Outlaw Rugger
1975 Honda CB500 "Sheila"
Hey all! My name is Ben. I am 20 and live in Indianapolis. This is my first build thread so stick with me.
My whole family rides. I have been on a motorcycle since I could hold on and I just bought my own last year. A 1975 Honda CB550 (technically a 500 motor on a 550 frame) hereto after referred to as Sheila. My dad has a 1981 Yamaha Venture, Mom has a 1983 Honda Nighthawk, and older brother has a 1999 Kawasaki Ninja (I know, he‘s the black sheep
) I bought Sheila around this time last year.
I bought my bike because my brother said an old CB is a good learner bike and pretty customizable. At the beginning, I wanted to bob it out. One day, I was googling Honda bobbers of my year and model and a picture of a style of bike I had never seen before showed up. A style I fell instantly and madly in love with. I sent the link to my brother and he said: “Oh, that’s a café racer.”
I got her for $300 bucks. When I went to look at her she wasn’t running. We hooked her up to my dads van since the battery was dead. He was on it trying to start her, but she wouldn’t. She sounded like she wanted to, but sounded like the killswitch was on ‘Off’ but it was on ‘Run’. For no apparent reason, I reached over and flipped the kill switch to the bottom ‘Off’ position. She fired up. The previous owner (referred to from here on out as ‘the Hack’) had cross-wired the killswitch.
Since then I have had my little heart set on bringing the bitching café out of this (to put it gently) fixer-upper. Every time I opened her up to fix something, I found something else wrong. Being a college student, I am short on time and money. I considered selling her, but just told myself the ends would justify the means. Here is what was wrong with her when I got her:
*High-RPM bogging and power loss. I could only get about 5 1/2K RPM’s in top gear.
*Split head (the Hack put some aftermarket 550 drag pipes on her and to compensate for the lack of flushness at the head put more than a few lock washers on the header posts and split the head in more than one place)
*Something wrong with my first gear. The power wasn’t constant. It would hit real hard and then shut down, and then hit again. I have to use about 70-to-30 percent throttle-clutch ratio.
*Throttle housing had a notch cut in them to let the wires out since the bars are non-stock and not drilled to let the wires run through them. Thus the throttle body would spin when I twisted the throttle.
*Kept blowing main fuses and battery kept dying.
*Speedo/odo/trip counter busted
*Oil leak out of the clutch cover.
*Dented tank and seat that needs re-covered.
*Pod filters and carbs that weren’t re-jetted for them.
Since I got her, here is what I have gotten done on her:
*Re-set my points and now I get full power through the spectrum! Only one point was opening so I was basically riding a 225.
*Got JARDINE (!!!) exhaust and a donor motor of the same year/make/model for $30.
*Drilled bars and replaced/re-wired throttle housing.
*Fixed clutch-cover oil leak TWICE. First it was my oil switch and then my shifter seal.
*In the process of dipping and re-jetting my carbs.
*Putting a 650 cam in my bike.
*Re-building my donor motor.
If you have read this whole thread God bless you. Gimme some tips and tricks. MORE TO COME VERY VERY SOON!!!
My whole family rides. I have been on a motorcycle since I could hold on and I just bought my own last year. A 1975 Honda CB550 (technically a 500 motor on a 550 frame) hereto after referred to as Sheila. My dad has a 1981 Yamaha Venture, Mom has a 1983 Honda Nighthawk, and older brother has a 1999 Kawasaki Ninja (I know, he‘s the black sheep
) I bought Sheila around this time last year.I bought my bike because my brother said an old CB is a good learner bike and pretty customizable. At the beginning, I wanted to bob it out. One day, I was googling Honda bobbers of my year and model and a picture of a style of bike I had never seen before showed up. A style I fell instantly and madly in love with. I sent the link to my brother and he said: “Oh, that’s a café racer.”
I got her for $300 bucks. When I went to look at her she wasn’t running. We hooked her up to my dads van since the battery was dead. He was on it trying to start her, but she wouldn’t. She sounded like she wanted to, but sounded like the killswitch was on ‘Off’ but it was on ‘Run’. For no apparent reason, I reached over and flipped the kill switch to the bottom ‘Off’ position. She fired up. The previous owner (referred to from here on out as ‘the Hack’) had cross-wired the killswitch.
Since then I have had my little heart set on bringing the bitching café out of this (to put it gently) fixer-upper. Every time I opened her up to fix something, I found something else wrong. Being a college student, I am short on time and money. I considered selling her, but just told myself the ends would justify the means. Here is what was wrong with her when I got her:
*High-RPM bogging and power loss. I could only get about 5 1/2K RPM’s in top gear.
*Split head (the Hack put some aftermarket 550 drag pipes on her and to compensate for the lack of flushness at the head put more than a few lock washers on the header posts and split the head in more than one place)
*Something wrong with my first gear. The power wasn’t constant. It would hit real hard and then shut down, and then hit again. I have to use about 70-to-30 percent throttle-clutch ratio.
*Throttle housing had a notch cut in them to let the wires out since the bars are non-stock and not drilled to let the wires run through them. Thus the throttle body would spin when I twisted the throttle.
*Kept blowing main fuses and battery kept dying.
*Speedo/odo/trip counter busted
*Oil leak out of the clutch cover.
*Dented tank and seat that needs re-covered.
*Pod filters and carbs that weren’t re-jetted for them.
Since I got her, here is what I have gotten done on her:
*Re-set my points and now I get full power through the spectrum! Only one point was opening so I was basically riding a 225.
*Got JARDINE (!!!) exhaust and a donor motor of the same year/make/model for $30.
*Drilled bars and replaced/re-wired throttle housing.
*Fixed clutch-cover oil leak TWICE. First it was my oil switch and then my shifter seal.
*In the process of dipping and re-jetting my carbs.
*Putting a 650 cam in my bike.
*Re-building my donor motor.
If you have read this whole thread God bless you. Gimme some tips and tricks. MORE TO COME VERY VERY SOON!!!
