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Author Topic: Cb550 cafe build  (Read 2285 times)

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Offline Boomhower

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Cb550 cafe build
« on: April 20, 2013, 08:33:40 PM »
Hello, I am new to this SOHC. I am building a 78 cb550 and wanted to share the build with you guys, I have seen some really good ideas thrown at builders in the past on here.
 This started when a friend of mine had a running project he wanted to sell...I was just dumb enough to buy it! Back in the day I raced a little bit of flat track and have pulled a bike or two out of the bone yard and made them go in a circle. Part of the fun of racing for me was building a bike resurrected from the dead and making it work, even winning a race every now and then. To me the spirit of cafe racers is taking what you have and making it work, no two are ever the same....pretty cool. Many of the parts I am using came from under the house, local bone yards, eBay, and the new stuff is from dime city (I am very pleased with DCC).
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2013, 08:43:59 PM »
I found an old tank that looks pretty good, had to do a little work to get it to fit.
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2013, 08:52:15 PM »
The tank and seat pan came from a friend of mine. The shocks are from DCC.
In these pictures I have the new subframe tacked in place. The wheels in the picture are not going to be used, I found a better set on eBay for $50 each.....kind of hard to pass that one up.
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2013, 08:58:36 PM »
I am in the mock up stage now. There are a lot of tabs to weld on before I weld it all together and have it sand blasted. The tank is a lot lower and the coils are not going to fit, they will have to be moved.
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Offline SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2013, 09:10:33 PM »
Great-looking tank.
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1975 CB550K1 "Blue" Stockish Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=135005.0)
1975 CB550F1 frame/CB650 engine hybrid "The Hot Mess" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150220.0.html)
2008 Triumph Thruxton (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,190956.0.html)
2014 MV Agusta Brutale Dragster 800
2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,186861.0.html)

"There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them — but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one.... Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba." Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature, Cycle World, March 1995.  (http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1995/3/1/song-of-the-sausage-creature)

Sold/Emeritus
1973 CB750K2 "Bionic Mongrel" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=132734.0) - Sold
1977 CB750K7 "Nine Lives" Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=50490.0) - Sold
2005 RVT1000RR RC51-SP2 "El Diablo" - Sold
2016+ Triumph Thruxton 1200 R (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,170198.0.html) - Sold

Offline fisdan

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2013, 02:35:05 AM »
Yes the tank is looking real nice, what bike is the tank from?
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #6 on: April 21, 2013, 05:53:58 AM »
The tank is from a 60 something BSA...I think a victor 441, but not I could be wrong.
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Offline fisdan

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2013, 11:02:10 AM »
Thanks :-)
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2013, 12:12:25 PM »
No problem
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2014, 08:34:31 PM »
I have been off of work and had some time to start putting my bike together. I had the frame sand blasted and started painting.
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Offline SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2014, 09:42:14 PM »
Great color choice.
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1975 CB550K1 "Blue" Stockish Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=135005.0)
1975 CB550F1 frame/CB650 engine hybrid "The Hot Mess" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150220.0.html)
2008 Triumph Thruxton (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,190956.0.html)
2014 MV Agusta Brutale Dragster 800
2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,186861.0.html)

"There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them — but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one.... Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba." Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature, Cycle World, March 1995.  (http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1995/3/1/song-of-the-sausage-creature)

Sold/Emeritus
1973 CB750K2 "Bionic Mongrel" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=132734.0) - Sold
1977 CB750K7 "Nine Lives" Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=50490.0) - Sold
2005 RVT1000RR RC51-SP2 "El Diablo" - Sold
2016+ Triumph Thruxton 1200 R (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,170198.0.html) - Sold

Offline riverfever

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2014, 07:11:15 AM »
Love that tank. This should be good.
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http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=127186.0

"You wouldn't think that out here...a man could simply run clear...out of country but oh my...oh my...nothing but the light." -Ben Nichols

Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2014, 09:40:45 AM »
I am having a fit trying to get pictures to load on here, it keeps saying they are to big.
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2014, 02:16:03 PM »
just a few more pics. i should be working on getting it wired this week.
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2014, 02:18:11 PM »
the engine shined up well.
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Offline SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2014, 02:26:17 PM »
The bike looks VERY tidy, especially the electrical component tray. 

If possible, can you size UP your photographs, as they are coming out quite small.  You may want to use Photobucket, since it automatically sizes the images (and it's free).
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1975 CB550K1 "Blue" Stockish Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=135005.0)
1975 CB550F1 frame/CB650 engine hybrid "The Hot Mess" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150220.0.html)
2008 Triumph Thruxton (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,190956.0.html)
2014 MV Agusta Brutale Dragster 800
2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,186861.0.html)

"There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them — but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one.... Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba." Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature, Cycle World, March 1995.  (http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1995/3/1/song-of-the-sausage-creature)

Sold/Emeritus
1973 CB750K2 "Bionic Mongrel" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=132734.0) - Sold
1977 CB750K7 "Nine Lives" Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=50490.0) - Sold
2005 RVT1000RR RC51-SP2 "El Diablo" - Sold
2016+ Triumph Thruxton 1200 R (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,170198.0.html) - Sold

Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #16 on: January 19, 2014, 06:17:21 PM »
Try this
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Offline Boomhower

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Re: Cb550 cafe build
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2014, 06:19:00 PM »
I think I figured it out. The wheels are not the ones I am going to use.
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