With attribution (and apologies) to Charles Dickens, this was the best motorcycle, this was the worst motorcycle. This was an age where technology soared, yet this was an age where average triumphed. This was the time of lag, this was the time of boost. This was the Spring of hope, this was the Winter of…
Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Personal home computers. Digital displays. The Space Shuttle. Princess Diana. The Falklands. Epcot Center. The early 1980s were a time of excess, and of Turbos. For this was the era of the factory turbocharged motorcycles, and leading the charge was the 1982 Honda CX500 Turbo. For certain the concept of boosting intake…
In the early 1980s Honda was flexing some serious technological muscles. Sure, they nearly single-handedly created the big bore standard with the CB750 in the 1970s, but the avenues they pursued in the 1980s were a fantastic mix of avant-guarde ideas seeking performance. Imagine the breadth and scope of Honda’s R&D department during this time:…
Imagine the scene in Honda dealerships back in 1982: Buck Rogers – your bike is ready. One can only imagine what the buying public thought of a futuristic, turbocharged rocket ship that offered liter-bike power in a 500cc format. Unfortunately, the reaction from the general public was not to immediately rip open their wallets and…
With the other manufacturers building their exotic turbocharged 80s confections around more sophisticated four-cylinder designs, why did Honda base their CX650 Turbo on a bike that was so ugly, the British press dubbed it the “plastic maggot”? Well even though a simple, pushrod v-twin seems to go against the high-tech theme these motorcycles embodied, the…
Focus now, don’t let what is in the background distract you. It might not be quite as exotic as an RC30 but this could be quite the find for a collector of Honda’s that has a space waiting for a CX500 Turbo. The CX500 was a technological exercise for Honda and much more than just a turbo charged engine. Like…