Hello from Bulgaria

Hello people,

I am completely newbie biker and my first motorcycle is Honda CB500S, thanks to that I have found this forum and will be happy to exchange ideas with you.

Little history: I am afraid of two wheelers with engine, but decided to give it a try; taken a course to get a license and the day I got it - started looking up for a bike. That one I found in 2nd hand bikes dealer and it got me in love with that red color and sporty-retro look. So without any experience or help from a friend, I bought it.

The day I got the bike delivered in front of my home it couldn't start at all even though at the dealer it was staring and running smoothly.
A friend of mine told me to check the spark plugs, so I removed them and found that they are covered in black and wet with gasoline. Tried to dry and clean them up, but the bike still did not start. Next thing was to buy new spark plugs with proper code (dirty ones were different than in the Haynes service manual) and voilà, it started on the first push of the button

Before I started riding it I checked all the lights and I was shocked to find that the dealer sold it and registered it without working tail light and left blinker...
The blinker was an easy fix - tighten up the connectors and it started working, but for the tail light I had do disassemble the light itself and to remove the bulb with pliers (it has melted the plastics and could not be removed by hand).

After fixing my lights I could start riding the bike on public roads - happy   
Meanwhile I have done a carbs sync, changed the oil itself, also oil and air filter, and added bar-ends.

I have also read the thread about coil plugs, so probably soon will do that too.   

At this point the bike runs good as far as I know and I am thinking for some extras like black mirrors, LED blinkers, maybe new handles and for a new clutch lever as mine is not in very good condition (see on the pictures).

PS I got some issues too and would take any advice that you can give:
- in working temperature below 3000 rpm I got the feeling that the bike chokes a bit?
- when cold the rpm's are around 1100 and when hot are around 1500 which looks weird to me?
- I think that the carbs choke valves don't work properly as when opened the engine stops instead of changing rpm's - is that normal and how it should work?

PPS And some pics of my beauty   

Welcome to the forum ZZ, looks to be in quite nice condition in spite of some of the minor issues that you are experiencing.
The choke definitely sounds like it is playing up and or you may have some dirt in the carbs which will also be related to the low power issues.

Same colour scheme as mine. Welcome along. That kind of service from the dealer would be enough to put someone off biking for good.
Shocker.

Good luck with the bike and keep learning.

It's good you weren't put off by the bad behaviour of the dealer!  Most dealers (in my experience) are not that bad, but there are always exceptions out there.

The good thing is that the CB500 is easy to service, so you shouldn't need to take it back to any dealer too often if you don't want to.

To answer your questions:

- in working temperature below 3000 rpm I got the feeling that the bike chokes a bit?

The CB500 works better (more smoothly) above 3000 rpm than below it - this the exactly the same on my bike (and probably all CB500) - you just need to adapt your gear-changing to keep the revs a little bit higher and you won't have any problems.

I would say that (in everyday, boring commuting-type riding) the rev range is about 3500 to 6000 rpm - if you go much below 3500 then it starts to get a bit rough and if you go about 6000 rpm then the bike really starts to go well (which is fun, but not so good in the traffic).

- when cold the rpms are around 1100 and when hot are around 1500 which looks weird to me?

That is also perfectly normal - the idle speed is a little bit lower when the engine is cold - this is quite normal for (almost) any engine with a carburettor (on engines with electronic fuel ignition often the idle speed is controlled to compensate for the engine warming up).

As I recall, Haynes suggests that the idle speed should be around 1300 rpm (once the engine is warmed up) - personally I think this might be a little low, so maybe 1350 or 1400 might be better.  If you end up setting it too high then you start to loose 'engine breaking' when changing down (and probably waste a bit of fuel too).  I would suggest you didn't adjust the idle speed until you've become a bit more familiar with the bike (1500 might be a bit high, but it might not, so I would leave it for now).

- I think that the carbs choke valves don't work properly as when opened the engine stops instead of changing rpm's - is that normal and how it should work?

Well, on my bike, the choke does something similar - if you operate the choke when the engine is warmed up (and idling) it can quite often stop - the 'choke' enriches the fuel/air mixture to aid starting the bike - the 'enrichened' mixture is not ideal for operation and, especially once the bike has warmed up, does not make it run well, hence the stopping.

On my bike I only need to use the choke once it starts to get a bit cold in the morning (say, below 7 degrees C roughly) - at temperatures above this my bike starts fine without the choke - sometimes it needs a bit of extra throttle to keep it going.  Once I'm ready to drive off (or slightly after driving off) I turn the choke off.  If the engine is still warm you also (probably) won't need the choke.

There is an element of, what we call, 'suck it and see' - where you have to experiment to work out what is best for your bike - the amount of choke required can vary from one bike to another IME.

Thanks for posting the pictures - the bike looks great - it also looks like you have a junior biker ready to go!

hello ZZ

nice to hear a CB500 biker from Bulgaria
I'm located in Hissar and own a CB500 since 2001
the bike has 153.000Km and never visited a service, I maintain it by my own
please feel free to ask anything and welcome to Hissar, a nice mountains ride of ~2 hours
all the best
Panagiotis