A CB500 Honda with a Tough Attitude
I sometimes have to kick myself to remind me that I have created all these Custom Motorcycles sometimes, its amazing that I still have a fluid creativity when it comes to two wheeled powered machines and the next bike i want to show you is a great stealthy bike that I sometimes wish I had kept.
I dont have the best pics of this machine as I had a shitty camera, but at least I got some pics that you can make out what I did to this old 1972 CB500 Machine. It needed a lot of work and was a non runner and missing a lot of parts but I was sure I could build something fun and affordable with what I had as spare bits and bobs scattered around the garage.
The old girl needed some help and I used what I could with parts I had around my garage, this was many years ago now and I had a few 750 parts in the rafters, so thought I may as well use some of them and see how this goes, but nothing ventured, nothing gained is my saying and it was fun to piece this little 4 banger back together, of course in bigger clothes than it had stock, but thats what I liked about this challenge.
The Motor kicked over, so I cleaned up the carbs and she ran quite well, so I thought that I may as well have some fun on a budget and see what I can create in a short amount of time. The engine was really responsive to be honest and as I had a 48 Tooth CB750 sprocket on the back, I knew she would boogie along as soon as the flag dropped.
I had an old beaten up 1982 CB750F Gas tank that had seen better days, so I cut out the flap and gas tank lock and welded it closed, drilled a 2 inch hole and fitted a Monza Style Aluminum Gas cap and then set about and hand hammered the tank for that old Manx look, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of this big old tank.
I Polished the forks and rebuilt the internals, then laced some 750 rims up and drilled the front brake rotor as well as rebuilding and polishing the front brake caliper too.
Braided hoses on the brake made sure this puppy would stop when you grabbed a handful of Anchor, I pressed out the Curved license plate as I wanted the old school British look.
Like I said, a mish mash of parts but cost nothing to put together to be honest and this was almost 20 years ago now too, time sure does fly when you are having some fun with Motorcycle parts.
I used a Harley 16 New rim for the rear and Shod both rims with Bridgestone tires as I like the handling of those boots. The rear seat tail piece is off an old Kawazaki Z1 race bike.
I used the stock shocks and swing arm to save some money and had an old Mac system that I never used and was sat up in the rafters, so I threw that on and it sounded ok with a shortened baffle and rejetted Carbs.
The clubman handle bars and the long tank, gave for a fun lay down cafe feel to it and was a blast to ride, it had a taller rear sprocket, so it got out of the gate real quick.
Even all them years ago, I was using Oil pressure gauges as its a quick way to make sure your heart beat is pumping in the motor, had to make an extension pipe to be able to connect under finned cover.
She sits nice and high for a 500 and boy was it snappy off the line, the first three gears and you were almost at 80 mph, what a fun machine to blap about town on.
Hazy pic but glad I still had some images left of this old 500 Honda and hope you like it too?
I sold it to a guy in Pasadena who then phones me to say a car ran over it and dragged down the road for a few blocks, it no longer exists, big shame as it was a great little Bar hopper Cafe Machine.
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