Help! Dilemma! Thinking of selling my CB500

[Charliecharlcomb]

I've owned a 500/4 in various guises since 1978. I think I'm on my 5th version now. In the past I've had to sell my bike for various reasons and missed it terribly so went out and bought another one. It has always been a CB500. They are like an armchair to me and I never tire of its beauty and the ride it gives me. The version I currently have is very special to me. I've owned it since 1991, its been rebuilt it to a very high standard (I used to be a Honda mechanic) and thanks to an amazing stroke of luck many years ago, acquired a garage full of original factory spares in their wrappers which I used to replace as much as I could. It's registered March 1976 but engine and frame numbers point to a 1973 K2 engine in a 1972 K1 frame. The K2 engine has the mods to the rocker spindles that I saw so many failures of the earlier version in my mechanicing days.

My dilemma is next year I plan to go travelling for 2-5 years. I could mothball the bike but am currently taking a pragmatic view on my possessions and the bike is causing me a real headache.

Can I ask the group what they think it would be worth? Where would be a good place to sell it? Or should I keep it? Is the model appreciating in value significantly? The CB500 always gets overshadowed by (in my opinion) the all too common and not very exciting 400/4. Mine always turns heads and draws a crowd when I park it. It's a wonderful machine.

My actual bike has done 8,500 miles since the total rebuild, is MOT'd, was featured on the cover of VJMCC magazine in Sept-Oct 1996 and was runner up Best Classic bike at the Festival of 1,000 bikes at Brands Hatch in 1992. It's not quite as shiny as it was back then and has a couple of minor blemishes which you would expect for a bike that is 40 years old. I've also got a stack of receipts accumulated over the years.

I'm talking myself out of it already. I'd be interested to hear what you think? I've attached some photos.

[Nurse Julie]

Well, I was gonna offer you 10k for your CB500 but, as you have probably upset most CB400/4 owners on this forum, including myself, I'm not going to offer you diddly squat 
Uninspiring, I think not.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
I was fortunate enough to sell  the most expensive CB500 four ever, which yours, IMHO is totally uninspiring compared to that one.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Good luck with your quest

[Charliecharlcomb]

I should have added, serious replies only please.

[Nurse Julie]

I am being very serious

[AshimotoK0]

Bit mean Julie ..did Trigger burn your toast this morning 

I love both bikes . I always wanted a 500/4 when I was a student but beyond my reach. By the time 1977 came and I could afford one they were onto the later 550 and so I got a 400/4 instead. Before I owned the 1st 400 I bought  I never really likes the look of it c/w the 500/4 but these things grow on you and I have a fondness for both models (over the 750K0 in fact). Have (some in 1 million bit) all three models now , all three of them vying for my attention, just like my three grown up kids.

Ask JamesH about the value as he has owned quite a few minters. My advice ...if you need the cash sell it, if you don't then carefully mothball it, as you will probably regret it in the long run and 'like you say, it is undervalued at the mo (as is the 400/4 IMHO c/w CB750's). Whatever you do, keep posting on here. As a mechanic from the old days your input it extremelely valuable ( well to me anyhoo)

[Charliecharlcomb]

Thank you for your thoughts, something to think about. Maybe I need to spend more time getting used to the characters that lurk on this site but it's easy to be put off. And I posted deliberately on what I thought was the CB500/550 forum so I'm not looking to have a 400/4 - 500 debate.

[Nurse Julie]

Bit mean Julie ..did Trigger burn your toast this morning 

No Ash, he didn't burn the toast today  .
Graham is teaching me how to hone bores out with a golf ball wrapped in coarse grit sand paper 
Now, where did I put the barrels you dropped off the other day Ash, yours is next now I have the knack 

And I agree with you Ash, Charlie please keep posting

[AshimotoK0]

Bit mean Julie ..did Trigger burn your toast this morning 

No Ash, he didn't burn the toast today  .
Graham is teaching me how to hone bores out with a golf ball wrapped in coarse grit sand paper 
Now, where did I put the barrels you dropped off the other day Ash, yours is next now I have the knack 

And I agree with you Ash, Charlie please keep posting

Ha Ha in good hands then Julie  .. Just joined the vintage radio forum after Cathy lumbered that old Deryshire 'car boot' special 1938 radio on me to get working ... more obsession and anorak behaviour on my part I fear 

[Trigger]

Don't be put off with a little banter  Shame that it has a K2 engine, what happened to the original engine or was is changed before it came in to your hands ?

[Chris400F]

I agree with Ash, on two counts.
I always liked the look of the 500, then the 400/4 came along. I didn't get one of those either in the day, but have one now.
As for keeping the bike, if you don't need the cash and can lay it up properly then I'd keep it.

[Charliecharlcomb]

I swapped the engine with a K2 that I also had that wasn't as good overall. As I mentioned, there are some internal mods to the K2 which made it a better long term option for me.

[Nurse Julie]

Bit mean Julie ..did Trigger burn your toast this morning 

No Ash, he didn't burn the toast today  .
Graham is teaching me how to hone bores out with a golf ball wrapped in coarse grit sand paper 
Now, where did I put the barrels you dropped off the other day Ash, yours is next now I have the knack 

And I agree with you Ash, Charlie please keep posting

Ha Ha in good hands then Julie  .. Just joined the vintage radio forum after Cathy lumbered that old Deryshire 'car boot' special 1938 radio on me to get working ... more obsession and anorak behaviour on my part I fear 

Gosh, I bet the Vintage Radio forum are fun people to know Ash. Is there more activity on the radio forum than the Sandcast Forum? 
Can't you just hide a modern radio with DAB in the back and attach it to the knob at the front, Cathy will never know.

[Laverda Dave]

As Kenneth Horn once said on Round the Horn, 'There's nothing I like better then going home at night and twiddling the knob on my bakerlite Bush!'

[Nurse Julie]

Are you talking dirty now?  Was it not Kenneth Williams?

[Laverda Dave]

Charlie, Do all you can to keep the bike if possible.  This forum is probably full of people who sold their bikes for whatever reason and lived to regret it a few years later. I had a CB160, a CB200, a Matchless 250CSR (stop laughing at the back) and two 400/4's and sold them all but wish I still them. I have a CR750 Rickman Honda that has not been started for at least 12 years, I should have sold it but glad I didn't as it's the next restoration.
My advice, unless you really, really have to sell it, keep it.
Dave