Dell'Ortos Suck

Not just the standard carb on chunky Italian roadbikes, but once popular on American and Japanese flat trackers too. I'm guessing this is a 38mm pumper on Jeff Haney's Honda. Read all about the development of the CX500 powered NS750 into it's successor, the RS750 in Sideburn #7. BP

Burning Man

Davida went with a small contingent to Burning Man this year. This was Fid's personal favorite, a Honda CX500 powered avgas tank car; with (the nerd in me says) Mini 1275 Rostyle wheels (but then they look bigger than 10"?).

This is their Evel Knievel Speedster. BP

Rive Gauche CX500

A Maggot! Who'd have thunk it? When I started riding, the CX500 was just about the least desirable motorcycle on British roads, but 21st century fresh thinking is making virtually any bike ripe for a make-over. Of course, people have modified CXs for years, but they've all looked hideous. The Wrenchmonkees built a handsome one using loads of stocks parts (WM27, below), and now French start-up Rive Gauche Kustom has built another tasty Maggot, even with a yellow engine. Tres bon, monsieurs! G

Click

Roger Falasco a regular-joe race fan shares his happy track-side memories of the 70s and 80s in SB#7. It's such an honor to be given these personal photo albums to reproduce. My fave snap is this factory backed CX500 ridden by Mike Kidd. Here's another. How many did they build? BP

Maggot Tracker

The Honda CX500 was THE weapon of choice for London despatch riders for almost a decade. With a polystyrene cup of tea wedged inbetween the crash-bars and knee-warmer cylinder heads, and wide comfy seat, it was the perfect cross-town donkey. Topping up the radiator with one's own piss was part of the maintenance routine.
But Stateside, Jerry Griffith must have been even more possessed than a Mercury rider on Friday night last drop in W1. He rotated his lump from transverse to in-line, and junked the shaft-drive. In 1980-81 Jeff Haney and Mickey Fay rode it (probably without shoulder bag, top-box, and a ciggie poking out of the visor). And gloriously, in 1982 Scott Pearson scored Honda's first 1/2mile national win at Louisville Kentucky. BP