Hello all,
Figured I would announce my project too. My first Honda since a Z50 back in 1976. Have had several Kawasaki’s and a couple of Yamaha and this is only my 2nd street bike. I picked up this 1974 CB550K0 a couple of weeks ago after a long (Craigslist) search that involved seeing many bikes in much worse shape than this one at higher prices.
It’s complete, but not stock. Side covers are on the back of my car in the one picture. Emblems were all shaved. The last time this bike saw the light of day was fall of 1988. Parked in a barn by the previous owner when he got his first Harley. In the seat pocket was the expired registration and insurance card matching his story. The bike came with a well worn Cylmer manual, a frozen front brake and a lot of work ahead.
Not going to bore with disassembly. Will post “in progress” pictures as it starts going back together. Plan is for a modified stock and not the full blown café look.
Thanks for all the knowledge found here already.
Fresh out of the barn and off the trailer.
One of my 8 year old daughters instantly named the bike "The Mousercycle" because of this previous tenant. He left a nice nest in the tool tray and airbox and there was a bunch of baby mouse carcasses in the exhaust when I shook out the muffler.
The chrome is pretty rough. In the first pic below, I hit the top of the exhaust with some chrome polish and a rag real quick to see if it would clean up at all.