Author Topic: UK CB550 Build  (Read 888 times)

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Offline Alex1039

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UK CB550 Build
« on: September 21, 2020, 01:39:02 PM »
Hi All,

Thought I would share my CB550 that I have picked up.  I have been a Harley Technician for 11 years and I wanted to try something different in my spare time.

It's looking very sorry for itself atm, lots of hard work ahead.  I don't have a clear vision as of yet but I am leaning more towards a scrambler build.

Main issues that I am trying to work around before I really get stuck are:

front end is rotten...has anyone fitted a newer front end other than GSXR upside down forks and the 750 front end?  Happy to work around different axle sizes to complete the fitment, machining fork stems and re-lacing wheels is no issue either. Any advise on yokes and forks that are a good fit would be much appreciated.

Previous owner has chopped out the rear suspension mounts, this could play in my favour if I change the front end and allow me to balance out the bike if the new forks send the trail and rake a little wild.

Alex

Offline SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan

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Re: UK CB550 Build
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2020, 03:15:48 PM »
2001-2004 Yamaha R6 front end (conventional not upside down).  Much improved over stock.  Several builds here have used it for a CB550.


Check out staring on page 83 of DaveBarbier's build  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,140833.2050.html
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 Alex1039

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Re: UK CB550 Build
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2020, 12:55:03 AM »
Thanks for the heads up on the updated front end.

Offline XC204

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Re: UK CB550 Build
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2020, 05:40:12 AM »
Looks like a good place to start from enjoy!
Gary