Honda-SOHC

I think this has been discussed before and I hope I am not telling people what they already know but I cannot remember what the consensus was.  I found this:

https://insidedvla.blog.gov.uk/2015/11/17/whats-the-story-with-black-and-silver-number-plates/

So it seems since April 2015, any historic vehicle can display traditional number plates.

Hi, does anyone know where to find front brake shoes for CB250/350K?  Shocked to discover David Silver no longer has them and I can't get an MOT with only back brake working 

I've seen this bike before, a French couple were touring UK in about 1995 when they broke down with gearbox problems and ended up leaving it in the UK, presumably selling it to the motorcycle shop that was unable to repair it.  I was surprised to see it appear in HRS motorcycles as it was the only other CB500 I'd seen for many years.  I thought about buying it but was very skint at the time and was rebuilding my own CB500 to use for touring.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-CB500-Four-Original-Unrestored-4-into-4-exhaust-CB500-4-Classic-Project-/181971638847?hash=item2a5e5ada3f:g:IJ0AAOSwSdZWfEls

If memory serves correctly it was in pretty good order apart from the gearbox which presumably has now been fixed.

Hi, hope someone can help.  When left for more than a day or two the battery drains to flat.  Has anyone else had this problem or am I going to have to put in a battery isolation switch?

I was out the other day (shopping) and I was in a safe place to overtake a slow moving car in front.  I changed down two gears and opened the throttle without much of a thought.  As I went past the car, the bike accelerating quite fast for an old machine I suddenly wondered whether or not it is a bad idea to ride these bikes hard considering how much goes on inside that little engine at 9500 RPM with 40 plus year old components, or is it OK to thrash them every now and again.  It hadn't occurred to me properly until that moment just how old these things are now.  My thought was partly triggered by someone saying how brittle the top yolks can be on old Hondas etc.

Is it just misplaced anxiety on my part or should these old machines be treated with more respect than perhaps I would have done twenty years ago?  What do people here think?

 I decided to get mine going again after a 20 year rest but it seems hard to find parts for them nowadays.  Does anyone else on here own one and is there a good UK forum?

As you can see the lid from the toolbox is missing and it's really hard to find one.

Added fresh petrol to half a tank of old, drained carbs, three kicks and off it went.  A gentle spin down private road and MOT booked for next week, just in time for the weather to get wet again.

it turns out, is quite addictive. 

The summer heat has obviously addled my brain.  I decided to paint the swinging arm on my bike because it was very rusty, you know, almost dangerously so.  Nervously, and with no preparation, I applied a quick touch up with 1 inch brush and some 'Smoothrite'.  Growing more confident and getting slightly carried away I even painted the side panels carefully avoiding the '500 four' badges.  Of course, having made one part of the bike look shiney, the rest looked strangely 'barn find' so I strove on and knocked off most of the winter mud and, before I knew what I was doing, I had mixed some paraffin with old engine oil to put into an old kitchen spray container and proceeded to spray and rub over the whole machine.  My bike now has a lovely oily rag look and during my endeavours I even found good chrome on the rear wheel rim revealing the letters 'DID' for the first time in about ten years.  All in all my 'restoration' took about an hour and a half.

I am looking forward to riding to the shops to show off my ride in the village.