Honda CX 500: the history of the slurry pump

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Scene: Honda CX 500

The history of the slurry pump

When Honda presented the CX 500 in 1977, it was considered ugly, but sold well. Now the slurry pump is cult. As the?

"As ugly as the machine looks, it drives so well", was the verdict of Franz Josef Schermer in MOTORRAD 3/1978. When Honda introduced the CX 500, its appearance was met with little approval. The two bulky cylinders with an almost smooth surface looked misshapen next to the finely ribbed engines of the competition. The mighty, black cooler was completely out of the ordinary. Air-cooled two- and oven-cylinder mid-range bikes, such as the Yamaha XS 500 and the Suzuki GS 550, had clear lines back then. What nobody can say about the CX. The strange lamp cover and the rump with clunky light were offensive. The styling is strange, said Gerrit Heyl cautiously in MOTORRAD 8/1979.

Scene: Honda CX 500

The history of the slurry pump

CX 500 1978 and 1979 almost every comparison test, whether in the throttled version with 27 or in the open version with 50 hp. Powerful, yet good-natured and comfortable, it presented itself as a connection between athlete and tourer. "The new CX 500 breaks with all previously known traditions in motorcycle construction," boasted Honda in a press release. It was the first motorcycle to shine with tubeless tires on Comstar composite wheels. Water cooling and low-maintenance cardan were rarities back then. One of the innovations was a transversely installed two-cylinder in a V-shape, like Moto Guzzi, but with a cylinder angle of 80 degrees. The cylinder heads are rotated 22 degrees to the crankshaft axis, which creates more space for the driver’s knees. The clutch rotates as a counter-rotating mass to the crankshaft and thus reduces the overturning torque of the engine. The modern four-valve engine is controlled by an underlying camshaft as well as old-fashioned bumpers and rocker arms. Nevertheless, the extremely short stroke of 78 by 52 millimeters achieved more than 10,000 rpm.

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Baptized: Rotger Feldmann’s comic figure Werner has in "Freezing" a Honda CX 500 converted into a slurry pump.

The CX 500 is VW among the bikes: It runs and runs. Up to 150,000 kilometers with one engine are not uncommon. "It seldom breaks, and if it does, you can get parts for the moped at every corner," explains John Wotsch, President of the South German CX Friends, one of her charms.

The motorcycle is well received: In 1981 alone, Honda sold 5246 pieces of the soft chopper CX 500 C and 4746 CX 500 – second place behind the Honda CB 400 N (5602) and fifth place among the top sellers in Germany. Unbeatable together. With other motorcyclists, however, the models met with total rejection, as reputable driving school bikes were disreputable. With the successors of the CX 500 in Euro and Turbo versions, Honda was no longer able to build on its previous sales or test successes. The CX 650 and GL 650 sold in such small numbers that Honda discontinued the series in the mid-1980s.

When the draftsman Rotger Feldmann alias Brosel published the comic "Eiskalt" in Semmel-Verlach in 1985, in which the title hero Werner used the cooling circuit of a CX 500 to pump liquid manure, the name stuck. The current level of awareness of the CX 500 is also due to Brosel’s faecal humor. Werner was undoubtedly a cultural creator among young motorcyclists and the slurry pump is now a boring philistine bike that nobody who was hip wanted to be seen on. In contrast, the Yamaha XT 500 stayed cool.

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Tea "Slurry pump": The engine block of the Honda CX 500.

The fans of the CX got excited in a big way in 1997, when the friends of CX / GL drivers were founded in the north and south of the republic. In the meantime, associations that have emerged from this have also taken care of maintaining the machines – 25 years after production stopped. After all, 7875 CX 500, 7713 CX 500 C and 1707 CX 500 euros were still on Germany’s roads in 2009.

Honda has sold 171 349 CX and GL models worldwide. Its fans meet in Denmark, France, Sweden, Hungary, the Netherlands and Great Britain, where the CX is nicknamed "Old Faithful" because of its reliability.

Friends of change also like the CX 500. A slurry pump can be converted into a Cafe Racer, Cruiser or Chopper. Of course, owners of originals shudder at completely tinkered CX. In 1977 she was ahead of her time. Ever since motorcyclists got used to angular designs and water-cooled naked bikes, their shapes appear in a rosier light.

The fact that the slurry pump is no go along so deterring is due to the V-engine, which is openly displayed as a load-bearing part in the tubular frame. In addition, the part is unmistakable. Gold as owner Alex Koch says: “The thing is so ugly that it’s beautiful again.” Information at www.guellepumpe.de, www.cx500-online.de, www.cx-freunde.de

CX 500 C as a cruiser Matador Gigant

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CX 500 C as a cruiser Matador Gigant.

Jorg Wernsmann chose the color and logo of the combine harvester factory Claas. The owner has the price for the renovation, which began in 2000 "Pump 2006" Won at the 10th North German CX meeting of the CX / GL Freundeskreis Weser / Ems / Elbe.

If you want to know more about the search for spoke wheels, the trouble with fork kits and sleeve-turning friends: www.cx500-online.de

CX 500 C as a council bike

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CX 500 C as a council bike.

Alex Koch has replaced the mirrors, indicators and cockpit with smaller formats. The bench is now a synthetic leather-covered insulation mat. Plus ape hangers, bellows and Wirth fork springs – lasts for seven years

CX 500 as a British cafe racer

Dinkler

CX 500 as a British cafe racer.

The media designer Timo Dinkler initially designed his custom bike on the computer. He then provided a given CX with a hump, clip-on handlebars and taillight from the Internet. In around a hundred hours of work, Dinkler brushed, polished, dechromed, blackened and flexed a new rear frame. Cost: less than 500 euros. Photos and information: www.dinkler.de

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