Echo of the Alpine rides

Imagine having a brand new CB500 Four and the Alps as your backyard! Robert Pfeffer was this lucky in the early seventies. Robert told me about how he loved this bike and that he remembered the moment he first saw and read about it in Cycle magazine. He still has the cover of this magazine hanging on his basement wall. He was happy to share his pictures and experiences to be used on this website. Thank you Robert!

Here is the story and cool pictures from a CB500 Four (K0) in the Alps!

After reading the article about the new CB 500 Four in Cycle magazine I decided to buy one in March 1972. This was by far the best bike I owned in those years. No overweight and double chain as the primary drive like the big older sister CB750. Stable motor, a disc brake in the front wheel and a good chassis - what more could you want.

Fifty ponies were good for the ton and a bit more. This motor was smooth as a turbine and absolutely reliable. The oil pressure switch was prone to leak oil thought. Be this was cured by two-component resin. One of the last bikes provided with electric- and kick-start. The four header pipes coloured nicely.

My first bike equipped with a disk brake. A real step forward compared to the 200 mm drum brake of the CB450 K0 (Black Bomber) I drove before.

And what a great sound at 9,500 revolutions along alpine rock faces up the passes! I'd ridden about 30.000 km (close to 20.000 miles) when I sold it.

Robert Pfeffer

(Also check out Roberts website: www.pfeffer.ch)

Summer of 1973 at Centovalli.

In Southern Switzerland with my future wife and a friend.

Yeah, a 500 Four's got to have four exhausts, just like Hailwood's.

March 1973, 26.558 km (16.506 miles) on the clock.