A modem interpre t at ion of a traditional th eme; just in t ime fo r 7St a gallon gas.
with its adherence to, yc t im provement
o n tradition. Excepting vees and singles ,
th e parall el twin cylindcr engine is
abo ut as traditional as you can gct. Cast
in Ho nda 's mod ern mold , t he 500T is
what progress is all abo u t: take a good
thing and improve it . Handling was
vastly aid ed o ver the o ld 450K7 by
st retchi ng t he wheelbase 1.4 inches to
55. 5 inches an d lowering the cen ter of
gravi ty a littl e. So lo, yo u ca n ' p ull it
down in turns until the brak e pe dal
gro unds with nary a quiver an d y o u can
even ride it o n dirt trails without too
much co ncentratio n.
Thanks to its relativel y low we ight
(for a touring bik e) o f 45 5 pounds (o nly
20 3 on the fro nt wheel ), the 500T is
go od fo r packin g double. All it needs is
a sa fet y rim o n the rear wheel to m a ke
it a great tripper, Brakes (fro n t dis c, rear
me ch anical dru m) work very we ll, since
thcy are designed to stop much heavier
motorcycles, and th e dis c didn 't sq ue ak
o nce in 700 miles ,
One dangero us aspect of th e lights-on
feat ure should be te nded to at o nce .
The taillight sho uld no t stay lit iii
daytime, fo r it cance ls t he safe ty of
having a brake light t hat brilliantly
wa rn s
fo llowing
d rivers .
U.S .
m ot orcy cle lights-on laws d o not requ ire
burn ing the rear light in daytime , but
somehow th at point must have been
misse d in transm ission to J apan . It
wou ld prevent a lo t mo re rear-enders if
they would wirc the rear tum sign als to
burn with the headlight and leave the
taillight dark in the dayti me. For
curren t production models , we advise
the cu sto mer to splice in a toggle switch
to deactivate th e taillight in day ti mc ,
and chec k th at it 's turne d o n at nigh t.
In sum, wc'd ca ll the Honda 500T a
first -rate, versatile motorcy cle wit h t he
wit h
ca pa ci ty
to
ch ug
ha ppily
commuter traffic o r stretch o ut und er a
two-passenger load on any kind of ro ad.
At 55 mp h t he mo tor is t urning a
co m fo rtable 4 ,6 00 RPM and the power
really starts co ming at 5 ,900 - just a
quick snick dow n to fou rth gear from
60 mph . It gave us 46.96 miles pe r
gallo n (regular o r no-lead) in typical use .
43
