I am often asked two questions about motorcycles. The first question is “how many bikes do you own?” When I give my answer (which is usually 4 or 5 ), there is always a subsequent question, and it is usually “well, how many bikes do you need?” My answer then is normally n+1. That’s because I often don’t know how many I need, and I have no idea which bike is coming next. All I know is that there will be another bike, the n+1. This lovely 1980 Honda CX 500 Custom was not on my bucket list, yet here she is in the Sainsbury stable - it was for sale and it was local. I had owned a 1982 CX 500 Eurosport in the UK back in the day and had kept it for almost 5 years. The CX had a fantastic reputation, and I really enjoyed my Eurosport. This CX 500 Custom only had 3,700 miles and it was immaculate, but it wasn’t running, and the guy just needed it out the way. What was I supposed to do! Walk away? A bike that had done less that 90 miles a year since birth. No, she needed to be rescued. I quickly figured it was water ingress preventing her from starting, so drained the tank and carbs and now she is running like a dream. My wife is learning to ride, this could be her first bike or simply my bike #6 - doesent matter. What really matters now is that the single garage is getting full! We made need an n+1 house next!
