Honda CB500-4 Cafe Project from England Needing some Magic

This old 1972 inline four Originally came across the waters about 18 years ago now and has never run on this side of the pond, sat in storage for many years, this old girl needs a little pick me up to see if she indeed will ever run again, as no idea on the history of the bike much or if the motor is ok, but it has compression and a little bit of spark so on to at least a fighting chance.

The Carbs are a right mess and not surprised being sat for all them years and all gummed up like an old man with no teeth.

It needs two throttle cables as only one on there right now but can get new ones once I get this inline four fired up again, it is a great bike and look forward to later on in the month riding it, although the gas tank has 20 year old gas in it, so need to get that out and get rid of the toxic fumes that really stink, plus I do not want the tank to delaminate either.

Them old Gold Plastic tubes have no filters etc., so think I may get some Spun velocity Stacks or some Pod filters or bread box set up, but- the main thing is to see if this old girl will fire up, I did squirt some carb cleaner in the carbs and check for spark and she coughed a few times, but these carbs have got to be gone through and I am sure she will run.

If these carbs could only talk, I am sure many yarns would be heard and would love the history of this inline four machine as it was ridden well for quite some time back in England.

Carbs are off and they need some love, been sat for decades and never been run in that time at all, everything seems to function as well as the choke lever, so thats a good sign already.

They surely have had a hard life, but, nothing that I have not seen before in the 22 years of playing with these over here in California, and these will get a new lease of life for sure and be great to hear that old 4 cylinder Honda fire up again.

Now thats look a lot better right? These are cleaned, vapor blasted, rebuilt, new parts, polished, plated, ceramic coated and synchronized  and ready to go back on the bike.

So, at least we have a good chance of this running now and hopefully the motor is ok and will fire up after some persuading with a New battery and New fuel etc.

This is no show bike but the carbs had to be re built, so may as well go the extra mile right?

Lets get these Carbs back on the bike and see if we have a fighting chance of getting this bike fired up, I am sure it will smoke for sometime as no idea what’s up the exhaust pipe?

I got a small fuel leak from the bowls on first start up but all good now and just need two throttle cables for a snappier return but happy she fired, the exhaust I am sure will smoke for a while until it burns over 20 years of dust from inside it off, but hope you liked the video?

Looking forward to a more positive Healthy year

A couple of days left in this terrible Pandemic year, good riddens to it and sure hope that 2021 will be great for us all, of course it will take probably half of that year for all of us to get back on an even keel so to speak, but we shall get there and life will change for the better.  Where we can go out and eat, enjoy meeting folk again, even attend shows and Motorcycle meets etc, life is so short and precious and I think that everybody’s attitude will be a tad different now too.

I love making parts or just building bikes, I am no Pro at this, and didn’t go to school to learn how to either but I grew up with 2 wheeled machines and still to this day do not own a Snap On tool, just the old Sears Craftsmen’s lol. The photo above is me about 20 years ago with my Rocket 4 seat base I created and, still sell today. And Below, was when I helped Dennis Roth create a tribute trike to his dad who passed away Ed Roth, and of course, it had to be CB750 Powered. How much fun did we have with this, hope to find photos of the finished product one day when it was on display at the SEMA show in Las Vegas.

 

CB500-4 Created by French Builders

Well if you think of France, usually what comes to minds is Wine, frog legs, snails, striped Tee shirts, Black berets and people riding push bikes with bunches of Onions and Garlic hanging off it.

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Thats very true, but, they bang out a few cool motorcycle too and this 1974 Honda CB500 Four is the result of these Garlic eaters and a great job too.

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Pure motorcycle company has been around since this Honda originally came out, so when a Customer approached them to create a unique Brat style machine, it was a no big deal slam dunk for them and they got right into the stock bike. the seat was shortened 4 inches too and then reupholstered to give that Classic look.

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A clean look, Pure Motorcycles then hand bent some 7/8 Handlebars up and powder coated Black, then for minimal look, they made a small switch mechanism up which Incorporated the starter button and the headlight, of which works great, to add to the Brat look, this has a small 2.5 Speedometer that has all the led’s at the lower half to show neutral, Oil Light and turn signals. New stainless hardware will not get rusty in the damp European winters as well as using a set of old metal-flake GT grips from a Schwinn, dressed the bars up some what.

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The front  forks were lowered by 2 inches and rebuilt, adding twin Rotors and then polished the lowers and calipers to a chrome finish, the Obligatory Fat Blackwall tires were fitted and although not the best Handling tires, they give the bike some Vintage styling.

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With a fresh rebuilt Motor and the Carbs synchronized, the engine is like New, the Gas tank got a cool retro look and this time they wanted to keep the original side covers to keep the Classic original lines and leave the stock battery and electrics where they were from the factory.

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Bobbed rear fender, Bates style short LED tail light and a brand New Marving 4 into 1 exhausts gets this bike looking cool, Yamaha headlight, Polished cases and New X-Ring chain finishes this Brat style Honda off.

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 Bien Joue my French freinds.