CB450 Café Racer Build. IT'S A ROLLER

I was debating whether to join this forum and this thread convinced me to get off the fence. INCREDIBLE EFFORT that is really paying off! I am sure your wife would prefer it if you put your OCD cleaning habit to work around the house more… ;D Super nice cleaning job.

As I am studying the seat area on my stock cb450 with malicious intent, I am wondering about the same issue. How much travel should I leave? I don’t want to hijack this most excellent build so could someone shoot me a link where that is discussed? Now where is the button to automatically follow this thread….
 
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WTF! Talk about a cliff hanger! Where'd you go?
Gonna go back and read all 15 pages...
 
wswann said:
I was debating whether to join this forum and this thread convinced me to get off the fence. INCREDIBLE EFFORT that is really paying off! I am sure your wife would prefer it if you put your OCD cleaning habit to work around the house more… ;D Super nice cleaning job.

As I am studying the seat area on my stock cb450 with malicious intent, I am wondering about the same issue. How much travel should I leave? I don’t want to hijack this most excellent build so could someone shoot me a link where that is discussed? Now where is the button to automatically follow this thread….


Hey thanks so much for the kind words ;D . To be honest I didnt think about the amount of travel that would be left I just winged it ::) , as to say I knew there would be enough but I didnt really know how close it would be. The three inch extension was going to lower it to far so I added the 2" of extra travel to compensate. I have plenty of room in my opinion since I have about 800# worth of shock for just me riding and about 2-3" of clearance I may at some point hit a bump that will bring my tire to hit the rear loop but it will take a lot of force and it will only hit for a fraction of a sec.
To know for sure how much room you will need you can take your springs out of your shocks, compress the dampener all the way and put them back on the bike, this will simulate completely compressed shocks and how far your tire COULD potentially go. Hope this helps

Hoosier Daddy said:
Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 30 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

WTF! Talk about a cliff hanger! Where'd you go?
Gonna go back and read all 15 pages...


Thanks again for the kind words, it means a lot guys. It was really hard for me to leave this bike as it sits but like a said earlier I didnt have a choice as I didnt have the money to ship it in the move :'( . The bike is being stored at my parents place back in Idaho and I am hoping to make it there sometime this summer to finish it up, if everything works out right. So dont give up on me yet ;) . The 450 will be one hell of a bike when I am done with her. in the meantime if you guys want to see my "OCD" in action again you can follow my other build in the chopper bobber section.
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=32612.0
Cheers.


JR
 
How are you getting on with this build?

I too have a CB450 (mostly a frame with wheels) and was thinking about extending the swing arm (or just fitting a CB500T swing), was wondering how the bike would react on the road with an extended swing arm? By that I mean rake and trail etc. not so much shocks.
 
Sonreir said:
It doesn't make the springs stiffer overall, it just makes them stiffer, initially. Once the springs compress to a given point, their stiffness is the same whether they started at that given point or whether they've have to first compress a little to get to that given point. To make springs stiffer overall you use fewer coils or thicker metal.

Yes, the spring rate is the same regardless of pre-load, but the total load required to compress a spring is higher with more pre-load, which equates to being "stiffer". So the Spring doesn't get any stiffer but the rear end does.

And that loop will need to be bent up. When teh tire contacts the loop after hitting a bump or pothole, the tire will temporarily stop rotating and in all probability the valve will be ripped out of the inner tube. And the OP's calculations of 730 pounds is wrong. Springs are probably 100 pounds per inch so two springs compressed 2 inches is 400 pounds of force applied to the wheel in an upwards direction and that's easy on a bumpy road at moderate speed or around Chicago and hitting a pothole.
 
HERE WE GO! so I have a place back in Idaho and it is time to get back to this project. I can't believe how long it has been. A little info on the last few years: I was trying to complete this bike to ship to Hawaii when we moved there in 2011 but couldn't finish it. we never did get into a place there where I felt comfortable shipping it to work on it (ie no garage). so after five fun years on the islands my wife and I decided we needed to be adults so we had our first baby :). In doing so we figured we should move back home to be closer to family and friends so we made the move back in 2016. I worked in construction with my brother for the last 2 years and decided I needed a carrier change so now I am in Boise going to school to be a machinist. We bought a house so I have my own garage space (not nearly big enough) so it is time to finish the café. I am going to get the bike out of storage next weekend and bring it down here.
To come: I have decided to do a modern sport bike front end, I love the way they look and now that I can make all my mounts it should be an easier job. Wiring needs to be done, I need to find a simple harness map to follow and eliminate all the clutter of the OEM one. Seat and Tank need to be mounted and painted. And many more little detail bits. :)



JR
 
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