Found a $300 CB550

I'm finally in to building the forks. There are a lot of companies selling suspension for vintage motorcycles but most are junk. Then there is the problem of 1 size fits all. It takes a little more digging to find companies that offer the correct stuff. Fortunately Racetech is an excellent source for vintage suspension. I can do Ohlins type cartridges without having to think about it at this point but although the old stuff is simpler, I had to speak to tech support to get some answers on the cartridge emulators today. They were excellent and totally helpful.

I also watched 3 different websites showing how to assemble the forks that come on the CB 550 & 750. Specifically, I was looking for a trick to tighten the screw on the bottom that goes into the damping rod and holds the entire fork together. I'm sure a lot of people have seen videos of people doing wheelies and the lower tube and wheel falls off. 2 of the 3 how toos were young guys and they were tightening the screw into the rod with an impact gun without securing the damping rod. If you don't secure it, then it just spins the rod and you don't get it tightened enough to be sure the bolt won't come out. I also guessed that you should use some type of thread locker. The 3rd video I watched was from Common Motor Collective. The guy that does their videos addressed the issues that I was looking for. My forks will not fall apart because I listened to idiots. You have to be very careful who you listen to online. There are people out there that seem to be competent and professional that are giving advice and making how to videos that in reality have no clue.

Yesterday I spoke to Jeff from Godffrey's Garage. Glad I did. He gave me a lot of great info. I sent my 2 front brake calipers to him so he can modify them and installs banjo fittings so I can use braided stainless lines. Cool detail. Cool guy.

Today I dropped the top and bottom triple trees, the caliper brackets and a few other parts at the powder coat guy. I'll get them back next week and then I can assemble the entire front end, wrap it in plastic and stick it in the back of the garage while I move on to other parts of this build.
 
On to the forks. Every part is new except for the lower tubes and the damping rods. The brass thingies are Racetech cartridge emulators. They just sit on top of the damping rods and flow oil like modern cartridge forks. The only modification required is to drill a few additional holes in the damping rods. I'm also adding preload adjustable caps. They'll never perform as well as modern forks but they'll be a good as possible while keeping the stock look.

I'm not a big fan of putting modern upside down forks on these Hondas. I have an MT10 which is modern and I love it. , I want my 77 to retain the looks of a 77.

It took me 2 days to disassemble, clean and then sand and polish the lower tubes. It took me a little over an hour to put them together. The only reason I didn't finish is because I don't have the correct weight oil. Except for the caps, they look completely stock.

This is the picture of all of the components ready for assembly and a picture of the finished forks.
20240324_174520.jpg
20240323_204325.jpg
 
Last edited:
I tend to wonder how many of those swaps work. Geometry changes, different lengths and spring rates. I'm not a suspension expert but I can install cartridges and set up modern motorcycles. Unless somebody gave me detailed instructions and exact part numbers to use, I don't think I could figure out a working combination with adding forks from a different bike altogether. I suspect that most of these fork swaps don't handle for shit and ride worse but it looks cool to have a retro motorcycle with upside down forks. My opinion.
 
chesterburnet said:
I tend to wonder how many of those swaps work. Geometry changes, different lengths and spring rates. I'm not a suspension expert but I can install cartridges and set up modern motorcycles. Unless somebody gave me detailed instructions and exact part numbers to use, I don't think I could figure out a working combination with adding forks from a different bike altogether. I suspect that most of these fork swaps don't handle for shit and ride worse but it looks cool to have a retro motorcycle with upside down forks. My opinion.
Click to expand...
You are likely not wrong. It takes a lot of math and skill to do a good fork swap. Most don't know how and wing it. There are some who get it right but a lot don't.
 
I had some parts powder coated so I can assemble the front end. I also wanted to see if this powder coat guy does good work before I send him more stuff. Next I will install fork, swingarm and wheels so I can check the lines of the seat mount and check fit everything before I powder coat the frame.
20240327_125434.jpg
 
Last edited:
The powder looks good, do you mind me asking you how much it ran you to have those few parts done? I'm at a similar stage as you where I'm debating having things powder coated.
 
Luugo86 said:
The powder looks good, do you mind me asking you how much it ran you to have those few parts done? I'm at a similar stage as you where I'm debating having things powder coated.
Click to expand...
$120. He did a good job. Sandblasted, taped off the threads and didn't miss any spots. They look excellent up close.
 
Last edited:
I'm at the point of assembling stuff and now I'm finding all of the odds and ends that I need to complete things. I have the original parts but once you finish the big stuff, you can't put rusty nuts and bolts on it. I've tried to refinish a few but they just don't come out that good. Fortunately you can find most any Honda CBs fastener new even though it's a 45 year old motorcycle.

I took a day off this week and spent the entire day doing motorcycle stuff. I am doing dual calipers along with eliminating the stock speedo for a Motogadget electronic sensor one. I bought the JW designs speedometer blank out but it isn't designed to interface with the second disc. The guy on "Ride The Miles" details his 2 disc conversion and had a neat spacer machined. I grabbed some screen shots and measured everything up and found a local machine shop to make one for cheap money. I Got my tires mounted, brought the frame to a welding shop to find out how to prep to weld it back together. The owner of the performance shop saw my wheels when I brought them in to be mounted and and asked me if I did them myself and was very complimentary. It's cool when a professional recognizes your good work. Also went to a custom builders shop to see what he's working on. Motorcycle days are pretty cool.

Hard to believe it was almost 2 months of weekends to get these done. I can't believe how much heavier they are in comparison to the huge wheels and tires on my MT10.
20240403_093430.jpg


washer 1.jpg


washer 2.jpg


washer 3.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've been busy doing work around the house but still have found time to keep working on this Honda. I've been bouncing around waiting on parts from machinist and powder coater. Since I decided to change this to tracker style, I had to cut off the nasty rear hoop that the previous owner fabricated and restore it to stock. I was able to test fit the seat and it it fits like it is stock with the rear frame restored. Since I'm deleting the rear fender, I wanted put a plate within the frame rails to keep water and debris getting on the pods. Not a lot of people do this but I saw a few and thought it was a great idea and looks pretty cool. I need to get it to the welder now.

A stock 77 CB550F weighs 421 pounds. I think that between all the original stuff that I'm eliminating and cutting off and replacing modern parts, I'll be able to get it down to about 375. Hell, the original stock tires feel like they weigh 4 times as much as a modern tire. They were rock hard too. I think you could get away with no air in the tires they were so rigid.

I keep thinking I'm going to get things done way faster than I actually do. I made a home made tool to press out the the shock bushings on the swing arm. Very simple except the bolts I bought from Home Depot weren't strong enough and bent and stripped so I had to get higher quality bolts. They worked perfectly but it added almost a week for them to arrive.
20240421_184539.jpg

20240421_184601.jpg


20240421_184302.jpg
 
I have been doing a lot of work but it feels like I'm not making much progress when in fact I am. Grunt work never looks impressive whether it's mechanical work, construction, decorating or cooking, but it's what makes everything that comes after look great. I'm still working on the frame and it's close to being done. I bought a $70 Harbor Freight brake so I can make a tray, a metal seat pan reinforcement and I want to redo the inner fender as the bend is not good enough to suit me. I've got most of the nasty tedious grunt work done and am now close to test assembling everything after which I'll send the frame off to the powder coater.

I decided to get the swingarm powder coated now because I didn't want to get it done with the new bearing kit and new shock bushings in. I just picked it up along with a few other parts I had done. The color is Mercedes silver and the pictures don't do it justice. This finish and color just pop. It's a early preview for me to see the finished color. I'm on my anti black motorcycle campaign and I have to say that IMO, when I put these powder coated parts along side the brushed and polished aluminum and chrome, the combination looks awesome.
20240503_124333.jpg
 
Nice progress man, are you gonna powder coat the frame or just rattle can it?
 
Luugo86 said:
Nice progress man, are you gonna powder coat the frame or just rattle can it?
Click to expand...
I'm going to powder coat the entire frame. I want to do a test assembly to make sure there are no modifications I need to do before I get it powder coated. I did the swing arm first because I don't want install the bearing kit and new shock bushings only to have to remove them for powder coating. Between sandblasting prep and the actual powder coat finish, it hides a lot of imperfections.
 
I'm still working on this build. I've been trying to find a good welder and nobody wants to do this type of work. I'm not a welder and this has stalled me since the winter. About 3 weeks ago I went out for a ride on my MT10 and 2 minutes out I spotted a cafe racer and I followed him to an ice cream parlor right down the road. I introduced myself and was checking out his build which was a Kawasaki 250 cafe racer that was a seriously cool budget build. What made it so cool was that he did a bunch of custom fabricating which was beautiful quality. I asked if he welds and said yes, he has a small hobby motorcycle business. A couple of days later I brought my frame over to his little shop which is called Lizzie's Choppers - He lives 2 doors away from the LIzzie Borden murder house.


I told him my plan, what I had fabricated and what needed to be welded. Not only did he weld, but made suggestions and improvements. It is so cool getting to work with someone like this. This is the only part of this project I couldn't control and it's exceeding my hopes and expectations. He has no head for business so I had to insist on paying him almost double what he asked. It's a matter of respect and doing the right thing. He's also somebody that I can learn from and generally pretty cool to hang out with.


In the mean time, I have been doing stuff also. I'll be picking it up in the next day or so and now finally begin to put it together and test fit everything. My motor, wheels, forks, swing arm are all finished and ready to install. Once I get it all fit up, I'll take it apart and send the frame to my powder coater. It's satisfying to realize that the grunt work is behind me. Assembly is generally pretty easy on these bikes when you do the grunt work well.


I'll post some pictures of the frame when I pick it up. It won't show well in pictures until it gets sand blasted and powder coated but it's excellent prep and fabrication. Hopefully with the easily over $8000 in parts I have to hang on the frame , it'll look like something.
 
Fork swaps can work well, but unless you can machine your own parts the cost adds up quick. And you are very correct on the length, most modern forks are pretty short compared to 70s/80s bikes. My XS works well with zx6 forks, but I swapped the rear suspension too. If the bike had needed to be lower toget the rake right I would have had to make triples that moved the fork clamp locations down.

I have to give you a thumbs up for keeping at the build. A lot get abandoned when skill runs out. Machining, welding, engine work etc. have probably stopped more builds than anything else. I know my bike would have easily cost 3x as much if I couldn't machine, weld and scrounge the scrap bin at work.
 
Here is the frame ready for finish sanding and then test assembly. It looks a little rough because it's unfinished but it's some nice fabrication. The tail section is restored back to stock to work with the tracker seat. All of the electronics and battery will fit in the trays which will leave the center section completely empty. I made a plate to go in the section where the lower fender would be. Not an original idea as I've seen it done on other builds. It will keep the pods dry if I get caught in the rain and it looks pretty cool.
20240724_214755.jpg
20240724_214827.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom