Green Hornet CB 550/650 Hybrid #2014 Footage Compilation

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #speedo v2

I know. The lights are not that intensive as shown in the pics. Because of the dark my cellphone camera had a long exposure time.

It's bright, but not too bright in the dark.

The problem was, that a single LED did not spread the light enough to show the entire display correctly. When the bike's finished I'll test it driving in the dark. If it would be too bright then, I can easily open the gauge and connect a small resistance to decrease the intensity a bit since the LEDs still work properly around 10,5 Volts with estimated 2/3 to 1/2 of the current brightness.

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #fitted speedo lighting

ok, some movement over here.

Tacho-Unit was accidentally destroyed by my little sister. I have a replacement unit now, but the scale is broken. I'm waiting for a decal to cover the recently glued scale and its crappy look.

DAMMIT! I won't ever place a work like this on my desk without appropiate surveillance...

Since the bike speedo is not available, I have to go for another solution which does not look as clean as the first one. But MAYBE I'll try something else to get a good looking gauge.

So far, I've distracted myself from this dilemma by giving the swingarm the final attention. Unfortunately the next problem appeared, but what is a bike build without a neverending chain of new problems?

see yourself:

I turned some new bushings for the rear shocks by myself out of polyurethane, because the old ones were not useable anymore.

And placed some units on the naked frame again, just to get a view on the lines of the bike in future. In particular, I do that frequently to motivate myself finally not to give up that build since the finish line is already in sight.

The swingarm's tapered roller bearings were in a bad condition, so I ordered new ones. Let's see when they'll arrive.

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #speedo destroyed :O //new PU shock bushings

So here is my compromise for the speedo.

I managed to rebuild it, but still a small broken piece is left. That piece ís hidden under the speedo case's edge.
I'll get some decals to make it look like new.

So here is the comparison between the two layouts:

First one, was cracked by my sister:

The current state (4 bores for full beam, neutral, indicators and oilstand-LEDs):

I'm convinced it will look like new when the decal is applied and the screen's frame is painted black.#

So far...

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #Custom digital speedo finished+++Video

So here I am again with a finished speedo.
It has been quite a plenty of work to get here. Before you remind me of that crack in the gauge face, I have to tell you that I'll leave it as it is or fix it later.
But at the moment I think it adds some character to the bike, so not everything is perfect when it's finished.
Enough of words, here are the results:

MUUUUUCH brighter photo than it really is...

The 3 switches to adjust the speedo.

Video will follow in some minutes!

Tell me about your thoughts on this project ;-) !

 

[Tim]

Re: Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #Custom digital speedo finished+++Video

I think it's awesome! I'd definitely get Sonrier to whip you up a custom decal for that thing.

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #Custom digital speedo finished+++Video

That process is running currently

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #Custom digital speedo finished+++Video

Here's the video of some adjustment:
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/61479874">20130310 204457</a>

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #Custom digital speedo finished+++Video

Today I turned some 5mm alloy profiles into the following:

Bend the profiles into the right shape

Filed an polished

The result is a quite flat profile of the whole bike. That's the way to go.

There is enough space to adjust the speedo and connect the tacho's cable.

In my opinion this view straight over the tank is absolutely beautiful. It just looks so clean with just a single instrument....

 

[MatthiasSalzburg]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #manufactured my own instrument-brackets

Very nice and clean look. Love it.

 

[chicano]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #manufactured my own instrument-brackets

looks fantastic, great job!

 

[mattfeet]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #manufactured my own instrument-brackets

That is HOT! Nice work!

-Matt

 

[Rich Ard]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #manufactured my own instrument-brackets

Nice, simple solution. Well done indeed.

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #manufactured my own instrument-brackets

Thank you guys! I really spend some time on that tiny detail .


Today I got rid of my old chrome plated D.I.D rims and cutted both hubs out.
Since I have some new bearings here, I wanted to get those in before I give the hubs away for respoking with the new alloy rims.

Unfortunately I got stuck at the rear hub. The cap nut holding the jerk dampers does not come off the hub. I read that it has a left oriented thread, has it?
Do you have any tips to get this bloody nut off the rear hub?

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #rear hub nut stucked-any tips to get it out??

I finally got the retainer out. It has, as predicted a left oriented thread.

Since all the other solutions would not work with my really hard stucked hub without leaving serious marks , I decided to go for another solution.

Here's the retainer and hub-friendly solution I suggest:

Take an old sprocket and weld some flat steel on it, get some 8mm hardened bolts out of your local screw store and bore 2 fitting holes into another flat steel with about 1m length. The product, fully mounted, looks like that:

The only thing is, that your bench vise should be mounted firmly. Mine nearly broke it's mounting bolts into half while pulling on the lever.

Here's just a view from above, and let me tell you, that I still had to pull reaaaally strong. (Man, who had fastened the retainer that firm??)

Regards

 

[gheorghe]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #"rear-hub-retainer-and-alloy-friendly"-solution

Nice build and excellent attention to detail. Also, nice TT, I had one too but it was 10 years younger then yours 8) I loved that car!

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #"rear-hub-retainer-and-alloy-friendly"-solution

Nice build and excellent attention to detail. Also, nice TT, I had one too but it was 10 years younger then yours 8) I loved that car!

Thank you! Yeah, it has a nice handling and is really fun to drive.

The Easter weekend did not prevent me doing something.

I ordered very small indicators and a new lithium battery! The great advantages of this lithium battery are free mounting positions and a weight of just 400 grams (!!!!)
The battery-holder will be manufactured, when the battery arrives. Till then, I worked on the rear indicator mountings. Since I cut my frame I lost the two holes which were a possible mounting spot. Now I went another way and did the following:

Turned an alloy tube and threaded bushings which were glued into the tube to save some weight at this vibration-sensible spot.

Bend some alloy profiles to mount the tube with threads

The two screws represent the indicators in these pics. By the way, the profiles are shortened filed round into a good looking shape now.

The tube hides the indicators' cables and is bored right under a screw which fixes the plate holder under my seat. With this solution the cables are hidden and boundled when entering the seat's hump through the bored screw.

Next step was polishing the hubs to get them ready for respoking this week.
This is the result, which should not look like a mirror, since I don't want a "better than new"-rebuild.

Regards

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #indicator arms/hubs polished

Small update here:


New LiFePo-4 battery. Man, this thing does not even weigth 500 grams.

Used coils from a CB 900

Coils after some clean up:

Erased all the 40 year old tape from my wirings

Relocated my ignition lock

Overhauled my handlebar switches, polished and reassembled them.

The brake lever and some other pieces are still waiting for a polishing treatment.

Used the primer

Painted black

The chocolate cake went into the oven

Be careful, it's still hot!

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #handlebar switches rebuilt/paintjob/battery

The last weeks the project really developed!
Check this out.

Got my rims laced, new stainless spokes.

Fixed this hanging guy here

I made a brass bushing to get rid of the old oval bore.

That's it.

I mounted it and as you can see it's a real improvement. Moreover I got new fork protectors.

To improve the braking power and response, I shot a Nissin radial master cylinder from eBay. It's from a GSXR 750 K6 and has a piston diametre of 19mm.

The levers are now a bit different, but for an improvement of the brake system I am willing to ignore my sense for symmetry.


Next, the indicators arrived and I mounted the rear ones.

Mounted the front brakes. They are without pistons and brake pads, but they'll arrive soon.

Fixed the fork protectors with new stainless clamps.

And finally, the wheels got their tires. Bridgestone BT45 are mounted in the following dimensions: Front-3.25x19 Rear-4.00x18

Some impressions of the bike now. I took those parts and assembled it for a short overview of what the finished bike might look like.

So tell me, what do you think? Any experiences on using modern master cylinders?

Additionally, I thought about a name for the bike. My favorite candidate is "Eleanor"...

Kindest Regards,

Oette

 

[Modgod1]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #got my driving license!

It's been a long time, but finally the parts made their way back home from powdercoating and glassbeadblasting. They are looking like new ones.

Check the pics out!

The engine looks great here, what was done to it exactly? Is that the engine in silver with no inners, and was bead blasted, all in one peice??

 

[Oette]

Re: CB 550 K Cafe Racer Conversion #got my driving license!

The engine looks great here, what was done to it exactly? Is that the engine in silver with no inners, and was bead blasted, all in one peice??

I disassembled it first, all mechanics are out, the case is totally stripped in that picture.
The case was first plastic bead blasted to get rid of the old paint, then glassbead blasted for the finish as it stands there.