History of the Honda CX500 Turbo
The development of the CX500 Turbo comes from previous decades of horsepower wars between Japanese and American bikes. Riders cared more about the power of the bike than an excess of features, and would readily gobble up an odd looking bike or less than amazing ride if they can get there faster.
CX's line replaced the CB550, which was very popular in its own right. The lineup offered some new features that weren't common on bikes yet, including liquid cooling, a long mounted engine, and air free tires. The new platform initially had to compete with the powerful Suzuki GS750, a sportbike of the day. These sportsbikes sold very well despite having some reliability issues and sometimes having no limiter, which could readily lead to destroying an engine.
