Topic: cb500 long distance riding

[jlrichardson]

I was talking to a friend who has a cb750 last night. (I have a cb500) He was telling me the it isnt really a good idea to take a cb500 for rides longer than about 50 miles. is there any truth to this? if so will taking longer rides (without stopping) reduce the life of the bike? just curious about this, i dont want to put any extra wear and tear on the bike that it cant handle. thanks!

[TwoTired]

Good lord, 750 bigotry is pervasive.  And, you call him a friend?  You let him slap you around, too?

50 mile limit?  Laughable.
Assuming the bike is in good condition, trips from Bangor, Maine to Los Angeles, CA and back are well within the machine's capability.  It's been done!

The maintanence history of any 30 year old bike is going to determine it's reliability and endurance.

50 miles.... phfeh.

[jlrichardson]

heheh nicely put twotired...nicely put

[Gordon]

I second TT's phfeh!!

As long as it's in good mechanical condition, I'd worry more about how well you would hold up on a long trip than the bike.   

[jlrichardson]

tell me about it...i gotta half hour ride to work and it already starts hurtin my back....

[Gordon]

I should ammend my previous statement.

With the stock handlebars and cushy seat foam, comfort shouldn't really be an issue either.  The suspension definitely comes into play, but that was included in the "good mechanical condition".  Lower handlebars tend to affect comfort depending on how long the ride is and how low the bars are, and old, hard seat foam will give you numb-ass pretty darn quick. 

[TwoTired]

Several years ago I read a travelog about a young couple who toured the US on their Red CB500.  Youth are resilient.  Even so, after three days they found and affixed a thick sheepskin cover to the seat to help them recover from the severe butt beating they got from the old stiff foam in the stock seat.  The pained expressions on their faces slowly turned to bug splattered smiles for the rest of the trip.  

On my 550's I like the to put the 2-3 inch setbacks on the bar mounts.  This allows the body position to go more upright, and for me, pretty much eliminates back fatigue for longer trips.

Just looking at sport bikes and cafe racers makes my back and wrists hurt.

Cheers,

[Noel]

I've put up to 200 miles in a day on my cafe'd 500. I made a living road racing bicycles once upon a time, so should be fairly used to contorted body positions, but three or four hours on a real cafe machine still isn't much fun.

As for the fellow who thinks the 500 shouldn't be used for more than fifty miles at a shot, I guess I'd like to hear his rationale. Find out how long the "rest period" needs to be between rides. Will the bike last longer if you let is rest for 20 minutes every hour? Or does it need a full night's sleep between exertions?

[jlrichardson]

he said it was just cause its a smaller motor and would benefit from not riding as long, and he personally wouldnt ride over 50miles.
i think im just gonna need to fit the bike to my size as i figure out what i will need. Im 6'3" 250lbs......i dont think the japanese were thinking of a man like me when they designed this thing....im sure as i go along i will eventually find the right position to sit as well as any add ons i can do to give me a little more comfort...ohh, and now ive got a whoping 2 weeks of street riding experience...so that probably factors in a little bit .......im gonna try that sheepskin....or try restuffing the stock seat..the bike is older than me, i know my cushin would need a little fixin up after that long!

[Noel]

he said it was just cause its a smaller motor and would benefit from not riding as long...

Yeah, but why? What benefit does the motor derive from being allowed to "rest" every fifty miles?

I suppose more to the point one could ask "What benefit does the motor derive from being cold started and therefore exposed to more frequent periods of greatly increased friction and internal wear, as opposed to being used at a relatively steady temperature with full-film lubrication?"

[Noel]

Hey, get your friend over here. I want to make fun of him in person.

[Bodi]

When I talk to newish riders they all think a 500 is small for a starter bike, and wouldn't ride less than a 1000cc on a highway.
Whatever turns your crank, I guess.
Anyway, a 500-4 will last - happily - MUCH longer than your back will.
The only 500 I recall being unsuited for trips longer than 50 miles was the Triumph 500 twin. More than 50 miles was a long way to drag it home. I had many friends "in the day" go on cross country trips with 250 2-strokes, 305 Hondas, Jawa 350s, jeez - lots of small bikes ... about the only ones consistently coming back as freight were those Triumphs.

[jlrichardson]

so i guess this means ill be taking my first long trip in a couple of weeks...sounds like fun! the only down side is that its gonna be to go to fresno....yeck! thanks for you input guys!

[merc2dogs]

Hah!

I used to cruise  arizona, california, oregon, washington, nevada, and idaho all the time on my cb350's and cl350's, I'd take off in spring and motor-hike all summer long, if that old 350 twin could do it there's no way anyone can say a 500 won't. (these were old 72-74 bikes I picked up for $100 or $200 and a couple of them I got for free!)

  Had a friend who went with me one summer on a suzy 250 2stroke, he had no trouble, that thing did run into issues over the mountains a few times, on long up hill grades, but no serious issues.

  Also, I used to cruise a little moped from kentwood mi to morley mi,  roughly 48 miles, no problem other than the embarrassment factor, hey it was cheap ($5. could get you almost anywhere in michigan at the time, now it may take $15!) and fun.

 Ride what you have, if your bike has issues after long cruises, fix it.

 Right now, I'm kind of hesitant to take my 750 out for long hauls, just got it back together and want to break it in easy fbefore I head out for more than pushing distance! 

Ken.

[750k5]

He's right!! I rode my 550 from Detroit to Ft. Lauderdale back in 1975, but I wouldn't dare try it on a 500

[HondaMan]

I was talking to a friend who has a cb750 last night. (I have a cb500) He was telling me the it isnt really a good idea to take a cb500 for rides longer than about 50 miles. is there any truth to this? if so will taking longer rides (without stopping) reduce the life of the bike? just curious about this, i dont want to put any extra wear and tear on the bike that it cant handle. thanks!

My brother and I toured these lower 48 states (and, he did Canada), with me on my 750 and him on his 500. The only changes we made was to run D8E spark plugs instead of the stock D7E plugs when on these long rides, to cool off the engine, and 20w50 oil to take the heat. Both of us have Vetter Windjammer fairings with full lowers, the whole works. The 500 is a fine touring bike, so long as you remember its design cruise speed is 80MPH or less, where the 750 is 100 MPH or less.

The main difference of the 500: it's for the inseam-challenged riders. 

[Noel]

Yep, those two tenths of an inch make all the difference in the world.