Topic: documenting my cb550 build

[paulages]

yeah, as someone who has been into punk for almost 20 years and travelled the world on its behalf, i wholeheartedly agree--most punks and people in general do take themselves to seriously. music is definitely to enjoy and have fun with. but that said, i'm not much of a 'joke band' kind of person. small doses are fine...

on topic---yes, i guess this will be a cafe style bike. by the way, if you check out carpy's bikes, he has one tank i believe he pounded in with a hammer as well. i'm also gonna bondo away the badge mounts when i crisp up that leading edge.


i am going to try and glass my own seatpan/tailpiece. if i fail, i'll just make the foam mold and have someone else do the glassing. the only way to get exactly the look you want is to DIY. the glass from the past guy lives around here, so i'm sure i could get him to do the glassing if i have to.

[cbjunkie]

any idea what you are gonna do for rearsets?

they seem to pop up every once in a while on ebay - and actually there is a pretty good thread on it here, for making your own - i think ohiocaferacer wrote it up and posted a few photos...if...you like the homemade look.

i just got a stock seat the other day, but i'm gonna do some glasswork for a cafe seat, too...i'm trying to make it all redundant - keep the stock stuff around for later, but cafe it out for myself for now.

off topic: travelled the world for punk, huh? sounds like a blast. you in production or in the band yourself?

[paulages]

on topic: decided against rearsets...and cut the rear footpeg brackets off. no turning back there. the next one will probably have rearsets, and i'll try and sort out the fabbing myself.

off topic: i play music. been to over 30 countries and met a lot of great people playing some noisy punk music. what a life...

[cbjunkie]

this whole passenger footpeg thing is kinda driving me bats...i want to cut them off, but once i do that i'm really stuck. unless i want to go to the trouble to weld'em back on (which i don't)

i still going back and forth on it, but since i'm not really gonna race it i guess i can leave'em on. ...they do bug me though.    i'm feeling indecisive. i'm sure i'll feel much better when i'm standing in front of the bike with a side grinder in my hand. 

off: so, you got a recording out or something?

[paulages]

cbjunkie---
on topic: i really like the stripped down look, but most #$%* honda put on their frames is there for good reason. i didn't powder coat my center stand (stupid, as it ended up being a bulk price anyway), but did leave the mount, just in case i ever decide to put it back on. about the only other things i could find to lose were the helmet holders, and even those are pretty useful (unless you have an expensive helmet, in which case i wouldn't leave it on the bike anyway). those rear brackets are welded on top of the down tubing, so when you cut them off and grind down the welds, there aren't any holes to weld shut. makes it easy.

off topic: no websites, but i've recorded with several bands through the years. currently i'm in a band called TRAGEDY. was in other bands called HIS HERO IS GONE, and DEATHREAT, all of which have recorded many albums, singles, etc. google them and they're easy enough to find, but you'd pretty much have to be into some noisy hardcore punk to like it. 

[rucorey]

Paulages-
Incred work on that tank - you have me thinking seriously about going for it. When you are hammering, do you hammer the outline using the flat part of the hammer or the edge? Do you hammer the edge and the middle area just pops in? I have no practice tank, so I'm nervous about getting to it. Also, what are you planning to do in place of rearsets? I was thinking of cutting the rear loops off and welding two plugs onto the frame for an aftermarket rearset. I was thinking of using an older suzuki gsxr or katana rearset becuase they look plain and would match better. Sorry for all the questions, but I bought the bike to transform into a cafe and a custom made tank is  looking to co$t me almost as much as the original bike price!

CBJunkie- I'm with you on cutting the frame - I know it will look sooo much better, but I can't seem to pull the trigger. This is the second time I've had the bike stripped down and this time I'm going for it!

[paulages]

when pounding the tank, start easy, always using the entire broad face of the hammer. start by pounding in the center of the area where you are indenting. think of it like you are just flipping the contour of the metal inside out. start denting inward, then as it begins to dent, start shaping the edges more specifically. always err on the soft side. until the final touches, always think of moving the entire area a little at a time, rather than trying to make each edge happen at once. jusr remember that broad strokes make smooth dents, sharp ones just make for lumpiness.

hope that makes sense.

oh yeah, and i plan to use the normal footpegs and foot controls. i'd like to rig up a rearset setup sometime, but too forward a stance makes for an uncomfortable street ride for me. takes a perfect setup/balance to be comfortable in my opinion. i'm 5'7", and 150#, so i'm not too worried about being cramped. i ride clubman bars with standard foot controls right now, and it's fine for me.

[bill440cars]

rucorey,  As far as mounting your reasets, have you looked into Dennis Kirk? They have these 3-piece clamps and I think they have (or will soon have) 3 different sizes. I read elsewhere that these would be perfect because you could mount them anywhere and they seem to be solid. I really do need to write down some of this info when I find it. It'd be worth a shot because then you wouldn't have to do as much welding and you could position ( and reposition) them until you decided on the location. What do you think? I'm thinking of going this way myself as soon as I can find and buy the rearsets themselves, even though I'm kinda considering trying my hand at fabricating them. Well, I'd better go, got other things I need to take care of.     Bill     

[cbjunkie]

rearsets: if you are even thinking about rearsets - do a search (here) for ohiocaferacer's homemade version - i've been looking at these on ebay for a few months - they rarely go for less than 120-150 bucks, used.

hammer time: paulages, i bought a fairly light deadblow at the Depot last night - the face is a little over 2" in diameter and mostly flat. i am wondering if it is worth looking for one that has a convex face - the "ball peen" type...or did you do your work with a fairly flat face? the problem i can see with most of the ball peen types is that the heads are steel, not plastic coated...

good tips on the working of it, by the way, your method seems clear to me and the technique is understandable as you describe it...any other advice?

[MetalHead550]

cbjunkie!  Tearin into it!  Good man.  What size is that rear tire on your 750 proj.?  Looks mean as hell!  Seems like more and more people are going for custom(cafe mostly) restorations with these bikes.

Paulages:  Youre almost as bad as me! Talk about people who take themselves too seriously, metalheads!  I grew up with several friends who were/are in nasty street punk bands.  Usually fun to hang out with but a little bit goes a long way.  The shows were pretty cool too but certainly not quite my thing.  Seems like metal and punk tolerate eachother but dont exactly mingle so well.

[cbjunkie]

i saw CrashWorship in Atl. one time - my favorite moment? - coming down on the sidewalk at dawn watching "satan" scrub off the red body paint and soot from the show with a bucket of water outside the tour van...

on topic: rear is a 16 - the spokes are real snotty - have you ever cleaned up spokes? there's a set on Ebosh right now - starting out at 30 bux...

[paulages]

off topic:  metalhead---where i grew up (small town tennessee where they make george dickel and jack daniels), it was all the same...metal, punk, goth, alternative, whatever. it wasn't until i moved to a big city that those divisions became an issue. even then, the music i play has always bridged a lot of those barriers. metal purists call us punk and punk purists call us metal. if you download stuff, check out wolfbrigade from sweden for something in the same vein, or disfear (singer from at the gates). these bands record in the same studio/same engineer as entombed and many of those similar metal bands. there is certainly some metal/punk crossover in that genre, but it is neither "take itself too seriously" street punk or purist metal. also, atlanta is a gnarly place for shows...saw many gigs there growing up, and they have a terrible skinhead problem. saw some serious brawls between nazis ans antifascist skins....(shudder)

on topic: cbjunkie----did you set up that rear or did you inherit it? are the spokes all "inners"? the set buchanans sent me were very wierd, and i had to send them back twice. the third time, they insisted that they were doing a cb hub/harley rim conversion at that very moment with the same kit, but it still went together wierd. i'd really reccomend all inners if you go for a new set of spokes.

i think that even if you could find a plastic ballpeen faced hammer, it would not be good. it seemed good to me for the pressure to be as broad as possible. i'm sure you'll figure it out. it helps that i used to work with sheet metal a bit, but it's pretty common sensical.

[cbjunkie]

spokes - innies or outies...? i inherited it this way and i don't know, can you tell me from the photo?

[paulages]

that's all inners. here's my wonky version:

Tech support at buchanans insist that the slight curve in the outer spokes will straighten after 100 miles or so, at which point they will need to be retrued...i'm still a little sketched out, but my local tech shop seemed to agree with this diagnosis when i had them mount the tire.

[ProTeal55]

CBJUNKIE--------->

What size tire are you running on that 16'' HD wheel ? That looks bad as hell , and I need that look on my CB.
I really want to go to a 16 in the rear so I can run a Avon Gangster White Wide WhiteWall. That tire you have going
to rub ? You have stock or "short" shocks on their

[cbjunkie]

plages - sorry about the hijak...

proteal...tire inherited, but i intend on getting the same tire (new) on it before spring riding...if you look on the avatar shot you can see that the stock 13" shocks give me about 8 feet of clearance between rubber and the fender...i'm getting some 12"hagons next week - not that i need it, i'm 6'1", but i've got plenty of room to lower the backside down.

[paulages]

by the way, here's what a 130/90/16 looks like. mine's a 3.5" rim, but with a 4" you could certainly go bigger. my guess is that's what cbjunkie has. they're a bit harder to find, as the 16" x 3.5" is the most common size for HD's. i wish i had a shot from the same angle as cbjunkie, to compare, but don't.

[ProTeal55]

PAULAGES---->

Are you running/plan on running short shocks on the rear of your CB ? Looks to me as if you might allready have them on their.
I ask becasue I am worried about rubbing/bottom out issues with the rear tire. I def. like the look of the 130/90/16 like you have.
Much more "BEEFY" than the puniy 17'' I have now.

Please disregard the seat in the pic below - it will be replaced 

[paulages]

those are the stock F shocks as far as i can tell. i will eventually get some good ones, and may go a little bit lower just because i'm a bit short 

i'm not really into the whole west coast chopper monster-rear-tire type of thing, but i do think the 130/90/16 gives the bike a meaner stance. not too obvious, but noticable. i have plenty of clearance on mine.

[ProTeal55]

The last place I worked at was a "big rear tire bike" manf. and dealer, so I had my share of the whole 250 is small and 330's
are cool thing. I think the "fattest" tire on the rear of a bike should be a 200. Anything wider and the bike starts to be less rideable...

I def. plan on running a 16HD wheel to get a bit more sidewall on my CB. I like the look of the 130 on your bike allot.
Do you think you could run anything bigger without fitment issues , or is a 130 the safest......
Anything is better than the 110 I have now 

[paulages]

i think you could technically go bigger than a 130 on a 3.5" rim, but then you start compromising side wall strength, deafeating half the purpose of using a wider rim (as you noted). i've seen a 4" used on a cb750 though.

[MetalHead550]

Hey ProTeal,  what did you decide on for a seat?

[chippyfive50]

HELL YES!! on the tank.   I have a few crappy tanks I will be beating into submission in short order.....  MoRE PICS!

[cbjunkie]

paulages - uh, i just realized you did the hammer work AFTER painting the tank? are you just that good or are you going to re-paint it anyway?

[paulages]

no, i didn't. the black tank is the one i practiced on, and the stock orange one will be repainted.