Topic: CB550 Cafe Interceptor - Gentleman's Roadster

[brandEn]

Hey Jim, who did your anodizing? Did you find another guy that works for beer after hours? I tried finding a place near me was never successful.

[FunJimmy]

That is so f'n sweet.  Love it.  I am 100% ripping off this technique - I'm sending your pics to my machinist this week.  I promise to refer to it as a "FunJimmy chainguard" whenever it's admired.

You know what would set that chainguard off nicely?

   . Thanks Syscrush.

My chain isn't a bad as it looks in the pics.
Just in a winter coat of Motul chain lube.
Should clean up nicely.

Hey Jim, who did your anodizing? Did you find another guy that works for beer after hours? I tried finding a place near me was never successful.

There are a couple of shops that anodize.
They can be hit & miss, but I found another that will occasionally slip my stuff in a run.
I can be persuasive, and if that fails, I show them pics of the bike. Who could say no to that?

[MRieck]

Have you gotten the bike back on the dyno Jimmy?

[FunJimmy]

Have you gotten the bike back on the dyno Jimmy?

Not yet. Weather's been a bit late, but I've got a fist full of jets & needles so it won't be long.
Stay tuned. 

[MRieck]

Have you gotten the bike back on the dyno Jimmy?

Not yet. Weather's been a bit late, but I've got a fist full of jets & needles so it won't be long.
Stay tuned. 

Will do. You should be pleasantly surprised.

[LokisTyro]

You never want to reach the "end" of threads like this. You've built one helluva bike, FunJimmy. 

[akabek]

Where did you end up on the jetting?  I need to book my appointment for a dyno tune.

[MRieck]

Have you gotten the bike back on the dyno Jimmy?

Mike,

The tuner's been tinkering for a few days and the results are both positive and concerning.
Dave is using a brake dyno so the numbers may not be comparable to the Dynojet but he's getting an impressive 61HP at the wheel. Excellent!

Unfortunately, the A/F gets very rich between 5000-7000 and power flat lines. Tried the YY9 needles and he can get the good A/F numbers in the midrange but at the expense of lean conditions top and bottom of RPM range.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers
FJ

Try going up a jet on the main( with the YY9) and turn the air screw in a bit.

[FunJimmy]

Where did you end up on the jetting?  I need to book my appointment for a dyno tune.

Hey Rick,

Got the bike back today and it's Perfect!
Idle is spot on with solid throttle off the light and it's all good.
No more power loss between 5000-7000rpm either.

65 pilots
102 mains
YY8 needles, clip 3rd from bottom

[FunJimmy]

Brake upgrades. Brembo billet GP caliper and 310mm floating rotor! 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Wow!  That's a nice upgrade -- both the rotors and the calipers.

[Syscrush]

Stellar work as always.  I'm totally ripping off this idea.  So much better than bending from sheet.

BTW - I dropped my CBX off at a machinist a few weeks ago with pics of your chainguard.  I meant it when I said I was gonna rip off this idea!

[FunJimmy]

Took a bit of machining to make the caliper bracket but well worth the effort.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

No kidding, FJ.  That chain guard looks trick.  Let me know if you have a spare laying around!

[Syscrush]

Very nice brake upgrade, BTW.  I'm very interested/curious to see if you feel that the Brembo setup is appreciably better than the R6 monobloc calipers.  I wouldn't expect a night & day difference, but there's no denying that the Brembos are awfully trick!  What IS a night & day difference is that the signature Yamaha blue is now finally off your Honda.

Is it the 2-pad or 4-pad type?  Either way, may I suggest a set of EBC HH pads?  I've put them on a variety of bikes (Katana, SV650, Duke 690, and CBX), and have always found them to be a welcome improvement - even over the Brembo pads that came stock on my Duke.  And it seems I'm not the only one who likes the EBC pads better than Brembos:

http://hyperstrada.com/mechanical-technical/378-brake-pads.html


I scored a set of 2-pad 65mm axial-mount calipers for my CBX, they're going on this winter.

BECAUSE 2-FINGER BRAKING IS ONE FINGER TOO MANY!!!

[akabek]

BECAUSE 2-FINGER BRAKING IS ONE FINGER TOO MANY!!!


[/quote]

Real riders don't use brakes... 

[FunJimmy]

Very nice brake upgrade, BTW.  I'm very interested/curious to see if you feel that the Brembo setup is appreciably better than the R6 monobloc calipers.  I wouldn't expect a night & day difference, but there's no denying that the Brembos are awfully trick!  What IS a night & day difference is that the signature Yamaha blue is now finally off your Honda.

Is it the 2-pad or 4-pad type?  Either way, may I suggest a set of EBC HH pads?  I've put them on a variety of bikes (Katana, SV650, Duke 690, and CBX), and have always found them to be a welcome improvement - even over the Brembo pads that came stock on my Duke.  And it seems I'm not the only one who likes the EBC pads better than Brembos:

I'm a big fan of EBC HH pads too. I use them exclusively and highly recommend them.

The R6 Monobloc caliper is made by Brembo and a solid performer in spite of the gaudy blue caps. I've been very impressed with the performance of this single disc setup, but Brembo GP billet calipers are my favorite, if you can find them for a decent price.

To better accommodate the caliper and bracket I had to increase the rotor diameter from 300mm to 310mm. That will likely make a bigger difference than the caliper swap but another benefit of these Brembo GP calipers is spoke clearance. They are considerably narrower than the R6 caliper.

[bwaller]

It's a hot setup and you'll likely feel a difference.

[Syscrush]

Is it the 4-pad or 2-pad type?  My Duke had a 4-pad radial Brembo caliper - there's no way I could feel the benefits of the pad-per-piston setup but I felt good about having it.  When I was shopping for new binders for my 'X I couldn't make myself pay the extra, though.

[FunJimmy]

Is it the 4-pad or 2-pad type?

The GP caliper is a two pad design.

[Syscrush]

It looks so trick.  I skimped out and bought mine used, which reminds me I have to clean 'em and paint 'em black!

[Syscrush]

That will likely make a bigger difference than the caliper swap but another benefit of these Brembo GP calipers is spoke clearance. They are considerably narrower than the R6 caliper.

I'm running into a clearance issue with the 65mm Brembo 4-pot calipers I bought for my CBX.  The machinist says that I need another 2mm between the caliper and the wheel.  He checked some Tokicos he had on hand and they're also too wide, he's waiting to hear back from a buddy about some Nissins.

Any chance you can provide some measurements for the R6 and the GP calipers?  I need to know the distance from the rotor center line to the inboard edge of the caliper.

[FunJimmy]

Any chance you can provide some measurements for the R6 and the GP calipers? 
I need to know the distance from the rotor center line to the inboard edge of the caliper.

Pretty significant difference between the two calipers Syscrush.
The rotor center line to the inboard edge of the R6 caliper is approx. 42mm and the GP calipers is 33mm.

Another option is to keep an eye open for Performance Machine caliper on ebay.
They're billet aluminum and pretty slim too.

[Syscrush]

Wow, thanks so much for the quick turnaround.  from the research I've done so far, I think that most OEM calipers are closer to the R6 dimension than that GP dimension.  33mm would fit with no problems (I'm looking for something 38mm or less), but I really don't think I can justify the cost of 2 of those calipers.  They're so trick I'm having a hard time getting them out of my mind, though!

I looked at PM, and they do seem like they'd fit, but I absolutely hate the looks of them - and they do so much Harley stuff that I assume they're just not very good brakes.  I would probably trade my 4-piston calipers with the 2-piston ones on my wife's Monster 620 and rock 2-piston Brembos instead.  Maybe that's just prejudice on my part.

Another aftermarket option at a similar price point to the PM stuff is Wilwood.  I like the looks of those better, but they're also a Harley-first shop, and the biggest rotor they fit is 11.8", quite a bit smaller than my 310mm.  I have the same concerns about poor performance that I have with PM.

Another option in the same price range as your sessy Brembo is Discacciati.  I never heard of them before, but they're designed for narrowness and apparently there're being used by quite a few race teams, and are considered a blingy upgrade among the Ducati people.  Again, though, I don't think I can make myself cough up quite that much dough...

[754]

You can probably. Grind at least a mm off your calipers, or space them out.  And bigger rotors moves them out giving more room.
 Syscrush, PM me how much your trees were if you don't want to post it on here.