Topic: Nicklopic's CB650 cafe thing (Top end build with modern suspension)

[DANFROMOZ]

Doing a great job there. I’ve just gone through your whole thread. I’m paying close attention because I’m also building up a CB650. They’re a tricky bike to build I’ve found, we don’t have the same amount of aftermarket options as the CB550 and CB750.

[Nicklopic]

Doing a great job there. I’ve just gone through your whole thread. I’m paying close attention because I’m also building up a CB650. They’re a tricky bike to build I’ve found, we don’t have the same amount of aftermarket options as the CB550 and CB750.

Thanks man!
They're definitely not as easy to mess with compared to the more popular bikes, but atleast there are still options out there. We may only have 1 maybe 2 for a certain part while there's 12 for a 550 or 750 but the parts are out there lol

[DaveBarbier]

Yeah dude, looks awesome. Ass is a tad high maybe but doesn’t look weird. Plus you’ve still got more parts to put on.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Yeah dude, looks awesome. Ass is a tad high maybe but doesn’t look weird. Plus you’ve still got more parts to put on.

I think the stance is okay (very much like a modern sport bike).  The tires should work okay but she'd turn better with a smaller rear tire.

[Nicklopic]

I like the modern vibe the Suzuki stuff gives off so I think it's okay. With some weight on it, it should look a little sleeker. I would have liked it a little lower but I spent a while trying to figure out what sort of angle the swing on should be and went with function over form there.
I also plan to step down to a 170 tire. I've considered a 160 but a 170 is supposed to be a perfect match for a 5.5 wheel.

I've also been doing wiring lately. First, let me say I HATE WIRING. Anyone who does is clearly a masochist. 2nd, why on Earth can't an M Unit be configured to work with a conventional kill switch, that's an oversight by modogadget honestly... Or a way to push people toward mbuttons.
Currently all the lights work, the charging system is wired, and the starting system is wired and works. No I haven't cranked it over yet.
Gauge and ignition is left. Loom, some trimming and furels, and zip ties and it should be much cleaner.

[Nicklopic]

Nothing super interesting to report so I haven't updated much.
The wiring is all done minus the furels and some wiring trimming. I wanted to maintain the Suzuki kill switch so I used negative triggered relay to supply power to the module. The power for the triggers is run through the ignition output and then grounded with the kill switch and the relay is tucked in the headlight bucket. The gauge looks killer. Really nice clean all on one package. And works great. Speedo sensor is on the left side of the front wheel with 5 pickup magnets in the rotor bolts.
I really do not like the stupid c5 coils. They're just in inconveniently shaped. I have them in the stock location but staggered and rotated so one of each coil tower points through the frame. For actual mounts for the open hole, I used some L shaped furniture braces and bent an S in then with my wise for one side, and a trimmed brace bent into an S also on the other. Worked PERFECTLY with very little effort.
I leaned the bowls on the carbs and those are ready. Tank was cleaned inside with muriatic acid. The liner is a little flakey but it'll be okay for now.

The only real intresting bit is sprocket alignment. It's off by about 1.125" or so. I forget, I wrote it down though. I'm having an engineer buddy machine the sprocket carrier down atleast 7mm, maybe more depending on what he feels is safe after some wild ultrasonic material thickness finding tool. He's got access to some wild stuff and is meticulous as hell. Once that's taken down I'll order a proper offset sprocket from speedmoto (emailed them and they have the ability to do up to 3" lol) to take up the rest of the slack and use a narrower 520 chain which should clear the tire and frame with no, or very little massaging. Also the 520 chain should shed a little rotating mass.

[Gurp]

any updates nic?

[Nicklopic]

No real updates, but I got exciting news!
My buddy called me yesterday after work and told me he finally got done machining the carrier. Took him a long while to get the time, make jig to hold said carrier, and finally machine it... He also straight up forgot he had the part for over a month lol
I'll be picking it up sometime this week hopefully. Need to once again clear some space to work in my garage. Hopefully I'll have some cool updates and be firing it up soon

[Nicklopic]

Picked up the sprocket carrier from my buddy! He did some nice work. He took off approximately 7-8mm or so off the face. Exact number isn't a huge concern because I'll be measuring again when it's installed and the remaining offset I need will be with a custom front sprocket.
Attached is the milled, vs the original piece, one has the sketches that I used to explain visually to my friend. Amazing technical drawings via Snapchat, I know lol

[Gurp]

sweet!!!
This bike is going to sooo radd

[Nicklopic]

I got back to work a little tonight.
I tossed the oil pan on anddddd the exhaust! Ripple rocks 4-2-1 with the 12" shorty muffler! Fits pretty well actually even with the swing arm and rear sets. It's close to the swing arm so a little massaging might be required. I recently went back to school because I hate my job and I'm taking an AutoCAD class. Once I get the muffler where I want, I'm going to make a mount with some little cut outs and stuff to attach it to the rearset. Clean and stylish!

I'm going to try to fire it up on Sunday!

[Gurp]

Eow, That's a good looking exhaust man.

[MRieck]

Eow, That's a good looking exhaust man.

Kemp at Ripple Rock is a great guy to work with too.

[Nicklopic]

GUYYYYYYSSSSSSSSS
GUESS WHAT!
I FIRED IT UP! IT RAN! IT MADE NOISES!
Just a few sprits of starting fluid and it fired right up, no back fires no weird noises! Only ran for a second or 2 but that's signs of life to me.
Before firing it I checked sprocket alignment. I'll be emailing speedmoto to get an 11/16 offset/18t/520 sprocket from them. Tomorrow I'll play with my cables to make sure they're routed okay as they were stiff while I played with them. Then I'll actually fire it up with some fuel so I can really hear it run.

Ripple rocks exhaust is really nice. It's super light, nice looking and they claim that it makes more power than a Mac 4-1. Win win win if you ask me.

I'm thinking I'm going to order an aluminum rear sprocket to help with rotating mass even more... Plus it'll be fancy lol
Also, I'm wondering if anyone has some recommendations on where to get some custom throttle and return cables
Photo showing the carrier mounted and mid alignment. Had my brother give me a hand verifying the rod was true while measuring.

[hondaron]

I've had custom cables made by www.motionpro.com in the past 😀

[Nicklopic]

So yesterday I fired the bike up for real. Fired right up, sounded great, had oil pressure, no weird noises or leaks that I could see. Happy about that!
#2 exhaust pipe was 100* lower than the others so I think the idle jet might be a little clogged up. All the others were within 10* of each other so I'm going to pull the bowl and be sure.

Now the not so fantastic news. Looks like speedmoto no longer does custom offset sprockets. They stopped sometime between now and October I guess from last time I emailed them. They do offer a 5/8 sprocket but only in a 17 tooth and of course I ordered a vortex aluminum rear yesterday based on my math with an 18. 5/8 is only a 1/16 off and im sure I wasn't perfect with my measurements so I guess it might be okay.
I need to check some ratio calculators and figure out what to do I guess, or find a backup.

[Gurp]

Plenty of companies Make offset spockets. if nothing else a machine shop could whip up what you need.

[Nicklopic]

So
After a few weeks of searching I finally found someone to make a sprocket. D&G chassis in Florida. Super speedy responses and now I'm waiting on that.
Got the rear caliper set up and tried to mock up the line and master. The TL master isn't great and has the banjo on 5he side of the body. The banjo bolt hits the frame. I could space it or modify the rearset bracket to make it work. I may just order a GSXR master instead as the bolt goes on top and would clear everything. Idk yet.
Next I have an offset PBI sprocket I'm using for mock up. A 520 chain will clear everything without worry, the 530 o/x ring chain I have fits okay so I'll have plenty of space with the 520.
And here's the bad. It looks like the chain will rub the top of the swing arm when the suspension is fully droopped, and still with my weight on it. I'm using an 18 tooth front so I can't go bigger there and it would take a huge rear to make up for it and that would be stupid.
I'm thinking my best course of action is to lower the bike a bit. I also thought about adding a "jackshaft" type thing or idler, whatever you call it on the monoshock mount, or notch the swing arm. I think those options are a bit hacky so I think lowering it is the best course of action.
Also, the swing arm and rear set occupy the same-ish space so I think I'll need to move that forward a bit.

Basically I have a bunch of stupid/major things I over looked like a dope. I'll get a 170 tire and start working out lowering it a bit.
PS. This virus makes everyday life annoying and I'm wondering how that will effect parts. Social distancing is no fun with nothing to do lol

[Nicklopic]

So I ended up lowering the bike a bit. Not a lot because I was limited at full bump. I may contact the tail with a heavy bump but I can play with the bump stop a little. It did not fully fix my problem, but it's more manageable now. I'm going to step up 2 teeth on the rear sprocket, which should bring the chain up about 1/4" and that should be enough to get it to barelyyyyy skim the swing arm when the suspension is fully extended. I had to cut the old mounts off, then redrill and cut some longer tabs I had laying around. They don't match perfectly but it's whatever. I need to make sure everything is all good. Next year I plan to strip it and powdercoat the frame or atleast respray it as I've chipped and ground a lot of the paint off.
I also had some new tires fitted. I went with a 170/60/17 in the rear over the 190 that was there before. I got pirelli angle GTs. Well reviewed and spoken about online with decent look to them. They do have the GT 2s but I went with these just because of how many more reviews there were

[DaveBarbier]

Yeah bummer about the chain hitting the swingarm. If it still is kind of close it will probably still hit because a moving chain has a lot of bounce and ‘whipping’ about to it. Might want to add a plastic (Teflon?) slipper/slider on the swingarm where it’s likely to hit.

I love social distancing! Even when this is over I might not stop.

[Nicklopic]

I'm thinking about some kind of a kind of a guide or plate. I was thinking of using UHMW for a guide. Ultra4 off-road race rigs use it on skid plates to help them slide easier so I figured it would be plenty strong to get smacked by a chain every so often.
I'm also considering getting a chain slider from a dirt bike or SRAD gsxr. I think the SRAD slider would work well since the chains hit from the factory and may just fit right away since it's all from the same generation of bikes.
And social distancing isn't half bad, been playing lots of modern warfare and free time to play with the bike which I won't complain about lol

[DaveBarbier]

UHMW has excellent impact resistance and is very slippery. That’s the perfect material.

Every time I text my friends asking what they’re up to they say Xbox, haha. Their wives might not like this whole thing as much as they do.

[Nicklopic]

So I spent some time looking some stuff up and it turns out chain slides are very common on Suzuki bikes and it turns out the TLS also used one that mounts around the swing arm. I ordered one, not 100% sure if it'll work for me because the chain is a bit more inward now but I can modify if need be. I also bought a 2' strip of 1/8" thick UHMW as a back up plan incase the factory slider doesn't work out.

Also sounds like you need to hop on the bandwagon and start playing Dave lol

[DaveBarbier]

I used to play counter strike 1.6 when I was younger. I’d play over 10 hours straight a day during the summer, I’m actually scared I’d get addicted to Xbox like that, haha

[Nicklopic]

I got the suspension back together and a chain and 44 tooth rear sprocket on to test fit everything. The lowering and larger sprocket gave me some extra room. With the bike sitting on stands with its own weight the chain just barely clears the swingarm now. Second photo shows the diameter differences between a 40T, 41T, and 44T sprocket incase anyone wanted a visual lol
D&G should be shipping out my sprocket in the next couple days.
I also ordered a GSXR rear master to use in place of the TLS master. I'll need a new line but I'd rather not hack up the mounting. It's a cheap $15 eBay unit for now so I can confirm it fits before I order an OEM one.
At this point, the suspension is together, the front end is all good. The bike runs and all the electronics minus the rear brake light and plate work, and I have a chain and sprockets. I think I'm gonna try test riding it a bit this week or next.

Before riding I'm going to add a tab to support the swingarm side monoshock mount. Just a steal tab with a plate and I'll still and tap the swing arm to bolt it down. I have a long 10.9 bolt going through all 4 factory tabs but I want the extra support before I have someone weld an aluminum tab for me. (I can only mig weld)