[solved]Thermostat issue

I have recently purchased a cb500s, it's done a fair few miles. I was just wondering if say for half an hour of slow town riding should the thermostat be almost/in the red on the gauge. Bearing in mind oil level and coolant level are correct (i think)

Short answer, no it shouldn't, unless you live somewhere really, really hot :)

Before it gets that hot the fan should cut in and reduce the temperature.

Did you notice if your fan was running? Probably the most common cause of this problem is fan being 'broken' in some way (usually the earthing via the radiator fails, stopping the fan from operating).

The other cause could be air bubbles in the cooling system, although this is less likely unless you've recently drained and refilled it.

Definitely check the earth wire on the rad fan.
Did you check the coolant level from the filler cap under the tank?

been out on it again today. Definately no fan action going on. Gave the fan a poke it moves freely enough. And thinking about it i filled the reservoir on the side of the bike, would that not then fill the rest of the cooling system? The wiring is all a bit tatty in the little fairing was gonna do some rewiring anyway, guess that the earth for the rad fan will be a priority. will let you know how i get on. Thanks for the advice

You've got to take off the tank to get to the filler; it will never draw enough coolant into the system through the expansion bottle. You may want to check the stat hasn't got stuck open as well; when they get really hot they open up too far and almost pop apart; you have to compress the spring to get it to slide back together.
You won't get the fan running if there is no coolant in the system!

Thanks guys, problem solved. Now it doesn't overheat even slightly. There was NO coolant what so ever. I filled it up (slowly to avoid bubbles) and it's been fine since. It's been a few days and i haven't seen any signs of a leak. but i will take tank off to check level again. Let's hope all is well. Thanks again for the advice. This forum is very helpful.

Nice one, well done Rich!