Topic: new sohc owner

[gmoss]

Hi all,

Been browsing the forums for a week now, which is about as long as I've owned a 1973 CB500 Four.

It's my third bike. My first bike was an '89 VTR250 back in 2012. After a couple years I upgraded to a 2007 SV650, which I put about 40k miles on in 4 years. Then I moved to Boston and didn't have a bike for a couple years, and now I'm in Texas and got the itch again.

My CB500 needs some work to be running smoothly. It's mostly stock, except for a 4-into-1 which I'm not sure how I feel about. I got some experience adjusting valves and tuning carbs from the VTR, but it's been a minute. I tend to spend weekday evenings woodworking, so this is a weekend pastime, and I'll be starting doing regular maintenance things this weekend and I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty with this bike in as many ways as possible.

It currently starts and kinda even runs, but the idle is jumpy and it tends to stall out if in gear and below 2-3k rpms, so first order is valve adjustment, carb tune, and clutch adjustment, and determining if it needs carb or clutch rebuilds. Then safety concerns -- brakes, lights, and suspension. Also the wiring has issues, brake light, start button, and turn signals are unresponsive.

Already many threads on here have proved very useful in figuring out what issues to look out for and where to source parts and what kinds of things people do with these bikes. Looking forward to learning more.

George

[goodtryer]

Howdy!

Nice looking bike!

In case you haven't found this already: http://manuals.sohc4.net/cb500/

[dusterdude]

Welcome

Sent from my LM-X420 using Tapatalk

[goodtryer]

Forgot to say that another common problem area is fuel flow.

Check the condition of the tank; anything resembling rust will lead to clogged jets and multiple rounds of mounting & unmounting the carbs you thought were clean.
Check the petcock: clean the screen, and confirm that it completely stops fuel flow when in the OFF position.
Check the fuel supply hoses: cracks, kinks, wrong size (5.5mm is correct).
Check the gas cap: is the vent clear? is the gasket in good shape?

Cheers

[MD]

Welcome from NE MN,

Leaking manifold boots can cause idle issues.

-MD

[gmoss]

@goodtryer -- Thanks for the link! Already got the Clymer manual but always good to cross reference.

Already once dealt with a leaking petcock (and stuck floats) once on the old VTR250, I had spent the night at a girlfriend's in the next town over and woke up on my birthday to find everything flooded... fun way to celebrate. Obviously the hoses will all be swapped out over time, apparently the only thing the previous owner ever did in 7 years was change the oil a couple times, so it's not too surprising it doesn't run too good any more.

@MD Thanks, that would seem like an obvious point of leakage, will do. New boots are cheap. I'm mostly hoping compression is OK, was hoping to get some riding in before having to commit to a full rebuild, even though the cylinder head gasket is weeping a bit (as you can even see in the photo I posted).