What did you do with your CB500 today?

(it needed heavy persuasion to fit in!)

Indeed.  I see you have the 'standard' CB500 persuasion tool:

eternally_troubled wrote:

(it needed heavy persuasion to fit in!)

Indeed.  I see you have the 'standard' CB500 persuasion tool:

Ahah, yes! Just bought this yesterday, not a bad investment if you ask me

Oh, and I also finally received my torque wrenches, which showed me that my built-in torque-guessmeter was quite off and under the 30Nm required for the caliper bolts (probably better than overtightening and ruining the thread though...).

What a joy to have proper tools.

eternally_troubled wrote:
Indeed.  I see you have the 'standard' CB500 persuasion tool:

Haha. Makes me think of the corresponding IT-department standard issue; a LART.

The bofhs coined this acronym for an inflatable toy baseball-bat; a Luser Attitude Readjustment Tool. Applied primarily to clueless salespeople and powerpoint-wielding managers, somehow capable of circumventing whatever foolproofing measures the bofhs come up with,
Which just goes to show you can't foolproof things. Life will just invent a new breed of fools...

443miles done so far and another 302 left to do. 8 hour stint done. 2 hours on the ferry then another 5 and a half hours home. I'll be lucky if I get home though.. Problems at 50 60 70 80 90 and 100mph.... When I open the throttle its as if you're hitting the kill switch... great whilst overtaking

Jameshambleton wrote:443miles done so far and another 302 left to do. 8 hour stint done. 2 hours on the ferry then another 5 and a half hours home. I'll be lucky if I get home though.. Problems at 50 60 70 80 90 and 100mph.... When I open the throttle its as if you're hitting the kill switch... great whilst overtaking

That doesn't sound fun. Sounds like a more major problem than just the pilot jet; I wonder if you have an air leak?

834 miles done today in 16 hours. Its intermittent carbs getting stripped down shortly

fgclark123 wrote:James, be in France for the night of the 21st - across the country is a giant knees up-  recommended!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAte_de_la_Musique

Wouldn't suppose your bike is an N reg by chance... if it is I passed you yesterday

Today I mostly drove 120 miles to look at an Enfield 500 Bullet and bought it.

First time riding this road
https://goo.gl/maps/hNuVFaTP1Nw

so you made the kesselberg run in less than 12 parsecs

Ok so... I think I found my issue, my valves were about 0.10mm and 0.08mm out of spec on both the exhaust and the intake side of the bike all 8 valves. So I've learnt how to change the shims, mess up the timing, fix the timing so far.

I also found that all my 36 or so maybe 40 shims are all useless, because shim under bucket valves only get tighter with time unlike tappet (locknut) which get loser.

Hopefully my issue was in fact tight valves and not the carbs but I shall see later on this evening once I get her fired up


So cylinder 1 is now sorted and with spec on all valves.. cylinder 2 I need to order shims for.

Bike still runs poorly but 1-4k now runs ok.... won't rev past 6k now but got most things fixed for the MOT tomorrow.

Really need to rebuild this bike from the frame up and make it good again but time, money, time, only transport... limit these options

Replaced the speedometer cable (again)  Hopefully this one will last longer than the last one.....

MOT passed with 1 advisory (at the time of test) - Front wheel bearings

Since then both my bodges are no longer working so fork seals are leaking and the stator cover gasket is leaking.

Fitted new brake pads back and front, even though the previous ones were not worn out (but since I changed the front disc, and the rear pads have been here since I bought the bike and don't want to wear out...). Also changed the rear brake fluid.

Invested in some EBC HH, which happily replaced the Brenta GG on the front and unknow-brand-copper-looking  rear ones.

What a difference it makes!! Almost feels like a dual-brake on the front ;p , and I can now lock the rear!

Plucked up the courage to fire up the engine for first time since having engine out. No leaks detected, radiator getting hot so water flowing, bit of smoke from downpipe to cyl head but soon stopped. Motor sounds much better than before i guess solely due to having carbs cleaned. Carbs not balanced yet (mate bringing guages at weekend) and will probably need re jetting to suit can and hiflo filter. Can is louder than i wanted really but hey it's a safety feature right? an i already have one quiet bike! So if i can load this picture you will see theres still lots to do as funds permit, but having great fun with it and very satisfied to have it running again.

Put go faster reflective tape on the wheel rims, nice match for my blue saddle. Humming and har-ing over putting top box on, the bike looks better without but less useful...

I've a mate who is after a rideout, had to promise to keep to 50mph, I don't think he's that confident.

On a lot of roads 50mph is holding up traffic.

trevor machine wrote:On a lot of roads 50mph is holding up traffic.

Or me doing 30 to 40 mph in a 60 going to work at 5 am today. Deer. Bloody things should be culled here. Again, a big bugger ran out in front of me this morning. At least the drivers know why you're going that slow at that time.

wrighty wrote:..very satisfied to have it running again.

It's always good when it fires up again.  Keep us updated on the project; looks interesting.

TheWizardofOdds wrote:

trevor machine wrote:On a lot of roads 50mph is holding up traffic.

Or me doing 30 to 40 mph in a 60 going to work at 5 am today. Deer. Bloody things should be culled here. Again, a big bugger ran out in front of me this morning. At least the drivers know why you're going that slow at that time.

they're numerous round here too - and yes, I become actively fearful when riding during twilit hours

I hit one in the car year before last - doing about 60

I felt terrible - but also thankful that I hadn't been on bike

It's game time! (apart from Wornsprockets and Beresford as they already know)

So here's a video of me crashing in the alps...


Now you just need to figure out what exactly went wrong

Whats wrong with a little off-roading? 

From a trajectory point of view, you came out a bit wide at the previous turn, which made you start this turn in the inside. Not ideal. But I'm guessing there was something that happened, I don't know what.

Checked my lights before setting off yesterday and no running light and brake lights. Upon return home I checked the fuses which were all fine. I then took off the complete rear light assembly (yes I am an idiot sometimes) before removing the lens and finding the bulb a lovely silvery colour over 95% of the glass. Replacing the bulb today and trying to reassemble the bike without breaking anything  - which I usually do.............

Just as james  has those nice engine protectors