Topic: cb500 ex 70's racing bike now cafe racer

[mjc477]

hi guys
gutted really i have had and sorted a 75 cb500 ex hadleigh custom track bike....ive probably had it about 5 years or so....im gutted because now i have read a few of your builds i would've loved to have had documented my build??
but it does have a story and a few pictures so i thought a little log would do.....
any way i found this beauty on yes youve guessed it ebay......i was indeed searching for a project and thats exactly what i found

[mjc477]

any way the guy i brought it from raced k4 hondas.
he had had this in his barn (yup a real barn find) for i belive 15 years and he had brought it from his other racing buddy who had had it for about the same amount of time..........it was raced by an outfit in kent called HADLEIGH CUSTOM.  they used to race in the 70's on the circuit...and had a shop in Hadleigh  i think it was called hadleigh custom speed shop...

this possibly was one of there own bikes....but its hard to varifiy......

i didnt pay much for it...well i dont think so and i couldve parted the borrani rims for what the purchse price was???

i was well chuffed

when i got it home i gave it a very quick onceover and when i connected a jumper battery it fired up immeadiatly...............you really have to love old hondas

that was enough for me so it was going to be a road legall cafe racer...

i decided to leave the engine as it was obviously a runner and worse case i could pop another lump into it...so over the course of a few evenings i stripped it down and started the rebuild....i had decided i was going to reuse all the original bits and only change them if they were beyond resonable repair....i wanted to keep the genuine 70's items and was not after a perfect bike just a resonable hack in cafe racer trim..

any way a few years on... a house refurbishment.... an extension and a new son it was coming together

i must say now i had also decided to keep all the original hadleigh custom colours.....light blue and yellow....and the red pipes

[Mugen_Stumpo]

looks fantastic already!

i love the red pipe and tank color scheme

[mjc477]

right then.....sitting here now its hard to remember quite what was done and in what order....
like i said i stated of just wanting a cleanish cafe racer....so i stripped the frame and sprayed it black .....replaced any worn bushes bearings if needed ...what i do remember is most things were pretty good and not to wrecked.......most damage was due to standing for so long...
i sent the tank and front gaurd to a local bike shop and they had their guy copy the tank and i had a similar pattern put on the front gaurd so it matched a bit better ........in the meantime i was stripping forks/shocks wheels etc for rebuilds ( its at times like this i wish i had kept better records pictures etc....).

the wheels were cleaned up abit and sent of to have stainless spokes......like i said the rims were genuine borrani and the rear has got 4 screws either side to screw the trye on?

the forks were rebuilt and so were the rear shocks ......these were all original and just reused.....

there wasnt alot else to do so i detailed the engine abit  and managed to start reasembling the bike...
i managed to get a really clean 500 four giuliari seat exactly the same as the original one only in better shape.
thats the one good thing about dragging a rebuild out over many years is that you have plenty of time to get all the parts you need.......and on top of that when i sold the original it almost coverd the cost of the better one....work that out??

about this time i had sourced a front head lamp that i thought might look the part and fitted that... and a rear tail light and plate holder...secured on by an aluminium bracket that was meant to be tempoary but i kinda liked it so it is still on it

so buy now the bike was at the last few pictures stage and there it stood for about another year...waiting to get finished i kept looking but just never seemed to get time...this was when i met a local bike mechanic who was sorting a leak on an old bsa i have got...a common problem i belive ?

any way he ended up wiring it for me and getting it running and tuned.....(cheating you might say )
it was at this point when we coundnt get it to tick over we thought that it might well be an ex track bike...

in the mean time i had had it dated and i managed to get an mot on it i mean it doesnt need to tick over for that does it?

so now i have a road legal cafe racer all ready to go......(this sounds quick when i read this back but i think this took 3-4 years)

[Steve_K]

Nice, no GREAT job!  I like the colors and the way bike looks.  Have you had a chance to ride her?  The 500/550 are so much fun in the corners.  I am think that those are not 500 carbs, could they be early 750 carbs with the 4 into 1 cables?  Maybe the idle jets are plugged.  I am sure you get her right. 
Looks good in any shop!
Steve

[mjc477]

so like i said i now have a road legal bike and i could not wait to take it for a quick buzzz...

disapointed was not the word for the first few miles it popped banged judderd everything that if you were buying it you would just walk away...i never had a rev counter fitted at that stage so it just felt awfull....

after a few outings nothing had gone wrong so i just decided to wring its neck and give it a fistfull of thottle...in for a penny etc

well it buggerd about up till (i have a rev counter now) 7000-8000 revs and then wham it was like getting whacked up the arse with a sledge hammer it took of like a rocket....and i mean a rocket it flew.....i was now happy i mean it was indeed an ex track bike.....but the downside to this is its not great for every day riding???

like i said its now fitted with small rev and speedo units.....and it is quick for a 70's 500cc bike...

moving on a bit.....when i was reading the classic bike mag there was a write up on some chap called phill joy...some of you might be familiar with his work......

well it seems he is the guy for honda tuning....if you look at the first few pictures i posted you will see a phill joy tuning sticker on the rear chain gaurd...
of course i new it was there and i even had scans done and refitted them to the gaurd whilst i was rebuilding it

but that was about it....

well i gave him a call.......nice chap

i told him the characteristics of the bike i even started it up when he was on the phone...

"ahhh yes that will be one of mine" he said laughing
he did indeed do alot of tuning in the 70's for hadleigh custom and he was pretty certain he wouldve built the engine some time ago......sorted the crank... cylinder head and cams/?

so i tolerate the popping banging .....i belive my neighbours tolerate the noise because boy is it loud..my missus says she can hear me coming home long before i get there???

and i have a 500 four that keeps up with many of the new plastic racers

anyway its been on the road 2 years now and all is well

it does cover my left leg with oil on long runs.....a job waiting to be done

it has wrecked one rev counter by reving right of off the dial???

i need to change the tyres
and i have chipped the tank because the first linning i put in there came out and when i was cleaning it some of the stuff escaped and got under the paint around the filler.....

but like i said i never wanted a concours bike just a useable racer...(its not that usable).....and that is kindve what i got

and now im sitting here and i havnt got any current photos ....but i will post the most recent ones i have here and sort some newer ones if you are interested

i  got the bike i wanted....it looks like a cafe racer i like the stripped down look thats why i have left side panel off...and battery exposed....if you look closely i even refitted the 70's colt beer can that was on it being used as an oil catcher....
it gets abit of attention and is a real joy to ride and own... i did even buy a nice old standard 500 so i can say i have a track bike and a standard bike in the garage.....this is one of 6 bikes i have and i recon this is the one i will keep for as long as possible

[mjc477]

haha....
i wonderd what the carbs were of
they are kehins....and were rebuilt just as i got them...
yup 4 into 1 cable....they gotta be 750 carbs

and yeah i have ridden it
sorry i had to break the story into a few parts,,,,, it is finished and fun...

corners? thats why i am going to change they tyres...any suggestions on a good set...i forget now the rim sizes .

but i am going to take some more pics tonight and hopefully upload them so you can see what it looks like now after a few miles.....i must warn you i use my bikes...and i like them to look abit used.....saves on polish???

[Stev-o]

Great story and bike!   Yeah, some new soft rubber would be a good idea. Check your sixes, stock was 19" front and 18 rear, but who knows on your track bike.
Some nice Avons or Bridgestones would be good.

[Steve_K]

So she pops at low Revs,  just means more work to ride in traffic.  It is meant for the open roads and turns.  I have an early GIXXER and its alot of work in town.  Give me corners and that brings on the giggles.
Sounds like the 500 has that kick in the butt when you open the throttle.  Quite fun!
Steve

[mjc477]

back again.....just taken some new pics
its running an 18" on the rear and 19" on the front

also i wounder if any of you guys can shed a bit of light on the rear sprocket........its plastic/nylon..

when i was stripping the bike and got around to the rear wheel when i tried to pop off the sprocket it flexed.
much to my surprise
on closer inspection it is made from a plastic material...now i have asked many bikers/mechanics and nobody really has a clue what it is or why?

anyway i just popped it back on and thought i would soon find out....well its still on there bearing up just fine.. i thought i wouldve rounded it up on first journey....any ideas as to the purpose of this or has anyone seen another

like i said earlier i really wish i had documented this build! i never thought about it...all day i am remembering other little stories/ projects within the main project and people i met and who helped me and if i had blogged it at least i would have somthing to refer back to every now and then....i would highly recomend it to anybody after all if not for anybody elses reference at least it will always be there for you

and take photos i have next to none  especially when it was in bits ///although it was pretty much stripped when i brought it anyway  a rolling project

it also got in classic bike magazine  beacause when i brought the bike i sent a picture hoping they might be able to help with some hadleigh custom history and they put it on their found and fixed page....

[mjc477]

lets try this
my new camera was to fancy so i have had to use the phone camera to scale down the pics

[mjc477]

just a few more

if you look the swing arm has been strenghtend up some to stop any flexing......a very neat job too
And you can see the re scanned phill joy.  Hadleigh custom. And bel ray stickers .like i said I wanted as close to the original bike I brought as possible

[mjc477]

getting the hang of this now

if you look closely you can see the screw in the borrani rim

[mjc477]

the last one is for the purests out there

[christopherk]

this thing is killer. love the colors!

[Tim2005]

Looks like a great bike, and I'm liking the sympathetic restoration.

In brief, a few answers.... the wheel rim screws were a common race thing - the screws go into the tyre bead, the idea being to stop tyres spinning on the rim and pulling the valve out of the inner tube. Nylon sprockets were a race thing too, saved a few ounces of unsprung weight, and tougher than you'd expect. If you'd like to get the engine more road-friendly you could ask Phil Joy about a less radical cam profile - he's the man for those.  More pics of the swingarm mods would be interesting.

Finally, it's not the only Hadleigh bike left - there's a 750 around too - see attached picture. That is actually the Rob North framed bike thats history is covered here http://satanicmechanic.org/north.shtml . I have contcat email for the bike's owner if you're interested- pm me.

[Scott S]

 That is awesome! I love the history behind it and appreciate that you were faithful to its past. Kudos!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Tasteful use of the Colt 45 can!

[mjc477]

Cheers tim

I will get some pics of the swing arm
Or let me know your email and I can send some better ones straight over to you

Thanks for the comments lads

[mjc477]

I'm gonna now dig abit deeper into the bikes history
I have tried a few times but Sadly it tends to lead up a dead end

I did find out Julian soper did ride for hadleigh custom at some point and he now has a bike shop down on the south coast ..I did always mean to pop down to see him as its not to far from me but that just hasn't happend yet....

If any of you guys have any info or can point me in the right direction that would be great
Or know of any hadleigh custom pictures that would be good too

[davis96]

I'll give you 20 quid for that seat!

[davis96]

Oh, and an arm. Left or right, take your pick!

[mjc477]

Yeah it's kinda cool

I struck lucky with that baby

Apart from the fact it was pretty much identical to the original one it is in near perfect shape. It even has the lid on the compartment under the hump

The only difference was the original had two dice embossed on the hump and the dice were showing a 5 and a 4 which was pretty nifty....

But it would've needed recovering and I would've lost the dice and the stencils?

Like I said earlier when I sold the first one it covered about 3/4 of the price of the new seat

It is an original giuliari seat and if you hunt around they still turn up and fit directly onto the original honda fixings

The only problem now cafe racers are getting very popular and it could set you back £200 +

I'll try and get some better pictures of it

Thanks for the very generous offer though

[Retro Rocket]

Classic cycle city in Germany and the USA do replica giuliari  seats, excellent quality....

[davis96]

Classic cycle city in Germany and the USA do replica giuliari  seats, excellent quality....

I remember visiting their site a while back, I was so pumped that finally someone is recreating these seats. I feel like I hit a dead end though, either they were no longer making seats, or the only seats available were for the 750... I'll have to look back into it.

*edit*
I remember now, their site is very confusing, and despite the multitude of beautiful photos of seats and finished bikes, I simply could not find a page wherein I could place an order 
Seemed like a big tease, showing off these great seats but basically saying they aren't for sale?