A decent ride on the CB500 Four

[bobv7]

This is the first longish ride I've taken on the bike and it did take a little bit of time to get everything co operating! Too much time sitting in the garage and the carbs grumbling about getting back to work I suspect. I must have done over a 100 miles but not intending to go far I forgot to make a note of the speedo reading before I left. It did prove that all the major parts seem to be working pretty well except a possible weak gear change return spring and the right hand mirror mainly giving great views of a clear blue sky. However it did remind me that the bike is getting on a bit. It will hit an indicated 70 and even 80mph but it is a bit like asking your Granny to bungy jump with the chance that things could end badly. 60 is ok but 50 is really comfortable for a naked bike and that's probably saying more about my age than the bikes capabilities. The handling constantly surprises me with how good it is which I suspect owes a lot to the modern tyres and the bikes' relatively light weight, but after riding fuel injected bikes I still find the 4 carb throttle action very heavy in spite of much fettling. A good bike for a Sunday morning ride out.

[Bryanj]

OK when I was 45 years younger, me and my 500 at the time used to cruise to the isle of man steam racket company Liverpool at at least 85mph but you are correct in that my aged hurty bits could no longer do that and night traffic is now more than day traffic used to be so the mental part is probably not up to it either