I remember those - they looked quite smart but I never fancied owning a two-stroke. I nearly bought a GS550 (the 4-stroke version) - that was a pretty bike in its day, especially in black with the red and gold pinstripes - it had a hint of LMS steam engine about it. 
But in the end I went for Honda.
There was also the GT750 aka the “Flying Kettle”.
Nowadays of course everything’s water-cooled so no longer a novelty…
My last serious bike was a watetcooled triple, but a trident 900 rather than 2 stroke.
The GT550 was the nicest bike to ride, but not especially good. The XS500 was a much better bike but not so nice. There was also a BSA Gold Flash A7 500 between them that was fun but too limited through poor design and low reliability.
I really liked 2 strokes. Several of the guys I rode with graduated to the GS550/750 but they were dull compared to the 2 strokes before them. I had a GS425 twin briefly, again competent but really boring. That’s how 4 stroke 4s were. Had a 400/4 later too - horrible thing, gutless below 10,000rpm and not much better above.
Yes the Honda 400-4 was a cute little miniature CB750 Four, but not really big enough for real world use - hence I got the CB550 Four. Sort of “Dachshund versus Labrador”.
Inline four cylinder four-strokes are very smooth but they do need revving - that said perhaps not as power-band dependent as many two-strokes - the old Kawasaki H-series were notorious for taking off vertically if you were too enthusiastic with the throttle in the power band rev range. 
I had a couple of motorcycles but I was never a real biker. I had a CX 500 which people joked about. “Knock knock, who’s there?” “CX 500”.
I had one of those, not so fondly known as the plastic maggot.
The big ends were suspect in one version early on, but later models were solid. I had a Japanese import GL400 version with full fairing and panniers for the daily London to Oxford commute in 1990, and it was good for 85mph cruising on the M40.
Believe it or not, these days CX500s are in demand for conversion into café racers (though the term “racer” should be taken with a pinch of salt).
It was an upgrade on my previous bike, a 185, Benly, I think. I did go up and down the M4 on both, but the CX was preferable.
I had a work event at Hangar Y (quite an interesting history there) in Paris today and l took the bike out for its first run of the year and I still love every minute of it.
(small voice) I quite like it.
Yes I don’t like the big gap at the back where a rear fender / lights etc normally goes - of course this one probably isn’t street-legal.
Another bike that seems to get the café racer treatment is the BMW K100 which I think is similarly weird-looking:
I also really hate it when customizers wrap the exhaust pipes in that stuff that looks like hessian:
Me too actually.
I’ve always wondered why anyone would ride a bike they may not be able to push off/away if things went pear shaped. Thinking hot exhausts.
Not that I make a habit of falling off motorbikes, but generally if you have an accident you will part company with the bike, rather than staying put and getting a leg trapped under it.
Lots of videos on YouTube illustrate this point I think!
I suppose if you lost balance at a low speed and toppled over you might end up with a leg under the bike but even then instinct would make you stick a leg out away from the bike on the low side and step off.
