One day in the paper appeared a CB500/4. This didn't mean much to me. N reg, 6700 miles, £225. I liked the sound of that. Where machines are concerned I equate miles done to overall condition, especially the state of the engine. I suspect a lot of people do not attach quite so much importance to the mileage if only because they do not trust the mileometer reading - and I don't blame them for that. I have to admit that I'd rather avoid doing an engine rebuild as soon as I buy a used bike.
When a friend turned up on a ten year old CB400/4 with just 6000 miles on the clock and in beautiful condition, I began to think seriously about the 500. It turned out the Honda was owned by a young woman who had bought the bike two years ago. Apparently, the first owner had been given the bike by his father, but had ridden it so badly that his father forbade its further use. I don't suppose that it was the first time it has happened.
The next owner, I was told, had been a bit of a poser; all he wanted was a suitable backdrop against which to have macho pictures taken of himself. She did not say why after two years in her possession the bike still didn't have a years decent mileage to show for itself. The bike looked huge. I had only ever ridden my Honda 125 twin and I didn't even know about electric start buttons.
As I set about trying to kick the engine over it was suggested that I might like trying to press some little button by the throttle. To add to the difficulties, I had to manoeuvre out of an awkward little backstreet and turn immediately up a steep hill. Further confusion ruled when I failed to realise that to stop the bike from stalling the choke had to be opened almost immediately after moving off. This procedure remains the same to this day, only I am a bit more used to it now... I had hoped that replacing the silencers on the rotten non-standard four into two would make starting less traumatic.
I loved my first ride on the bike. The noise seemed deafening and increased the feeling of power. I'd ridden the 400/4 which my friend was trying to sell for £400 but I wasn't interested after the 500 - I couldn't feel the power in the smaller bike at all.
After some bargaining I bought the 500 for just £175. I still hadn't passed my test, so I persuaded the woman to ride the bike to my house. When I handed over the money she proceeded to stuff it down her bra in the illusion that I was going to run her back on the Honda, for one last sentimental journey. Unfortunately I had to disappoint her, but offered to run her home in my car. This caused doubts to be cast about whether or not I had any guts, but at least she didn't have to suffer the discomfort of all those stiff notes.
Due to my usual lack of togetherness and a bit of bad luck, I managed to fail my Part Two. The indicators on the twin had always been a bit useless, the long stems hang loosely and the mountings get bent, corrosion sets in and all in all a good earth begins to look as feasible as a good Earth after a nuclear holocaust. A sharp tap on the offending indicator would usually solve the problem, but as luck would have it on the day of my test I found that the indicators stubbornly refused to work. By the time I cut a bit of wire out of my stereo speaker lead to make good contact between the indicator and steering head, I had lost vital minutes. The result was that I arrived late for the test, which, needless to say, is not a good idea.
Test or no test, temptation proved too great, and off I went to London on the 500. I stayed longer than I intended and returned to find someone had assumed I no longer had any use for my 125... I bought a Sidewinder and passed my test on the 500. I don't think the examiner was too keen on the Sidewinder; I was not sorry to see the back of it myself.
Despite the low mileage, the head gasket leaked oil. I bought a gasket set with the intention of fixing it in the winter. However, when I got down to looking at the job more closely I thought better of it. After all, what's a bit of oil on your boots every time you go for a good run. Also, despite the leak, the bike doesn't use very much oil.
The stock bike is supposed to have poor shocks, but they were long gone. The replacements were no better, so I replaced them with another set that I bought for just six notes. I find the handling perfectly adequate - certainly no worse than the 400/4. The bike now has a weird combination of tyres - front Arrowmax and rear (new style) Roadrunner, but I am very happy with this combination.
The old front tyre had many small cracks in its wall and between the tread pattern, while the tread itself looked quite new even after I'd done two thousand miles on it. When I asked about the cracking in the tyre at the local tyre shop, they were able to tell me that the code number indicated it was a 1978 vintage, so the mileage on the bike is probably genuine.
For me, the bike has plenty of power, it'll cruise along the motorway at an indicated ton, although it's very hard to make it go any faster. The engine is low tech, these days, but it does average 50mpg and it's very easy to work on. Tappets and contact breakers can be set by anyone able to read the manual. Rather than pay £160 for a brand new 4 into 4 original exhaust, I welded on some old Kawasaki silencers to the 4 into 2. I eventually picked up a Motad for £80, which looks better, makes the bike go faster and even gives improved ground clearance.
Age does bring some problems. Noticing that the brake fluid resembled pea soup, I decided to treat the bike to some new fluid and bleed the brakes. I began by shearing off the bleed nipple flush with the caliper. When I inserted a hardened steel reverse threaded bolt remover, I sheared that off flush with the bleed nipple. I had to pay the local engineers £30 to drill it out and fit a brass insert. This has left the single front disc worse than before and it was never particularly good (especially in the wet). I hope to use some Goodridge hose to lose some of the sponginess.
The rear drum is useful without being too power full. I've also replaced the clutch, throttle and speedo cables, and fitted a heavy duty drive chain, as the old one required frequent adjustment.
I've taken the 500 on a 1000 mile trip and didn't have any problems. The bike was fully laden with camping gear and a pillion, which knocked quite a bit off the performance, and made the handling a little tenuous at very high speeds, but the mass made those speeds hard to attain, so no real hassle. With the camping gear, there's a definite lack of power if your pillion weighs over 12 stones. Fortunately, I don't know any women that heavy, so I'm not too worried.
Considering that.I only paid £175 for the Honda, I've had great value for money and lots of good fun. The UMG reckons an engine life of only 40000 miles, which is a bit worrying, but I hope to prove them wrong on that bit. Some bikes have as much as 65000 miles on the clock, although there's no way of knowing what's been done to them.
I must agree with the UMG, though, when they say its an ideal first big bike. Cheap to buy and run, it has enough power and almost classic looks, to give the owner a bit of a buzz. Pity they don't make 'em like this any more.
Howard Hill