What did you do with your CB500 today?

eternally_troubled wrote:

Jameshambleton wrote:So on my way to Huddersfield to pick up some tyres from a fellow forum member  I believe that the cam chain tensioner suddenly failed or the cam chain has jumped some teeth that may have possibly rammed the valves into my piston while I was doing 70mph 55 miles away from home. I'll have the valve cover off tomorrow to see what I find, and yes for the imminent response yes it was another fucking horse box moment as RAC have changed their number yet again

Yikes!

It is possible the tensioner failed - was it making any noise beforehand?

tensioner hasn't failed, plug is a complete mess though... well what's left of it.

Damnnn.. Not a tensioner ? Do you have a suspect ?

conrod or dropped valve at this point I believe. I'll be waiting a few weeks before I get the chance to open the engine up!

Still no news or photo's from the guy selling the cb400 super four or boonstra about a replacement engine either :/

Replaced what was left of my seat lock with the one kindly sent to me by forum member Tricky
Thanks again for that, heres what was left of the one it replaced

Wow! I've never seen one do that before!

The garage decided not to charge me for opening my bikes engine and removing the spark plug in an attempt to see what went wrong with it, they also took off the stator cover to get to the crank to check the positioning of the cams and all was well, they also drained the oil too. 

I ordered a *pair* of heated grips, they came today and wasn't a pair at all. 
Already back in the post for returning since Ebay paid for the postage, thankfully I bought the wrong item and there was something wrong with it so I'll be getting another pair of what I have fitted on the cb 

Yesterday fitted a new rear tyre so good excuse for both wheels out, a decent clean up and chain adjusted.

Changed the front pads from ebc to carbon lorraine too and bled some fluid through.

Todays riding = handling restored and front brake now much firmer at lever, the uneven lever pressure issue (see workshop thread somewhere) now resolved.
With new rear and new tec shocks, sidestand is a fair way off the ground.

muttley1

Are these tec shock absorbers the preferred brand to replace the oem Showas? Anyone know what the options are and the relative merits?

Ive tecs over a year there very good shocks ive had no problems with them at all  , u can get fancier ones there not that more expensive..more adjustment... i would recommend tecs 100percent very cheap too

I've done all my miles on Tec shocks, only compaint is that the rubber in the top eyelet seems to perish and the only way to check is to take the real cowl off, the good news is that the standard showa ones (that you can still get) fit perfectly!

Hmm interesting! I was a bit surprised to see just how expensive the original Showa shock absorbers were when I checked earlier in the year. I can't actually find anywhere that stocks them now, but when I could I seem to recall them having a price tag of around six hundred quid or thereabouts.

I do not like Hagons because I think they're too firm. This may be prejudicial however, due to riding a mate's w650 that was uncomfy. Maybe they're lovely for the cb500. Btw I do actually like very much the stock Showa rear suspension on the CB500 and ideally would like to change like for like when times to replace. But at the price I'm a bit chary. One of my bikes is beginning to feel a bit soggy so I'm thinking it might nearly be ready for something new.

The tec shocks were so cheap i nearly bought two pairs by mistake, its a pity tec dont do a range of stuff for cb...

Jameshambleton wrote:
tensioner hasn't failed, plug is a complete mess though... well what's left of it.

I watched your video - from the noises it sounded like something nasty happened as you went around/were pulling away from the first roundabout... really nasty!

From looking at that sparkplug I don't really understand how it got that mashed, unless, say, one of your valve stems failed and the valve fell into the cylinder and then bounced around mashing things. If that is what happened then you are very, very unlucky (valves don't snap too often, in my experience).

Today I removed my back wheel today to paint the bare metal where the brake disc sits.I was a bit surprised to see that around the bearings/wheel spindle hole there was a fair bit of brown muck.Had a closer look,prized the rubber seals off the wheel bearings to find them full of rusty sludge.Cleaned them out,they turn OK with no play but I will get a new set ordered.There was water in the wheel and the centre spacer was rusty so  its been getting in somewhere.

took the little cb sprint racing at curborough for the first time today, dropped a respectable time considering ive never been there before and was up against supermotos in my class.

Fitted new master cylinder kit bought from fleabay and took 45 mins all in, including brake bleed through. Without the correct pliers would have been a pain.

Top tip, to help get the air out of the top of master cylinder, lean the bike over a bit (on stand) so the air hole in the resevoir is at the shallow end. Ping the brake lever back and forth so the vibration loosens the air bubbles.

Had put in irridium plugs the other day so now maybe a bit more go, and a bit more stop too.

muttley1

Changed oils and filters on both 500s. Not sure if I mentioned this but the 50k bike had a valve check week before last - no adjustment deemed necessary. That, with air filter replaced, front brake checked for binding (I thought disc was getting hot and seemed more rolling resistance after bike had stood for a few weeks), plus inspection of plugs for colour/wear (unlike my other 500 the 50k one has a very loud and bangy overrun - which I like btw - and I was concerned it was running too lean. In the event, it has been determined that on the strength of the plugs' appearance at least, it's not), all came to £90.

So wasnt there some one on here who bought a simmi exhaust.,(sp engineering) have they fitted it to there bike yet, whats it sound like,  was it value for money,, a pic be nice, i think fuel can  be too expensive for my old cb, but simmi ones look good value!

In between working on the Big One it was quite a relief to work on something that wasn't my own. My neighbors race fairing came so we fitted that, well just about. It isn't a direct fit out of the box but we got it done and fitted.

Well today was another horse box kinda day, my mum was towing the box and the clutch just stuck to the floor. It left a nice puddle, we managed to limp it back to where it's stored in 1st gear. was was about to pull it in when you mum decided 2nd gear was the right idea   so we stalled. I had to push the car up hill to get it out of the way, to then push the horsebox around into its place, 4 tyres and a joys wheel can create a shocking amount of resistance when you're having to push it about to make it turn 90 degrees while blocking the main road through the village. 

While this was happening my mums car was happily dropping all the hydraulic fluid out of the clutch all over the floor. I found the cause of the problem and went hunting for a 10mm spanner with no luck, thankfully a family friend was there and he ran me home in his car, I got my tool set. nut was tight, so a seal had blown. thankfully my mum had breakdown cover. Mine only covers my for my own bike, so we had a ride in a towtruck home.

I think james you should change your user name to "horsebox "it be easier   

I wasn't best pleased, but hey ho. So now me and my mum are both without transport.

Today I've finally got round to driving the fork seals into the spare forks that I have. 
The dead thing still managed to bite me, hand slightly moved while driving in the fork fork seal, and it stung like mad, drove in the 2nd seal on the other leg then looked at my hand. ouchy 

trevor machine wrote:Are these tec shock absorbers the preferred brand to replace the oem Showas? Anyone know what the options are and the relative merits?

For the money, they're excellent. Keep 'em clean or they'll rust like fuck. I'd buy 'em again.

Definite thumbs up to tec shocks, only had mine on the bike for 500 miles or so but are fine. They are softer than Hagon ones, no bad thing.  For £50 or so top value.

muttley1

My '95 bike has had a week or so of tlc : new front master cylinder kit, brake bleed, irridium plugs, renthal 755 bars and a wash.
Took it for a spin at weekend, couple of hours on backroads. All working well now and wide bars + smooth front brake make for a nicer ride.

I also worked out the mpg over a couple of tankfulls, 65mpg! and with the noisy stubby can too.

It looks in better nick than my '98 disc bike too.