SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB500/550

Little history behind my 550K3

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Johnny4428:
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.

Bryanj:
Final result looks good, especially looking at the starting point!

Johnny4428:
Cheers Bryan! Yes people still say to me “hey you still got that old white Honda?”

Laverdaroo:
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.

murdock:
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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