Thanks again for the nomination, very flattering.
A little history on my 1976 CB550F Super Sport:
Back in 'o2 I wanted to find a 400F to make a track bike out of. I had one in the past and loved it. A friend of mine who is a very talented machinist told me about a guy he knew who had a 550F for sale. This guy was also a very talented machinist. I wasn't really interested in a 550 but thought what the hell, I'll take a look at it. We went over to his house and there in the back of his garage was this rolling chassis that he had started on back in the late 80's. He was the original owner and said it only has 23K on the clock. His intention was to also make a vintage road racer out of it. Perfect! He got married, started a family and the project stalled. It sat for 12 years, untouched, but stored perfectly. He had already stripped it down and removed as much weight as he could. He then proceeded to make some of the most beautiful, one-off, hand made parts for it I had ever seen. My jaw was on the floor. He made all the brackets, hangers, rear sets, clip-ons, and carefully crafted new engine covers for it. He also made the fork brace which is a work of art by itself. It had a brand spankin' new era-correct Kerker 4 into 1 on it, too. He had also removed the starter and alternator to go total loss. He said he shaved at least 15 lbs. off the engine alone. He had 2 early mid-70's Cycle World magazine articles (which I also got) that he was using as a reference showing what they were doing on a project bike to prep one for racing. That included using the stock airbox with an external filter. He made new mounts and laid the (Boge Mullholand) rear shocks forward 2 inches. The rear shocks even have hand-machined adjusters that you can turn by hand rather then having to use a tool. Gorgeous pieces. He installed the second disk brake, which have the forks turned around so the calipers mount on the rear instead of in front of the forks. All trick stuff to do back then. He even went as far as to machine the rear brake adjuster in the same knurled aluminum that he made the rear set foot pegs out of. Amazing attention to detail. The rear hub was beautifully vented. He went as far as to machine a tiny finned aluminum cover to screw into the right side mirror hole on the throttle! It also came with all the OEM parts he took off. I was literally drooling at this point and tentatively asked what he wanted for it. He said $400..what..? $400!!!! OMG..I was doing everything in my power not to scream like a little girl! He just wanted it to go to a good home, and to someone that would finish it in the way it deserved. I couldn't write the check fast enough. Screw the 400F plan!! I got it home, hooked a battery up to it, kicked it 3 times, and it lit right off. It runs perfect.
Over the course of 5 months I, along with the help of the machinist friend that told me about it, finished it. We took the same approach as the original owner had intended. Carefully making a headlight/fairing mount, tach mount, rear subfender mount and a trick mounting system for the front fender and rear sub fender. The original front fender is cut in two, and mounted on the front and back of the fork brace. The fender stays were also sectioned to lower it down as close to the tire as possible. The rear sub fender was originally a Yamaha front fender, cut down the middle and widened 1 inch.
I made the fiberglass tail section from scratch using the back half of the tank as a mold. I cut a 4" pie section out of the middle of it to narrow it and then 'glassed it all back together again. The tail light is from a salvage yard. I "think" it's from a Suzuki RG500 2-stroke. I frenched it in flush with the back and used LED tail light bulbs. We ditched the original wire harness and made a very simplified new harness. No key. Just a hidden toggle switch. We then made a simple dash to mount rocker switches for the lights. Because it's total loss we wanted to be able to preserve as much juice from the battery as possible. I can turn the head light and tail light off for back road carving, and turn them on when needed. The brake light is hard wired to only come on with the rear brake applied, again to conserve power. I have 2 batteries, one full-sized mounted pretty much in the stock position next to the K&N filter, and a small "emergency" battery under the swing arm. A 3-position toggle switch controls the ignition, which battery to use, and can be done on the fly. I get about 6 hrs. of riding time out of the main battery (not mounted in pics) and about an hr. out of the reserve battery. It's never left me stranded. I'm 6' tall, so riding it for a few hrs. with clip-ons and rear sets is about all I can handle anyways..
! It revs so much freer w/o the starter and alternator. I've had it up to a GPS confirmed 117 mph. Might get 120 out of it if taken deep into red line, but just don't want to do that. Not bad for a stock 550 engine.
I did all the paint and finish work. The bike has been on the track, in the rain, and gets ridden about 500 hundred miles per year is all. I was fortunate enough to have it featured as an "American Flyer" in Cycle World, and placed second in class at the '08 Legend of the Motorcycle show. I missed 1st place by 1/2 point due to it having a small bungee strap holding the reserve battery in it's place. They said if it would've had a rubber or metal one, it would have won. That's how tight the judges scoring was. I was happy just to be there. Riding it up to the podium was one of the proudest moments of my life, lemme tell ya!
It's been the jewel of my collection since the day I got it. I'm looking forward to many more years with it. Oh, BTW..who was the first guy to ride it after I got it done? Tom Rasp, the guy I bought it from. He came back with it and told me he was blown away by how it handled, accelerated and stopped. Just the way he had always hoped it would. You could tell he was ambivalent at that point about selling it, but was thrilled someone could do it justice in his eyes.
These "glamor" shots were for the Cycle World photo shoot. Thanks for looking.
Judges at LOM
Alan Cathcart asking some questions on the podium
Poll