Topic: 1974 CB550 Project. Brat'ish Cafe'ish.

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It starts here. 1974 CB550 that I've had for 15+ years. It runs and rides great, and until nearly 2 years ago was my daily rider. Everytime I rode or cleaned my new motorcycle I could feel the icey stares coming from the other side of the garage. I promised one day soon would be her time for attention.

Plans are for lowered rear, lowered front, clip-ons, hacked cafe seat, knee dents in tank. Also beer drinking, hitting things with hammers and cutting things with angle grinders. And beer drinking.

Engine doesn't need a tear down, so it won't come out of the frame.

All large detail items will be taken care of and the bike will get put back on the road, then the little weekend projects can take over.



All of my pictures will be dark because most things will occur after work and will be taken with my iphone. I'm lazy like that.

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So the tear down starts.





wiring knarliness.


More dis-assembly. i don't know why I thought all these pictures would be fascinating.

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Got the trees off to find the original loose ball bearings. Oldschool.


this might explain the notchy steering feel.


more parts missing

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Got the forks dismantled. Going to paint the lowers black. New fork tubes and fork seals and gators going on. Look how crusty the tops of those fork tubes are.


pics of the new fork tubes and gators.

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Glass bead blasted some parts that will get repainted.



Got some tires that everyone hates.



Got some other necessities too.

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Cut and ground off the chain guard tabs. Not going to use that again.



Then I started priming some parts for paint.

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Then some paint...


And more paint...

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Made some limit spacers for the front forks.




and chopped some spring off the rear springs

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tuck it.


I put the forks all back together and mocked up the front too.

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Started to sort out some wiring but then felt like stabbing someone.


so I painted some stuff white instead. my side covers need some more body work so I'll have to redo those. I think.

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Made a template for knee dents out of a beer box. Thanks Busch Light!



Too dark to tell but I went way to aggressive on this side. I'm going to have to build a lot of bondo up for it to look right. There is a massive ripple in the upper right in that photo.

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Wheels got glass bead blasted as well and are getting some paint treatment.

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Some parts can now start to make their way back on the bike.



A little cockpit mockup.

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Tank sanding...


and sanding


and bondo. I have no idea what I'm doing.

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Shaping the bondo.

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Let's switch gears entirely and cut some things.


C'ya.


Chop.

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Here are some parts thrown at a motorcycle.



Here is some paint thrown at a gas tank.



Here is a run I'll spend forever trying to sand out, only to pop through the paint so I get to paint the tank again. Actually I need to anyway because I didn't come anywhere near to smoothing out my knee dents. Didn't realize until I started spraying color. Live and learn.

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The seat is too long and needs some chopping.


Measure twice.


Then measure a third time, take a swig of liquid courage and then cut.


Pieces...

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Better, but not perfect.


I didn't like the angle on the bottom, so I wanted to cut it straight.


And then made clearance for it to sit over top of the "shock" eyes.

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so now i have another clearance issue... 

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Got a box from McMaster. Aluminum for making the upholstery pan, 1018 steel for welding seat supports, marine velcro for sticking the upholstery pan to the seat once it's complete.



Designed a template for the seat pan with SolidWorks...



I want to do black material (leather? vinyl?) with white stitching. like this, except I won't be covering the hump.



Cut some clearance to get the tire sucked up into the seat a bit. Still needs more trimming.

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Didn't get too much time to work on the project this weekend. But I did get some more shaping done to the seat.

Got the ends swept up a little bit.



Tire clearance cut.



Got her back on her "feet" for the stance shot.



I need a shortened kickstand. I don't trust my welding skills enough yet to make a "structural" weld like that.

That get's this project up to date.

[Mcwilliams570]

Looks good so far.. I wish I could find a finned stator cover that you have.. As for the tires I think they look good never used them though I know a lot of people don't like them but meh your build.

I do have a few observation it looks like to me that you still need more room for the rear tire clearance maybe just the angle. Those front forks looked really compressed curious on how thats going to feel hitting a big bump it looks like it but make sure the tire isnt going to hit the headers on a big pothole. It looks to me like the clutch lever is really far from the grip again maybe just the camera angle. What are you going to do about a tail light and blinkers..

Matt

[rwinn]

Great job! Really enjoying watching your build!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

That's some fairly significant progress!!

I was going to suggest painting/powdercoating the frame while you have the front and rear off, but you were so quick getting it back together that that point is moot!

I was curious as to why you want to lower the rear?  Is it for comfort (to reach the ground easier, for aesthetics or to acheive some improvement to the suspension??