Honda-SOHC

My speedo has stopped working, it won't register above 50mph.  Does anyone know if other honda clocks have the right ratio to work on cb500/4?  It's just that if I find one from say a 750 or 500t or 550 etc then it would do to tide me over.  I've resorted to a km/h speedo for the time being but it's not ideal.

Thanks for that, on it will go then next time I have the front wheel off.

I have a drilled disc in my workshop but I never put it on.  Does anyone know if they make any difference?

Thanks Steve, I'm going to look at it today, probably replace it with a toggle switch for the time being until I can get the proper part.  Luckily for me 500/4s in a condition like mine are not really a target for bike thieves.  Having said that someone did try to hot wire it once and messed up all of my coil wires; so annoying.

I felt I should share a scary experience with you because I don't want it to happen to anyone else.

Basically, whilst going round a corner in the dark last night all of the electrics went out, lights, engine, etc.  It was a very dark, rainy night and there was no moon or streetlights to help.  Luckily for me I knew the road well and wasn't going too fast and there were no cars around so I managed to blindly get round the bend and stop safely.  If it had been a sharper corner I would have ended up in the hedge.

On inspection the fault turned out to be with the ignition switch.  The barrel seems to have become worn because when I wiggled the key everything came back on again.

I would say that anyone who hasn't replaced their ignition switch recently should have a look.  Switch the bike on then apply slight pressure to the key.  If it goes off you will see what I mean.  This is obviously very dangerous and until last night the switch had seemed perfectly ok so be warned.

My front brake has always made a terrible scream.  I find it comforting though because it seems to be about the only thing going on down there!  At least people can hear me coming up to a corner, which I am sure must be a good thing.  I don't think it's possible to eliminate it completely.  Last time it went quiet the brake needed adjusting and was performing worse than ever.  As soon as I had adjusted it the familiar squeal returned.  I am sorry that this doeasn't help, just offering solidarity from a fellow front brake noise polluter.

If you take a length of brass wire (long enough so you can't drop it completely down the plug hole) you should be able to put it down the plug hole and as you turn the engine over gently on a spanner you can feel which direction the piston is moving.  Take off the rocker caps and watch that the inlet valve is opening as the piston goes down rather than when it is coming up.  The valve timing may look right but in fact could be 180 degrees out.  If someone has assembled it incorrectly a top end strip will sort it out.

As for the blank cases, a friend of mine bought cb350 crankcases new from david silver spares as his original ones were damaged.  The new part came without a number on it.

Has anyone sucessfully put a wheel with a twin leading shoe drum brake into a cb500/4 or cb550? and if so what did you use and how good is it?  I used to have a bike (cb350k) with a TLS drum brake years ago and it was excellent and would lock the front wheel if pulled hard which is something my current disc brake will never do.  I know it might seem like a retrograde step but i'm sure it could work.