I know its a long shot but I’m looking for any forum members who can help me in my quest to track down a 500 sport desmo parallel twin. Due to space considerations I shall be moving on my 1991 900ss either in part exchange or as a sale. Any help gratefully received. Perhaps a collector out there would like to swap? cheers, Simon.
My quest continues. Still looking for a good, running 500 sport desmo. Preferably UK based. Thanks for looking.
Does it has to be in the UK or is an european bike also good? There is one for sale at the moment in the netherlands for 3500€. Now idea what they are worth at the moment,i have one as well but not for sale. Henk!!!
So, to cut a long story short, I found a pristine black and gold 350GTV in a dealer in Birmingham. It is in perfect running order. I have also bought a 500 sport desmo motor (to be rebuilt) plus SD seat and rearsets so I will end up with a mini Darmah. And I will always have the 350 motor as a spare in case the 500 goes pop. However, there is quite a bit of know-how on these motors now and, hopefully, a rebuilt motor matched to the last iteration of the running gear will give a reliable, enjoyable and very beautiful bike. I the meantime, I passed on a very expensive 500SD at a dealer (9K!!!) and a complete shed of a bike that was on the Bay for a ridiculous 6750...although that was later significantly reduced on Car and Classic.
Steadily working my way through all the issues to get a perfect running example. Latest roadblock is swapping out the magnesium speedline wheels for aluminium FPS ones. I did by a pair from a contact in the facebook group but it turns out the front wheel has had its bearing carriers cut off in the past. So I am looking for an intact FPS Snowflake front wheel. Any one got one for sale?
Finally managed to get my wheel issue sorted. One pair of gold FPS snowflake wheels are ready to fit. Now the top end engine rebuild starts. Finding it very difficult to get the rocker arms back in....its a 3 way fight with spindles, springs and shims and Im losing ATM!!. Can any one point me to a good 'how to' resource? Searching this forum for desmo head rebuild not helped so far.
I have no clue of how the valve mechanism is configured on the 500 but this is the tool used on the old bevel desmos. Still a faff but does make it slightly easier.
