Honda CX650C Custom 1983-1986 Service Manual

The CX650C arrived in 1983 as Honda's deliberate attempt to reposition the unusual CX platform for the booming American cruiser market — one enthusiast retrospective put it bluntly: "some buyers of high fashion... thundered right past the CX650 in 1983, beating the showroom carpet flat on their way to the Shadow corner" instead, a reflection of just how dominant traditional cruiser styling had become by the early '80s. Unlike its CX650E and Eurosport siblings, the Custom ran its own dedicated frame, purpose-built for the cruiser look rather than adapted from the touring-oriented CX platform.

Power comes from the same longitudinally-mounted 674cc liquid-cooled 80-degree V-twin architecture as the rest of the CX650 range, with four overhead valves per cylinder operated by pushrods (a Honda quirk necessitated by the twisted-head design) and shaft final drive through a 5-speed transmission. Output is detuned relative to the sportier CX650 variants, with a claimed 64 hp — genuinely more relaxed, torque-focused delivery suited to the Custom's cruiser mission rather than outright performance.

Styling breaks meaningfully from the rest of the CX650 lineup: a lower seat, a distinctive teardrop-shaped fuel tank, and a shorter exhaust give the Custom a genuinely different silhouette than the naked CX650C/EuroSport or the fully-faired Turbo. A round headlight, dual seat with pillion handle, side-mounted chromed rear shocks, and five-spoke aluminum alloy wheels round out the cruiser-oriented detailing, with a single front disc and rear drum handling braking duty. This generation marked the final chapter for Honda's unusual "twisted twin" CX architecture — the company never revisited the design after the CX650 lineup wound down.

This factory service manual covers the procedures, torque specs, and diagrams needed to keep a CX650 Custom's engine and driveline running the way Honda built it.