The carburetors on the CB500/550 are jewels. Easy to service, easy to remove and replace, and so very basic that they are wonderfully easy to keep clean, keep synched, and maintain. Keep Sta-Bil in them at all times, year-round. That's the only big deal.

And I really like these carbs. So very simple, elegantly so, I think. I live at altitude so it took a few times with the carbs off and on to get the jetting just right. But now they perform flawlessly. I have stopped rebuilding this model carburetor as a part of my business for reasons I explain elsewhere. But that's not the carbs' fault. It's a great carburetor.

In the last year there has arisen a significant maintenance issue however. While the factory is still making available float valves, they have recently run out of the other high-wear parts, the jet needle and needle jet. Of course, only maybe one out of every five rebuilds requires this critical part, but the need for the part and its total absence from the market means twenty percent of these carbs can no longer be properly rebuilt. And this is indeed a crisis as the aftermarket has yet to reproduce these parts in anything approaching OEM quality. You really don't want Chinese parts in your carburetors.

The tactic then is to locate a salvage yard in an area that experiences shortened riding seasons and buy a salvage carb set with the hope of finding within them some low mileage jet needles and needle jets. But be quick about it. The clock is ticking.

Carb rebuild how-to booklet