Hello from Kent - Newbie looking for a Lot of advice !!

[Early bay]

Hi all - Im Mike from Kent ...

By way of an intro, let me just start by saying I am basically new to bikes so treat me gently !

after having taken my bike test some 23 odd years ago but never actually having owned a bike, I am now approaching 50 and after a lifetime of classic cars my interest has switched to classic bikes. Japanese 70's bikes really attract me hence arriving here ...

So keen to hear advice from the experts ...

1. Would a cb750 (or maybe 550) be a good first classic bike ? the only bike Ive spent any time on was a Diversion 600 few years back so maybe not that different in terms of power ?

2. I will have a garden workshop for 'tinkering' - wouldnt mind doing some light resto on a bike but probably not up to a full rebuild

3. any pointers in terms of where to buy ? Looks like this market (like classic VW's) has been flooded with small dealers shipping in US 'barn finds' ?

4. Lastly anyone near Tunbridge Wells who I could maybe have a chat with ?

thanks for any advice given ..

Mike

[Nurse Julie]

Welcome to the forum Mike.
I'm sure the guys on here will give you advice on the best model for you to start with. I live in Lincolnshire now but come from Tunbridge Wells and all my family / friends are there or in Crowborough so I visit regularly. There are lots of forum members down your way, Ashford, Brighton, Sidcup etc who I'm sure would love to talk to you
Have fun
Julie

[matthewmosse]

Hi, welcome. Tell us more about the classic cars btw, I am interested in them although my only forray into classic car involvement is a 1960 landrover that runs our farm kit and does errands much as it would have 50 years ago. Getting a classic bike, the sohc hondas of the 70's are a spot on place to start, great quality, not bad parts availability. Overall nice bikes to own though values of anything classic seem to be going up which is pushing prices of bits up, but also inproving parts availability so mixed bag there. As to which of the 400/ 500/ 550 / 750, that depends a lot on personal preference, I find the 750 a bit big, the 550 very comfortable, the 500 ( some 550s share this, not a lot between them) to be prettier, I have never ridden a 400. For me my 500/4 is the bike I would never sell.
I suspect without checking that the diversion is more powerfull than most sohcs bar the 750. For my money though the 500 throuh to 650 are where I would be looking as a first bike, wet sump engine, dead simple and easy to work on, tough as old boots and reasonably cheap to run. If you are close to 6 foot then the 750 might be more comfortable. Get yourself to somewhere like Dk motorcycles and blag a sit on or even test ride on both to compare.

[Trigger]

Welcome to the Mad world of the SOHC, 550 is a good start but, not the K3

[UK Pete]

Hi , welcome aboard fella
pete

[Green1]

Welcome Mick
A 550 is probably a good choice as the 750 is a big lump to stop if you've not ridden for a while.

Mick

[SteveD CB500K0]

Cost wise, the 500/550 is a better place to start. You will get more for your money.

Eventually and with a bit of experience, you may decide to go for a 750, in which case you will have a better idea of which model to go for and the likely costs involved.

Steve

[AshimotoK0]

Hi welcome from me. Much more enjoyable and less of a money pit getting a CB500/550, trust me I know from bitter experience! Best bet is either a low miler  import from someone like  DK or Summerbud Classics. Bide your time and wait until there's one with  no bidding war and try to get one with decent chromework, particularly the original DID rims. Expect the bike to have been fannied around with by the Yanks (bodges/bits missing etc). Nice day out at DK if you want to suss one out ( ie check the oil and the chromework) and whilst you are there you can barter at the parts counter. Don't worry about original exhausts too much as chances are they may look OK but very often sh*gged,  or close to it.

[Honda Al]

Hi welcome from me. Much more enjoyable and less of a money pit getting a CB500/550, trust me I know from bitter experience! Best bet is either a low miler  import from someone like  DK or Summerbud Classics. Bide your time and wait until there's one with  no bidding war and try to get one with decent chromework, particularly the original DID rims. Expect the bike to have been fannied around with by the Yanks (bodges/bits missing etc). Nice day out at DK if you want to suss one out ( ie check the oil and the chromework) and whilst you are there you can barter at the parts counter. Don't worry about original exhausts too much as chances are they may look OK but very often sh*gged,  or close to it.

Welcome, you'll love this site. I purchased a 1972 500 from DK back in October, not bad to deal with and the amount of bikes they have means you can afford to look around for a nice one. As Ash said, try and avoid the bidding wars some bikes get via their ebay page. I bought outside of the ebay auction because it was priced too high and didn't attract any bids, and made them a sensible offer. Parts are reasonably ok to get a hold of, although expect to wait for some bits to appear and quite often through ebay USA.

Alan

[mick]

Hello Mike and welcome to the forum  cheers Mick.

[totty]

550K3 bashing again, my favorite topic :-)

The carbs have very small pilot jets and passages that are prone to clogging, or at least that's what I'm told, it does not fit my experience. Either way it's hardly a serious enough flaw to avoid a bike. Just run a fuel filter and don't store the bike with fuel sitting in the carbs or with a leaky petcock and it's really not an issue. If we're going to be that picky 500s would be avoided due to the 550 having a better clutch actuation, and the list goes on and on, there are pro's and cons to all models.
K3s seem to be the most common and cheapest of the 500/550 range, so ruling them out restricts your choices.

Otherwise I'd second the rest of the advice given, and also point out that some of the Honda twins are also worth considering.

By the way my 550K3 will be up for sale after renewing it's MOT on Friday. I don't ride it much since buying a CB1300 and putting my monkeybike back on the road.

[matthewmosse]

K3 aint that bad, mine only clogged its jets after getting laid up for a few years outside and uncovered. It has a fair advantage in being more economical in mpg terms - mine managed Foert William, accross the A9 and right down to a services back over the England border, my mate was on a 250 superdream on the same trip, on the welsh roads we matched our fuel bills to the penny brimming the tanks at every stop, but on those open fast roads the 550k3 was virtually running on air, the Fort William to home leg of the trip the 250 drank all my jerry can of fuel and its own tankfull whilst the k3 was still to need reserve. Clearing the jets when I put the 550k carbs and airbox into my 500 did seem to give real issues, but I never resolved them as house rennovation and kids got in the way, there may have been other issues.
Deffinately though the cb500 and 550 are cracking all rounder bikes, only bike I have ever had that I would happily decide to take a 100 mile detour on the way home just to see another bit of road. - Slightly unfair, I would probably do the same on my ntv if time permitted. My bmw's had the smoothness to do that but drank fuel like it was going out of fassion in comparrison.

[Early bay]

thanks all very much for the welcome and advice ... I have to say Im also quite tempted by one of smaller 'twins' like a CB200 but also meant to say Im 6' 4'' so not sure if they might be too small for me ?

Additionally although Im only looking for something for pottering around the lanes on a summer's day I also wonder if I would get frustrated by the relative lack of power of something small ...

The 500/550  route is sounding good to me - only other issue I have is that I would be looking to keep it in my back garden workshop over winter but I only have access through the house - Im guessing a 550 wont easily go through house doorways !!

[Nurse Julie]

Where there's a will, there's always a way. I won't bother taking pics to show you but we have more bikes indoors at present than we do pieces of furniture, all because both workshops are full to bursting point with CB Honda's and CB Honda engines in various states of rebuild. We manage to get CB 400's / 500's /550's and 750's through the doors. The CB750's are the hardest to get through normal size doors, mainly because they are so damned heavy. CB500's and 550's are also somewhat slimmer than the 750's which make them a lot easier to squeeze through. We also have 2 CD250u Honda's, they go through the doors very nicely 

[Early bay]

thanks Julie - thats encouraging !  dont think Ill go to 750 so hopefully not an issue ... just been looking at a CB350 which looks rather nice too ...