yes, i was in the boondocks for a few days, and though it was "deliverance" kind of remote, avoided any skirmishes with the locals. well actually, i helped a friend who's building a new house, so i guess he counts as a local. anyway...
Hi Paul,
Curious as to how you arrived at the "bracing" areas and how you determined what to use for bracing. Steering head, swingarm area are similar areas to bracing that was done on old superbike racers. Some of these handled badly after bracing and I know of one local CB550 racer that was braced and became a real handful to ride afterwards! I think you're on the right track as 70bhp and sticky tires will stress the old hoop but what constitutes a balance to build a good handling CB550?
My old AHRMA CB350 racer with 47bhp was an interesting case. The frame is your std pressed steel affair spot welded together from the factory. Most of the guys would just weld up the seams and added bronze swingarm bushings. With these small changes (plus a steering damper just in case), the bike handled really well and would slide predictably under power. Seems almost unbelieveable since you could actually defect the swing arm with your arm. I think in the case of these bikes, a little flexing of the frame worked and there wasn't one particular area that was significantly stronger or more rigid.
Very curious about frame mods as I am slowly building up a CB550 for serious cafe racer duty ( taking forever!!)
Kemp
all of the bracing i've done so far has been no-brainer kind of stuff, that has amounted to less than a couple pounds of weight. i used thin flat bar, just trying to stiffen the actual joints themselves (gussets), rather than trying to concentrate on re-design the stress forces of the frame. there's a great tony foale article out there about frame design and stiffening that i've referenced, but the link i have firefox says "may harm my computer," so i won't link it. anyway, i'm wary of doing any major bracing yet (cross bracing above the swingarm, beneath the steering head, or forward of the upper shock mounts) until i'm absolutely sure what i want. Turboguzzi and other racers have all advised me that the frame will outperform me on the track for some time, let alone on street. so... i may yet weld some tabs for bracing, but i'm being conservative for now. the race-built cb550 i have (built in the 70's) is so obviously over-done and heavy. i don't want to do the same.
looks VERY good man!
where's the tank from?
Tg
surprised you don't recognize it.
it's from a late 70's ducati 900ss, the same as the fairing.
I hope you haven't rolled a finger through that English Wheel. Cool tail.
oh, i have. hurts like a mother#$%*er.
Paul,those CB 900 or CB 1100F shox?I have CB1100F on old 74 CB 750.Bill
i don't know for sure, but i thought they were 900F shocks. they're 14.25" free length. i was running them to try different steering angles. i like the stance a lot, and will be running 14" progressives with the triple trees dropped a little. previously, i couldn't get over about 105 MPH without getting a little wobbly up front, but now i'll have a steering damper.
OK please tell me what rear sets are those and how are they mounted. do you have a close up pic. Im building a 74 cb550 as a track bike with some trick stuff but just looking around at different rear set options.
those are the rearsets i'm making myself, which i'll eventually use. for now, i'll use tarrozzi units so i can at least ride this season. i stole the design from an old italian GP race bike made by a company called Paton. the mounts are just aluminum plate held in place by steel tabs welded onto the frame. i'll provide closeups whenever i remember to take pictures again... i seem to obsess over other things when i'm there.
