My 2nd CB500

It was a first for me, first attempt that is. I just copied a YouTube video from a boy doing a bearing replacement on a Triumph thing. He (and I) used the old bearing as a drift and just hammered round and round in triangles trying to keep it sat flat as best as possible.
Just going out to do the chain now, hopefully a ten minute job if it needs adjusting any.

Good one, it seemed to work for you.

The last time the bike was out the Speedo cable jumped out at the front wheel and I lost my Speedo reading, obviously. Not only that but the square length of cable that operates the Speedo must have slid out and has gone AWOL.
M&P sent me the replacement, great service as ever. And today, the old girl ticked over from the 19k-odd miles I bought it at to a lovely, round, 20k miles. Treated her to a fresh tank of E5 BP Ultimate unleaded to mark the occasion; not much change out of a £20 note these days.

Ordered the Delkevic system, 350mm can and stainless downpipes. Eagerly awaiting delivery. MOT due in July.
Weeping fork seal, first quote for supply and fit replacement was £127. Most of that's labour I should think but for the peace of mind I may just pay it.

Have you tried to clean it with a 'Seal Buddy', sometimes that works if it is just a little bit of grit that has gotten under the seal? Can't do any harm and only a fiver!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283692528407?hash=item420d647317:g:D10AAOSwydpd4HbC

Let us know how you get on with the Delkevic, I am probably going to have to go that route soon.

If you don't have any luck with the seal buddy (other thin pieces of plastic are available!), have you considered replacing the seals yourself? You mentioned doing some wheel bearings - I'm not sure that fork seals are any much more difficult myself.

Unless loads of oil is coming out then you may not even need to decide right away - a very temporary fix can be obtained by sliding the dust seal up the leg, packing some rolled up kitchen paper (or similar) around the fork leg, on top of the fork seal. This can then be trapped in place by pushing the dust seal back down. Not a long-term fix by any means but can reduce the amount leaking out temporarily.

It might at least buy you time to get another quote/price, if you want.

I'd be more than happy to have a go at fork seals but it's finding the hours to get it done really. Having read over the Haynes how-to I'm sure I'd be fine but it's finding the time between shifts and a 5 month old child.
Honestly I'd say for timing it might go to the mechanic for this one just to get it done pre-MOT expiry. I dare say I would tackle the next set of seals myself.
The kitchen roll trick I definitely saw in a Jameshambleton YT video before. I wonder if I could get through the MOT with that bodge in place. It's on the front brake disc side.

cheesepiece1 wrote:... it's finding the time between shifts and a 5 month old child.

Sounds hectic, I can understand why you want to pay someone else to do it! I just didn't want you to be put off as it isn't too difficult to do... unless you don't have the time - it is then impossible...

I wonder if I could get through the MOT with that bodge in place. It's on the front brake disc side.

Quite possibly. It very much depends on exactly how much is leaking vs. how much kitchen paper you manage to get in and also how far away your MOT test place is (you don't want to have 'unfixed' it before you get there).

I fear the only way to find out would be to deploy the bodge and go for a ride and see how long it lasts - obviously you might then have to re-deploy (new kitchen paper!) the bodge pre-MOT if it doesn't last long...

cheesepiece1
Exhaust off to have a look see at the cause of the blow at the headers. Seems to be the flanges have perished and no longer seal. 3 of 4 studs came out happily. The other one the nut came off with the whole stud still exposed so not a bad result. I put the groundwork in though and had doused them in WD40 every day for a week before attempting the extraction.
Think I'll go for a delkevic full system unless anyone knows whether their downpipes will play nicely with a Motad end can.
The pipes are actually ok themselves but the half stainless and half black look was never a good look so it'll either be the full delkevic system or new downpipes mated to the existing Motad if that would work.

Noisy https://imgur.com/gallery/Prk7EAY


Final stud finally out today. Bit of a palava all told. But all 4 are now out in readiness for the delivery of the Delkevic.
I did end up going for the full system, downpipes and 350mm can as I got a decent price for my old downpipes and the Motad on fleabay, working out at about £180 for the upgrade.

The offending stud:

Result, why they make the diameter so small and of dissimilar metals is beyond me, they are a recipe for disaster with our climate.

That they are. Absolute swine and I only had one to contend with. Plenty of threads started on here about seized exhaust studs.

cheesepiece1 wrote:
The offending stud:

Result! Were any special techniques or magic incantations used?

I locked two nuts together and tried removal that way only for the threads to strip at the top nut so it would only spin.
I then tried mole grips on the exposed threads to no avail.
Ended up drilling through the threaded nut and into the stud then essentially using that hole to fashion a T-bar to undo the stud.
Hopefully avoid any future reoccurrence by using the torx head threaded bars recommended in one of the other threads about seized exhaust studs.

I have had to cut a slot in the stud and use an impact driver in the past, fortunately it worked.
Do you have a link to the Torx head?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M3-M4-M5-M6-M8-A2-Stainless-Cup-Point-Grub-Screws-Hex-Socket-Set-Screw-DIN-916-/401859546285
M6 40mm

And it was this thread and particularly AndyC's post about the hex head (not torx) studs.
https://cb500.forumotion.com/t6260-exhaust-studs-utterly-stuck-stripped-and-1-snapped-in-head

cheesepiece1 wrote:I locked two nuts together and tried removal that way only for the threads to strip at the top nut so it would only spin.
I then tried mole grips on the exposed threads to no avail.
Ended up drilling through the threaded nut and into the stud then essentially using that hole to fashion a T-bar to undo the stud.

All sounds very familiar to what I went through (plus one of mine snapped - not good!). On the 'stuck' one I ended up using a stud extractor - one of the ones that is a bit like a drill chuck (these ones - mind you, I didn't pay that much for them!) - they are left-hand threaded so they tighten up on the stud as you turn it anticlockwise - hopefully 'encouraging' it to come out!

Did you use any heat or anything else to try and loosen it?


I think if I was doing it again, then I might well remove the existing nuts with a nut splitter (and/or hacksaw), rather than trying to undo them. Then hopefully I would be able to apply the plusgas and blowtorch (fire!) to the site of the problem without the exhaust flanges and nuts being in the way, hopefully that might mean the studs can be removed intact, rather than causing them to snap...


I've seen Andy's posts previously about the 'giant stainless grub screws' - obviously you'd want to put a stainless bolt on that, I assume? I also suspect that you might want to put something (copper slip?) on the bit that goes into the aluminium engine block to try and make sure that water can't get too far down the thread...

eternally_troubled wrote:

cheesepiece1 wrote:I locked two nuts together and tried removal that way only for the threads to strip at the top nut so it would only spin.
I then tried mole grips on the exposed threads to no avail.
Ended up drilling through the threaded nut and into the stud then essentially using that hole to fashion a T-bar to undo the stud.

All sounds very familiar to what I went through (plus one of mine snapped - not good!). On the 'stuck' one I ended up using a stud extractor - one of the ones that is a bit like a drill chuck (these ones - mind you, I didn't pay that much for them!) - they are left-hand threaded so they tighten up on the stud as you turn it anticlockwise - hopefully 'encouraging' it to come out!

Did you use any heat or anything else to try and loosen it?


I think if I was doing it again, then I might well remove the existing nuts with a nut splitter (and/or hacksaw), rather than trying to undo them. Then hopefully I would be able to apply the plusgas and blowtorch (fire!) to the site of the problem without the exhaust flanges and nuts being in the way, hopefully that might mean the studs can be removed intact, rather than causing them to snap...


I've seen Andy's posts previously about the 'giant stainless grub screws' - obviously you'd want to put a stainless bolt on that, I assume? I also suspect that you might want to put something (copper slip?) on the bit that goes into the aluminium engine block to try and make sure that water can't get too far down the thread...

I didn't use any heat. I was working in my little makeshift motorcycle port, there's not a lot of room for maneuvre. And I'm rather hamfisted so I'd probably melt anything I was working on.
Why do we even want the studs out? If the threads have stripped I suppose they need to be changed. I only attempted the extraction of the 4th and final stud so that I could change all 4 over to the grub screw, Allen head bolts.
Yes I'm securing the downpipes with domehead stainless nuts to the end of the grub screw and the end in the block will be smeared with copper grease prior to fitment.

New arrivals

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

looking good and well well packaged by the looks of it

Al1040 wrote:looking good and well well packaged by the looks of it

Absolutely nothing left to chance. Each item individually wrapped and bubble wrapped. If they've taken as much care producing the components as packaging them then I'll be more than happy. Impressed by Delkevic's service so far. They were more than happy to talk before I ordered, discussion around prices via WhatsApp as the two individual products, pipe and end can for the CB5 were cheaper than the system bought whole. Then once I ordered, less than 24hrs later, eBay released a discount code and so they refunded me so I could avail of the discount with a newly placed order.

Nice looking bike!
Thumbs up

It will good to see how it looks when you've got those bits on.

Sounds like A1 customer service from Delkevik.

Fantastic, and made in the UK as well with a 5 year guarantee as well I think

Got the Delkevic system on.
Here's the gallery and a couple of videos there for the baffle in and out of the 350mm end can, should give other owners out there an idea of sound if they, like me, were unsure whether the 350mm might be too much or too little for their taste.
https://imgur.com/gallery/fJjY4Wt
I'll be baffle in on the 350mm I think. Plenty fruity enough for me and I'm very glad I didn't go for the stubbier options.

I also stuck on the Aprilia V4 Tuono mirrors and then scratched the offside glass being a clumsy oaf as I was putting the bike away.

Great pictures. Crisp colours, looks like new. Awesome!