1974 cb500

[Beetleman]

I thought this was a nice find for some one, I've 2 too many bikes as it is. The price seems good.

https://tulsa.craigslist.org/mcy/6151607891.html

[chewy999]

Looks very nice from the photos you posted. Sounds like a bargain.

[Gowing]

Those are supposed to be so sweet, better handling and smoother than the big 750. Still affordable for now.

[Rat]

Seems steep for a non runner .... had one back in the day .... only bike I ever bought new .... clutch was wimpy ....

Gord

[ritalz]

I had a new one in 73. Think it cost me $1250 off the showroom floor.

[flyin900]

That's actually a great deal for a clean looking original bike. I agree with Rat somewhat though, since I have previously found most of my restoration projects on Kijiji in Ontario Canada. In the past few years it has just gotten stupid on there with sellers wanting unrealistic prices for these 70's early fours IMO for non running junk with no ownership in many cases.

Any bike like that up here would be $2.5-3K or more asking and if it was running with some work (ie) bobbed/cafed $5-6K asking. I see too many wannabes on Kijiji now that have built semi hack jobs at very high asking prices.

If that was local to me I would buy it, since I have restored a CB350 and CB400 four, yet no CB500/CB550 yet.

[Graham Cracker]

It's true that some sellers want unrealistic prices. Crazy. Same for used parts like seats, plastic panels and the like. I bought a '77 550 about 5 years ago that hadn't seen soap and water for years. It ran but needed a new tank and seat cover. When I told the seller I didn't know if my wife would go for it he told me to "just paint it another color". Not a good idea I said....she can count.

[Lucien Harpress]

CBs in general seem to command higher prices than what one (me) would think they're worth. I'm curious as to how much of that is bleed-over from the main showpiece, the CB750. I guess with the stock of those slowing drying up, people are moving on to the other bikes in the CB line? "It's not a 750, buuuuut....."

Still, it's definitely a looker. Looks like everything's there too, which probably helps. I've noticed that on my '72 CB750, the build quality was still being... "figured out". Things like exhausts in good condition command high prices mostly because they weren't built that well from the factory- thin wall, stamped mufflers, welded to the headers (so if one part's bad, you've got to toss the whole thing).... again, I'm no expert, but this is just my impressions and random musings, so I could be wrong.

[flyin900]

I think that in general in my area of Ontario in Canada that there has been an exponential growth of interest in these older bikes over the years, especially with the younger crowd who have been using these bikes to cafe and build bobbers. It has given rise to people who find these old bikes and have gradually been pushing up the prices with no real knowledge in the costs involved in a restoration in any form.
People have been paying these ever increasing prices so supply and demand for me has reached a tipping point; where it is rare now to find anything worth the asking price when the parts, tires, battery and paint etc are factored in. A bike that cost me $500 a few years ago and were reasonably plentiful just don't exist anymore in this price realm. They are now in the $1500-2000 asking and sometimes without an ownership, which becomes very complicated to obtain. The bike when restored depending on the model may only fetch $3000 and take quite a while to find a buyer willing to part with that amount.
Heck the Honda monkey bikes and small single cylinder S90's etc were a few hundred dollars as restoration candidates not that long ago and now are selling unrestored in the $1500+ range.

[oldmower]

Is it hard to restore one of these types of bikes. I was given a cb400 and a kz1000. And was wondering of they are worth fixing up and selling or just parting them out.

[wingrider]

Is it hard to restore one of these types of bikes. I was given a cb400 and a kz1000. And was wondering of they are worth fixing up and selling or just parting them out.

How hard is a relative term...how far gone are they? How much time and money do you want to put into them? Condition certainly plays a role in how easy they restore. Some folks can take a bike that is on the brink of being unidentifiable, and make it new again. Just depends on a lot of variables....

[JSBail]

It depends on you're definition of "hard". Some vintage bikes are indeed hard to restore simply because some are very hard to find parts for. Is your cb400 a 75 to 77 4 cyl? If so then unfortunately they are on the difficult side (but not impossible) to find parts for but they are rather desired because they have a very distinctive howl/scream to them when you wind them up that none of the other sohc4's have. Also do you intend on flipping the bikes once they're restored or keeping them for a bit? That to me is the biggest factor in whether it's worth it or not because if you intend on keeping the bikes then the sky is the limit because even if you do throw more money at them than they're worth you can get some return for you're investment by riding and enjoying the bikes, at least that's how I look at it.

I'm one of those that intentionally pick the bike in the absolute worst shape and bring it back to life. My very first bike I restored (resurrecting it is a better word) was a 75 cb550-4 that was in so bad a shape the previous owner had already started parting it out and missing half its parts because of it. I used a 74 cb500 as a parts bike that was actually in much better shape but the 500 didn't have a title where the 550 did. I can't logically explain why I'm such a glutton for punishment because it makes no sense financially but what I can say is that the sense of satisfaction I feel when I finish a project that started as neglected scrap and then firing it up for the first time in who knows how long and looking like new is VERY VERY satisfying.

[oldmower]

I'm not sure what they look like yet because owner of them now was supposed to take pics but hasn't and they are burried in a shed. All I know is the cb400 rear tire is locked.

[JSBail]

I'm not sure what they look like yet because owner of them now was supposed to take pics but hasn't and they are burried in a shed. All I know is the cb400 rear tire is locked.

The 400 could have a frozen chain. My cb550 sat for so long it's chain had froze due to rust, we had to drag it out of the shed it was setting in and then drag it into the back of my truck. Yeah I had some serious thoughts of what in the world was I getting myself into.

[oldmower]

I dont know how to attach a previous message but did you have problems finding parts for the cb550