Topic: How many cb500's were made? and what # in different colors/years?

[74cb750]

Hi All,

having a difficult time finding this info.
Anyone?
michel

[CycleRanger]

http://www.sohc4.net/cb500-model-guide/

Might check the parts list.
Sometimes they list year models by serial numbers and you can get a good idea of how many made.

[74cb750]

Nope

[CycleRanger]

In the parts lists there are serial numbers by country code.
From these numbers you can make a guess a how many were built each year.
That's probably as close as you can get.
http://www.honda4fun.com/materiale-documentazione-tecnica/parts-list/parts-list-cb500

[74cb750]

Yep, a guess,
but still does not answer the other part of the ?, to wit; how many in green, brown, etc etc by year.

I wonder if HMC has that info, and if they do, would they share it with this forum?

[CycleRanger]

Yep, a guess,
but still does not answer the other part of the ?, to wit; how many in green, brown, etc etc by year.

I wonder if HMC has that info, and if they do, would they share it with this forum?

It's highly unlikely that after 40+ years they've kept those records and if they did I doubt they'd spend the money to research them just for our benefit.

[74cb750]

You never know....

I am conflicted as to what color to paint my 71 cb500, brown,gold or green.

[Geeto67]

You never know....

Actually in this case you do know because:

 - living in Honda country and working with many current and former honda engineers, including those that used to work at the motorcycle plant in marysville, honda is the most reclusive with their production information often claiming it a proprietary insider secret rather than releasing it. Maybe there is a .0000001% chance honda will have a change of heart but I doubt it and am going to call it that you will never know.

- For a lot of the older stuff they did not keep very good records to being with and for and the 1960's/70's  Japanese mfg stuff the records are not in english as well. I have heard from many that when it came to 70's motorcycle colors, they tracked popularity based on what was ordered by the dealers and not what was actually produced and sold. Look at how much care they put into serial numbers between engines and frames (hint: very little) and most countries were using matching serial numbers since the mid 1960's as an anti-theft measure.

- They made 10's of 1000's of these bikes. The serial numbers give that away. They are not rare, and no particular color is any more or less rare than the same year other colors. Some colors are 1 year only while others are multiple year colors so those will most likely be rare. There are some really rare things like the flying dragon paint sets that people could order from the parts department if you want to go that way:


As for what you want to paint your bike - paint it the color that looks best to you. There is almost no such thing as a "rare" honda. Even with sandcast cb750s they made more of them than some popular models of muscle cars. Just look at what is most pleasing to your eye and paint it that color. Also, I used to buy up spare bodywork in different colors and swap it out often on my bikes. Nothing says you can't do the same.

[74cb750]

I realize there is no "rare" color , but I just don't want to have one exactly like Most of the CB500's out there....the garnett brown was produced 1971-73, and 1975-76 I believe. So it must have been fairly popular. I used to own a Gold 1974 cb750 and am predisposed to that color as it will match up w/ my 1972 Gold  S2 Kawasaki w/ MetalFlake green frame.

[Geeto67]

I realize there is no "rare" color , but I just don't want to have one exactly like Most of the CB500's out there....the garnett brown was produced 1971-73, and 1975-76 I believe. So it must have been fairly popular. I used to own a Gold 1974 cb750 and am predisposed to that color as it will match up w/ my 1972 Gold  S2 Kawasaki w/ MetalFlake green frame.

From personal experience the gold is the one I have seen the most of, the green is the one I have seen the least, with orange and brown being somewhat less common than gold. Paint fade plays a role in this, green and orange tend to fade really easy so they didn't last, I've seen a few candy brown 550s that fade to an oxidized copper green on top and it gives it an interesting fade effect with brown on the bottom.  But to be honest - if you want something "unique" but looks kind of stock, why not keep the stock paint scheme, but paint it a completely different color? I always thought candy sapphire blue would look amazing on the early cb500 black and white scallop paint scheme. the latter ones with the black, white, gold teardrop look great so why not the early 500? It's the kind of thing that to most people who don't know these bikes would look stock, and to those that do would look subtly custom.

here is another member who painted it the way I described:


but I think he got the shape of the black and the stripe wrong:


and here is one in a much lighter arctic blue but with the right stripe and shape to the black:


I saw a red one once too but can't find a picture. Looked really classic because black, white, and red look great together.

[74cb750]

I like both the OEM gold and the green, but just might go with the Sunset Orange Metalflake that was on my 1974 CB750

[TwoTired]

Gonna paint mine canary yellow, I think.  With a red naugahyde seat cover.
Or maybe John Deere green....  It WAS a factory color, you know.

Cheers,

[74cb750]

I thought the canary yellow was only con cb750F's

[Stev-o]

I thought the canary yellow was only con cb750F's