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Which CB650 to start with?

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 8:11 am
by CanB650
Hi all,
I bought 7 CB650s (1980, 1981, & 1982) off a nice gentleman who owned a motorcycle junkyard. Each has been sitting outside for years and had some parts scavenged off of it. But on the bright side, each has something (or many things) that is entirely intact! I have been thoroughly enjoying playing around with the roughest looking one, just because this one had good carbs, but thats about it.

My question to you is if I was going to rebuild one, which one should I use as the basis and why? I know CB650s changed significantly between 79 & 80, but I'm only dealing with 80 on.

Thanks for your help and feedback

Re: Which CB650 to start with?

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:46 am
by GeorgeSweety
Hi and welcome. We love pictures :D It's awfully hard to know what you've got to work with if we can't see them.

Re: Which CB650 to start with?

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:58 am
by Folsoml
Welcome! I would not say that they changed drastically between THOSE years. From 1980 to 1981, the carburetors changed from the mechanical slide PB carbs to the VB44's. Most everything else was the same. There were some differences between the regular models and the "C" models. Then in 1982, they introduced the Nighthawk version in addition to the regular version. They continued the Nighthawk for one more year as a double overhead cam bike--that was a significant change!

All that being said, George is right: We love pictures!