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Teds new project a CB500 K1 mostly version 0.5 circa 1972.
McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
FWIW the later seat lock does not quite sit flat on the frame like my 400 one does.
It needs a little fettling on one area before I fit it back on.
McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
--- Quote from: Nurse Julie on November 28, 2022, 09:49:14 AM ---
--- Quote from: Bryanj on November 28, 2022, 02:34:14 AM ---Yes the seat lock brackets interchange, it was fitted with a later type lock as the best recovered seat i had was a later type, dont know what was original as nothing was on it.
Julie, i fitted the vin plate and had to drill holes for it as i said above the stampings would disapear under powder coat.
--- End quote ---
Ah yes, I've just read about the VIN tag on a previous post Bryan, sorry about that. Ted, on the V5 what date does it give as being registered in UK?
--- End quote ---
The V5 shows B. Date of first registration as 23 03 1972
[B,1]Date of first registration in the UK as 23 03 1972
Oddjob:
--- Quote from: McCabe-Thiele (Ted) on November 28, 2022, 11:57:34 AM ---FWIW the later seat lock does not quite sit flat on the frame like my 400 one does.
It needs a little fettling on one area before I fit it back on.
--- End quote ---
Could be the bracket is slightly bent Ted, or of course it could also be the difference between the K0 and K1 frames coming into play. Hard to tell without testing another bracket and seeing if that does the same.
With a first reg date of March 72 it looks like the bike was what is called a "Grey Import".
Nurse Julie:
--- Quote from: Oddjob on November 28, 2022, 02:10:41 PM ---
--- Quote from: McCabe-Thiele (Ted) on November 28, 2022, 11:57:34 AM ---FWIW the later seat lock does not quite sit flat on the frame like my 400 one does.
It needs a little fettling on one area before I fit it back on.
--- End quote ---
Could be the bracket is slightly bent Ted, or of course it could also be the difference between the K0 and K1 frames coming into play. Hard to tell without testing another bracket and seeing if that does the same.
With a first reg date of March 72 it looks like the bike was what is called a "Grey Import".
--- End quote ---
Agreed, its a 71 build registered in UK in March 72.Therefore its either an original UK K0 or most likely a grey import.
There are a lot of differences between K0 and K1 but as you say Ted, you're building a mongrel, so it doesn't matter. If you were to try and restore it to a stock UK K0, it will cost a fortune. It also shouldn't have a VIN plate, but I can see Bryan's reason for fitting one.
Oddjob:
I'd agree with that Ted. If the bike already had a lot of K0 parts fitted then I'd say it may be worthwhile to convert it back but that doesn't appear to be the case. The differences whilst not extreme were subtle but easy to spot if you knew what to look for, most people don't and TBH it doesn't matter anyway.
Officially Honda never imported the K0, I asked back in the late 70s when on a course at Honda and spoke to a few of the guys there, they said that Honda only ever officially imported 3 500K0s. One black, one brown and one gold, these were all for press testing. One was written off whilst on test, one was scrapped (no one knew why) and one was sold to a member of staff, they seemed to think it was the brown one. So unless yours is that one (and with that frame number it's almost impossible, the first ones imported would have had very low frame numbers I'd imagine) it's not meant to be here and was clearly meant for the European market. However interest in the 500 back then was high so some dealers imported some from contacts on the continent and hence were called grey imports. There won't have been that many imported like that as expense for one would not have made it commercially viable especially as the K1 was already on it's way. A genuine UK first registered 500K0 is a bit of a rarity so I'd be proud of that, not many about especially after all these years.
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