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I have had a mild fascination with these bikes for more than two years and even joined this site. Now I am to pick this one up tomorrow: https://denver.craigslist.org/mcy/6210821333.html. I didn't even haggle on the price. It runs well and has no apparent issues, but at 41k miles I expect the local vintage metric mechanic will tell me to do the triple bypass, which is fine. I already scored a spare cam chain tensioner on ebay for $45. The bike comes with the rear extension supports for the trunk, but I would like to instead fab a rack to them and then mount a modern top box. Any advise on that or other aspects of the bike would be appreciated. Looking forward to conversing with others here.

Welcome to the club. Nice looking bike. Added the pic of it for you... I'm sure you can fab up a new box with a little work. Keep us posted.

Congrats!!!

Welcome to the 'Wingdom.

Nice find

Gord

Sweet looking bike! If you already know about the 'triple bypass,' you've done some research. Enjoy the ride!

Very nice bike! $45 for a tensioner is a steal, too - those auto tensioners aren't real common used and it's good to have a spare just in case.

Some info on the triple/quadruple bypass if you haven't seen it already can be found at this link:

https://motofaction.org/motorcycles/hon ... 500-gl650/

The quad bypass is recommended for the 650s due to them being harder on the starter clutch than the 500s.

Nice looking bike. Light and fun to ride. My 82 silverwing was a bird poop covered yard find and now Has the fairing removed( Cracked ) and just the side bags and sport type handle bars . Fun commuter the fairing is the same as the 1100 for mirrors and windshield. Enjoy. The CX500 forum is another great source of info and help. Good people

Thanks, guys. Weather prevented me from picking it up yesterday. Going to try again for tomorrow.

Picked it up, rode it probably nearly 100 miles, and so far happy with it. My mountain bike shock pump and my Topeak gauge came in very handy for the fork and shock. I still need to get it to my mechanic. That is probably where the honeymoon will come to a screeching halt!

Hopefully NOT!! Good luck!!

Mighty clean bike from the picture. Any chance it is 4,100 and not 41,000. Lots of seat time on a 650 to rack up 40,000+ . Nice looking.

Thanks. I am told that it has been ridden from CO to AK among other trips. It is exceptionally clean. Funny how at the time I bought it, of the other three Denver CG ads for GL650's, one was an outright scam, and the other two were overpriced train wrecks.

If you haven't already done so join www.cx500forum.com, then find the CX Wiki and download the Factory Shop Manual for your bike.

It won't hurt to have a mechanic look at it but unless you find one that works on one or more of these bikes on a regular basis you are better to learn how to work on it yourself. There are a lot of things on them that are not like most other bikes and there are a few things for which the online community have figured out easier ways than the book says (we now know how to replace the water pump mechanical seal with the engine in the frame and how to determine the condition of the camchain by looking at the adjuster with a dental mirror for just 2 examples). I have read too many cases of what would have been simple jobs for someone that knew how to work on these bikes becoming complex & expensive when done by a pro that didn't understand them, with dangerous results in a few cases.

One of the first things you should be looking at doing is replacing the (probably 35 year old) rubber brake lines with stainless braided ones. Rubber lines are supposed to be replaced every 2-3 fluid changes (5-6 years) so they are definitely past their best before date; Braided stainless ones last forever unless physically damaged.

what is the story on that unimog?