Well as I’ve already mentioned in the About page, I’ve recently started riding around town on the ’96 Honda CB500 my husband bought over a year ago. Since he’s bought another bike in the meanwhile, plus we also have got a car, the Honda had been lying idle for a while, but this is no longer the case!
I’m now taking it to office almost every day, and with summer approaching, my use of the bike is only set to increase.
So now that I’m using it full time, I can’t be satisfied with the state it’s in at the moment. It’s like an old work horse, which has collected scars over the years, never kept dry and safe, developing rust and generally looking a bit tattered. But I’m going to change all that and in the process individualise the bike to suit my taste.
Over the weekend, I started on this journey – I bought a tube of Autosol Metal Polish, and went to work, cleaning the metalwork of the bike. After finishing the following can be said:
Good bits:
Bodywork in fair order, requiring a respray though
Seat in good condition,
Good tires & wheels
New handlebar & end weights
but that’s about it – bad bits:
Rusty chrome; headlight, shockers
Flaking paint on engine
Torn footpeg rubbers
Faded black plastic (mudguard, meters, indicators, etc.)
Rusty exhaust & downpipes
Scuffed clutch/brake levers
So my wishlist is as follows:
- Replacement footpeg rubbers
- Replacement body panels in order to do a full DIY respray, without the risk of permanent damage to original paint!
- Possibly replacement headlight cover
- Respray of engine & gear box
- New levers to go with the new handlebar
- New, more modern looking indicators
- Respray of exhaust, or new one depending on how difficult it would be to get a good finish on the old one.
- Respray of grab rails and other bits and pieces.
I’m restoring my daily CB500 too. due to a fall of the previous owner it have’s the left side of the handlebar slightly retracted.
Do you baught a new handlebar from Honda delaer, or found an cheaper option from Renthal or other brand?
Thank you!
Hi! It’s been a while so I’m having trouble remembering what exactly we did with the handlebars. Mainly what’s important is the size, so why not measure the old one and then try to find something useful on Ebay or similar. I had a quick look on the two Honda parts sites I’ve used in the past (wemoto.com and davidsilverspares.co.uk ) and neither of them have genuine handlebars listed for this model. If I had to buy one now, I would go with Renthal / some other generic handlebar that is roughly the same size and style. (Or different if I wanted to change riding position). They’re cheaper and you could pick a different colour also instead of the standard chrome.