I decided to start a build thread for the next bike I'm working on because I'll probably have a billion questions and this site is a rad resource. I've got a 77' cb550f that I've started collecting parts for. I'm gonna try and post pictures whenever I have updates to the build, but I can't promise it will be often. Here is the bike I'm working with:
I bought it off my neighbor last summer, it runs good but has a lot of miles on the engine (not sure how many exactly). I've got a parts engine and a couple boxes of extras. To start, I'm gonna rebuild the engine and carbs. I've got all the parts I will need, just need some time. The only engine upgrades that are for sure is a cb650 cam swap from this beast:
Its a cb650 engine i stole out of a complete non running bike i scored on craigslist for 200$, already sold the rest of the bike for 150$ (got the tach too).
I also plan on porting the head while I'm in there but I'm gonna keep it simple in regards to the engine upgrades.
Also committed to doing a set of r6 forks/brakes too (thansk to FunJimmy for the idea and awesome build thread/guide). Got the parts off ebay in January (good time of year for buying used parts for cheap). I think I paid 250$ for the forks,brakes,rotors,bars,triples and hand controls.
I was too concerned about the triple offset of the r6 on the cb550. Using the r6 triples on the cb550 will add high speed stability, but I want to keep a closer to stock handling set-up. In order to do so I need some triples with more offset (like the stock cb550's). So i've decided to take on what will be a time consuming machining process and make my own triples from this stuff:
Using this stuff:
After almost a year of craigslist wheelings and dealings I've got an awesome old 1950's 10" Logan lathe, a decent little 80's bench top milling machine, a pile of tooling and a couple welders. I love craigslist.
I'm getting close to having the offset dialed in using an autocadd like program:
Mag wheels have also grown on me, Morris wheels would be rad, but too expensive and hard to find (especially in wider sizes). So I'm using a set of kz1000 wheels (I read somewhere that they are morris replicas or knock offs or something like that). I'm gonna go 18" front and either 18" or 17" rear with disc brakes. I've already made an adapter for the front wheel to the r6 forks, gotta get a free weekend to make the other:
I'm also planning on a rear swing arm swap with an early model gsxr 750 and new shocks, I've got a lead but don't have the parts yet. I gotta figure all the geometry stuff out, but so far I think I'll be able to keep everything close to stock geometry.
In the end I want to end up with a sort of street tracker style bike. I know the popular thing to do with these Japanese fours is the cafe look, but I want to do something a little different (and not being able to ride 2-up is a pain). I haven't seen too many 4's turned into street or dirt track style bikes, but I love the look of all the xs650's and other twins in that vein so I'm gonna see where it takes me.
Thanks for reading, I swear i'll try and update this.
