Topic: 1972 CB500 Project. Am I in over my head?

[kasper.tyler]

Hey everyone! This is my first post to the forums, and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that posts on here. It's been a super interesting resource for finding my own personal direction on my latest project.

So, here it goes. I bought this bike off of a gentleman just outside of Alton, IL. It belonged to his brother who has since passed away. Long before that, the guy had stored the bike for his brother in his barn. The plus side is that everything was stored properly, for the most part. Tank was empty, it was stored inside, and all possible points of entry for critters into the engine were shut off. I have a title and I have keys, so thankfully it's not stolen.

These pictures are from the day I picked it up, and since then it's seen a bath and some general disassembly. My main roadblock is my lack of space to work on this bike; I don't have a shed big enough or a garage to work on it in, so my work is relegated to a small patio. I can work on individual pieces inside my shed as I disassemble them, but the crazy midwest weather still hinders my actual work time. Now that it's spring though, I'm ready to get into it.

Alright! So the big question: should I just scrap this or should I enjoy tearing it apart and rebuilding it into something fun? The motor is free and all the linkage and parts work as they should. Gearshift works just fine, clutch, throttle and brakes as well. Obviously the tires are junk and the wheels as well, but I won't worry about those until way later, as I won't be riding this for quite some time.

Thanks in advance for the tips and/or depressing realizations that I'm in over my head! 

Quick edit: I have another seat that isn't ridiculous, but it's in the shed and not pictured here lol.

[flatlander]

whatever you do, do not scrap it. especially that seat must be worth some money, somewhere 
if you're realistic about it, and are ready to spend a good amount of time, effort and money then i'd say go for it. but expect going over the whole thing top to toe, through every part and decide if you recondition or replace it. the devil is in the detail. be aware that it will be neither quick nor cheap. having a workshop would help but between your patio and shed it is not impossible, it will just take more time. i don't have a workshop either but at least have a shared garage where i can leave the bike while i work on it.
you could get it back as close to stock as possible as a lot of the original parts are there, or decide to go your own way.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Do not scrap it.

It would be easier to assess the condition of the bike if you could post some pictures of the bike, post-clean-up without the thick layer of dust and dirt on it.

[kasper.tyler]

Hey thanks for the quick replies, guys! I appreciate the kind words about not scrapping it. I love beat up old things, be it bikes, cars, or otherwise, so I really didn't want to see such an interesting bike go to waste. I've got not reason to rush the build; I have an '85 Suzuki to ride around on while this one is in pieces.

I have the day off tomorrow and was planning to work on it a little bit in the morning before it rains, I'd be happy to take some more current pictures of where it sits at the moment.

Is there anything in particular I should be looking at first? I already have some new parts to perform a tuneup and get the motor at least running (spark plugs, oil/filter, fuel lines, etc.). Obviously I don't want to just plug some new parts in and hope the thing doesn't blow up! Haha.

Check back around noon central time if you'd like and I'll hopefully have some new stuff posted. Thanks!

[flatlander]

you can find a bunch of manuals here: http://manuals.sohc4.net/cb550/
look at the maintenance list in the service manual: http://manuals.sohc4.net/cb500/service_manual/HSM500550_9.pdf
people usually suggest doing the 3k miles service as a starting point, then do a reality check. if you know you'll keep the bike then i'd do the full 6k service.

[kasper.tyler]

I actually just finished downloading a bunch of those manuals and put them on my kindle so I can mess with them outside without the risk of taking the computer out there. This site has been a great resource for manuals and advice, not to mention inspiration. I've seen bikes not much prettier than mine that have become something great. There is hope! 

[calj737]

a bike that has a solid, safe frame and a motor that turns over, is in my opinion a great candidate for restoring/rebuilding.

Much is cosmetic, lots is maintenance. Expect to need to replace fork oil, seals, wheel bearings, swing arm bushings, shocks, and give the entire electrical system a thorough going through. Before you attempt to "fire" it, be certain to drain the oil, add new, and trickle a light bit down the cylinders. This will insure that if there's any rust accumulated it will be lubricated as you rotate the motor.

Replace all cables and fluids. And that seat! 

[Restoration Fan]

Also, kasper, I recommend that you print out the service manual.  I'm a software developer and I LIVE on computers (Macs, PCs, Surface Pro 3, iPads, Droids...you name, I've got it and I use it).  But I found very early on in our 750 project that it's much easier to work from a paper copy than from the PDF on a tablet. 

Working on a tablet, you can guarantee that when both of your hands are occupied with adjusting something and you're looking at the manual, Mr. Murphy will pick that point in time to make your screen go to screensaver or battery power saving mode.  Then, you'll have to stop what you're doing and try and get the proper page back up on the screen again....and you will probably have greasy hands at the time.

Much easier just to print it out and put it in a notebook that you can prop open to the correct page(s) and not have to fool with it.

[kasper.tyler]

Hey guys, quick update. I spent a few hours this morning messing around with the bike. I still don't know exactly what I want to tackle first, but I went ahead and took the exhaust off for now. This is as she sits right now, a little bit more cleaned up, although still very dirty.
Also, these exhaust joints are my absolute favorite part of the bike. They just ooze style.

Any tips for what to do next? Otherwise I'm just going to keep on disassembling it so I can get the frame sanded down.


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[kasper.tyler]

And thanks for the tip Restoration Fan, I'll be printing off the manual sometime this weekend. Nothing beats pen and paper for referencing back.


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[calj737]

if you have removed the exhaust, keep the ports covered/stuffed to prevent infiltration of moisture and critters.

[kasper.tyler]

Yeah, you can't see the front end, but all four are stuffed with shop towels to keep the little punks out.


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[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I would remove the motor and go step by step, system by system.  Once the motor is out, you may want to go down to chassis to address the rust, then steering bearings and swingarm, then forks, then wheels, then brakes, then motor, then electrical.

[kasper.tyler]

That's the current plan. I'm glad to hear I'm headed in the right direction. I'll post some more as I row through the metaphorical gears of the this project. Thanks again for all the info guys, I really appreciate how open and willing everyone is to give me feedback and advice. You guys rule.


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[onetruepunk87]

The '72 500 I'm working on wasn't that much prettier than yours when I got it last year. Once I made sure it ran I started taking it apart piece by piece. Take lots of pictures along the way and bag everything separately so you know where it goes later. I'm finally reassembling mine and it's made everything much easier. Tackle one piece at a time so you don't get overwhelmed. It can be done and it's very rewarding seeing it all go back together. Good luck!

[MickB]

Kasper you've got a complete bike on your hands, you're in front already.

First give the bike a good wash, that'll encourage you to get into it, you'll see the potential not the dirty bike in front of you.

I Also didn't have a shed and have built my 500 (was in pieces and not complete) on my patio and under the car port. It can be done. All the parts are available, if you have to replace some of them.

If you're going to do it ask yourself am I going to complete it, allow 12 months maybe more, depending upon the time you have to spend on the 500.
If you restore it back to as original it'll give you a lot of pleasure and pain.

Lastly don't count the cost as it'll more than the price of a running bike today, but none of them will ever look as good.

Then you'll be able to ride one of the most light weight, sweetest handling bikes from back in the day.

Get rid of the seat,

[riverfever]

I agree with the others. I don't think you're in over your head at all. Your plan sounds realistic. Have fun with it.

[Restoration Fan]

Another tip you might find useful....we were told, and we did, take plenty of photos.  But what I didn't realize at the time is what I needed to take photos OF.  Take several overall shots, of course.  But anywhere there's a spring, or a bolt, take a photo or photos...so you will know how that piece reconnects later.  Any time you have something like the swing arm...take photos of both places where that connects to the frame.  It sounds silly but when we went to put the swingarm back on our bike, we put it on upside down at first and didn't realize it until we went back and looked at photos and saw that we had it on wrong.

Electrical wiring connections...shoot em.  Battery box...take plenty of photos so you'll know where everything goes back.  You'll find that the wiring of the pieces in the battery box is really easy because the connectors are fairly unique and it's easy to match them up.  But it's not so obvious where the pieces should connect inside the box...use the photos.  Take photos of the handlebars and the forks.  Of the front and rear brake assemblies (take a few of these).  Take them of the rear wheel hub and the chain...and the chain guard...etc, etc.

Carburetors....I don't know if it's physically possible to have too many photos of these before, during and after disassembly.  When you go to reassemble, these photos are HUGE for helping you figure everything out the first time.

Mainly, any time something is connected, it probably wouldn't hurt to have a photo of it.

Then what I found really helpful was to go back and organize those photos on your hard drive into systems like "Electrical", "Rear wheel", "Battery box", etc.  So when we were working on a specific system or area of the bike, we could pull up the corresponding photos on a large monitor and see how it used to look.

[Tews19]

Subscribed.

[kasper.tyler]

I really appreciate all the advice, fellas. It means a lot to see all this support for fixing it up. I have big plans for the bike, so its going to take a while to get things moving at a steady pace.
One thing I'm generally pretty bad at is taking and properly organizing pictures of my progress. I'll make this priority number one for this project, so I stay organized and I can also post my updates for you guys.

Hopefully this turns out to be a really great learning experience for me and an interesting post for you guys to follow. If I hit any major snags or roadblocks, I'll be sure to come back here for help.

Thanks again guys!

[kasper.tyler]

Quick update gentlemen. I've always had a thing for cafe racers and naturally, after looking at pictures of this bike in that style, I've decided to go that route. I just absolutely love the look of them and I think it would be a fun project to undertake.

So my question for today is this: how much cutting/welding is required to successfully make a good looking cafe racer? I'm not opposed to that kind of work, but I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into.
I have, after all, always wanted to buy a welder... Haha.

If you guys don't mind, I'll probably be asking you for parts recommendations at some point, as I've never done anything like this before.

Obviously disassembly comes first, so design choices may change, but as of right now this is what I'm going for.

Thanks ahead of time!

[Hispeed87]

I've done plenty of cutting but the only thing I've welded is the rear brake pedal. Oh, and the tail light/license plate bracket and seat cowl but you can buy those.

[riverfever]

I guess it all depends on what your vision/purpose is for this bike. This is my first project and I walked round it several times in the garage before it started heading down the cafe road. This is how it currently sits and the only thing I've cut is the rear fender when I bobbed it. I did have to weld up a few small holes in the tank. As much as I like the look of a solo seat, I wanted to be able to do some touring around Colorado on it. I have a waterproof bag that I'm hoping I can lash to the seat and also wear a small backpack. If this was a second bike I would be much more tempted to cut the frame off and weld in a hoop but this is what I have now.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

There is not a huge need to cut up a 550 frame.  Typically, you cut off what you don't need to lighten the bike.  The 550 frame doesn't need much cut off.  You may want to weld a loop if you are going for a solo seat, but if you are not sure, leave it.

[flatlander]

one piece of advice: before you start on bigger modifications, just get it to run well and reliably first. it will give you a good base for anything further.

re. touring with a backpack: try to avoid it. it can be uncomfortable, restricts your movement and also puts the centre of gravity higher which doesn't help the handling. if you regularly want to do longer trips, consider saddle bags. you'll be much better off with them. i know this goes a bit against the cafe philosophy but is something to consider looking at the use you mention.