A quick update on the Shiny Orange 550

[Orcade-Ian]

Bike arrived in Orkney at the weekend and I picked it up on Monday afternoon.  Obviously very pleased to have one of James' 'cast offs'  . First assessment exactly as was described by James - no surprises (except the toolkit under the seat!) and the initial list includes Carb overhaul kit (from Julie) lots of polishing of aluminium casings and forks.  Master cylinder and caliper to refurb - James supplied an original to replace the after market one. Alternator cover badge from Phil.  Nice clean oil and light went out very quickly when cranked.  All lights working and turns over on the starter and with fresh fuel, chimed in on 2, 1, 3, 1, none as expected.
Pattern silencer still has original mounting plate - good result!  Straightened gear lever and re-positioned l/h footrest.  1st wash and wiped all over with ACF 50 for the time being.  Letter sent to Honda for date of manufacture - even though the plate says 06/75.

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Ian

[Oddjob]

550F shouldn't have a generator cover plate, the 500 got it, the 550 got a embossed cover with the Honda logo engraved into the metal. Not a problem, either will work, just info so you know.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Looks a very nice bike that just needs tweaking  to suit your personal tastes.

[Orcade-Ian]

Hi Ted,
Yes, it won't take a great deal to make a useable bike and should be in use for the Spring next year.
Ken, is that the same for the US spec bikes as well?  The reason I ask is that Randall Washington (Randakk) in the US, who is a bugger for originality sold an identical bike not many numbers away from mine and it had the separate badge too.  I'm not too bothered either way as my cover will live to fight another day (with a bit of graft) and Phil has a NOS badge to fit and the claw/clips are still available.
One thing I do know is that it won't be as big a job as my 350/4 

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Ian

[Bryanj]

I think it depends on the year of the bike as the first US 550 were 500 bikes with 550 engines using lots of 500 parts, the 550's we got were later ones and the K3 definately had embossed cover not sure about the F, ask Roo to look in my parts book to check

[Orcade-Ian]

Thanks Bryan,
I'll ask Roo but as I say it's not going to cause any sleepless nights either way!  As long as it looks OK and the alternator charges the battery and powers the services, I'm happy.

Ian

[Oddjob]

You are correct Ian, the F1 did come with the 500 genny cover. Never noticed that before, I was more interested in the F2 version as it was far prettier. 

[Orcade-Ian]

Thanks Ken,
I'm new to 550s as you know and I often mix up arse and elbow (even though I worked in a Spinal Injuries Unit for 12 years!) it's great that there is such a wealth of sound knowledge on this Forum - long may it last!  As far as the F2 being prettier, I do agree about the burgundy with gold stripe like my mate's new one compared with one that's been Tangoed but I'm not going to change this to F2 spec.  Anyway I imagine that's rich coming from a Gold GL1500 SE owner (without any extra bling I might say!)

Ian

[Sesman]

You are correct Ian, the F1 did come with the 500 genny cover. Never noticed that before, I was more interested in the F2 version as it was far prettier. 

Oh yes and being an F2 it was by far the fastest.

[Oddjob]

TBH Ian it was a real cosmetic change between the F1 and the F2 and it looked so much better for it. The F1 was looking it's age, bellows on forks was rather old fashioned by the time it came out. So the F2 got really nice paintwork, a nice contrasting stripe instead of the bland all one colour, lost the bellows so it showed the fork stanchions, of course this meant more damage to the forks but that's progress I suppose. The clocks were changed to blue rather than green, looked better at night. I seem to recall it also lost the front brace off the front mudguard, again more modern. IMO they should also have added a second disc but although all the mounting points were there they seem to have backed away from that idea, possibly because of the greater weight made the bike slower and it was in real competition with the GT550. Can't remember the Yamaha competition, possibly the XS500, which frankly was an awful model.

[Orcade-Ian]

Hi Ken,
I fully agree that the F2 looks less dated but I do like gaiters (or shrouds on my 350). Also a single non metallic colour is easier than adding big decals - the ones on my 350 are in 3 sections each side and no room for error!  A farmer mate dropped by today and proclaimed the orange bike 'awful' (or the Orcadian equivalent!). All in the eye of the beholder I suppose.  His tractor is Blue - no taste, some folk.

Ian

[Seabeowner]

Hopefully the bike is for riding and no time to look at the paintwork then. It looks good and original. Hopefully the gators are as good as they look. I see a rogue bolt on the engine mounting at the front. Maybe from where they mounted bars to rest their feet on, not great if you need an emergency stop. Mine is also 6/75.
I Anglified mine by various mods, indicators, bars etc. etc. and fitted a Kawasaki primary chain in 2017. (32k)

[Orcade-Ian]

Well spotted that man!  Yes, that bolt and another on the other side seem to have been sourced from the local scaffolders and have American 'bottle top and lawnmower' threads.  Fortunately I have quite a few proper bolts from years of 350 and 400 tinkering and hopefully there will be replacements amongst those, otherwise it's another DS order.  I can plate them if necessary.  There is a good set of reference photos from a bike that Randakk sold - I'll see if I can post the link.  Did you end up with 'N' registration on your 6/75 bike?
Ian

[Orcade-Ian]

Just found the link again,

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1976-honda-cb550-f-super-sport/

Ian

[Oddjob]

I have loads of standard bolts Ian, just let me know what you want.