Have you ever wanted a vehicle to a fairly significant degree but never been able to justify the price tag it lists for? That’s been my perception of the turbocharged Honda CX500TC, a bike that just screams 80s style from every orifice. These days, it’s difficult to find one trading hands for less than $5,000, and that’s for a fairly rough example. The irony is these were not terribly well received when new, displaying a tendency to have heavy turbo lag, a symptom exacerbated by a porky curb weight and a low compression ratio. This low-mileage 1982 CX500TC is offered here on eBay with no reserve and bidding has reached just over $4,000.
Across many car and bike lineups, turbocharging was a big deal. I always think of the wide variety of boosted models offered by Chrysler, starting with oddballs like the Omni GLH all the way down to the re-badged Mitsubishi Starion/Conquest twins, which had the words “Turbo” baked right into the seatbelts. Like so many other things that made the 80s an epic decade, turbocharging helped manufacturers navigate choppy waters with regard to emissions regulations and fuel consumption, but the end result was not always as potent as the external branding would suggest. In the case of the Honda, the price tag and ho-hum performance made for a short-lived model generation.
And of course, boost is always tricky to manage, no matter the application. Turbo technology has improved dramatically over the years, effectively to the point that you don’t notice much in the way of lag. But in the middle 1980s, turbocharging still meant turbo lag was an issue, and vehicles like the Honda CX500TC could be a bit peaky in terms of power delivery. This bike, unfortunately, has not been run in a few years. The seller reports that it is in excellent cosmetic shape and presents as being in “time capsule” condition but that it hasn’t been run since the current caretaker bought it out of a collection in 2020.
This could be holding the price back a bit as you’re essentially buying an unknown quantity, or more accurately, a display piece. I was speaking with a friend recently about why so many collectors are obsessed with buying time-warp examples that have little documentation and/or history in terms of running condition; it seems like the priority is on display-ability rather than drive-ability. The Honda is certainly a beautiful example, and given it is listed at no reserve, perhaps the next owner will get a beautiful specimen for a low price and only need to spend a weekend or two to get it running again under its own power.
My experiences with a bike like this are 2 fold. 1st, I spent the summer of 2016 in upstate NY, and the guy I stayed with had a CX500 I rode all around the Catskills. It was actually a comfy bike, my complaint was it sorely needed another gear. It literally buzzed at 60. Handled well, stopped good, just not enough cruisability for me.
2nd, the turbo,,boy, there’s a buzz word, EVERYBODY jumped on the “turbo” bandwagon. Even vacuum cleaners. All fluff, as few even know what it is, just a catchy word,,turbo,,like hemi,,and a TURBO HEMI,,,marketing genius. Fact is, sitting so long, this one is assuredly stuck. Turbochargers redefined the trucking industry, but motorcycles are fast enough and for cars, a haphazard way of making small motors perform, but like a screen door on a submarine, just not needed. An okay find, but there are much better motorcycles.
A “bike of the month” flavor indeed for its time and what a rush (literally as well as figuratively) especially at upper elevations. My younger brother test rode a used CX650 then bought a Seca 650 Turbo-only to get trumped later by his good friend on a Kawasaki 750 Turbo! To the uninitiated rider all of them had an ugly propensity to catch that turbo bump at the least welcome time-a sharp uphill right hand corner, for instance, would be a cause for reupholstering the seat later on.
Crazy where this led us, though, ie., the 2023 Kawasaki Ninja H2 is a supercharged 228 HP, 203 MPH quarter mile burner at 9.3/152 MPH at $34,000.
Now, just as then if you have to stoke your ego to have the baddest ride on the block you’ve gotta be ready to pay for it.
Howard said it right-“an okay find but there are much better bikes”, especially older ones that will satisfy a serious rider of any genre cheaper and better.
As just sort of a bike guy whose interest in motorcycles built after the early 80s this is a really cool old bike. There is a guy who parks in my parking garage who rides one of these on a regular basis when the weather is nice. I always make it a point to tell him “that is a really cool old bike”
We laugh at this bike as I owned a GS750ex with twin swirl combustion chambers or 4 valves per cylinder , the kawasaki turbo 750 we did not snicker at it was fast!
Isn’t low compression necessary for a turbo?
I’d rather have the gpz550 in the upper left corner of the one photo
I had an 82 CX500 and I loved it. I drove it back and forth from Pittsburgh, PA to Charlotte, NC on weekends and it was very comfortable. It had the fairing on it. It did lack power when hitting the hills in WV, but it held its own. I had a red neck run me off the road south of Charlotte one day and he pulled off the exit behind me, pulled around me and stopped. He got out of his pickup and grabbed a metal bar out of the back. I figured he would hit me or I would run over him. He jumped into the bed of the truck when I headed towards him.
When in Pittsburgh, I had to go home from work a couple of times in snowstorms. I wore my hunting clothes and boots in the winter. I loved that bike. I had to sell it when my wife was following home from the car dealer and some old lady pulled out in front of me. I had to lay the bike down and she told me to get rid if it.
I remember when these first came out, I drooled over them at the show room. I wanted one! The dealer had ordered 10 units, all of them sold within a month. I was anxious for the arrival of more for the following month. I peeked over in the service department and noticed 4 of the bikes and asked what was wrong with them. the service manager told me they had been laid down and were there for repairs. He said 5 of the 10 sold last month received the same fate. He claimed drivers were not experienced with the turbo power. I changed my mind on getting one.
4 months later my buddy gets a deal on a laid down turbo 500 It was mostly cosmetic, I went riding with him on my Yamaha RD400 and he definitely had the boost power over my bike, it was when we got in a S turn that he almost lost control. He told me when he accelerated in the turn, the gyration of the engine kept the bike leaned down almost pulling him to the ground. So, it really wasn’t the riders not understanding Turbo power, so much as a engineering oversite in the sideways V-twin.
I still like the bike, it was a cool futuristic machine.
This bike was the peak of Honda’s technological prowess at the time. An amazing bit of engineering only to be let down by it’s own overdone-ness. Over 500# with about 80 bhp wasn’t going to get anyone’s attention when the liter bikes of the era were crowding 100bhp with the same weight. Shaft drive didn’t help either. But it was COOL! The 650cc model a couple years later was a better ride with a broader torque spread and about 15 more usable bhp’s.
I owned one of those in the ’80’s and it was very comfortable bike to travel on. Yes, I’ve had a Goldwing, too, and I preferred the CX500T if I didn’t need the extra luggage space. Highways were great and passing really wasn’t ever much of a problem. Planning took care of the Turbo lag. There’s a little black box under the seat that runs everything. When the red lights come on wrong, you have to buy another little black box. $$
Aside: I bought mine from my brother, A Honda mechanic. He had the first one crashed in North America. Someone backed out of a driveway right in front of him. Honda had to fly repair parts from Japan. No one had anything in stock.
SOLD for $7,100.
This bike is what got me excited about riding. I saw one at the dealership in Rantoul Illinois back in 1985, it was a brand new leftover and probably cost @2850 or so. I passed on it because I had orders to japan and planned on buying one there. Haven’t been without a bike since. That belongs in a museum now!