Honda-SOHC
SOHC.co.uk Forums => CB500/550 => Topic started by: Johnny4428 on January 28, 2022, 12:21:05 PM
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Wish I could say that my 550 had been a well loved example, but afraid not. In the late seventies I greatly admired and was a bit envious of a local chap who used to cruise about on this always shining example of this lovely Honda. Yes there was a load of other great looking bikes at the same time, most of them leaving an oily blue mist behind them, RD’s X7’s etc. I never got round to sitting my bike test then as I had an old car and couldn’t afford bike as well. Fast forward 5 years or so and with the introduction of two part test I sat and passed bike test first time. Timing was not very good regarding finance at this time, driving for the local council and earning a little extra as a retained firefighter (it helped a lot) we probably felt as if we were doing ok, having got our feet on the property ladder and number two daughter on the way. I was walking home from work one Friday and stopped in by a local second hand car dealer for a chat (he was quite a character) and assured you that he wouldn’t be frightened to go to London in a particular vehicle that you expressed an interest in, knowing full well that you would be lucky to make it to the ferry port. He said to me “beuy I’ve got the very thing for you, come and see this. And this is what I was presented with. Picture 1. O my! What happened to that lovely bike that I used to admire. Anyway we agreed on £210 for the bike. Fast forward a few months and after a lot of sand paper steel wool, chrome cleaner and good old Hammerite paint, managed to make a runner out of the wreck, as in picture 2. That was to be my only machine for the next 12 years until I bought the Matchless G3 for restoring. Financial situation had thankfully changed considerably. Fast forward again to around 2015 I thought about selling the 550 and getting something else, the exhausts were rotting she didn’t run very well and needed much work. When exhausts came on the market once again I decided to bite the bullet and get a new set. That was the start of a major commitment to carry out a full restoration which was done over the following couple of years (with a couple of time outs during this time). I never met the previous owner of the 550 but I fear we wouldn’t have had much in common. The bike was only 8 1/2 years old when I bought it.
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Final result looks good, especially looking at the starting point!
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Cheers Bryan! Yes people still say to me “hey you still got that old white Honda?”
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Thats ace Johnny, I love a bike with a brilliant history. You must be very proud to still have it and in such supeb restored glory. Well done mate.
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buen trabajo , asi es como debe de ser , comprar algo para siempre
good job, this is how it should be, buy something forever.
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Really nice finished bike - and great background story. Well done you!
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Thanks guys! It’s the only bike I have that I have any history with, I never imagined when I bought it in 1987 that I would still have it today. Glad now that I kept it.
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That's a great story Johnny,
Like the others have said, a real credit to you for improving it so much and hanging on to it for all that time. I was talking to Billy T today and he thought that bike was owned by Cllr Drever - is that so? Wonder who the 'Honest John' car dealer was? I'll keep guessing! I had my previous XJ-SC for 24 years and most of the Mini (a few re-incarnations later) for 52 and the GoldWing for over 20.
Ian
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That’s correct Ian, Andy Drever owned it not new, but as new and he was the one I remember running it around town. He certainly looked after it. I’ll tell you about the trader when we meet up.
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Well done Johnny for keeping the old girl runnoing and restoring her to her former glory. Great photos and back story.
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Interesting read Johnny - I especially like the photo with your daughter sitting on the bike - these are the type of photos I like they are a snapshot in time plus a potential coversation piece of family history in the future.