CB500 newbie

Hi everyone.. im new to The CB500 scene  never owned one before so ... any tips on performance upgrade or anything like that would be great lol... not sure if there are many fans on here but my bike is a project build at the moment and going for the streetfighter look !

cheers 
Jordan

will get pics up when i know how haha

Hello!

There aren't too many 'real' performance upgrades to the CB500, but there are certainly louder cans, K&N filters and a jet kit, if you like that kind of thing.

You can get a real improvement in performance by changing the fork oil, possibly buying new fork springs and/or replacing knackered shocks.

Anyway, we would be interested in seeing some photos of your bike and how the project is going.  You could start a project in the 'Diaries, Blogs and Articles' section...

sounds good.. ile have a look into doing a few of those things and ile get some photos up as soon as ive figured out how to do it  

hi and welcome a good bunch of people and good info on here you will enjoy

Welcome to the forum, I hope you create a thread and post updates with your project, best of luck with your project!

Welcome Jordan,

Sounds like you have an interesting project on your hands. I look forward to seeing it progress.

People have grafted different tail sections before & front ends have been changed too to allow twin disc brakes.  The Brazilians have been doing some quite outrageous mods too which can be found amongst the Web.
The  Common Mods section of the forum (brought over from the old site) has a few handy pointers too.

Oh & if possible don't lose the standard air filter housing. There's some black magic happening in there & dropping it leads to no end of tuning problems.

cb500Jord wrote:... any tips on performance upgrade or anything like that
... not sure if there are many fans on here

Welcome to the forum! We have a mods & trix section to look into, yes.
I hope you will be pleasantly surprised about the number of fans on here - I myself think we're a quite knowledgeable bunch when we team up.

As for modding the CB. Hmmm... If you've never owned one before, my suggestion would be to get to know the bike before you start poking and prodding. The designers have made an astoundingly good job of this bike ab factory, and it's my impression that there's little to gain and lots to risk when trying out 'improvements'. Putting in a K&N filter or Iridium plugs is nearly always a good thing. A nice can may be something, if accompanied by a retune (especially if you leave out the baffle). Remember this is a carburated engine, meaning if you modify exhaust counterpressure, this will affect fuelling and thus performance.
In my opinion, very few visually radical modifications to the design turn out 'nice'. Maybe it's only me here, but at some point when looking at one or the other mod I can't but help thinking "hope that's undoable...".

In stead, feed the engine some tlc and make it purr (well, as much as you can persuade a parallel twin to 'purr'...) and take it to the twisties. Explore the engine's quad-valve-DOHC-partytrick@8k on the straights and the frame's sense of reliable handling round corners.
There are stories here telling tales of the 'umble CB putting posh litre lads in their place, given the right rider, so perhaps a set of grippier tires and a trackday-excursion would be a good place to start? Maybe even a set of crash-bars?

Anyways - welcome on here. I'll chime in with everyone else and ask for pictures. Preferably ones showing what's wrong, not what's right.

ashcroc wrote:People have grafted different tail sections before & front ends have been changed too to allow twin disc brakes.

The Brazilians have been doing...

Tail-sections/monoshoick: Yes, and this means losing my precious luggage compartment for what kind of betterness? Thanks, but no thanks!

The Brazilians do a lot of things, much of what may suitably be put to use during carnival. I'm too old for blinkenlights and burnouts. Also, I'm possibly a grumpy old man...

Welcome Jordan, not much more I can add to the excellent advice above!

Welcome. I absolutely agree with what Stormbringer says; this bike was a good 'un straight outta the box. There's very little in the way of 'performance' mods, that said, these bikes still enjoy a healthy race series where the biggest changes are made in suspension and.......that's pretty much it!

These are spectacularly good bikes, thoroughly practical, yet can embarrass much bigger supposedly quicker bikes in the corners. I know, cos I stuffed loads of 'em at the TT

I've owned all sorts of bikes during the 23 years that I've been riding; the CB500 is one of the BEST bikes I've ever had!

Welcome to the mad house!

Very good  post by stormbringer, the cb very good from  the box , good tyres, braided front lines, maybe a fuel exhaust , fender extender, if it naked version a small fly screen,   i got a suprise when i saw storage underneath (how clever)  the cb engine is quick for what it is, some times less is more, a guy passed me on motorway going quick on bandit 600(i was in my van) he got 3miles up the road  and cops had pulled him in ( unmarked mondeo)  some times u dont need big cc engine ,  u can nearly use all power of cb on the road, u cant nowadays on high powered ones

stormbringer wrote:

ashcroc wrote:People have grafted different tail sections before & front ends have been changed too to allow twin disc brakes.

The Brazilians have been doing...

Tail-sections/monoshoick: Yes, and this means losing my precious luggage compartment for what kind of betterness? Thanks, but no thanks!

The Brazilians do a lot of things, much of what may suitably be put to use during carnival. I'm too old for blinkenlights and burnouts. Also, I'm possibly a grumpy old man...

Different tail section doesn't necessarily mean converting to monoshock & losing the sandwich box.

Personally I wouldn't want to do too much to change the handling & the twin shocks go a long way toward it's feel. If I wanted monoshock I'd have got a cbf500 instead.
The looks however can be improved upon even if it's just a fitting a stainless exhaust & indicators that don't resemble barn doors. I'm not th biggest fan of the rectangular rear light either.

It's a total crap shoot whether you're vision is seen as an improvement over spec by others though. For the handfull of decent looking modified cb's around (be it a caféracer, streetfighter or something else) there are a ton of gastly ones about like that dodgy streetfighter that keeps popping up on the bay for an exorbitant price.

yes that street fighter on fleabay we can all see it turning up again yet

skyrider wrote:yes that street fighter on fleabay we can all see it turning up again yet

Ha ha! That bloody bike has become infamous!

yep and for all the wrong reasons

Streetfighters and cafe racers are disasters if u ask me , peoples lash ups and then trying to get rid of them as they have cut frames. Leave bikes as they were designed,  change colours yes, improving up grades not  half taught ideas then realising  the f--k ups only good for parts then. Professionally done maybe a different story

Did u fix ur bike up after your spill a while ago beresford

post a photo of the new can when up and running

that looks first class well done

cheers guys... as you know at the moment my bike is a work in progress.. im needing a few parts if theres anyone on here that can help me out with prices including postage lol, im after a chain, starter motor and a rear tyre. 

cheers
Jord

wornsprokets wrote:Very good  post by stormbringer,
u can nearly use all power of cb on the road, u cant nowadays on high powered ones

Much obliged - I'm trying the best I can. Bear with me regarding awkward wording - I'm not a native, but as the saying goes; practice makes master.

The power-issue; Yes!!! Spot on! One of the things I particularly like about the CB is that I can get to go bonkers without going bonkers. I can wring the pig's ear and have some serious fun without going absolutely ballistic. If, for a moment, we stray from the legal definition of 'sane behaviour', this wee bike lets me go full-on racing (sort of) on public roads, whereas doing the same on a 'busa or a 'bird would require considerably more - ahem - space. And the less potent powerplants of - say - 125cc bikes simply don't offer the same adrenaline kick, meaning our 'umble CB actually hits a sweetspot fun-wise.
A few months back I watched a video of someone (yes; you!) doing the TT course on his CB, revcounter needle hovering around two o'clock. Right there, I decided to put that particular event on *my* bucket-list. Not riding a gazillion-kw-bike, but an underdog akin our CB. Yes, I use the word 'underdog', simply because it can also be thought of as 'overachiever'. Point being that I get to push the envelope.

Oh well. Bucket list. Real world...

NB: I've driven my new (old*) car for the last two weeks on a daily basis. New toy... 110 bhp, aircon, comfy hydraulic suspension, nice CD-stereo, heated seats, oodles of luggage space, no need to gear up. And still the CB manages to win me over within 5 minutes.
It's - fun.

*) Sixteen years old, battered and worn-down Citroën Xantia 1.8i 16V Break bought at?/for? basement bargain price. Supposed to do the heavy lifting of bringing me to work during the dark and cold season. Unfortunately, I'm a francophile with a lifetime of big, fat, luxurious Citroëns as reference (DS, CX), meaning this poor Xantia will have to deliver the 'magic carpet' experience despite its old age, damn it! Even if I have to throw resources at it... I know - I'm a clear-cut headcase.