Topic: 550E???

[vermont550]

I don't have the title for my cb550. I would like to find out what year it is. I was told it's a 74. The gearbox is marked with CB550E-XXXXXXX. I've heard of the 550 K,F and SS. I had never heard of an E.

Anyone know anything about the 550E, and if so, what year it may be?

[mlinder]

There should be a plate with your vin number etc, up on the left hand side of the headstock or something, no?

/edit er... right hand side... (I'm dyslexic :\)

[csendker]

The VIN for the bike is typically the frame number.  550 VIN is located on a plate on the right-hand side up kinda-near the handlebars.  It wil be CB550-XXX...  and it's the XXX... that determines the year.  The motor has a different ID number, but not typically used as the actual VIN.  This number will be close, but not the same as the frame number.  The motor number has the 'E' in it.  Look for the frame VIN and post back, also post the engine #.

[csendker]

And the E just denotes the engine number.  550's only came in K or F.  The K is the basic model and the F is the supersport (SS) model.

[csendker]

It works like this: My frame number is CB550-1226392.  Looking at the model guide numbers (links below), it's after the start of the 1975 K1's but less than the '76's, so I have a 1975 CB550-K1.  I don't have an SS, so I didn't realize their frame numbers do have the 'F' in them (like CB550F-1234...).  Either way, the 'E' still denotes the engine number.  They would build the engines and frames simultaneously, then put them together at the end of the line.  So the frame and engine numbers should be close, but not an exact match.  If your engine number is wildly different than the frame, it may be a replacement.  Look at your numbers and check the guides - let us know what you have, and post some pictures!.

550K frame numbers --> http://sohc4.us/?q=node/133

550F frame numbers --> http://sohc4.us/?q=node/265

And the plate should look just like in the picture here...