Just seen an old mag for sale on the Bay of Fleas with a road test of the 500/4. They were using a K0. The bike was 1st registered in UK February 1972, declared manufactured 1972 ( so it got from Japan bloody quickly). On the surface of it, it looks like a UK CB500/4 K0, which as many of us are aware was never officially sold by Honda in the UK. But, there is a bit of a giveaway as to its origin. Quite a few people have surmised that dealers were importing K0's from Europe to UK, through the back door as it where, as customers were desperate to get their hands on the 500/4 in UK but we had to wait for the K1 to be officially launched here.
Anyways, what I have noticed on this particular UK registeted K0 is that it has a European Direct style idiot light surround, FLASH, OIL, NEUT, BEAM. 🤔🤔🤔Where Grahams UK 500/4 K0 has (had, 'cos I sold it 😊😊😊) the UK K1 style idiot light surround fitted (Bottom photo) with NEUTRAL not NEUT . I'm thinking this could add weight to our assumption that there were very, very limited numbers of proper K0's sent over from Japan as press bikes and the rest were indeed dealer back door imports from mainland Europe.
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