Over the past decade or two, both Harley-Davidson and Indian have released machines with styling they claim is inspired by flat track racers. Depending on your perspective, these are cool machines that pay tribute to all the racing success that the American OEMs have had on the ovals… or they are too-big, too-expensive machines that have little in common with racebikes.

But this wasn’t always the way! The first manufacturer to build a factory flat track replica was Honda, and they did it all the way back in the early 1980s, long before anyone else had built such a machine, and even before Honda itself went to great success in the AMA national series. The FT500 was a fairly trim little bike, even if was a lot more beefy than a real racer and hadn’t been intended to even be a flat tracker in its original design.

Uh, maybe when you think about it, things haven’t changed all that much.

A familiar engine! This was the same basic powerplant that was in the XR and XL500 models. Photo: baldman1

Making recycling fun

These days, Honda has a reputation for playing it pretty safe, and recycling its engines into lots of different platforms to save money. Well, the parts bin engineering was a thing in the 1980s, too. Honda was smart enough to re-use its tech across the lineup. You might see a sporty roadster and a cruiser with the same engine. Or in the case of the FT500, you might see a dual sport (XL500), a dirt bike (XR500) and this machine, the FT, all with the same basic engine.

In stock form, the FT500 had an air-cooled four-stroke single-cylinder, with SOHC, four-valve top end. It made a claimed 34 hp at 6200 rpm and 29.5 lb-ft of torque at 500 rpm. Hardly high performance, but for an air-cooled 500 four-stroke in the early 1980s, very much in line with what you’d expect. And while this was a kinda-sorta race replica, it wasn’t really made for speed. In fact, it is a wonder this machine was made at all.

I’ve actually known a couple of guys who owned these bikes. One of them used his FT500 as a sort of scrambler, blasting around gravel roads on the bike. A 19-inch front wheel helped with that kind of use. Photo: baldman1

If you want the real story, find yourself the August, 2005 edition of Cycle World, which told the bike’s origin from the perspective of John Olsen, who had worked with Honda’s American arm at that time. Olsen was in Honda Research America, sort of a “find out what Americans want” think tank for Big Red. While he was having fun “researching” by riding Honda’s bikes around California (along with the competitors’ machines, all in the name of industrial science!), Olsen looked at the new XR500 and thought: “I bet we could make a pretty cool modern-day counterpart to the BSA Gold Star from that machine.”

He told his superiors his idea, and they told their superiors. Eventually, he was jetted off to Japan to talk to the bigwigs, bringing along the prototype they’d built in the US. Honda’s Japanese R&D team changed the bike a lot, giving it flat tracker-style bodywork and adding cast wheels and an electric starter. The engine was kept in a mild tune. The end result was interesting, but not exciting, and the public didn’t take to it. The bike only sold for two years, 1982 and 1983. It didn’t matter that it was practical, or fun; in the early 1980s, the public was much more interested in bikes that took them to the Danger Zone.

Honda followed the FT500 single with a twin-cylinder version, the Ascot. It is generally held to be a terrible motorcycle, despite the interesting combination of a small-bore liquid-cooled V-twin with a shaft drive.

The FT500 today

The FT500 had a short sales run, so there aren’t a whole lot of them out there. You do find them from time to time, but they’re usually owned by enthusiasts who aren’t in a hurry to sell. Parts supply is limited. Despite all those things, there is always someone looking to buy one of these bikes, because there isn’t really anything else quite like them, certainly not from Japan at least. The GB500 was a similar idea, but packaged as a faux Brit bike, not as a replica flat tracker

There isn’t much info on these bikes on the ADVrider forum, probably partly because of the limited production run. You can find some further reading here, here and here, though.

This bike here

The bike here is for sale in ADVrider’s Flea Market, from seller baldman1. Here’s his description:

Up for sale is my Honda FT500 I just did the following work and the bike is ready to ride with no issues.

The good

Rebuilt engine including splitting the cases. all new gaskets and seals.75mm Wiseco 10.5-1 compression piston installed.
Rebuilt, new seals and ported head with NOS camshaft and rockers.
New timing chain
New clutch pack
Honda XR500R carburetor installed. Stock rebuilt CV carb comes with it.
New Battery
Rebuilt starter system, works great.
New tapered steering head bearings
New chain and sprockets.
New wheel bearings and seals
Rebuilt front forks including new tubes and fresh service.
New Progressive suspension rear shock and springs.
New brake pads
New tires
Fresh paint with new decals and clear coat
All handlebar switch gear was disassembled, cleaned and lubed
No electrical issues everything works as it should.

The bad
Roughly 28,XXX but with the above work essentially a new bike.

This is a really nice clean example of the FT500. No leaks, starts and runs beautifully.
Asking $4,500 OBO or trade for interesting motorcycle.
Located in Lake Havasu City, AZ.

Find the ad here to contact him for more info.