[DjinnError-3]

I found a 1987 Honda CMX450 Customized in excellent condition. It runs and drives great as far as i can tell. Im a 25 year old Dad who hasnt had many bikes to be honest. This one sounds and looks like a beauty for $2200. Are these bikes easy to work on for future problems ? Get back to me guys, thanks in advance.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

The attached photo isn't working, however these old bikes are generally considered pretty easy-ish to work on. Plus the cool part is that once you learn how to work on one, you can basically work on most of them from the same era (long live the Universal Japanese Motorcycle lol). The downside is parts availability can get pretty sparse/expensive, so you may need to get creative with some things.

A hypothetical example is if you damage your tank. You may not find a replacement tank anywhere and have to resort to repairing your tank or buying a parts bike for its tank.

 

[DjinnError-3]

Ahh, okay Miss Mercedes thank you for your awesome and quick response . Was pretty much what I was expecting to hear, just wanted to verify it ?

And yeah I imagined the parts would probably be a little more difficult to get but I guess it’s never to late to learn how to repair parts yourself if case may be. Thanks again for your response. OH! Sorry about the thumbnail being broken. https://ibb.co/jsPbq9 Here is the picture .

 

[Miss Mercedes]

You're welcome! That's a nice looking bike! That said, that seat does not look comfortable. lol

 

[Stablefull]

What you have there is an early 450 Rebel. In the world of motorcycles Hondas in general are considered to be fairly simple to work on. The problem with that one, however, is (I believe) they only made it for a couple years, so it may be difficult to get parts for. My friend has a CM250 that was the predecessor to the 250 Rebel, and they only made it in '82 and '83 (I think). He has a lot of trouble finding things like brake and clutch cables, tires that fit, etc. Just something to consider. It is a cool bike.

 

[DjinnError-3]

Well, didn’t go as planned. I loved the bike when I first laid eyes on it but when I went to test drive it, the main concern for me was I was uncomfortable riding it. I’m 6 so I’m not that short but I felt like I just wanted something smaller from the moment I hit the road. & to top it off it died as I pulled back up and there was a weird engine tick that just didn’t sound to good but then again I’m no mechanic. So here’s the funny part where you guys might laugh. I ended up finding a 03 ninja 250r. It had never been laid over , no scratches at all on the plastics , original plastics, 1 owner bike which has been in storage up until last year.. A little under 10k miles on odometer with original engine which I was a little surprised . I test drove it to a shop to make sure nothing was wrong with the engine just to be safe before purchasing it . I live in Chicago and as this is really my first time having a bike license and getting on the highway and interstates with one now I just wanted something small to get comfortable with . Like I said it’s funny because I may be a bit tall for this bike but I only weight 160 so all in all I’m not to big myself which is another reason it just felt comfortable. AND then there’s the main reason I got the ninja was because i got it for $1500 and I was really on a small budget as this being my first bike . I’ll post pictures tomorrow if the attatchments don’t work.

 

[Stablefull]

EXCELLENT starter bike

 

[Offcenter]

Excellent on the Ninja. That looks like a good one.
Regarding the first one.....
These idiots take a perfectly good bike, rip off everything that MADE it a good bike and turn it into an uncomfortable, unrideable piece of junk that they call a "bobber".
They take off the fenders so that every bit of **** on the road gets thrown up on their back or in their face.
They take off the comfortable seat and replace it with some damned thing that they couldn't sit on for more than a few minutes.
They take off the quiet exhaust and replace it with something that has their ears ringing in no time.....and pisses off every one around them.
.....and the next thing you know, it's for sale....usually at some outrageous price.

I could go on, but you get the picture.

 

[Oz]

Welcome to the forum.

The yellow Ninja is a much better bike to begin your riding career on. Well done!

 

[GSRICK]

The EX250 is a great little bike and there are millions of them around, so used parts are easy to come by and cheap. Keep it in the upper rpm range and they can be quite fun little bikes. I think you'll get tired of the power in short order if you become a real rider and not a one and done, like many people are. If you take care of it, you should be able to get 100% of your money back selling it to another first time rider when you're ready to go bigger and faster. Keep track of your tire pressures and oil level and I always recommend using non-ethanol fuel whenever possible with carburated bikes. The alcohol in fuel these days eat up the rubber parts over time and if you live in a humid area like FL, when the alcohol mixed in the fuel dries up, it attracts water out of the air and seperates to the bottom of the tank which is what goes into the carbs. Carb bikes don't like running on water., well nether do any other bikes, but with fuel injection it will still run if it is just a small amount.

BTW, you dodged a bullet with the 450 Rebel.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Holy smokes, you found that in Chicago?!?!? Good deal on an awesome bike! Mmmmm that bike is so darn pretty!

If you ever want a riding friend, I'm only 40 miles nw of the city.

 

[Lurch77]

Aside from the comments others are saying about the Kawasaki, another thing is they are just tough little bikes. If you perform proper maintenance, you'll have very few, if any, mechanical issues with the bike.

The one downside to a sport bike, is removing the body parts to do maintenance. Take your time and learn how to take it apart and put it back together and you'll have no issues.

 

[DjinnError-3]

Ah man so glad to hear I didn’t go wrong with this bike. I know it’s small, and I will eventually upgrade just because the fact I love riding, but I’ve had it for a couple days now and just enjoy it so much. It’s definitely a starter bike lol but I guess it’s just the excitement and adrenaline of being on the road that the size doesn’t bother me right now. Also, I’ve been watching a lot of videos on how to keep this bikes maintenance up so far so good. Everything seems to be good so far. And Awesome Mrs Mercedes might have to take you up on that sometime I’m in Great Lakes.

 

[Lurch77]

Great Mistakes! I did boot camp there, then some training years later, during my naval career. Not a bad place for being so close to a huge city.

 

[Critter]

Great Lakes is the first place I ever saw a green sky.