The New commute to work

Hi Everybody, I recently purchased a CB500 for my commute to work as I was sick and tired of putting miles of wear and tear on my CBR929RR Blade. I picked up the bike for a meager £600, however it was looking really,really tatty. The exhausts were all rusty, crash bars rsuy, mis-matched mirrors, tatty handly bars, missing bar end weights, worn seat, you name it it was tatty but on flip side mechanically sound. So, prior to the date of purchase I did some shopping and picked up some new funky tomoc mirrors, rethanal bars, new grips, new bar end weights, new seat cover, rust remover, very high temperature paint, gloss black metal paint, new shocks and mini indictaorsand placed an order for a skidmarx cockpit fairing. None of this was expensive or cost much and gave me something to look forward to doing. I checked the tyres also and its got the best tyres for it BT45's and they are pretty new too which was cool. So as soon as I got my hands on the bike I went to town and started getting the rust of it the bike and then began respraying it. A huge improvement already. the handlebars came off next and I had a fight getting new ones on but worth it end the end. Had to shave down the bar end weight rubbers to make them fit the rethanal bars butnot the end of the world and they then fitted without problems. Next were the wing mirrors, these tomoc wing mirros looked great but were an epic pain, I wouldn't recommend them to be honest and if I have any problems with them in the future I am simply going to buy a fresh different set I have seen at my local dealers which look pretty good and are far less trouble to deal with. The next job was the seat cover which went on fine thanks to the purchase of an upholstery staple gun. Tank pad went on next and stuck with a little bit of silicon sealant to make a better bond. The shocks and mini indictaors went on next and it now looked like a proper bike, however I have had to replace the bulbs of the rear indictaors as I beleive the bulbs supplied were wrong as they blew, but since replacemnet been fine.

So happy with the bike and how it look I started using it as my commuter bike and was pleased with it and what had been done to it, however due to the excessively quiet exhaust I found people not giving me any kind of respect unlike my fireblade so I made the decision to buy a slip on exhaust. I opted for a Delkevic as they were British and very reasonably priced which was the whole point of the CB. Upon recieiving the pipe i removed the old standard chimney which came off without incident and the new was easy to fit and made it roar!!! Now I am just waiting for the bikini fairing to arrive and its pretyt much complete. My only gripe is the radiator shrouds were cracked when I purchased the bike and they are ridiculously expensive to buy new and I caan't seem to find any decent ones even on ebay. Do people have any good suggestions on perhaps were I can get these???

I have attached a picture of the CB500 in its original state and how it is so far to see what the general consessus is, be really intreested in your feedback:cheers:

Awesome! Nice bike you got there, looks shiny now, you should find your fuel costs somewhat lower after riding a liter bike!

Regards the radiator shrouds, I lost one a while back and found replacements on ebay quite cheaply. Just keep looking around, enquire if you see a CB being broken for spares or whatever.

welcome pal. bike looking much better than when purchased.

Crikey that was in a bit of a state, you've done a good job with it!
I know exactly what you mean about the silent pipes, especially when you're filtering on the M25; it always gave me the willies. I bought a Laser Deeptone for mine after the Motad can rotted through. Sounds lovely and the cagers know you're there!

Loud pipes save lives!!

The CB500 complete to stage 3, only thing left that i may get is a belly pan instead of the crash bars but undecided at the moment, as although I love fairings and plastic as they look killer the crash bars which are on it are a really decent set and would really protect it from a knock from a rollin cage.

Wow - your original makes even my CB look tidy!
Top looking job there!

I'd stick with the crash bars as it's a commutecicle..
Though you could always give them to me if you fit a fairing!!

Impressed how clean you got it. What did you do to shine up the tank so well?

cheers,
Vexx