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

[stuartni]

nice bike love the history with it 

[Retro Rocket]

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?

Search ebay shops for classic cycle city or PM forum member Ricky_Racer, he is Classic Cycle City in the US.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?action=profile;u=639

[Steve_K]

I have one of those seats from Classic Cycle City on my 750.  Email and they will respond.   My seat is excellent, comfy and well made.
I love mine and they are great people to deal with.

Steve

[davis96]

I got a response via email... The 500 seat is still in the development phase so they are apparently not available to the public yet

[MRieck]

Can you sell those old CB750 carbs for good money and invest in something else? They fit like crap and you can do better

[mjc477]

Hi
Yeah I could sell them

But I like to have it as it was set up in the 70's

They are shoe horned in but its as I feel it should've been

I could've parted the whole bike for loads more than I paid but I like to feel its good to keep it period....original cafes/bobbers from the 60's 70's are pretty rare in the uk as they have all been broken or restored back to standard as no one wanted them in the 80's 90's. only now do they seem to be popular!

I decided at the beginning to reuse everything I could from the original bike I brought for two reasons
One to keep the rebuild cost down
And two to keep it original to the 70's when it was put together


It's not my only bike I'm lucky to have a few so it only gets used when I feel its appropriate ..that's when I want a blast out and a laugh

If you ever get to the uk feel free to pop in and have a ride ... You will then appreciate that they actually do a pretty good job and somebody a lot smarter than me set the bike up along time ago very well indeed

Or Were you anglin for a set of carbs

[mjc477]

right guys
this weekend i really has the bit between my teeth to try to fathom out the honda...

so the simplest thing to do was email julian soper the ex racer who i know raced for hadleigh customs.....with a link to this thread... asking if he new anything about my bike

well what do you know the next day this email poped back at me.....


Hi,
Your bike was built by Jeff Pearce, who worked at Hadleigh Custom in the 70’s. At no time did Joy Eng. have anything to do with us. We built and tuned all our own road & race bikes, with the help of Honda UK & Action Fours of California.  I don’t know when Jeff sold the bike, but it is possible that Joy Eng. did some work later in the bikes life. I have located a photo of your bike outside Hadleigh Custom. I’m waiting for it to be emailed to me. I’m not sure what was put in the engine, but as it was a road bike it’s possible that we fitted a 590cc Action Fours bore kit, a street/race cam, probably a Kenny Harmon street profile. The carbs are from a CB750 K0, a very common mod. when the 500’s were first introduced into this country. Because it has those carbs i’m guessing that at least a bore kit was fitted.
Hadleigh Custom were based in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, from 1970 until they closed in 1982.
I’ve attached some photo’s to wet your appetite! The 500 solo was built for a French girl in 1977. I believe she still has the bike. Again it had a 590 bore kit, street/race cam, CB750 carbs etc. It was very quick way back then. The sidecar is driven by Dave Bexley, the boss of Hadleigh Custom. Mick Skeels, who also worked with us, is in the chair. He later became the first passenger to lap the Isle of Man at over 100 mph, passengering for Dick Greasley.
I will forward the photo of your bike as soon as i receive it.
Regards,
Julian Soper


these are the pictures he kindly sent me in this email
 

[mjc477]

well

after i had picked myself up i emailed a few questions to julian....and i very much appreciated the reply.......

Hi,
Attached is a photo of your bike. Taken back in the  70’s. Jeff is still around but I have not seen him for years. He built the bike for himself to use on the road. It is the only one like that, as far as I know.
Regards,
Julian

well this was saturday afternoon and it was just getting better

so here is a picture of my bike in the 70's outside the place it was built

[mjc477]

so now i know who built the bike
and have a picture of it outside the shop???

i have to thank Julian soper as he took time out of his day to do this

and how lucky that he remembers my particular bike...

it seems to have had a few reincarnations since but it is unmistakably one in the same machine

so now i am trying to track down Jeff Pearce himself so if anybody knows of him please contact him for me ...julian has sadly lost contact with him

also maybe i will try to contact Dave Bexley the boss of hadleigh custom

maybe just maybe i can try to get more information on the bike .....and hopefully i haven't had all my luck in just the one email.....because that just blew my mind

ill keep you posted

[Retro Rocket]

Very cool... 

[OpaGreg]

This is an awesome thread.  Very, very cool to have such a history on your bike and the pictures and emails from Julian!

[goldarrow]

getting the hang of this now

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

i'm loving it!

what's the story on the screw in the rim? any purpose?

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

How cool is it that Soper took the time to email you back but to go the distance in sending you vintage photos. What a nice guy. It's really cool seeing the build with the history behind the bike.

[Scott S]

 That i sso cool. Rarely do you get a chance to own a piece of history AND have it documented, too. I vote for keeping it as faithful as posible to it's past while making modern safety upgrades.

[Mugen_Stumpo]

if you still want a giuliari seat just let me know... with the fact that i'm italian i can find you the seat with no problem... except the shipping cost to you

[mjc477]

getting the hang of this now

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

i'm loving it!

what's the story on the screw in the rim? any purpose?





Yeah the screw nips into the tyre to stop it spinning on the rim....pretty cool eh!!!

[mjc477]

Don't they say

"YOU MEET THE NICEST PEOPLE ON A HONDA"

[davis96]

if you still want a giuliari seat just let me know... with the fact that i'm italian i can find you the seat with no problem... except the shipping cost to you

Even for the cb500?! If they are a dime a dozen over there I'd certainly be interested in seeing whats available!

[SF]

wow! congrats on finding/saving a great piece of history. looks realy kool.pricless

[JC Blues]

Man what a great find!! Glad to see you saved some history and did it in the cleanest way!!!

[mjc477]

hi again

well what a turn up this weekend???

i managed to contact Dave Bexley...he did take a bit of finding but i managed to get a message to him from via a third party....

to cut a long story short we exchanged a few emails and i spoke to him on the phone abit and what another genuinley nice bloke and a proper racer....he told me he had the 3rd cb750 that was imported to the uk and within 2 days it was parted and the engine was in one of his sidecar outfits??? (sorry if thats ruined your night)
so dont bother looking for that one one?
and because everybody was crashing them back then he made back the purchase price by selling the rest of the parts because honda were not carrying the spares so soon after uk launch???

well he said it was ok to post his reply's so here is the most informative one you might like to read


Hi Jason
I've looked at the link.  Nice job you've done.  I like the idea of not doing an expensive restoration, just a neat clean up.  I've done the same myself in the past.  Ok, here's what I remember of the bike.  Like everyone in my shop, Jeff Pearce was tempted to try his hand racing though he didn't stick at it for long.  I don't believe that yours is his ex track bike as the only photo I have of him on track is on a 750 although there was a great deal of swapping about and loaning of bikes in the shop.  Besides, everyone changed the tank to fibreglass or alloy for a track bike.  Maybe Julian's info proves otherwise.  On the other hand, all of us had a road bike with some extras fitted.  The 750 carbs were an easy fit to the 500.  Surprisingly, I took a set off my first racing 750 for a stock 500 engine to get a ride in the 500cc sidecar TT and they need no re-jetting at all.  They are probably the early 4 cable K0 type because I don't think the bar lift type will fit in the frame.  Since everyone had access to tuning parts at cost price, it is quite possible that the engine internals are not standard.  Typical mods would have been a 550 or bigger piston kit and a mild camshaft.  That might explain the bike being lively for a 500.  It should NOT pop and bang at low revs.  That is not a symptom of an ex track bike.  We never built or used an engine that didn't run smoothly from tickover.  Of course, it is a long time since it left Jeff's hands and who knows what has been done to it since.  Phill Joy was never connected in any way to Hadleigh Custom to the best of my recollection.   Nevertheless, I would be double checking that the carbs don't have a blockage in an airway or are not flooding (the floats were notorious for sticking and causing one or more carbs to run rich though, when that happens, there is usually obvious fuel leaking). If it is the original exhaust system it will be an American "RACER 1" which we soon stopped selling cos they were LOUD. By now it will have lost the little internal silencing it had and may itself be the cause of the popping and banging.  I think the baffle arrangement was removable (pop rivets?).  Try re-packing it with fibreglass mat or sticking something else up it to provide some back pressure - it may help.
 
I believe there are still several Hadleigh Custom road and race bikes out there.  I came across my ex-personal GS1000 road bike that was kitted out with 1080 pistons, cam and springs and race carbs with a heavily modified chassis complete with horribly expensive magnesium wheels.  I would not have expected that bike to survive as the power output was outrageous but there it was, 36,000 miles on the clock and still on the road.
 
I raced sidecars from 1968 to 1988 and only once raced a solo when I partnered Julian in a Thruxton 6 hour endurance race.  Due to my inexperience on a solo, we finished somewhere midfield but we finished.  The year I turned 65, I started doing track days on a solo and very enjoyable it has been, first on an SV1000 Suzuki then, recently, on a new Ducati Multistrada.  I managed to be quick(ish) but safe but there were some real idiots out there and I managed to just avoid several who fell off in front of me so I reckoned I should call it a day while I was ahead.  I now just have a Yamaha 1200 Super Tenere on which my wife and I cover about 20,000 miles a year, often in Europe.  Once a motorcyclist - always a motorcyclist!
 
If you let me have your address, I am sure I have one remaining new Hadleigh Custom Teeshirt (L) which I would be delighted to send to you.  I will check but I don't believe I have any stickers though you never know.  Oh, and I will send you my book that covers a large part of what we have been discussing in greater detail.
 
Regards
Dave Bexley


there you go how great is that.....and a tee shirt to boot...
well now what?
i will have to try to find jeff pearce  although this might prove abit more awkward
but hopefully not impossible....

what i can make out is that the bike was in the late 70's customised and tweaked by jeff using cost price race parts from hadleigh custom and painted in their race colours this would've been very early on in its life as it is a 1975 engine and frame.....and then i figure that when it was sold to somebody thought it might make a racer.....but it did not quite get finished.....dave bexley said the swing arm mod was nothing to do with them? and that phil joy did not actually tune for them...
so was it just a track day bike or the start of a racer that did not get finished??? what i have been told is that phil joy didnt give much away unless you spent a few quid with him and that includes stickers

who knows where this may lead but im going to keep going???

[mjc477]

Cool ehh!!!

[Retro Rocket]

Cool ^^^ 

[mjc477]

Well what can I say
I tried and tried to find jeff pearce...
And last night I found a book seller by the same name and from Essex
So I sent an email

"Are you the same jeff pearce that worked for hadleigh customs in the 70's....if so I have your old 500/4 here"

The reply was

"Yes that's me how is the old girl?"


Any way after a few mails I got this reply:


Hi Jason,
               I never thought I'd see that petrol tank again!  The last time I went to the Isle-of-Man TT races in 1981 that petrol tank was between my knees. I still have the 500/4 that your seat and tank first came from, it wears a red monocoque seat and tank unit originally from a Benelli 6.  It hasn't been out of the shed since 1986.  I put the seat and tank in your picture on the second 500/4 that I owned, I bought it from a drag racer that was a good customer of Hadleigh Custom, the bike was a class record holder at Santa Pod on more than one occasion, he gave up drag racing when he got married, and I bought it off him.  I was planning to prepare it as a road racing bike, but like lots of plans, life interrupted  and I had to put the bike into storage, (along with a 350/4), for about 20 years!
  The engine had been bored out and fitted with hi-comp pistons that took it to 570cc, a race camshaft,  valve springs to suit,(with titanium retainers) and an extra plate clutch.  All were ''Action Fours'' products supplied by Hadleigh Custom.  I can't be certain of my memory here, but I think the carbs were from CB 750K0, (the first 4 cyl road bike from Honda), they can be identified as such if they only have a cable to open the throttle slides, and do not have a parallel cable to close them.  I know the engine had a camshaft/cylinder head problem that the previous owner had fixed, that involved the fitting of white-metal shell bearings, but I can't remember who did the work or what the shells were from, sorry.  The frame had a beefed-up swinging arm, you will know if it still has.  I hope this info gives you a bit more history for your bike.  Thank you for taking me down memory lane.
  Best wishes.....Jeff.



Well what do you make of that???

Fantastic hey

So the picture in the 70's outside the unit might not actually be my bike ...........it is the same tank tho???

I'm still trying to piece this altogether

And what I find so amazing is that when I brought the bike I had no paperwork. No history. It was all brought as seen.......out of a barn in Essex

I have managed to find all this out due to a couple of stickers and a very distinctive petrol tank???

And along the way I have been in touch with the people in the 70's who made these bike so collectable and lived through these stories

Everyone of them has been so helpful and has given me just a little bit of there time and filled in a massive gap in my bikes history???

A gap that is now getting smaller and smaller

What next ?..

I wonder if I can find the guy who drag raced it  at Santa pod???

Ohh and while I am here I also spoke to a John vines who jeff pearce rented a flat from in the 80's and he does remember him racing this very bike.....all be it at not tt level but none the less on the track???


Well what do you recon shall I keep going???...?....?

[SF]

dude GO to Cafe Racer magazine or some sort of media outlet, tell em your story, tell em how so many people have to know about the people who lived and breathed these bikes...I'm not from that era but if I was thats were I'd be. This is the koolist storey man and I would like to know more, keep digging. my2cents.