Topic: Throw out your “cafe line diagrams”, cb550 bobber

[work9to5]

So everyone knows the cafe has been done to death. There's kind of a recipe to make an "insta-popular" bike now. People even came up with a ridiculous "cafe line diagram" to put a bike together by. But where do we as builders and motorcycle enthusiasts take it from here?

These bike and another I have planned  are my answer to that question. Both are cb550's. Possibly (in my opinion) the best in the cb line of the 70's. Great maneuverable bikes with ultra reliable engines. We've all seen beautiful representations of this bike and it's cousins. And few stand out from one another anymore. I even drive one of them as my "daily", a rear hooped, gsxr front ended, little ground pounder. These two bikes are meant to forget the norm while still looking at what has worked ascetically for motorcycles throughout time. I decided that one of them should be a bobber. Now taking the pressed frame of a cb how do you do that? Without just cutting the neck off and taking it from scratch. Something I did not want to do. I think that pressed frame, even though it may be hard to work with is part of what makes a Honda cb a great bike. It took me awhile to figure out but this is my take on it.

I decided one; use certain aspects that classically make a bobber a bobber.
two; attempt ascetic aspects which I've never seen done before to these models of bikes.
Three; not to modify the frame or engine so much so that it can be recognized easily as a Honda cb.

My inspiration comes from what Gravel crew has done to some xs and cb builds combined with Go Takami’s brat builds and a lot of influence from bsa/triumph bobber and choppers.

I’m gonna go pic heavy. With not much discription from here out. Started with just a frame and separately sourced motor. Threw everything together. To get her into a really rough rat bike runner. Rode her for a month an tore down an started rebuilding and shaping into a real bike.

[work9to5]

Start of first tear down. Fork shrouds mock. Gs550 wheels and swingarm.

[work9to5]

Wassell tank mock and frame mod to fit tank.

[work9to5]

Starting to take shape. Faux horseshoe oil tank/battery box. 70’s Guillari seat.

[work9to5]

Full mock. Ducktail fender mocked in place. Rolled her on to the street for better pics

[work9to5]

Mock of bsa riser that came off a grinder front end. Not the bars I’m using just what I had close.

[work9to5]

Complete tear down for powder. Going gloss black and copper/root beer. More pics to come later tonight gotta go to work

[work9to5]

Polished the whole engine, except for the jugs and head. Those I used vht gloss black on. Didn’t go crazy with the polish but put a majority of 2 days into it and am happy with the results. The wheel bearing replacement was a pita. The powder coater for some reason semi filled the cups on one side of the rear/front wheels. So had to dremel them out to get bearings to fit. Wheels look sepectacular tho

[work9to5]

Got the engine in next. Put the engine on it’s side, slipped the frame over her in place and then laid on the garage floor gently trying to line her up with out contacting the frame for two hours  Powder was lauded on too thick in the rear brake pedal recess so will have to remedy that as well. Got the tank back on am using Dixie style dual petcocks which will feed a22 carbs. Am planning on using these “buck horn” bars which I salvaged off and old Bsa chop sitting in a junk yard.

[work9to5]

She’s off the ground as over yesterday. These are bad pics, I’ll roll her to the steet over the weekend for better ones. She’s absolutely stunning though, is turning out better than I invisioned. Can’t wait to ride her again.

I do have one question. I’m hoping someone can chime in here. When I took the frame to the powder coaters he removed the innards from the swingarm and tossed them. I did take out the spacers and have those. But other than replacement needle bearings is that all that was in there? Or is there a bushing that sits in between the needle bearings?

I don’t see one in suzuki’s parts schematic but it seems like there should be one? Anyone taken apart a gs550 swingarm that can tell me for sure. I would appreciate it. I attached a pic of the schematic. I have everything according to the schematic (two small outer spacers, two new needle bearings, longer center spacer that sits in between the bearings) but is there and outer spacer that is not shown in the parts fiche?

[work9to5]

Rolled her down to the street for a better pic

If anyone can give some insight to my swingarm question in my last post I’d appreciate it.

[innovativems]

on your swingarm question, you should just have bushings.  No needle bearings unless you have an aftermarket swingarm.  Couldn't  tell in the pics, they are kind of small in the thread.

[work9to5]

on your swingarm question, you should just have bushings.  No needle bearings unless you have an aftermarket swingarm.  Couldn't  tell in the pics, they are kind of small in the thread.

Thanks for the reply but it’s not a standard cb swingarm it’s off a gs550.

[work9to5]

Made some progress. Engine back together. Carbs recleaned. Fork shrouds installed. Fabricated a spacer for the front wheel. Going to have just enough room to run dual disks using the cb forks and rotors. Had a problem mounting the discs tho. Holes on the rotors are slightly off for the gs front wheel. Abount a mm, going to carefully drill them out to match up. And snug them really tight so brake actuation can’t share them off.

Will tackle the swingarm over the next weekend. After talking with a friend I’ve I believe I have every part I need. At least according to the gs parts diagram. Crossing my fingers on that one.

Also the center stand is rubbing the swingarm in its current installation going to have to figure out how to remedy that somehow.

[work9to5]

Ok, so I think if I put in a long day tomorrow I may get to the first start point. Was able to get the swingarm back together with no problems. I’ve got one issue that’s impeding me tho. My powder coater laid down powder inside the the frame where the “brake actuator” sits. Basically in the cyclinder next to the brake pedal it’s filled with so much powder that I and fit in the “post” but the spring that would usually return the brake pedal can’t return to normal position without help.

Can powder be sanded down?
Would a drum sander on a drill be a good way to go at this?
I could use aircraft strip but I’m worried it’ll drip or get into places I don’t want it to.

[JoeCooley]

A dremel with sanding drum should work. It will take time though. Maybe grinding stone on the dremel? Good work so far. Not my flavor but I can appreciate the work and time put into it. 👍😎

"Cafe bikes are too overdone.... Builds a bobber...." 😆
Someone should make a meme...

[work9to5]

Haha, make the meme. I’ll use it as my aviator pic for now on, haha

[JoeCooley]

via Imgflip Meme Generator

[work9to5]

Profile pic changed! I laughed about this for a full 30mins when I should have been wiring. Thanks🙄

Started wiring today. Very basic system, no lights or indicators to use just for the test and tune process. Contemplating a tiny motogadget speedo unit to fit in between the risers but not ready to pull the trigger.

Can anyone recommend where to buy braided wire covering? The old school looking stuff with a two color braid. I’m going to cover the loom with heat shrink and hug it to the frame but with the slimmed look there is no way to hide the back bone line so want to use something astetically pleasing. Would use actual cloth covered wire but not a fan of the stuff. Recommends?

[JoeCooley]

A quick google search for "braided wire loom" will give you more options than I care to type out. EBay seemed to have multicolored stuff in many options.

I'm glad you like the meme. I chuckled quite a bit too. 😆

[work9to5]

Awesome! I had been searching with “cloth wire cover” and similar with no good results. Found, ordered.

[JoeCooley]

Glad I could help buddy. Now get back to wiring! (I still need to finish my rewire, procrastination kills) haha

[work9to5]

Ok so got her wired with a basic wire system. Havnt soldered anything, it just sits outside of the bike so I could test fire it. AND IT FIRED UP FOR THE FIRST TIME! Took five kicks and had some back pressure popping from the carbs but I’m satisfied enough to take her to the final stage (put a chain on, permanate wire system with all the switch’s, lights etc.)

I hoping I can start a discussion about fuses. Specifically running the loom using only one fuse. Can anyone give me reasons why not to do it this way? I’ve done it before on a cb350 and a cl360. The only detractor I can think of is if you pop a fuse hazard lights also go. Possibly leaving you in a dangerous position if you’re in traffic at night. On these previous builds I’d go through about a fuse a year. If I do do it this way are there anything’s I should take into account? Reccomendations? Amp size reccomendations?

[02z06dave]

A fuse per year is nuts. Why are you going through so many fuses?

[DV Red Herring]

I'm liking where you're at with this build. I hope to go the same route with my next one.