Hey everyone,
I have been working on this CB500 for a few months and have been lurking this website for a while now. I picked up this CB500 from a guy that has about 200 old bikes that are just waiting to be restored. A bunch of old Suzukis, Kawasakis, and a lonely 1971 CB500. I picked up the bike for $300 bucks. The cylinders turned freely but there was no kickstart and the electric was a mess so I was not sure if it ran. It literally sat in a field for years so there was plenty of rust and things to be replaced. I was trying to think of a name for it and came up with "Yokai." I'm half Japanese and since Honda is from Japan I thought it would fit to give it a name to match. Yokai means monster in Japanese.
The teardown went pretty slow since this is my first bike. I have never really worked on a motorcycle before so am having to figure things out as I go and learn from this forum. I'll be asking a lot of questions along the way so be prepared to help me out!
The first mistake that I will never make again was not powerwashing the bike before I started. I should have sprayed everything down to make my life easier later. The second big mistake that I made was tearing everything apart before I found out if it ran. Rookie mistakes. I'll just have to get everything back together and pray that it starts.
Frame totally stripped down.
Next, I ripped the carbs apart. I cleaned the hell out of these and it took me way longer than it probably should have but they are looking good now.
Nasty!
All 4 carbs look like this now. I got them cleaned up and painted them flat black.
I got all the parts back from the powdercoater and they turned out great! I had everything done in textured flat black. The overall vision for the bike is flat black with 2 high gloss racing stripes and a gloss Honda logo on the tank.
Swingarm is back on the frame with new bearings. I also got some new rear shocks. Starting to look more like a bike.
The powdercoater had a great idea. He taped off the numbers on the frame and after he put a clear coat over them. They look great! I don't think there are many bikes that have that feature.
Both kickstands. We'll see if I end up using both.
Rims were done in the same flat black. Spokes are on their way so hopefully I'll have some finished wheels by next week.
I had the fork lowers done as well. Same color. I think they turned out great with the brakes and the polished adaptor.
Also, shout out to member Pampadori at Slingshot-cycles for the new brake lines and pipe.
I want to drill the rotor. I have some patterns but am open to suggestions if anyone has any.
New rear brake shoes to replace the nasty rusted ones that were one the bike. The mechanism that expands the brakes was really rusted so it took some work but everything is working now.
Last but not least for tonight I got part of the triple tree back together. I put in new bearings from All Balls.
