[solved]My first project bike!

I don´t now why still there isn´t your profile picture in HiGH RES in this talk so we can see it better????


That front screen is so nice! Absolutely love it.

Hi, as you saw it was on another thread but have put it below anyway.



I'll have it a bit more complete at the weekend and as long so as long the weather holds out ill get some good pics for the thread.

Looks fantastic. Well done!

You've worked bloody hard on this Dan. Clearly it isn't easy to make THE most expensive CB500 on the planet!

There were times in the early days when I thought you'd never get it finished, but I'm very pleased to have been proved wrong!

To anyone else thinking "I could do that", be prepared to spend a small fortune, and probably about 300 hours - yes really!

Enjoy mate, enjoy!

still not quite there but took some better pics....

Slick

Oh boy....

Imagine if Honda designes one cafe/classic/old school type of bike, like a Bonnevile or downgraded CB1100, with this engine version (carbed), with upgraded shocks, double brakes....

Jerryfud that is amazing! When I first joined this forum the bike was only starting to be assembled! Very nice to see it come together! 

One question you though ... Did you name it  ?

Bike looks lovely, how much did it cost to do?, love the colour , my uncle use to have a cb 250 n in black and  had gold wheels in early 80s always liked its colour

ha, yes it has a name - panda. my wife named it but kind of stuck.

as she has seen sullivj's 'tango' a few times she had named my father-in-law's 'S' model CB lemonade sticking with the drink theme as just referring to bikes by letters and numbers was going over her head so I had the choice of panda or pepsi 

as for how much it costs I'll never say and swear those that do to secrecy 

jerryfudd wrote:ha, yes it has a name - panda. my wife named it but kind of stuck.

as she has seen sullivj's 'tango' a few times she had named my father-in-law's 'S' model CB lemonade sticking with the drink theme as just referring to bikes by letters and numbers was going over her head so I had the choice of panda or pepsi 

as for how much it costs I'll never say and swear those that do to secrecy 

More than a brand new one would've cost you...!

don't be mean sully!!!! lol

.......new one didn't come with a full s/s system or Hagons front and rear - and fully adjustable ones that though

sullivj wrote:

jerryfud wrote:
as for how much it costs I'll never say and swear those that do to secrecy :lol:

More than a brand new one would've cost you...!

Do you mean more than a new one in 1997 (or whenever) or more than buying a 'new' one now (if one existed)?

Anyway, you can't get either, as neither exists today! So (from my perspective) I don't see any problem with spending a fair amount of cash on it, as long as that is what you want.

Jerryfud's bike is probably as close to a 'new' CB500 as you might get (from what I've read/see on here) and in some places better (powder coated frame etc) so I'm not really surprised that £££££££ may well have been spent ;)

From the small amount of experience I have had with older/classic bikes and cars, I have seen people that  spend thousands and thousands of pounds on doing thing up (making them 'new' again) and they then expect to get all that money back when the sell it - they are almost always sadly mistaken and end up unhappy.

The ones who end up happy are often the ones that spend thousands fully in the knowledge that they will get almost none of it back, but who just want to do it because they can and they want to.

I'm pretty confident that we are dealing with the second case here, so I'm not too concerned :)

I meant more than a new one, when it was new.

I enjoy teasing Dan about the cost. I'm fortunate enough to know how much it cost him. I'm also fortunate to have ridden THE most expensive CB500 on the planet. 

I'm not so fortunate that I had to spend many hours collecting, stripping and rebuilding it with him.. I'm joking of course, most of it was fun. Apart from when things don't go his way, and then he grows little red horns and gets REALLY grumpy!

You're quite right, he did it for the pleasure it gives him, and good for him.  I think he's mad, but the world needs mad people!

he does love to tease

I've always wanted to restore something aswell as having something ABSOLUTELY clean so all I had to do its maintain it and the CB seemed like a good project - albeit a bigger one than I'd imagined.

the painting cost was a killer at £1,000 for the powder coat and wet spraying - but then that incurs a hell of allot of hidden costs such as bearings etc etc. which is by no means cheap but couldn't paint with out removing them all.

then the tons upon tons of bolts were all rusted up which I replaced as with a brand new paint job it would make a joke of the paint cost if I didn't. I went OE Honda for everything structural - granted they are more expensive but SS aren't as strong as mild and in my opinion they are there and were chosen for a purpose. in all non-essential areas I went generic SS.

Then of course there is the modding cost........ rebuilt forks with Hagon springs aswell as the top of the line rears in the most expensive combination which was the SS body as I figured it would last better.... then adding of course the SS downpipes, Beowulf silencer, MotoBatt battery, crystal clear headlight, renthal bars, adjustable levers, nose fairing, painting the side panels, CBR indicators and re-covering the seat.

Then add in all the wear and tear items. The brake fluid, suspension fluid, coolant, air filter, brake discs, brake pads & tyre!

Lastly there is the fu*k ups of sodding up the original rear caliber and MC so had to replace that and also I bought the rad cowls, belly pan and single seat cowl which was all painted but I just never used!

If you factor 'just' the take it apart and put it together cost then it was actually pretty reasonable, mods were expensive as mods always are and its a bit unfair to add my mistakes and service items to the total as that its the ongoing cost of just owning a bike you could just aswell add the fuel I had to put in to move it.

it all comes down to I love the way it came out and brings a smile to my face every time I look at or ride it and thats even after getting off the Street Triple  never intended to to be as involved but by that time I was committed to finishing it.




oh and to add that it was a cat c write off when I bought it - so new stanchions and a rad!

Doesn't matter how much it cost, you have the bike you wanted the way you wanted .if you look at practical sports bikes magazine, some guys in that spend thousands on there bikes, and its usually bikes they had when they were younger and they buy wrecks do them up and when they ride them bring them back to a diffrent time. I once bought a bike (had little money )i was just able to buy it using debit and credit card maxed both

Also when I was buying this bike i was also on verge of being made redundant (08) but it was a bike I wanted from 17,  bikes for me have always been heart not head (doesn't meen buy in wreck) what do they say 4 wheels move body 2 wheels move soul (sorry if its cheezy)

It's cheesy....but true!!!

agreed! 

jerryfudd wrote:still not quite there but took some better pics....

Great work! I love the gold wheels.

you'll get to see it soon enough - your still coming to beaulieu right?

Yes I'm still up for that.

excellent - still got your fork driver to give back!

Oh good! I hoped you hadn't posted it to my work address as I no longer work there.