Hello everyone. Glad to be back on this site. I was here about 14 years ago after I purchased a 77 CB750. We ended up having a baby so the bike fell by the wayside and I sold it for $200 disassembled. It was pretty heartbreaking, and I asked the person who bought it to please never drive it by my house. He was super jazzed and I heard through the grapevine had it running a couple months later. Fast forward 14 years and my son is now a teenager. He came to me a little over a week ago and said, "Dad, I really like motorcycles and think I want one". "Say no more!!" was my response, and that weekend we drove a couple hours north to Los Angeles and picked up a beat 71 CB500 with no title and 47,000 miles. In between killing the brown window spiders it is infested with I like to think about all the good times people had driving the bike.
So my son John and I just started working on the bike. We were given all the parts (we think) and an extra set of carbs. We are getting close to having one set of carbs rebuilt and will start working on the engine pretty soon. We did a compression test yesterday and have 100, 80, 120, and 50. The low cylinder didnt get better with oil so we are thinking bad valve. Also checked the transmission and it seems to shift okay but not great. It seems like it goes into neutral between 3 and 4 or 4 and 5, but its hard to tell right now since its on a stand with no oil. We are likely going to do a full rebuild regardless since it has so many miles.
In terms of what the bike is going to be when its done, that is up to my son. He has gone from wanting cafe racer to stock, but is really worried about what helmet he is going to buy.
Anyway, its good times and really appreciate all of the info available on this forum.
Thanks and see everyone around.
Mike & John
