Cx400C

[Robert Taylor]

BOLLICKS

ok lts not bring the vf 750 into this thread... it deserves one of its own.

now in my experance of owning near all cx modles:
A, manual camchain adjustment... fultless, 100k +
B, manual camchain adjustment... fultless 100k+
C, manual camchain adjustment... fultless (same engine as B)
E, Auto camchain adjustment... issues, due to adjuster not allowing much adjustment, replaced every 7000km (did 3)
TC, Auto camchain adjustment... faultless 40k+ and thrashed

What bollocks that there was never a problem? Im 56 years old but alzheimers has not yet quite claimed my sanity.

Am I imagining all of the hundreds ( yes hundreds ) of CX500s that I and the mechanics working alongside CONSTANTLY repaired during my five years in London commencing in the early 80s? Many of those requiring new cam chains and followers at alarmingly low odometer readings. There were lots of these in the UK, many ridden by despatch riders. Many of those despatch riders rigidly followed the Honda mandated service intervals.

I think a sampling rate in London over many bikes will have far more credibility than your realtively limited experience

Yes you are right the VF750FD deserves a ( very long ) thread of its own, yet another long horror story from a company that so often has the temerity/ hypocrisy to say it builds reliable product

[dangerous]

So you are saying that due to frequent checks and adjustment you can avoid the damage.

The factory had several goes at fixing it until they went to the auto adjuster.

there was not and never were any issues with the CX manual camchain tensioner (i do not know much about the series 1 A prototype from 79)

Like ya drive chain the less you adjust the longer it will last

Am I imagining all of the hundreds ( yes hundreds ) of CX500s that I and the mechanics working alongside CONSTANTLY repaired during my five years in London commencing in the early 80s? Many of those requiring new cam chains and followers at alarmingly low odometer readings. I think a sampling rate in London over many bikes will have far more credibility than your realtively limited experience

just noted ya post so adding and editing to this one.

Well I do not doubt what you say... but here in NZ apart from the early 79er maybe there were no issues that I know of with manual tensioners, I put over 100k on two bikes another 100 on three others, I know the old guy that has one of mine and its near 150k now, and never touched apart from my rebuild a 8000k due to a prang spliting the oil pump after the forks were pushed back into the engine.
Here it wasnt till the auto tensioners came out in 82 with the cbx, cx ect that there were issues.. but then there will be some talk about the xl/xr 750k etc.

[Mr Revhead]

Well that goes against all that the rest of the worlds experiences and records.

[FJRider]

What bollocks that there was never a problem? Im 56 years old but alzheimers has not yet quite claimed my sanity.

They never had problems ...

Am I imagining all of the hundreds ( yes hundreds ) of CX500s that I and the mechanics working alongside CONSTANTLY repaired during my five years in London commencing in the early 80s? Many of those requiring new cam chains and followers at alarmingly low odometer readings. There were lots of these in the UK, many ridden by despatch riders. Many of those despatch riders rigidly followed the Honda mandated service intervals.

Perhaps the dispatch riders (in London) rode the CX's a little differently to those that owned and rode them in NZ. It's not KM's ridden that made the difference ... it's HOW they were ridden.

I think a sampling rate in London over many bikes will have far more credibility than your realtively limited experience

A "Sampling" of all CX dispatch riders in London you mean ... ??? it's hardly a fair comparison to those owned/ridden on the open road (even by kiwi courier riders) in NZ.

Yes you are right the VF750FD deserves a ( very long ) thread of its own, yet another long horror story from a company that so often has the temerity/ hypocrisy to say it builds reliable product

There's still plenty of VF's and CX's STILL on the road. (Some did make it home though .. )

[dangerous]

Well that goes against all that the rest of the worlds experiences and records.

I KNOW maybe NZ modles were corected... I rode one of mine for 300k and 160kph with out water in the red due to a blowen pump seal... warped the rear inner casing and still ran like a dream

remember tho as I said my 500E with auto tensioner went through a tensioner n chain every 7k, again same area as the cbx etc.
My 1st was a A shadow 1980 never a issue in 100k (cept that pump seal) maybe the pom bikes were built different like the early A from 79

[Robert Taylor]

They never had problems ...



Perhaps the dispatch riders (in London) rode the CX's a little differently to those that owned and rode them in NZ. It's not KM's ridden that made the difference ... it's HOW they were ridden.



A "Sampling" of all CX dispatch riders in London you mean ... ??? it's hardly a fair comparison to those owned/ridden on the open road (even by kiwi courier riders) in NZ.



There's still plenty of VF's and CX's STILL on the road. (Some did make it home though .. )

Not only despatch riders, remember there are 7 million people in London and plenty more beyond.

This sounds like a warranty department at any number of motorcycle distributors....''No never heard of that problem before, you are the only one'' Poppycock, the problem was worldwide.

[gammaguy]

And I promise not to get started on the engine removal to replace the frequently burned out stator

Oops

[Mr Revhead]

That's something else that was improved with the later TI system

[dangerous]

And I promise not to get started on the engine removal to replace the frequently burned out stator

Oops

AYE..... naaaa never, hey I had it down to 20mins engine on the bench... only ever due to water pump seal and for some reason only on 1 of my 5 CX's stator issues... this is the 1st Iv heard of this, are we all talking about the same bike???

[Robert Taylor]

AYE..... naaaa never, hey I had it down to 20mins engine on the bench... only ever due to water pump seal and for some reason only on 1 of my 5 CX's stator issues... this is the 1st Iv heard of this, are we all talking about the same bike???

You know you really dont have to be an apologist for the long list of costly issues with this model. I was there in a market where there are around 70 million people, there were lots of these engineering catastrophes there ( emphatically kept company by some of their other disasters ), there were lots of issues. Thats a far far bigger sampling range than what occured in this insignificant , isolated and sealocked old colonial outpost. Sure, failures may have occured more readily in the UK due to largely more ''loaded'' operating circumstance, but shouldnt any product that is sold be fit for the purpose for which it is sold, without ongoing / high frequency reliability issues? Further, they were hugely unpopular among mechanics as they are inarguably bloody horrible things to work on. Its almost as if Honda temporarily hired some Citroen engineers, gallic wine drinkers and snail eaters who are notorious for finding over complicated ways of doing things.
Other leading manufacturers have made notorious failures but so have Honda and they cannot claim the moral high ground of ''impeccable reliability'', by any stretch of the imagination

[FJRider]

Further, they were hugely unpopular among mechanics as they are inarguably bloody horrible things to work on.

Yet ... they were "The weapon of choice" by most of the Motorcycle courier/dispatch riders in many parts of the world. Mechanics are paid (well ??) to keep them running ... and I doubt if the riders were concerned that the mechanics felt that way about them.

[Robert Taylor]

Yet ... they were "The weapon of choice" by most of the Motorcycle courier/dispatch riders in many parts of the world. Mechanics are paid (well ??) to keep them running ... and I doubt if the riders were concerned that the mechanics felt that way about them.

Id beg to differ. They were frustrating for many despatch riders ( many who were running a business as contracted self operators supplying their own vehicles ) as there was so much downtime. Fond memories these guys will not have and I remember the many ''juggling acts'' and pressure we were under at the time to keep these guys on the road. All because of dodgy engineering driven by accountants.

[dangerous]

in this insignificant , isolated and sealocked old colonial outpost.

hey mate I have to ask... why ya come here then?
Ill consider myself learned and educated here, but one thing that dosent change is the CX range to me, is amongest the best bikes I have had or riden... so just for you Robbie, and dont shit yaself loughing... one of mine

[Mr Revhead]

Can't we play nicely with each other? Don't make me tell my mum

Dangerous, I have a theory, you had 1980 onwards bikes. They first came out in 78. Honda did recalls and warranty repairs and had 2 or 3 goes at sorting the tensioner out.
I reckon the bikes you had being 80 onwards were all later versions of the manual tensioner. Which, if checked and adjusted properly last ages.
The one bike you had with an auto that played up, well you can't really judge the entire build range on one bike can you?

Robert being a mechanic for Honda back then would have seen lots and lots of these recalls coming in. But Robert, how many times was each bike coming in? Having worked in the car industry I have met mane techs who say "Don't touch an X, they all have Y issue"
Then when you look further it's a recall or comon fault, that each (or most) only have once... So they may see hundreds of cases of Y fault. But only once on each machine

There is no doubting the cult following these things have, and the many high mileage bikes around. If you know the faults to keep an eye out for, and how to sort them properly then they seem to last a bloody long time.

At least I hope so! I know have two!

[dangerous]

Ohhh bugger it Mr T ya got me looking for old photos LOL... look what I found for ya... dont they look so farking COOL few more of mine LOL