CB550K1 - that Gulf bike
- Thread starter Ringo
- Start date
Well, yesterday evening and today were kind of a waste. With the extra frame bracing and foot peg brackets, the frame picked up a couple of pounds, so I wanted to offset that by fabricating a side stand from aluminum. Plenty of bikes use Al side stands right? Probably just not made of 6061 of unknown temper though…
I used .525” hexagonal bar stock for the tubular part of the stand, which did not even stand up to the weight of just the chassis w/o motor. I don’t have the ability or know-how to temper the finished stand to what it probably needs, but I could try again with some thick-walled aluminum tube maybe, instead of solid rod. Or just go stainless I guess.
I used .525” hexagonal bar stock for the tubular part of the stand, which did not even stand up to the weight of just the chassis w/o motor. I don’t have the ability or know-how to temper the finished stand to what it probably needs, but I could try again with some thick-walled aluminum tube maybe, instead of solid rod. Or just go stainless I guess.
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My metallurgy knowledge is just enough to get me in trouble, but I learned this today, and wanted to share. Weakening in the heat affected zone is my main issue, as that looks to be where most of the bending happened. Heat treating the part at home is possible, 160-190C for varying amounts of time, but won’t bring the HAZ back up to the original strength.
I think aluminum will be fine but you need a bigger cross-sectional dimension on the kickstand rod to compensate for the softer material. I personally would not choose aluminum here unless weight savings was imperative as the kickstand takes some abuse. Ive made a few kickstands out of chromolly and I used 7/8 tube with .095" wall. they are light and strong. rigidity comes from a larger cross sectional dimension not from being solid material.
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I've done similar. Tubing for the stand with a machined piece welded for the hinge. I think you could do similarly with a machined aluminum hinge that threads, or is pressed into tubing.
Yep, aluminum could work just fine here, but I’m looking at a 5/8” 3/4” tube at a min, which is getting chunky. And I stopped by my local metal supplier today, no aluminum tube whatsoever. So I bought stainless.
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Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
Nice. As for your decal question. Hit up Matt @Sparkmoto he has a guy that does good ones. I used them on the magna resto mod and were factory perfect.
Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
Ha cause you haven't needed vinyl in a while LOL
Truth! Haha
JustinLonghorn
No Purple Hearts, No Blue Ribbons
Welcome back, my man!
Thanks Justin! It just wouldn’t be right posting this build anywhere else.
buzznichols
Been Around the Block
After all these years, I've still got a crush on your bike.
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Oh man, me too! Thanks, I’m just glad it decided to take me back!
Brakes are almost done. When I pulled the calipers apart, I found one phenolic and one stainless piston. I always meant to replace the heavy stainless one, but guess I never did. So now that’s done. These things are slick—very light and cheap.
The rotors came back from Tom at TrueDisk. They look beautiful, and came out to 4.2mm. I should have weighed them before I sent them off, but they’re much lighter regardless. I went ahead and repainted the carriers, since one had already been resprayed and was looking rough.
No more speedo cable, so I was able to flip the forks and position the calipers behind them.
As for the cylinder studs, they’re being a real pain in the ass. I’m throwing in the towel and going to a machine shop. I’ve tried everything with the tools I have, short of drilling them out.
The rotors came back from Tom at TrueDisk. They look beautiful, and came out to 4.2mm. I should have weighed them before I sent them off, but they’re much lighter regardless. I went ahead and repainted the carriers, since one had already been resprayed and was looking rough.
No more speedo cable, so I was able to flip the forks and position the calipers behind them.
As for the cylinder studs, they’re being a real pain in the ass. I’m throwing in the towel and going to a machine shop. I’ve tried everything with the tools I have, short of drilling them out.
Some accidental progress today. I was never really happy with the position of the foot pegs, originally. They’re too far back, and a hair too high. For this go-around, I had planned on making some aluminum mounting plates with multiple peg mount holes for the foot pegs, which bolt to the plates I welded to the frame. After comparing the Tarozzi and Raask peg locations to my original peg mounts, I decided to mount the pegs to the actual steel plates on the frame, and skip the aluminum plates altogether. Shame because they’re now overkill, and unpainted on the back where I surfaced them for a smooth mating surface with the aluminum plates. I’ll just have to keep a thin grease coat on them so they don’t rust, because I’m not mixing a fresh batch of paint for that small an area… oh well.
Yellow is original location, green is Raask, purple is Tarozzi, blue is stock, and white is intended mount holes on the aluminum plate.
The peg position and rider triangle in general feels natural and familiar now. Very similar to the sport/track bikes I’ve owned in the interim.
Also trying to figure out what I want to do with the gauge cluster. I’ve got lots of aluminum sheet, so I think a cluster / mini windscreen, similar to the current gen Triumph street or speed triples is in order. Low profile, just enough to bridge some of the gap between the headlight and gauge face plate.
And new headlight brackets. I couldn’t stand the home jobs on there originally, and thought these looked nice.
Yellow is original location, green is Raask, purple is Tarozzi, blue is stock, and white is intended mount holes on the aluminum plate.
The peg position and rider triangle in general feels natural and familiar now. Very similar to the sport/track bikes I’ve owned in the interim.
Also trying to figure out what I want to do with the gauge cluster. I’ve got lots of aluminum sheet, so I think a cluster / mini windscreen, similar to the current gen Triumph street or speed triples is in order. Low profile, just enough to bridge some of the gap between the headlight and gauge face plate.
And new headlight brackets. I couldn’t stand the home jobs on there originally, and thought these looked nice.
I was shocked when I got it! I asked the seller for better photos, but they didn’t help, so I took the gamble on it because of the price. Nice little surprise.
