled down for the night but couldn't sleep because of the idea that 35 of one of my favorite motorcycles were sitting two floors below me. I knew I would never see a collection quite like this ever again, so I was super excited.

After breakfast, he took us downstairs to show us his epic Suzuki GT collection.

This is what we saw:


I know. I about fell to my knees in awe of this display of vintage Suzuki awesomeness. Now I don't want to spill the beans too much about his stash, but I'll just tell you that he has almost every color, every make and every year on his property. This is where he keeps the best ones, all restored or in original condition (mint, I'm telling you). Some are not GTs, but he is a GT collector and about 9/10ths of his collection is all Suzuki GT. (You can see a few GS models, as well as a Cavalcade and my '73 T500 in there)

In another room, we saw boxes and boxes of NOS GT parts and a few custom GTs, which I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of. We departed in the rain (once again) and headed back towards home. For some reason, it took forever to get through Michigan and into Indiana. Indiana was never my favorite state for some reason (maybe the people? I know a few people from Indiana and never liked 'em).

Continued in Part VII.

Canada ride- Part V

St. Ignace, MI is a beautiful place. Definitely a tourist attraction because of neighboring Mackinac Island (and the historical bridge, of course), but still gorgeous. It's right on lakes Michigan and Huron, and is a really cute little town with lots of bed&breakfasts, bars, ice cream shops and hotels. We stayed at a hotel that was right on the water and it was awesome. I had never stayed anywhere that close to a lake, or slept in a hotel bed that comfortable. We walked up to some restaurant right on the water and had fresh fish from Huron, and I sat out on the beach that night and enjoyed some time alone. The view of the stars was almost as good as what I have out in Iowa, so that was pretty neat too.


The next morning, we went out to Mackinac Island. The ferry tickets are expensive, but worth it seeing that it's really the only way for a tourist to actually get to the island instead of by air.
Mackinac Island is really interesting because those who live/work there don't use motor-driven transportation. The only motors on the island belong to landscaping equipment and emergency vehicles. The cops only use the cop cars when they really need them, and usually patrol on bike or horseback. There's also tons of places to rent bicycles from there- it's the best way to get around town.

(View of the Island from the ferry)

But perhaps the most fascinating part of Mackinac is it's architecture. I'm not an expert on architecture, but it's loaded with classic Victorian and New England-style homes, which is something I'm not used to seeing in the heart of the Midwest.

(Taxi!)

There's also a ton of places to shop/eat/whatever here. Neat bike shops that will make you a custom bike during your stay using old Schwinns and new Schwinns, plenty of fudge and candy shops, museums, etc. Did I mention the architecture was beautiful?

After we had our fill of awesomeness, we crossed the historic Mackinaw Bridge (Watch the ModernMarvels episode on this, it's actually fascinating) and headed towards the Flint, MI area and tried to avoid Detroit traffic. We didn't do a very good job of that and found ourselves dodging through some messy roads and at around 10pm, landed in ___, to hook up with the president of our motorcycle club.

(Continued in Part VI)