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.

[work9to5]

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

Thank you DV, I appreciate the thumbs up. The 70’s chop n’ bob look have been growing for a a couple years now, but I’ll admit I’m a bit crazy to do it to a cb550 in In the end, I’m building it for myself and that’s all that matters, that I like it. But positive input helps thanks.

Progress- having some difficulty with the wiring. I’m getting a -2 volt drop in battery power as soon as I connect a freshly charged battery. I basicly get 3 three solid cranks of the starter before the battery goes to >12.5 volts and then she won’t start. It’s frustrating. Not understanding why 12.5 isn’t enough to start. Have swapped battery’s, swapped in a different starter still no difference. Considering I don’t have any other draw (tail light, headlight are not wired in yet).

[work9to5]

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

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

Thank you DV, I appreciate the thumbs up. The 70’s chop n’ bob look have been growing for a a couple years now, but I’ll admit I’m a bit crazy to do it to a cb550 in In the end, I’m building it for myself and that’s all that matters, that I like it. But positive input helps thanks.

[work9to5]

Ok guys, so she’s done except for a couple minor things and one MAJOR detail. Because of piss poor planning on my part, I’m up against it on front rotor fitment. During the planning and mock up i omitted one important step, I never mocked the front rotor  I was thinking I could use the oem cb550 rotor on the front rim with spacers to get the correct alignment with the brake caliper. Both are 6 hole slotted and I figured they would match in bolt pattern. THEY DONT. The cb rotor bolt pattern isn’t the same as the rims rotor mount bolt pattern. So I’m looking for a way to get around this. Suggestions?

I’m thinking the easiest way is to find a rotor that matches the Suzuki bolt pattern. But it’s got to be “flatter” than the oem Suzuki rotor. The oem gs550 rotor is larger in width (won’t work with the cb caliper) and sits too close to the fork when mounted. Can anyone point me towards a rotor that has the same bolt pattern as the Suzuki but has dimensions close to the Honda 550 rotor?

Completely frustrated by this. She’s ready to ride but I’m not chancing traffic without a safe front brake. Other than this I’m completely happy with her. I’ll get better pics up over the weekend. And include pics of the different rotors and wheels then as well. Thanks

[work9to5]

Pic

[work9to5]

Pics

[calj737]

Get a rotor that fits the bolt pattern, then make a caliper mounting bracket to move the caliper the necessary distance. Simple.

[Gurp]

Loving where this build is going so far!

[work9to5]

Thanks Gump! Hey Cal, yeah I thought about that. But here’s my problem, I’m having a hard time identifying through the internet what rotors have the same bolt pattern and hub center hole that would match a 81’ gs550. This morning I went out to my shop and pulled every rotor I had that is not on a bike, just to see the different characteristics of each to help me brainstorm this. The first pic is a cb550, second cb750, gsxr750.

1.) cb500 holes don’t match slightly. I can thread 2 of 6 mount bolts, putting the other 4 ascew but close to where they need to be.

2.) cb750 pattern doesn’t match at all but interestingly it sits perfectly so that the oem cb550 caliper I had intended on using lines up perfectly

3.) 97’ gsxr750 rotor lines up with caliper as well but the center hub and bolt pattern are way off, but of course looks stunning

It’s 110 in my garage right now. I’m going to wait till the weekend when I can just sweat it out in there without having to go to work afterwards. I’m going to put the oem gs rotor back on and decide if it’s too close to the cb forks. But I’m thinking that it will fit but I’d have to bend an angle into any caliper mount I make. Which is not really in my garage capablities (I don’t have a torch or bend press).

What thickness steel/aluminum do you recommend using for a custom caliper mount? 1/4”? Anyone with ideas on this whole problem please lmk. Thanks

[work9to5]

Cb550

[work9to5]

Cb750

[work9to5]

Gsxr750

I’m post over the weekend as well details on how I’m building and upholstering the seat.

[Bankerdanny]

This might be crazy,  but how about finding a rotor for an '81 GS550?

[work9to5]

Banker, I covered that in the last post. The gs rotor sits to close to the CB forks. I wouldn’t have the room I needed to fit a caliper mount safely and the gs rotor larger in diameter.

I’ve been thinking about this all day and I think I’ve got a solution. I’m going to take the cb550 rotor and the wheel to my machinist on Monday. There’s enough room in between the stock holes to place evenly spaced holes to match the wheel. I tried doing it myself an hour ago. Got as far as putting 3 center punch marks in the rotor and realized I’m never going to get the accuracy I need. I don’t know what it’s called but I’ve seen machine shops with a chuck and a degree wheel on the receiving end of a drill press/mill. Anyone know what I’m talking about? What’s the proper name for that? That you can clamp an object in and spin thus getting a perfect circle, and you use the degree wheel to know that you’re where you have to be to dig your holes.

Hopefully they can do it the same day and I can be done with this. 🙄

[calj737]

If you are taking the 550 rotor to the machinist, drill out the stock rivets and bolt in a new ring. Then, drill new holes in the new ring exactly where they are supposed to be. Drilling more holes in the ring weakens the stock ring.