Topic: Anyone familar with the Honda CX500?

[Burke]

A friend of mine just won a bike off of e-bay, a 78' Honda CX500.
He told me that the seller told him that it was running, the the electrical went out, but the bike was still running. He shut the bike off. He cannot restart it because it is electric start only.
Any ideas on what may be wrong?

[markjenn]

You start with the standard stuff:  battery, spark, etc.  Speculating with this little information isn't very useful.

Hope your friend didn't pay much.

- Mark

[bryanj]

Battery, starter button, sterter solenoid.

Get a manual with wiring diagrams and start following electrons

[TwoTired]

If it's the stator, the engine has to come out and replacements are like $300.

[kirkn]

Sounds like two separate problems:

One, "the electrical went out" but the engine kept running.  What does that mean?  The lights went out?  The battery stopped getting charged?  Smoke started pouring out from the headlight shell?   

Two, it won't start because it's electric start only.  Pretty straigtforward, here:  is the battery good?  is the starter good?  is the pushbutton working?  Can it be bump-started?

As was mentioned, we need more info on how it's behaving.

Kirk

[Burke]

I'll see the bike tonight (finally) and answer the basics.