Kevin's 550 F

I have got a letter from Kevin in Zimbabwe.
Excuse my laziness, This letter had been sent in April of 2009 but I am uploading this in March of 2011. Sorry, seriously.

Hi, I came across this message board by accident, in 1998 i work in Zimbabwe and within a few months of arriving in country i needed transport and came across a 85 cbx550 with 15000 kilometers on the clock, a beauty in red and white, having only ridden cb250's before i thought the cbx was HUGE, and the first ride from Harare to Bulawayo, 450 km was a nerve racker, so to cut to the chase, in the next 4 years we together we covered over 100,000 km's with only one dropped cam chain tensioner (it still got me home on new years eve 120 km). An abandoned front mudguard in Springbock, RSA as the wheel bearings failed and had to be removed to get me to the next town. A few modifications, extra lights for night riding and a moving the ignition barrel to prevent the keys being snatched at lights on a tour from Mozambique round the cape back up to Namibia.

Back in The UK "Hendry" is still under a cover in Hillside Bulawayo with an intension to get back on the road on a visit to Zim next July.

I just wanted to post this to let others know what a sound bike the CBX is, on recollection the vented front disk needed a little care but that was about it, in a developing country an easy bike to keep going and always gathered a crowd at petrol stops.

The dream would be to ride north from Zimbabwe as far as possible back to the UK but this would be just a dream.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.
Ride safe.
Kevin
(kevinjjvso@hotmail.com)
April, 2009