Oh Lord (CB500) - The Leaky Bitch (p. 31)

[mlinder]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

I have very few scars from checking hundreds of header temps as I described

As per Redliner, yes, check RPM at speed. He's saying your clutch is slipping. If it is, just get going as fast as yo can in 5th, and tell us what your RPMs are. That will tell us if your clutch is slipping.

I watched one of his videos from another one of his threads.

It kinda sounded like it was firing on 3.

Kinda.

Hard to tell with some of these aftermarket exhausts.

And, again, WHAT DO THE PLUGS LOOK LIKE NOW?

 

[mydlyfkryzis]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

I have very few scars from checking hundreds of header temps as I described

As per Redliner, yes, check RPM at speed. He's saying your clutch is slipping. If it is, just get going as fast as yo can in 5th, and tell us what your RPMs are. That will tell us if your clutch is slipping.

I watched one of his videos from another one of his threads.

It kinda sounded like it was firing on 3.

Kinda.

Hard to tell with some of these aftermarket exhausts.

And, again, WHAT DO THE PLUGS LOOK LIKE NOW?

I have no scars from checking them, but a few from touching them unintendedly.....Especially on my calfs... 8)

In the 70's, you weren;t considered a motorcyclist (At least in my neck of the woods) unless you had a couple of oddly oval shaped burns on your extremities.

 

[mlinder]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

I have no scars from checking them, but a few from touching them unintendedly.....Especially on my calfs... 8)

In the 70's, you weren;t considered a motorcyclist (At least in my neck of the woods) unless you had a couple of oddly oval shaped burns on your extremities.

I have some from the 70's, but was a wee lad.

 

[mlinder]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

Look, im going to lay this out.

Check ALL OF THESE:

RPM at max speed?
Are you firing on all four?
Is your advance working properly and is your bike timed correctly?
What do your plugs look like? Every single one, check them.

Do not ask questions again until all of these have been answered in full.

 

[03rangerxlt]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

I'm feeling kinda foolish now. Actually, not kinda; I'm feeling very foolish.

So, I am a novice rider, this being my first bike ever. On top of that, I don't get much occasion to drive any vehilces with manual transmissions (as much as I do enjoy those rare times). Here is what the problem was:

Inexperience!

I was cruiseing along in top gear, and then tried to accelerate to see how fast the bike would go, without kicking down a gear. Duh, of course its not going to have the guts to rocket faster!

Of course, this begs the question of should and inexperienced rider be trying to see how much guts his bike has.

I'm learning.

 

[coyote13]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

So what's the verdict? How much guts ya got? ;D

 

[Redliner]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

My first bike was a SOHC CB750. I never fell but I learned really fast which sort of scares I do and don't like :

Dropping a gear to pass is fine, but get used to feeling what gear is best for what speed. Some people drop to third, or hell, second while already moving pretty quick. In your case, start by dropping just one gear. It works in any speed. Third to second, fifth to fourth etc. You'll learn to feel out which gear can take what. In regular passing or speed-matching on the on-ramp, you shouldn't have any real need to go down more than one gear anyway.

The last thing you want is to over-rev the thing. So don't over-rev the thing ;D

 

[03rangerxlt]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

So what's the verdict? How much guts ya got? ;D

I only kicked her up to the 70 MPH range. It was a short run back to my house with some nice sweeping curves, and me without bunches of experience. But I don't doubt she will do the ton no problems. I'm going to wait until I get some new tires on her first, and my fork brace fitted.

 

[03rangerxlt]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

My first bike was a SOHC CB750. I never fell but I learned really fast which sort of scares I do and don't like :

Dropping a gear to pass is fine, but get used to feeling what gear is best for what speed. Some people drop to third, or hell, second while already moving pretty quick. In your case, start by dropping just one gear. It works in any speed. Third to second, fifth to fourth etc. You'll learn to feel out which gear can take what. In regular passing or speed-matching on the on-ramp, you shouldn't have any real need to go down more than one gear anyway.

The last thing you want is to over-rev the thing. So don't over-rev the thing ;D

Yeah! I can drive a manual transmission in a car no problem. I wasn't thinking when I was on the bike because I was paying more attention to cars and not getting flattened. LOL I am actually really afraid of over revving it when I downshift to engine brake; its a little different than a car because the bike revs so much higher!

My parents used to own 5 speed Mustangs when I was in high school, and I really enjoyed driving those. But the most fun I ever had driving a stick shift was when my wife and I went to Ireland 2 years ago, and I rented a 5 speed Fiat Punto. Not a great car by any means, but on those narrow and curvy Irish roads, downshifting to pass was a blast!

 

[SONICJK]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

Glad you got it somewhat sorted.
I would however still look into everything everyone here said, because you should absolutely be able to accelerate from 60 in top gear.
I routinely accelerate from 40 to 80+ in 6th without shifting my 400, so your 500 should have no issue. There should be more than enough power to accelerate in top gear, it shouldn't stop accelerating until it hits 100. Dont get me wrong, you wont be rocketing around, but it certainly shouldnt struggle to go over 60 in top gear.
I'd put money on the fact that youre not running on all cylinders.
My guess is you're riding a 250 or a 375 instead of a 500 haha.

 

[crazypj]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

If it will redline in 3rd everything is (probably) fine.
CB400f 'accelerate' from 40mph in 6th gear?
Yes it will but R E A L slow
needs at least 6k to work right unless you had 'trials' gearing and 85 was flat out?
My CB550F would 82mph in second gear always needed to 'change down open up' to accelerate from low speed

 

[mlinder]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

Shift at 9k.

Did you perform any of the tests I suggested?

 

[SONICJK]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

If it will redline in 3rd everything is (probably) fine.
CB400f 'accelerate' from 40mph in 6th gear?
Yes it will but R E A L slow
needs at least 6k to work right unless you had 'trials' gearing and 85 was flat out?
My CB550F would 82mph in second gear always needed to 'change down open up' to accelerate from low speed

accelerate doesn't mean do so quickly It just means a change in velocity, hell you can accelerate without changing speed
My point was you should have to downshift if you don't want to. If you're topping out at 60 in 5th and you shift to 4th and you can accelerate something is wrong, unless your gearing is WAY tall.

 

[crazypj]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

back in the 80's we sold a GPZ900 to a guy who brought it back saying it was slow and dangerous plus didn't handle very well
I took it for a test ride, then took him for a test ride on it.
145mph two up, leaned well over so I nudged him to look at speedometer
When we got back to shop he had to be prised off bike, walked stiff legged into salesman's office then called his wife to bring him clean jeans and underwear (owner told me later ;D )
We never saw him again but a lot of his friends bought bikes from us because I 'knew how to make them go' 8)
The purpose of this story is to tell you that very few bikes will accelerate at reasonable rate in top gear and most roads are neither long enough, straight enough or traffic free enough to allow anything approaching top speed with a top gear 'roll on'
With slide carbs your more likely to cause engine to stall out giving it full throttle at low speed, that's why so many bikes switched to CV carbs, it allows people who really should learn throttle control and how to ride be on something they shouldn't (EPA regulations were easier to meet as well since CV can be jetted leaner if rider can't whack throttle open and cause over rich mixture)

 

[03rangerxlt]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

Been awhile since I've been able to get on here and post.

Gotta love old bikes huh? Not the last time I rode it, but the time before that, the bike was running a little rough. It felt like the timing was off a touch and it was popping and bucking a little. Then this past Saturday, I went to warm up the bike and check on it, and it ran perfectly once it warmed up, so I took it for a ride and it just scooted so nice! It was fast and smooth (except for a minor shifting issue; felt like the shifter stuck for a second). I need to get an oil leak fixed on this thing though before I do any more serious testing on it.

I am pretty sure its running on all cylinders because the pipes are all getting hot.

 

[crazypj]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

You need to find one of the power and torque curve charts.
Decent condition CB500F should be good for about 110mph
60mph will be around 4,800rpm? (it's a long time since I've ridden a 500)
I remember I geared my 550 to do 5,400 @70mph but acceleration to overtake was real slow unless I dropped it a gear or two

 

[caferay]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

My two cents on top speed:

In Ontario, the fastest speed limit on public roads is 100km/hr, or 62mph.
If you get nicked exceeding 150 km/hr, 93 mph:
1. your bike is immediately removed into impound
2. No licence for 7 days.
3. $5000 fine, $2000 impound fees
4. Insurance will be nullified
5. You can lose your licence on all vehicles.

So blah, blah, top speed, blah , blah ton up, blah ,blah HP, it's all moot in 2013. Despite all this, racing is all but dead in Canada.

 

[03rangerxlt]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Question about top speed... (Pg. 29)

Caferay, I hear you! Especially with what I do for a living. But I'd like to touch a ton on it at least once!

 

[03rangerxlt]

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - The Leaky Botch (Pg. 31)

So, I'm thinking I have a name for my Bike; "The Leaky Bitch."

While working on her the past couple of times, I've noticed drops of oil on the ground under her. After messing around with the clutch adjustment, I thought the oil was coming from the oil pump, so I took it off to replace the gaskets. That was a huge mistake, as it took roughly one hour per bolt to get the three bolts off with the use of an impact driver, and it resulted in a very painful smashed thumb.

The leak seemed to get worse and worse after that.

Turns out the leak is coming from the oil pan. Sometime in the bike's past, someone tried to undo the oil pan or over torqued a bolt when putting the oil pan back on, and broke the head off of a bolt. Their solution seems to have been to glop some JB Weld on it. The oil is weeping through the JB Weld now.

So I've got to get this fixed, and I'll be honest with you, it scares me. It's probably going to be a real bitch getting that broken bolt out. A real bitch of the highest magnitude. And after that, the oil pan gasket should be replaced, so the rest of the oil pan bolts will need to come out. I'm afraid they'll break too!

 

[crazypj]

Check the drain bolt as well, if it's overtightened it can cause the boss to crack.
It's easier to see while the bolt is still in and tight, when removed the crack closes up and becomes almost invisible