Help needed to identify my CB500-4

[B11sey]

Very useful list but unfortunately doesn’t help me differentiate between a French or UK bike.
The French frame numbers start 1010713
English numbers are start 101 and the rest is illegible
My number is 1015211
Useful parts list to have though

[Trigger]

It is a UK Bike from the right hand switch gear . Show me a picture of the pilot lights as, these were a different set up in europe 

[Seabeowner]

Didn't the UK get a unique rear mudguard?

B11sey
However I’m not doing this for a profit but to relive some of the memories of the riding we did back in the day.

How far did you get?

[Oddjob]

Pilot lights can’t be seen as definitive though Graham, if it is an import then the first thing the dealer needs to do is convert what isn’t standard on the bike to UK spec, as the headlights of those days were handed beam wise they’d change the headlight for one dipping the correct way, change the headlight and you change the pilot light. I agree that the parts book has some errors but not in the country designations for certain parts, only the USA got a different right hand switch as it has extra functions that the rest of the world didn’t need.
From the carb numbers it’s not a German or Dutch model, it could be French or European Direct Sales. What’s interesting is that if you study the frame in the parts book certain countries got different frames, maybe they had an additional bracket or something but what that difference is has never been listed, could it be the VIN plate for instance, UK and certain other countries didn’t get that feature but we all know the USA did.
If I had to guess I’d say logic dictates importing from the closest country if you couldn’t source one in the UK, in that case France is favourite, what makes me wonder though is why if Honda didn’t send any to the UK officially why are numbers allocated to the UK market? It could be as simple as Honda Japan making them to UK spec but HondaUK deciding for some reason not to import them, which makes you wonder why they’d do that. In line 4 cylinder bikes were in demand, the 500 was a new model, only the second 4 cylinder that Honda made so interest in them would have been high, it was also significantly cheaper than the 750, so again a strong selling point yet Honda decided not to import them until the K1 came out. Pressure from the UK government to try and protect the British bike manufacturers? something we haven’t factored in like a dock strike making importing hard?
It could be something as simple as Honda diverting bikes to Europe intended initially for the UK and dealers encouraged to go and import a few in the backs of vans. 

[B11sey]

Hi Seabeowner
Longest trip was through France,Spain to Morocco along coast to Marrakesh then to the oasis Ouarzazate and back along edge of the desert to Fez. 2 up the CB handled it all without any problems apart from getting through the crowds that formed in the towns

[Trigger]

The right hand switch on a 500K0 in Holand was different than the UK 500 K0 which did not have the separate on / off in 1971.
Most members have never had a UK 500 K0 and will just go by parts books as they treat them like a bible with no real experience of 1971 500,s in the UK.

As i have already stated that, send your details to Honda UK and they can give you all the correct information on your VIN numbers.   

[Oddjob]

HondaUK are quite frankly useless. They know nothing and rely on Japan for information, they couldn't even tell me a year of manufacture for a UK 500, just sent my cheque back with sorry no info.

[B11sey]

I have emailed Honda UK (nothing to lose) and will let you know the outcome

[Seabeowner]

Hi Seabeowner
Longest trip was through France,Spain to Morocco along coast to Marrakesh then to the oasis Ouarzazate and back along edge of the desert to Fez. 2 up the CB handled it all without any problems apart from getting through the crowds that formed in the towns

That's some trip. Packed with incidents no doubt. Never took the 500 overseas, just the Z650, Athens was the furthest I got.
Phil

[Oddjob]

When I was 17 and got my first 500-4 I decided to ride to Greece with my mates as we said we were all Greasers so it would be like going home spiritually 

Sad that isn't it, we didn't though, no money and jobs meant it was a non starter.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

When I was 17 and got my first 500-4 I decided to ride to Greece with my mates as we said we were all Greasers so it would be like going home spiritually 

Sad that isn't it, we didn't though, no money and jobs meant it was a non starter.

When I was 18 (1966) my best friend bought a tidy used Land Rover Safari (ex-Lord Scarsdale) his plan was for 2 galls & 2 or 3 mates to take a trip to Greece sharing food & fuel costs camping en-route for a 6 -8 week jaunt. As I was pretty skint at the time with no real handle on the cost involved I declined the offer. My mate went ahead with the trip but it turned into a bit of a nightmare when it broke down in France then the clutch burnt out in Athens. I opted for a  4 week crewing job on a motor yacht instead no pay but food provided with an allowance when ashore. None of the group got to score with either of the girls. I wasn't much of a risk taker when I was 18.

[B11sey]

These trips seem a bit tame today with reliable adventure bikes, Satnav, more money and the security of a mobile phone signal but back in the day you needed a proper sense of adventure to travel far.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Looking back I was a daft teenager on two wheels me and my mate would ride out to a couple of local quarries on Sundays as there were not working.
We rode our bikes round the various roads used by the big trucks - the best off roading was an abandoned place near Matlock riding in a storm of dust when it was dry weather.

[Trigger]

Done a load of rides all over europe including the eastern block before the Berlin wall came down and all the way to India on silly small bikes like one of my CD250's. Took a Piaggio typhoon 50cc from Newport pagnell to Thessaloniki on a 3 day trip 

[B11sey]

Done a load of rides all over europe including the eastern block before the Berlin wall came down and all the way to India on silly small bikes like one of my CD250's. Took a Piaggio typhoon 50cc from Newport pagnell to Thessaloniki on a 3 day trip 
[/quote
Now that’s a proper adventure ride