Honda CBR 500 Riders Forum banner

1981 Honda cb500f with a silver wing 500cc gl swap

277 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Thrasherg
Sup y’all,

looking to purchase a custom cafe racer. The frame and body is the cb500f with a gl 500 engine swap from a silver wing. Here are my questions aswell as an attached photo. Am I going to have too much power? No trying to wheelie on accident and shiz (Ik it’s shaft drive). Would the engine swap make it more powerful than the original engine. It’s also been weight reduced due to it being a cafe racer. I’m not doubting it’s reliability just am not trying to get into the zoo miss either. Usually into cruisers but wanted to switch up and get a cafè racer. I’ll be commenting any other questions. Please help. Thank you ALSO lmk how much you think I could sell it for
Tire Wheel Fuel tank Vehicle Automotive tire
See less See more
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
Hmm, interesting. To be honest I don't know this particular bike and engine neither this forum is dedicated to them. However I could give you an opinion regardin cafe racers as former nechanic and engineer at the present. IMHO 90% of cafe racer bikes are amateurish pieces of crap. They are made with no regards of rideability neither handling qualities, with poor weldings and badly made wirings. Ok to make 1000km per year avoiding wet weather and high speeds.

Of course there are also 10% pieces of art made by pros with solid engineering background - the unique that worths the money. They have nice finishing, well made wiring, paint, quality components and they are built to last.

And looking at the pic I bet this bike is more likely to be in the first category. The finishing is awfull - the author just ****** up great classic bike.
See less See more
Not to burst your bubble, but I really doubt that is a cb500 frame, the cb500 is chain drive, the gl500 is shaft drive, you can see the bike has the shaft drive on the right hand side of the swing arm, there is no way someone would modify a cb500 frame to accept a shaft drive, and the swing arm is clearly the gl500 swing arm. I think you have a customized gl500 motorcycle, maybe with a cb500 front end fitted., unless you fully trust the builder, I would walk away, you have no idea how reliable the bike will be, how well the work was done, and what the insurance companies will cover..
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
Top