Good reason why sooooo many motorcycle despatch riders in London used the venerable and durable CX500 for their work. In the 1980s and early 90s the CX ruled supreme in this line of business. By the mid 90s most had by this time been ridden to destruction and now not many survive. The CX500 is a truly legendary reliable workhorse. 🙌

I absolutely adored my CX500 which I drove for 7 years and something like 55000 miles until it got stolen from outside my flat, never to be seen or heard of again. Apart from the usual luggage carrying add-ons, the only modification I ever made to it was a Motad 2-into-1 exhaust pipe - a longer lasting alternative to the admittedly better looking twin pipes. I found the CX to be pretty well viceless and it did everything I ever wanted and asked of it. I find myself these days looking back some 40 years and thinking it would be fun to get back onto two wheels, especially if they were driven by a shaft-drive V-twin of 500 or maybe 650 cc capacity. Ah well, I suppose I can carry on dreaming!

The CX is impressive and I like Hondas of that period BUT give me a small block Guzzi everytime. great video

My mate had a V-50, what I found amazing at the time, you could take the top of the frame off, and service the motor while it sat in the bottom of the frame on the centre stand..

I rode a V50 III as a courier for quite a few months and loved it. Many others at the time were on various CX models. There is a video waiting to be made about the best (most loved/least hated) courier bikes of the boom years: CX500, CB250RS, 400 Super Dream, GT550, GS850, Z650, GPz305, R65, R80, GS550, CD200 Benly, RD350LC and so on and so on.... Stuff people could spend all day on and fix with a mallet and a crow bar. 😊😊😊

I enjoyed that very much. Thanks for posting. I bought a cx500 in the early 80s second hand. Few gripes, like the pissy 32mm forks which made cornering at higher speeds challenging, stripping out a tappet cover bolt with little pressure and doing a water jacket seal (easy fix). Otherwise a very reliable and quick bike for what it was. 2 up it still had plenty of power. I did take the baffles out of the cans which did seem to increase performance, but at the least, sounded amazing. Sounded better than my brother's 850 LeMans.

Had a red monza and no one could touch me when going into bends , always up front of my mate s , just loved it ..👍

My friend, Keith, and I went touring across Greece in 1978/79 with our girlfriends. He was on his Honda CX500 and I on my Yamaha XS750. Both bikes were shaft drive so ideal for touring with all the advantages of not having to maintain a chain over thousands of miles. Unfortunately, the reality was slightly different, with Keith's bike stripping its rear drive splines in southern Italy on the way home. To be fair, I recall that the failure might have been due to a slight mishap that Keith had previously suffered with the rear wheel as I don't recall the drive splines being a recognised weakness on the CX500.

Thanks for returning to the older opening. It has charm. Good subject, really well done.

That takes me back, I owned a CX500B back in 83, I fitted koni shocks and changed the fork oil, and in it's day it handled well enough to keep up with most things, and it returned around 60mpg. If honda offered a 23 model, with around 80hp and modern wheels, I'd buy one tomorrow. Great video!

Interesting video as usual. I haven't ridden any Guzzi or a CX500. I had a Honda VF750SC in the late 80s, but was a troublesome machine, like my CB360G! It had two spark units, it used to go from two cylinders to four cylinders until I managed to get a second hand replacement. The collector box rotted away very quickly too. The only Italian bike I have ridden was a Ducati 1098. It had sublime handling, but so uncomfortable.

Very interesting comparison. The reason the CX was OHV was because Honda rotated the head 22 degrees to allow the carbs to tuck in which you alluded to when you mentioned the Guzzi ones stuck out. I rode a CX when I was looking for an upgrade eventually buying a CB650Z because both bikes weighed the same but the 650 had 63hp vs 50hp

The V50-III has several improvements over the previous two versions, that's the one to get. The first time I tried out a V50 I couldn't work out why it didn't go faster than 60mph, everyone was telling me that they were really nippy and great handling, but it didn't seem to really go. After about 30 miles I suddenly realised that the tacho and speedo were the other way round from my bike at the time and actually I had been doing 6000rpm and 90mph and taking roundabouts at 80mph! Yet it felt like sitting on a Honda185 doing 50mph. The linked brakes were brilliant, take 5 minutes to get used to and then you can't ride anything else. So I bought a Le Mans and a T3.

I also owned both of these bikes but had a slightly different opinion. The CX that I had was a twin shock CX500. At the time I was doing despatch riding including a lot of runs from London to Scotland. I found the handling very good and solid feeling. When not using it for work I had great fun using it on the back roads in my home area. It was an extremely comfortable bike to ride all day and I averaged about 55mpg. The bike had a fairly large tank and good range. Normal service work was easy and I never had any camchain problems. I think many of the camchain problems people had were due to incorrect tension adjustment. The adjustment was done differently to many other bikes. When I bought mine it had done 48k but when I sold it ( still running perfect ) it had done 240k. The CX was unusual in that it was designed by the Honda car designers. The result was a lot of mid range torque that made it easy and less tiring to do long runs. The Guzzi was not so comfortable or easy to ride and mine suffered a lot of irritating small reliability problems. Mostly down to electrics and build quality. There was still something nice about owning a Guzzi. Maybe just the name or riding something less common but of the two I would choose a CX.

Thank you, you have mirrored my thoughts precisely. I find your assessments overall to be clear, concise and intelligent. I very rarely offer such praise. The Honda CB400 F2 still remains my 'top dog' for a great number of different reasons.

I punted a CX round London ,found it nimble and stable at low speeds..cutting down handle bars really got you through traffic

I despatched on a Kawasaki GT550, rented, and saw the guys on CX500s seeming to cut through traffic easier than me. I put it down to them being better, more experienced riders until I got on a CX myself and found out it was the bike. It was just brilliant in that role and I loved it. One day I got to ride a friend's V50 and that just made me smile, it had Norton pipes on it and it sounded amazing, handled amazingly well and just left me grinning even though it wasn't very fast.

I had a CX500 in the mid 80’s and loved it, I have many fond memories of touring Scotland and elsewhere. 38 years later I’ve just got a V7 850, loving it so far but it’s early days yet, I wonder if we will make brilliant memories the way the CX did. The Guzzi just loves a good twisty road way more than I remember the CX did, not a fair comparison really due to the years between, for wrinkly me as well as the machines

Great comparison well done! The CX500 was a well regarded bike at the time and quite popular I remember however I never owned one myself. I did own a Guzzi V5011 though.. so small and light, so much character, such a good all rounder ( as you say it's not good for two up touring but solo was fine). I had many bigger Guzzis but as a bike to quickly nip down to the shops on.. or to go to France on in the holidays it took some beating. My mate had a 400/4 which was also good but the V50 was easily comparable to it. Great bike.. I would choose it out of the two.

Excellent! I want to get another bike and I'm thinking of getting a smaller, more compact bike about 500cc (I'm only a short arse). I have thought about the CX, but your comments about it being heavy have dissuaded me I think. So I can cross that one off. I'd forgotten about the V50 though. I wanted one of those in the 90's. Wish they still made them. Might be the very thing for me - small, light 500cc with tons of character. Sounds really good. If I can find one (and afford it!).

Had a CX in 1980 new, did 30,000 miles in a couple of years, had the cam chain issue, and paint flaking on the frame leaving bare metal, both fixed by the dealer Redhill Motors in Maidstone without any qualms, I toured a lot on it, over to the 24 hr Le Mans, and round the U.K. on various rallies and it would return a surprisingly good fuel consumption one time maxing out at 60 to 70 mpg on a long motorway run, considering its weight it was also surprisingly manoeuvrable at low speed, managing to get round the low speed maneuvering course that was brought in at this time. The little Guzzy was also very popular, along with a mix of other 500cc bikes at the time, but both the Honda and Guzzy were the clear favourites in this sector amongst my group of pals at the time. I do not remember anyone really having to many issues with the little Guzzy maybe they were lucky, but keeping them looking nice was tricky as British salty roads soon made inroads into the Finnish (this was a period of time most of us biked all year round, not just the dry months).

This is an interesting one. I've often thought about the CX500 vs Moto Guzzi V50, since they seem to be very similar bikes. I think I would go for the Moto Guzzi too.

I had one in '82 after passing my test on a CB250N. It was comfortable, easy to work on and dependable, but I also found it to be a rather soulless ride. It got you there, and that's about all I can say. I sold it to help pay for a GSX1100E and was soon forgotten.

I love my V50 II, always puts me in a good mood when I ride it. I've never owned a cx so couldn't compare. In reference to a previous mention, did dispatch a gpz305 for a bit, fun bike but I'm not sure it was the best choice for that particular job.

I remember distinctly, a comment made by "which bike" at the launch of the CX, saying that the front looked great but the back looked like "a Tyrolean house-frau's arse". I now own an orange galleon from KTM and long for the old days.

I had a CX 500A, the bike was so easy to service. The biggest problem at the time was getting tyres as it was one of the first bikes with tubeless tyres. Not many to choose from. The Metropolitan Police bought some V50's for female riders as the early BMWs were tall in the seat.

Ahh the Honda Twin Tub automatic, my girlfriend’s Dad had one back in the day while I was the the proud owner of a GSX750, the one with the square clocks and the huge tank.

I owned both , enjoyed many miles on each of them both were comfortable on long trips. no preference.

Rode a cx500 for a few months before the stator went out... when I found you had to completely take out the engine and tear it down to fix made me immediately sell it. I'm a honda fan, I own quite a few but this is one I will never touch again

Like yourself I love Moto Guzzi, but at 6ft I found the V50 Monza much too small, I really wanted one of these bikes as it looks like a baby LeMans but there was no way I could make it work for me. Having had a couple of CX's in the late 70's and early 80's I decided that I would get one as my 2nd bike (I already own a Moto Guzzi Bellagio). I absolutely love riding the CX it is just so easy to ride and makes me feel like I'm 20 again. So for me the choice would be CX500 over the V50 mainly down to the practicality and size. Really great idea for a video as it was certainly something I had already done a comparison on, having originally only wanted to buy a V50 as my 2nd bike, before accepting it was just too small.

I was looking for my first ‘big’ bike when I started work after University. It was ‘almost’ a choice between the CX and the Monza. I say ‘almost’ as in reality, being short, the CX was a bit on the tall size for me so I bought the Monza. And that set the scene for me as even now some 42 years later, I have never been without a Moto Guzzi in my garage (as well as many other makes). I have another Monza now and my original Monza was my every day bike and I managed 115k miles on it. Needed more attention than a CX would have done but it never let me down in all that time! So Moto Guzzi for me! 🤣👍

Hi, For the CX you missed out the turbo model. Which was considered to be the only turbo engined bike of the 80s from the big 4 that worked.

Everyone who owned a Honda CX500 probably wished they had a Guzzi instead. However everyone who owned a Moto Guzzi 500 probably at some time wished they owned a CX instead - usually when they were left at the side of the road. I owned the Eurosport model with a motad 2-1 pipe which was a great first bike after I'd past my test.

Excellent comparison . While I've had 2 cx's neither one holds a candle to the inline 4s I owned before them . I pulled up to a friend's house one day on my cx and he had his Harley completely disassembled . We chatted a bit about his bike and then from out of nowhere he started giggling . I asked him what was so funny ? He said , my Harley in pieces is worth more than your Honda put together. I said , I don't know about that , tomorrow morning I'm going to get on my bike and go to work , you won't be able to do that with your Harley.

I find the CX engine layout easier to understand if you think of a regular single or v-twin. Now turn it sideways and put a universal joint and drive shaft where the sprocket would otherwise be.

Anymore, because of its popularity for Cafe conversion which results in an expanding amount of performance parts, the CX is able to be turned into anything you like. I'd still keep the Guzzi simply because it's a Guzzi..

Guzzi has a beautiful line. But the Honda is indestructible.

The story behind it would lead too far here, but I want to let you know that in Germany the Honda CX 500 has the very well-known nickname "Güllepumpe" (slurry pump) 🙂

I had a maggot which was practical, comfortable and dull after that I had a v50 monza which had a fire in its belly it had passion and spirit with a soul. I rode that bike to destruction.

I owned an early CX for a while and while I loved the ride it was a complete liability at low speed or when employing push power during parking or moving the bike - I found it rather more than "a bit top heavy" because while I am not tall I am certainly not a 7 stone weakling, I was conscious from the first if the beast caught me off balance I would end up wearing it and probably languish there until someone took pity on me. My short inside leg put me on the ball of one foot or the other when astride the beast and if I could have found one, I would have opted for the Custom model, due to it having a lower seat height, unfortunately that model seemed as rare as rocking horse poo. My biggest problem was during pootling around I would forget which gear the bike was in - the engine was so flexible it didn't seem to matter which of the lower gears was selected for trundling along a towpath at a sedate jogging speed, but when I reached the ramp to leave the towpath and fed a little more juice into the motor it stopped dead. To make matters infinitely worse, when I tried to plant my left foot it found nothing and we slowly toppled sideways and by the time my foot touched something solid I was halfway off the seat with my right knee the closest to my ear it had been since I was a toddler, my right hand was useless and my left was supporting the weight of the bike via the left handlebar. Amazingly I held it even though it took everything I had and once I had willed my right leg off the seat I could slowly force the bike upright, made more difficult because of the full touring fairing. A small adventure but it served to make my CX 500 the most memorable of all my bikes...

I have owned both these bikes and I agree with all you say

I could not agree more for fun factor for me it would have to be the Moto Guzzi, a Monza for me please!

The CS bikes used some very clever engineering to tuck in the Carburettors . The 650 version was the right size for them . Excellent Bike then .

My ex-wife started with a C90 not being able to even ride a bicycle. Then moved onto a V50... was absolutely perfect for her. Low seat height, low C of G. The foot break that combined one of the front disks with the rear disk made it fool proof. Added a crash bar, large screen, luggage rack and two side bags. A great setup for the smaller person..

It is strange how machines that share so much in terms of layout can be so different. Most of this is down to the difference in design philosophy between the Italians and the Japanese. It could be argued that in the late 70's or early 80's there was a real gulf in that area. The V50 represented an improvement in the standards of finish and electrics in Italy that was necessary if their industry was to compete. The CX came from the period where the Japanese left some important R&D work to the customer, a policy which deservedly harmed their sales, especially the V 4 range. The CX would do prodigious mileage with a bit of looking after, though in fairness to the Moto Guzzi, they were pretty mechanically robust.

i agree the V50 is the one to have and for extra oomph you can im told fit a V65 engine in

I've owned both bikes more recently. The CX-500 would shake itself to bits, and nobody wanted to fix the failed generator. The V50 was actually more reliable although it did get stolen twice. Agree with your summary, for solo riding the V50 is more rewarding.

i've owned a dozen bikes, and the mg600 was easily the most fun. king of the corners, and fast enough.

I had a couple of mates who bought cx 500's when they first came out I remember they had a recall to fix problem with noisey engines. There a joke at the time knock knock.. who's there.. cx 500.. but they proved to be good bikes and racked up high mileage. I on the other had bought a second hand low mileage moto guzzi v50 monza. It was 13 months old with about 1500 miles on the, unfortunately it was as I found out to my costone of a small batch that left the factory without the tab washers turned over and incorrectly torqued nuts on the crown wheel in the rear hub. Fortunately is was only doing about 40mph when the crown wheel sheared off and seized the rear wheel. Had to pay for repairs as out of warranty and moto guzzi were very unhelpful. Sold it asap shame really as it was a fun bike but never had faith in after this issue.

How about CX500/650 v Kawa GT550 ;-)

I know the Honda was a good bike but seemed so vanilla ,I’ve seen them bobbered or caféd out now which I think is kinda fun But I’m a Guzzi guy so I,d go V50

Just bought a Silver wing because at an old age realized I can not handle large touring machines. I have a few sports bikes which are great fun for short periods and when the bones dont work as they should and the muscles give you Jip but you still want to ride there are not many options out there that still have character ..And allow you to ride all day THE SILVER WING DOES !!!! Also when you get old you do not want to fidle as much so the reliability comes into play and lets be honest when was the last time a Honda did not get you home ??Not like my 1200 G.S. which seems to keep the A.A. in work !!! So to conclude my choice would always be a Honda and I have had a few Guzzi's so do know what I am talking about !! Very good up load and not wishing to piss on your chips for one second Welldone !!

The V50 is the original, based on the Tonti frame and small block. The CX 500 is the interpretation.

....is that RXS 125/100 yours, then?

Imma take the Moto Guzzi

That dark Honda looks much better than the lighter coloured guz . It Easley match the red guz. I can't believe Honda made such a classy looking bike.

My V50 was an ungrateful, unpredictable, defect ridden lump. Ownership really will involve a virtual complete teardown and rebuild- and even then you're never quite sure what will go next. This comes from someone who suffered through 3 more Guzzis before I came to my senses and bought a BMW.

Pronounced Gutzi 😉

The MG was better but both pull to the side and both are unreliable. I rode and worked on these 2.

I had both of these machines. A 1980 Moto Guzzi V50 ll, and a Honda CX 500.. The Honda was better in every way. I was working as a mechanic at a Honda dealership - motorcycles.. my V 50 had a SP 1000 style fairing color matched red and black. It had a set of the smaller krouser hard bags.. My CX 500 had the stock pipes, I had a Canadian turtle shell back seat shaped like the BMW R 100 RS seat, sloped. That was a standard seat on some of the Canadian models but not the United States models..I had Honda CB 400 F bars on it, KONI shocks.. The V 50 was lite boned compared to the Honda. It had smallish carburetors, and it was not a powerhouse. It had to Brembo brakes but they weren’t that powerful. I remember some type of a cable set up from the handlebar perch to a master cylinder remotely mounted, and that did not make the brakes more powerful.. On the other hand, the CX 500 had multi valves per cylinder, i’m not sure if it was three or four valves. it was water cooled, center located spark plug. I believe it ripped over 10,000 or close to 10,000 RPM which was pretty good for a pushrod engine… The cylinders on the Honda were twisted to bring the intake manifold closer together. this smart design brought the carburetors close together enabling Honda to have a single cable on a bell crank to open the carbs. This tended to let the carburetor stay in sync much longer than having individual cables like on the Guzzi.. The Honda was a stressed member of the frame. I forget the angle of the cylinders but it was not 90° like the V 50 head which supposedly has perfect primary and secondary balance.. Because the cylinders were twisted closer together on the intake, they were also at the same time spread out allowing the exhaust ports and pipes to clear the radiator and the frame… The Honda cylinders were one piece cast with the engine cases. Only the heads were removable.. Honda designed the clutch to spin in the opposite direction of the crankshaft, this canceled out the twerk reaction to the side when you blip the throttle, that every BMW boxer and Guzzi vtwin owner is familiar with.. The Honda was much more powerful, and much faster. It also had better brakes in spite of only having a single disc. The V 50 had a very clever rear swingarm driveshaft tube and disc brake design. I forget a little bit, but I think you could get the rear wheel off without disturbing the caliper or the disk which stayed mounted to the final drive. I could be wrong, it’s been decades since I owned my V 50.. The CX 500 had tubeless tires..The V 50 had tube type wheels that lacked a safety retention bead in case the tire were to go flat and separate from the wheel… when you have tubes inside of your tires, you reduce that tires Carrying capacity by 10%, and, since the tires seal comes through the suspension into the riders hands. Eight tire with a tube in it has a dull thud feel Compared to the same wheel and tire that is tubeless. I actually installed tubeless tire valves on my V 50 and the Theo was much more spunky when I went tubeless.. The V 50 had a spark advance flaw. When pulling away from a stock, you would open the throttle and the motorcycle had a sort of bog, it felt lifeless until the RPMs got to 2000. That is when the spark with advance and the engine would come to life, sort of.. I had a friend that dropped a valve on his V 50 when he was about 400 miles from home.. he pulled the oil pan, and removed the stricken cylinders connecting rod and piston through the oil pan. He removed the rod bearings and put them around the crankshaft using two stainless steel radiator hose strap clamps to maintain oil pressure.. he buttoned the engine back up, and rode the bike home from Virginia near Washington DC all the way back to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on one cylinder. He told me A jackhammer could not have vibrated more..He nursed it home .. behind her on the other hand had a very healthy mid range punch. It was as mild mannered at slow speeds, and it became very perky right around five or 6000 RPMs. but the Honda also had an ignition weakness. I believe it had a capacitor discharge ignition, that in later years became a transistorized ignition fixing this glitch that the CDI units had.. when cranking a cold engine. The starter would draw power from the ignition. The capacitors could not fully saturate to build up pressure to saturate the coils with enough energy to jump the spark plug gap.. but, if you would let off the starter button, that gave an instant boost in electricity to the ignition system and the bike would start instantly. But it was a catch 22. You had to lead off the starter button for the ignition system to get enough power to start but you had to hit the starter button to get the engine to turn over. In other words, they did not like to start when they were cold.. The result was, a lot of cranking and attempting to get it to start, usually took about 15 seconds in about five tries to get it to light.. those weaknesses disappeared when they went to transistor ignition I think in 1983 when the CX became a CX 650 in the turbo also. I worked at a Honda dealership at that time, my best friend bought a CX 500 turbo. The list price was $4999. that CX engine was actually designed on the drawing board to be a turbo charged engine right from the start. That’s why the normally aspirated CX 500s starting in 1978, we’re indestructible. To this day, that is my favorite Honda engine of all time. And I’ve had dozens of them. I’m on my 107th and 108th motorcycles right now.. I always hoped that Honda would resurrect that design engine and put it into a machine like the Honda Pacific coast. I had 2 Honda Pacific coasts .. I commuted on my 1990 until it got totaled at a stop sign with me on it. I was sitting there waiting my turn, I had one of those back off flashing brake lights on the machine. A car smashed into me.. when I was laying there coming to about 10 minutes later I guess because the ambulance was already there and the police were there. I heard the man that hit me explaining to the cops “I saw his tail light flashing, so I thought he was pulling away”.. The best nine month paid vacation of my life, and it was very very profitable.. I had all the gear including road racing boots, deer skin gloves, arai helmet, aerostitch One piece waterproof motorcycle suit with all the appropriate pads.. I replaced the totaled Honda Pacific Coast with a 1994 Honda Pacific Coast that I commuted on for the next 24 years without having a single mechanical issue ever. I never even burned out a tail light bulb on that machine.. I always wished that the Honda Pacific Coast had a 1000 cc CX motor in it, but, the 800 cc Pacific Coast engine and the CX 500 cc engines made the same pleasant 48-ish hp³. I consider the Honda Pacific Coast the best motorcycle overall in the history of the entire universe.. it was the best complete package, especially after I replaced the way to soft stock seat with a Corbin seat that was very thinly padded like my BMW K 1200 seat that is shaped like a horse saddle. I could ride that seat and I did on multiple 500 mile days back-and-forth to the coast on the weekends.. The only shortcoming of the Pacific coast was the lack of variety in tires. Only Metzler‘s, Dunlops, made matching sets. I actually know where there is a CX 500 right now sitting outside beside a garage. I was tempted to offer to buy it while there is still something left to save. But I know what would happen because I’ve done this many many many times you have fond memories of the bikes you rode years ago. But those designs have been left in the dust. You don’t realize how ancient and dated those machines from the 80s and 90s are until you ride one.. I used to road race RDs back in the day, winning six championships, to time national champion. I still have engines parts gaskets seals cables carburetors wheels enough to last me the next hundred years. So I found an RD, the fastest year which was 1973 or 1974. I resurrected it. I put my KONI shocks on it,my clubman bars, I eliminated those dangerous stock foot pegs, and I installed my rear sets from my race bike which I still have sitting in a corner. I put in new crank seals because I knew they would be tired, I cut those two nuts out of the oil pump advance cable which is way way way too rich from the factory. I checked the timing with a dial indicator, I put the stock paper air filter element inside the stock airbox. I drilled 2/2 inch holes in the metal air cleaner housing, as per the bulletin from Yamaha when I was a mechanic at a Yamaha dealer. They ran best with the stock airbox. That was designed to have a velocity stack effect.. when I did all the things to make it better, I took it out for a ride and I was very excited. within five gear changes, I was disappointed. I can’t believe how ancient that thing felt and slow. They say you never want to meet your heros.. I say, you never want to ride bikes you were in love with 20 years later. The thrill is gone trust me. The bikes today and the cars are light years ahead of the old stuff. Those are not the good old days, these are the good old days right now.. that’s why I’m gonna pass on that CX 500 it’s just wilting away sitting outside here in 2023. I know if I put a lot of effort into it, it will just be a big disappointment.. If you want to resurrect a relic, just for the sake of resurrecting a relic, go right ahead, but keep in mind, it’s a dinosaur with no teeth

Rode both.... Meh....

V50s were junk

The V50 was boring, the V50 Monza wasn't..........