Conflicted in Illinois

[jason28]

I bought a 1975 CB500T, completely stock. I don't know whether to keep it vintage or update it. The side panels (awesome), but cracked. Anyone that has one, probably knows they are a tank in weight and I'm willing to shed any weight.. Should I keep them? The only thing I'm partial too is the sweet seat. Thoughts?

 

[DreadRock]

Just give it a good cleaning and go over it and make sure everthing is as it should be ! Then ride the piss out of it !!!!!!!

 

[jason28]

Thanks! Definitely the plan for the rest of the year.

 

[teddpage]

Yea definitely just clean it up, and ride the hell out of it. That way you can work all the bugs and gremlins out of it before you start to personalize it. Take it one step at a time so you dont get too far in over your head.

 

[teazer]

The funny thing is that when that awful bike came out, we wept. The bike that started as the Black Bomber and promised more performance than a British 650 had slunk to a Brown Seat. That was the final straw. A brown seat for heaven's sake. What were they thinking. And here we are some 3 or 4 decades later and a small percentage of us actually like brown on seats because they look more antique.

We didn't like Brown when it came out because we were too conservative and now we like brown because it's conservative. Humans! Go figure.

If it runs, keep it running. make sure the tires are good and just service it and run it. Rinse and repeat.

 

[jason28]

Thanks! The tires are in bad shape, so that's a must. It runs, still haven't worked out the bugs. Any suggestions on Master cylinder? I found the rebuild kit, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

 

[VonYinzer]

It's cheaper than the cost of non working brakes (more specifically, the hospital bills that will result from non working brakes).

If you want to upgrade, you need to know the bore size. Something from a modern 250cc (ninja, cbr, rebel, etc.) should fit the bill but again, make sure. Check your numbers first.