Got a "New" 1983 Hondamatic CM450A

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Scoot_4_20

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I came across a good deal on this bike so I bought it and then sold my Honda Elite scooter. I missed riding a real motorcycle and the scooter bogged down too much on hills, lol. The scooter got 95+ MPG but I felt like such a wimp riding it, lol! This bike gets 55-60 MPG and I really love riding it.

I'm the 3rd owner of this bike. The 2nd owner owned it for 22 years. It's always been stored in his garage and had the oil changed annually. It had about 11k miles when I got it. I really love it and I plan to do most all the work on it : valve adjusting, steering bearings, etc. They say Honda P Twins are some of the easiest bikes to work on of all time and the engine is as bulletproof as any. I love the sound of it, sounds like a Cessna 210 and kind of like a BSA, IMHO.

I just put a new OEM oil filter and Mobil Delvac 15w40 oil in it, which is seems to run awesome on, as I figured it would. The engine and auto transmission share the same oil.

CM450A6172011.jpg


Goodbike6232011.jpg
 
That is a great upgrade from a scooter.

Congratulations. How many miles are on this bike?
 
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Originally Posted By: FirstNissan
Great looking bike, I really like the color! How much did you pick it up for?


Thanks. Got it for $1150
 
Originally Posted By: bigdreama
That is a great upgrade from a scooter.

Yeah, I could afford an HD or a more expensive bike if I wanted one but I don't want one. I'm not one to upgrade to keep up with you or the Jonese'. Never was, never will be. I have other priorities. I'm happier on this bike than most people are on HDs or any other bike. I didn't get it to "upgrade" from a scooter, I just didn't like the scooter as much as I thought I would. I tried riding a scooter for a while to see if I could enjoy getting 95-100 MPG but I missed a real bike, and if you don't consider this a real bike like I do, that's fine with me, and I consider myself just as much man as you or anyone else here, maybe more, regardless of what you ride or how many bikes you have.

Originally Posted By: bigdreama
Congratulations. How many miles are on this bike?

Thanks. It has about 11,500 miles now.
 
Thanks! It has some nicks and scratches but they don't show up much from a few feet away.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: needsducktape
wow - I love it when old car and bikes emerge like this looking new.

That motor is barley broken in, expect it to outlive you.


Even if I do juicing and take Superfood every day?
 
Very nice Honda Scoot! Classic older upright style is timeless in appearance and very practical for comfort. I once owned an '82 CM450E. It was a really nice blue one with the standard transmission and spoke wheels. Mine had a drum brake on the front. I still think of that bike as one of my all-time favorites. I guess in some ways I am like you...I like simple, efficient, and practicality above trying to be 'cool' (even though I honestly thing your Honda is indeed 'cool'). I'd lose the engine guard and black luggage box in that back for a cleaner look.....but that's just my opinion.
Fine catch!
 
Originally Posted By: Scoot_4_20
Originally Posted By: bigdreama
That is a great upgrade from a scooter.

Yeah, I could afford an HD or a more expensive bike if I wanted one but I don't want one. I'm not one to upgrade to keep up with you or the Jonese'. Never was, never will be. I have other priorities. I'm happier on this bike than most people are on HDs or any other bike. I didn't get it to "upgrade" from a scooter, I just didn't like the scooter as much as I thought I would. I tried riding a scooter for a while to see if I could enjoy getting 95-100 MPG but I missed a real bike, and if you don't consider this a real bike like I do, that's fine with me, and I consider myself just as much man as you or anyone else here, maybe more, regardless of what you ride or how many bikes you have.

Originally Posted By: bigdreama
Congratulations. How many miles are on this bike?

Thanks. It has about 11,500 miles now.



Your new bike looks "showroom new" to me and I like it. I'm not sure why you think that I was questioning your "manliness" since I was just trying to give you props on your new bike.

Ride safe.
 
OK thanks. I probably was being a tad too sensitive. At any rate, I'm keeping this ride and enjoying it, lol!
smile.gif
Someone's got to give this bike a good home, it may as well be me. It seems to like it here.

Andrew : thanks. I'm going to keep the engine guard on, tho I could probably be OK without it. It doesn't hurt the aerodynamics hardly at all but it may add to the weight some. I haven't owned many bikes with this before so I may as well leave them on and see if they may help me someday.

It had a clear windshield on it but I took it off the day I brought it home. I don't want that on in warm weather and I don't even think I want it on in colder weather.
The trunk is very helpful for putting groceries, my gym clothes, and other things in. Otherwise I'd need to wear a back pack and I don't want to get back into doing that again.
smile.gif


I love the idea of being my own mechanic with it. Bike shops love to have your business and to make you think you need them and you can't do anything outside of changing the oil. The fact is, valve adjusting and many other tasks on these bikes is not hard at all. You invest in some tools and they pay for themselves the first time you adjust the valves, and each time you repeat these tasks, the easier it gets and the more money you save.
cool.gif
It's just a matter of taking the plunge and finding out how to do these things.

I too think this bike is handsome but the main criteria I was looking for was a good Honda twin bike that had been garage kept and maintained well. I would have settled for about any 400 or 450cc, it didn't matter.
 
Reminds me of it's Honda cousin and my first bike back in the day, a new 1979 CM400T. It too came in an automatic model called the the CM400A. It was red, and a very sweet starter bike.

That bike looks in amazing condition. Enjoy your new ride, be safe and keep the shiny side up! Lot's of morons out there.
 
Originally Posted By: Scoot_4_20
OK thanks. I probably was being a tad too sensitive. At any rate, I'm keeping this ride and enjoying it, lol!
smile.gif
Someone's got to give this bike a good home, it may as well be me. It seems to like it here.

Andrew : thanks. I'm going to keep the engine guard on, tho I could probably be OK without it. It doesn't hurt the aerodynamics hardly at all but it may add to the weight some. I haven't owned many bikes with this before so I may as well leave them on and see if they may help me someday.

It had a clear windshield on it but I took it off the day I brought it home. I don't want that on in warm weather and I don't even think I want it on in colder weather.
The trunk is very helpful for putting groceries, my gym clothes, and other things in. Otherwise I'd need to wear a back pack and I don't want to get back into doing that again.
smile.gif


I love the idea of being my own mechanic with it. Bike shops love to have your business and to make you think you need them and you can't do anything outside of changing the oil. The fact is, valve adjusting and many other tasks on these bikes is not hard at all. You invest in some tools and they pay for themselves the first time you adjust the valves, and each time you repeat these tasks, the easier it gets and the more money you save.
cool.gif
It's just a matter of taking the plunge and finding out how to do these things.

I too think this bike is handsome but the main criteria I was looking for was a good Honda twin bike that had been garage kept and maintained well. I would have settled for about any 400 or 450cc, it didn't matter.


Scoot.....No doubt the guard would have little effect on weight or wind resistance. It looks fine anyway. I remember adding a small sissy bar to my CM450E so that I could give the girlfriend a more secure feeling ride, and it worked really well to wrap my backpack onto so that I could carry some extra stuff. I even matched the color of the bike with the pack...lol. It actually looked nice....as does your really nice Honda. Congrats on a fantastic find.
 
Good looking bike. I'm impressed with it's condition, the pretty psint job and that it still brought $1100 as old as it is. That is holding value if I ever saw it.

Note : This is coming from a Harley rider of 25+yrs so based on all of what you posted above about HD...you should smile.
 
OK thanks all.
smile.gif


My friend Steve used to have a brand new '77 GS750 [with spoked wheels - first year Suzuki ever made it] that was faster than my '76 CB750F and he had a sissy bar on it that he attached a backpack type thing to.

In NH I came across a nice used early 80s Suzuki GS425 twin for $300 once, that included 2 helmets. I bought that from a woman on sight, painted the pipes from engine to foot pegs with heat proof flat black paint, ran it for a year or so, and then sold it for only $500 to another woman. If I had that bike now in very good condition I know it would fetch $1000 here. Zip code makes a big difference. Up in NH they have long cold Winters and people don't ride for 3-4 months or more. Here in TN you can pretty much ride 10 to 11 months of the year.
smile.gif
 
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