Honda CX500

Those who have never ridden a Honda CX500 still turn up their noses at Honda’s vee, while those who have owned one will defend the V-twin passionately. The CX was ground-breaking when it first appeared in 1978, but it was greeted not with astonishment but with derision by much of the motorcycle press. Where everybody else was turning out double overhead camshaft straight four sports bikes, Honda had gone out and built a four-valve per cylinder opposed V-twin, with push rods operating the valves, a shaft drive and water cooling. Honda had even ditched the by now ubiquitous separate headlamp, speedo and rev counter arrangement and enclosed them all in a plastic nacelle. No-one had put a nacelle on a motorcycle since 1962.

It didn’t help that when the CX500 was launched at a racetrack one of the first bikes was written off within a few laps by an over-enthusiastic journalist, causing the remaining scribes to voice concerns about the handling. The CX prototype had been an air-cooled V-twin 350, the engine shoved into a CB200 frame with a transfer box and a chain drive, down draught carbs and exhaust ports pointing to the