Topic: Jakal cb550 project

[Darren Jakal]

Sure thing. Let me know about drilling discs.

[Darren Jakal]

Roughed out the seat pan in 16 gauge mild steel.

Needs to be trimmed and cleaned up some more. I plan on experimenting with how the the seat and rear cowl connect and move for access.

Haven't welded in a while, but the shops new welder is not responsible for my poor technique. I'll get it back again with some more time on the machine.

Later, dj

[RAFster122s]

You apparently aren't very tall and are using rearsets... I like more room on the seat to slide back some if I want to take a different riding position...within the constraints of being able to operate the foot controls properly.

David

[Darren Jakal]

I'm six foot and this is pretty much what the stock saddle is like.

I've been checking out seating positions and will not be using rear sets. I like to hug the tank with my knees and this is pretty much where I want to be.

Thanks for comments, though.

Darren

[palepainter]

I like the way the front of tail sections transitions into back of tank.

[Darren Jakal]

Hey thanks palepainter, btw I’m following your build and it is beautiful, such nice work you get to see here at sohc/4.

Anyway, I’ve concluded that the seat pan is critical to getting other details of my build right.

Not only will this pan support the seat and rider (I’m going to try to suspend a leather saddle on the pan) but it sets up the transition conditions between the tank and seat and the seat and the rear cowl. It can also help re-enforce a horizontal line formed by the lower edge of the tank that I want to carry on towards the back of the bike. I really like some of the frame details and want them to be part of the overall composition.

Work in progress, but time will tell.

Later, dj

[Darren Jakal]

Working out the seat profile.

dj

[Darren Jakal]

I spent some time tweaking the fit of the seat pan. I've found that while the real critical frame geometries are pretty good (swing arm mounts, head set angles, etc) some of the other welded parts are not so spot on.

The semi circular piece that forms the tank hold-down is off square by a couple of mm. I thought I had a twist in the pan but after much tweaking I discovered a slight high spot on the horse shoe shaped piece that he seat sits on. Banged that down and the pan sits pretty good now.

The cowl is a mock-up out of thin aluminium and I have some more details to work out, but things are moving along.

Cheers, Darren

[Darren Jakal]

The bike was missing side panels and the headlight bucket was bashed up and the seat was not to my liking so I figured this low budget build could include some low budget styling.

I'm going to try and make some kind of fairing and have started to sketch it up on the front end. I've decided I want this bike to be along the lines of the scramble suit in Philip K Dick's book "A Scanner Darkly" where the narcs have suits that project all human forms as a kind of disguise. In this case I'm going to go with as much raw aluminum finish (polished and bead blasted) as I can and with a hint of chrome and zinc plating in hopes that the finish will reflect its surroundings (it should look blueish when reflecting the sky or greenish when reflecting foliage). I'm going to leave it a little beat up and dirty as I kind of think that a bike should be just a little bit dirty in the right places.

Having fun as always, Darren

[Bootsey]

I'm digging the direction you're taking with this, the seat & side covers should look the part. Look forward to seeing what you come up with for the fairing.

[Darren Jakal]

Hey thanks Bootsey.

I'm using this project to try all kinds of things and I just had to check out your build (how is that going, love to see it?). This is where I discovered peanut oil to clean up rubber and plastic!

Fantastic!

Thanks again

[Bootsey]

Hey thanks Bootsey.

I'm using this project to try all kinds of things and I just had to check out your build (how is that going, love to see it?). This is where I discovered peanut oil to clean up rubber and plastic!

Fantastic!

Thanks again

Glad there was some info of worth in my rambles
I've been tinkering away slowly, not much worthy of an update sadly, life keeps getting in the way. Hopefully get some paint down whilst the weather is good.

How exactly did you form those side covers you've got now? Are you planning on using those as a template to follow and shape them out of aluminium?

[Darren Jakal]

Hey Bootsie, thanks for the update!

The side panels are vacuum formed styrene and they are just for show and to check out some ideas. I will eventually try to make them out of aluminium and I'm investigating flow-forming right now as a potential method for making them. My plan is to make some new moulds for this.

I've been working on another form for the seat. I made it out of wood as I want to use it in the vacuum former (some experiments with petg) and the vacuum bag (for experimenting with vacuum bagging leather), so I want it robust.

I still need to work it some more as it is still a bit fat. I went at it with the bandsaw, the sawzall, planes and spoke shave, horizontal belt sander and more. Wood makes good moulds but it is easy to go to far (I need to make at least one patch already) so I will take it slow and fit it often before I'm ready to pull some forms.

Later, dj

[firebane]

If you made left and right side covers you could definitely sell them in fact if you did I would buy a set

[Darren Jakal]

Hey thanks firebane,

I will make both sides and because of the way I do things I would be able to do small runs. But I tell you, once I have made enough for myself I really don't have much interest in making more (I like to create form and not so much reproduce it).

But we can talk about it when you see the finished product. I'll have forms and pulling some extra vacuum positives is pretty easy (maybe out of ABS), but I don't know what it's going to be like to form them in aluminium yet (a reversed form is used in flow-forming, but easy to make a positive to use in the vacuum former).

How goes the ride? You lucked out with the F model. I'd take a resto 550F in a second.

Later, dj

[Darren Jakal]

Some more "I'm a cheap bastard" mock-ups. This time lights.

These are off the front end of the bike, and I do like their shape. Might be a bit wide, but I'll probably go with what I have. I noticed that these have only one wire compared to the original rear lights, so I'll have to sort that.

Anyways, cheers, dj

[Darren Jakal]

I'm looking into new handlebars and it is kind of overwhelming when you start to get into it. I’m making a list that goes from the most extreme aggressive racer body position to the most opposite laid back position possible using the normal cb550 foot pegs (I want to do cool things like hand shift when I’m on the rear pegs – just kidding, but that is cool).

So, the list will start with clip-ons and end with ape hangers (I might not get that far as I’m looking for a pretty neutral hand position - almost inline with the top of the triple but with the right bend for my wrist). Comments are welcome as to what would be the natural progression of handlebar body positions going from most aggressive to most laid back.

The List of Handlebars (I have found so far)

Clip-ons (including Terozzi adjustable, different heights and types)

Tommaselli adjustable Condor Clubmans

Clubmans (high and low versions and maybe more)

M Bar (Norman Hyde)

Broomstick (straight)

Drag Bars (zero, low and high)

Sport-Tourer

Renthal Street (maybe different heights)

Superbike

Euro Bars

Daytona Touring

Tracker

Speed-Bar (seems to be several types of “speed-bar”)

CB 400

And so on and on and ... (I can always update later)

Here are some pictures just to make it interesting. I might have to try a few out before I decide for certain.

Cheers, dj

[firebane]

I will be looking to pick up a set of biltwell tracker bars or converting to fat bars and then having more choices.

[Stev-o]

I bought a few "pairs" of handlebars trying to get the right ones on various bikes.
Turns out I prefer super bars on most bikes, although I went with the M bars on my 550F and club mans on the Park Racer (had to fit within the fairing)

I like that picture of the hand shifter, is it a Yamaha?

[Darren Jakal]

Yea, I'd like to try a few different ones including a tracker, super bike and M bar along with a Sport-Tourer.

The hand shifter is on a Suzuki (if I click the picture it becomes larger).

Cool, take care, dj

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

You might want to check out Tommaselli adjustable Condor Clubmans.

[Darren Jakal]

You might want to check out Tommaselli adjustable Condor Clubmans.

I'll add them to the list. Cheers,

[Darren Jakal]

It's been a bit cold to work in an uninsulated SeaCan so I'm doing some bike projects in the shop where it's warm. I have a strange love for a fairing on a CB (Stev-o's Park Racer comes to mind) and I found a bike that has the aesthetic I'm kind of going for. I do think a bike should be a little bit dirty and I've now found that the Japanese have a name for the beauty of imperfection; wabi-sabi (this seems to be a popular sentiment amongst certain bike types and I've decided to go with it as I'm a #$%*ing cheap bastard and this seems to fit that bill).

Anyway, here is a bike owned by a famous actor made by Raccia. I love the fairing and want to make something similar, so in that regard I decided to make a way to mount a half fairing (attached to the frame and not the forks). I'm trying not to alter the bike too much (I did cut off the seat hinge and lock although) so I'm trying this harness thing. It's dam solid for first fit, but I've not tested to destruction (ha). Anyway still having fun with this thing.

Cheers, Darren

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I think that's the bike Mike LaFountain made for Ryan Reynolds.  Great sheet metal fairing and tank.

[Darren Jakal]

That's the one. Found it looking for fairings on Honda CB's.