Beschreibung:

Honda followed its sensational CB750 with a range of smaller fours, the first of which - the CB500 - appeared in 1971. The half-litre newcomer was just as well specified as its larger brother, boasting an overhead-camshaft engine, five-speed gearbox, electric starter and disc front brake. Bike magazine reckoned there were several reasons for preferring the smaller four: ‘For starters the 500 is a lighter machine with a shorter wheelbase. It therefore has a better power-to-weight ratio than its bigger brother and, significantly, it handles better through the curves. In fact, the 500 is faster up to 60mph in a straight line and its 80mph only a fraction of a second behind the 750.’ Upping the engine capacity by 10 percent, the CB550 offered the same blend of performance and civility when it first arrived in the USA in 1973. UK buyers had to wait another three years to sample it, by which time the model had been joined by the CB550F, with 4-into-1 exhaust and sportier styling. Bike was unstinting in its praise of Honda’s newly enlarged middleweight, stating: ‘We believe the CB550 provides one of the finest balances between performance, economy and handling quality in today’s motorcycling arena’. Britain’s best-selling motorcycling magazine went on to state that it considered the CB550 ‘one of the better bikes to emerge from Honda’s design team in recent years’. The passage of time has, inevitably, transformed what was once a cutting-edge sports bike into an increasingly collectible classic, and few examples can be more desirable than this particular machine which has had only two owners and recorded 6,115 miles from new. More admired than ridden, the machine was last MoT’d to August 2008 and is offered for sale freshly serviced and with Swansea V5