1973 Honda CB500 Fork Rebuild

Reader Contribution by Mc Staff
Published on February 20, 2012
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In part 1 of Project Café 1973 Honda CB500, we had the bike stripped to the frame and we were making a parts list. We’d just gotten our frame, swingarm and centerstand back from Stuart Armstrong at Custom Coatings & Metal in Lawrence, Kan. That’s the frame pictured above with a collection of new parts from BikeBandit.com, and we’re still drooling over how well it came out. Now we just have to get the engine back in and all the other parts back on without ruining Stuart’s great work!

Fork rebuild

A major goal for this project is to give step-by-step instructions and advice on rebuilding and installing certain components. The fork tubes on our bike were ruined. When we removed the headlight brackets, we discovered they had trapped moisture inside them, rusting the upper 4 or 5 inches of the tubes. Although probably structurally sound, there’s no way we’ll give the bike away with bad parts on it, so we called up the friendly folks at Forking by Frank (847-475-1003) and ordered a brand new pair of fork tubes for the CB500. Custom-made (Honda no longer makes them), the tubes are excellent, and at $179 a set, they’re a bargain. So follow along and learn how to rebuild a set of Honda CB500 forks!

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