Author Topic: Flying J CB550 Cafe Racer Magazine. (Read 182714 times)

Flying J · « **Reply #450 on:** June 12, 2011, 12:39:34 PM »

Good to know. I was thinking maybe stainless but then im adding weight. I guess i could stick with chris' set up. I just wish he had made them mount to the rearsets. Im working on my battery box and electrics, making a seat pan, and making a bracket for the dampener.

Ecosse · « **Reply #451 on:** June 12, 2011, 01:04:53 PM »

Quote from: bwaller on June 12, 2011, 12:28:19 PM

Aluminum hangers are prone to cracking from vibration & the weight of the exhaust. Keep that in mind during the design phase.

just sticking my nose in: ever consider cryo-treating? ya might wanna check but it could address the cracking dilemma.

Tintop · « **Reply #452 on:** June 12, 2011, 01:48:46 PM »

Quote from: Ecosse on June 12, 2011, 01:04:53 PM

Quote from: bwaller on June 12, 2011, 12:28:19 PM
Aluminum hangers are prone to cracking from vibration & the weight of the exhaust. Keep that in mind during the design phase.

just sticking my nose in: ever consider cryo-treating? ya might wanna check but it could address the cracking dilemma.

The problem with aluminum is it 'work hardens' with the vibration, which is what leads to the cracking. If you can isolate some of the vibration, Chris's should last. Can you put one of those exhaust isolators (2 bolts with rubber between) at the pipe end? The other option is the weld a mount on at the pegs, and just use the original one to just hold the pipes together.

hyde7278 · « **Reply #453 on:** June 12, 2011, 04:48:50 PM »

FF

Just weighed the stock 4-1 exhaust I have it comes in at 25lbs with the collars. I used a bathroom scale so not a 100% sure how accurate.

Flying J · « **Reply #454 on:** June 14, 2011, 03:32:00 PM »

Thanks hyde, thats is a lot more weight saving then i had expected. Well I sent the spokes back to Buchanan's and they are going to drill a new rim and send me spokes. Sucks but i can stick with a 2.15 rear. I was going to lace up my front wheel but i just couldn't bring myself to lace the new rims to my old unpolished hubs. So i called around and found a guy to polish stuff. Brought him the hub, turns out hes an old Harley guy that just does plating and polishing. He is a good connection to have. Told me $25 to polish the front hub and it would be tomorrow evening or the next day. If it works out well i might take a bunch of my stuff to him. I have a buffer but some things you just cant polish well on a harbor freight wheel.

Flying J · « **Reply #455 on:** June 15, 2011, 11:14:42 AM »

Another great weight saver is the battery. Stock battery is 11lbs 2oz and the new battery is 1lbs 8oz!
thats almost a 10 pound savings alone.

Flying J · « **Reply #456 on:** June 15, 2011, 04:43:28 PM »

Pics don't show the differance but here is a before and after

I think I'm going to clear coat it and then lace it up tonight.

Tintop · « **Reply #457 on:** June 15, 2011, 05:02:56 PM »

Nice polishing job. Is that you & HF, or the guy you mentioned? If its the guy, is he going to do more pieces for you?

Be careful with clear coat ffj. If you don't get a very good bond (paint to surface), it will peel. It will also yellow over time. Gloss anodizing is a more permanent, maintenace free solution, but all the bearings need to be out.

Flying J · « **Reply #458 on:** June 15, 2011, 07:04:43 PM »

Yeah it was the guy i mentioned. 1 day turn around. Ill be taking a few things to him, it looks way better then i could get it so it was worth the money.

I think ill just lace it up as is and not clear coat it. It will be hard to see since im running dual disks anyway. But some of my other parts im going to have to look into how i should coat them so i dont have to keep polishing.

Flying J · « **Reply #459 on:** June 15, 2011, 07:15:54 PM »

Or i think i have some of this. Caswells suggests it. Its going on a hub so it should never yellow due to heat.

http://www.caswellplating.com/vht/vhtclear.htm

Tintop · « **Reply #460 on:** June 15, 2011, 07:30:44 PM »

hummm....never tried that.

Problem I had was that the nice polished surface isn't exactly grippy. You'll still have to make sure all the polishing rouge is gone. Dish soap & warm water, a very, very soft cloth, light touch, and patience, so you don't scratch that nice polishing job.

Those rims will look great with all your other alloy pieces.

Syscrush · « **Reply #461 on:** June 15, 2011, 08:04:15 PM »

What about finishing the aluminum to something that's not a mirror polish, then clear-coating it and polishing the clear? That should make for a very durable and very shiny surface if it's done right.

Flying J · « **Reply #462 on:** June 15, 2011, 08:07:41 PM »

I got impatient and said screw it. Im half way done lacing the rim. You cant see the hub with both disk on there anyway.

Tintop · « **Reply #463 on:** June 15, 2011, 08:08:54 PM »

Quote from: ffjmoore on June 15, 2011, 08:07:41 PM

I got impatient and said screw it. Im half way done lacing the rim. You cant see the hub with both disk on there anyway.

Flying J · « **Reply #464 on:** June 15, 2011, 11:08:36 PM »

Done. Now i need to put on the tire and rotors.

Tintop · « **Reply #465 on:** June 16, 2011, 02:58:35 AM »

Those Excel rim do look nice, nice job. Must be starting to feel like your getting close to the end.

Flying J · « **Reply #466 on:** June 16, 2011, 05:13:33 PM »

Mounted, balanced on on the bike. Im going to start work on a rotor drilling pattern. Plan is to drill booth rotors and then have them surfaced. Going to cost $60 a rotor though. Kinda sucky that everything is so expensive. I dropped the cylinders off today and the quoted me $400 to bore them. I ordered my new rear rim from buchanans so that should be here in a week or so.

Tintop · « **Reply #467 on:** June 16, 2011, 05:32:26 PM »

Very nice, looking forward to seeing the rear on.

Noticed that your fork lowers seem much shorter than mine. I'm using 77 550 (18" rim), what year are those? Reason I ask is your tire is almost level with the top of the slider, fitting a brace may be harder. Do you have a brace yet?

Flying J · « **Reply #468 on:** June 16, 2011, 05:49:20 PM »

No brace as of yet. Forks lowers are off a 76k

Tintop · « **Reply #469 on:** June 16, 2011, 06:47:51 PM »

Hummm...I think mine are longer, I know the tube is longer than in the earlier forks. Wonder if the earlier tube works in the later lower.

Flying J · « **Reply #470 on:** June 16, 2011, 06:49:57 PM »

They should. The tubes im running came off a 78 750F

Tintop · « **Reply #471 on:** June 16, 2011, 07:35:50 PM »

Sounds like you can do a mix and match of top & bottom 35mm forks. Probably some gotcha's hidden in there though.

That said, the shortest top, paired with the longest bottom would make for the bases of some great race forks.

fastbroshi · « **Reply #472 on:** June 16, 2011, 09:30:00 PM »

There were some minute differences in the total fork leg length with the 550s, I posted a question about it a while back but I'm unsure how to efficiently search for it these days. If I remember correctly it wasn't more than a half inch.

Flying J · « **Reply #473 on:** June 16, 2011, 11:05:45 PM »

Im not sure if im going to shell out the cash for a fork brace or if ill just run a fender.

wannabridin · « **Reply #474 on:** June 19, 2011, 07:09:17 PM »

do like MCRider did and run a brace AND fender! i want to do this, but i don't know if i'll have the patience to set it up...

i'm going to run a superbrace on my GL front end. should be NICE and rigid!

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Author Topic: Flying J CB550 Cafe Racer Magazine. (Read 182714 times)