Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and would just like to say what a great place. There is a wealth of information here…. awesome.
I have just purchased a CB550 Four SS of my neighbour; I think it a 1974 or 75 pictures soon. I have been look at this bike for five years now and thinking what a great project that would be. So I finally decided to take on the challenge of rebuilding it. The bike was running around a year ago but has been sitting in the shed for a long time.
So the plan is to turn it into more of a street bike than a cafe racer. I love the cafe look and there are some fantastic looking bikes on this site. But I also like the street fighter look and more so the street fighter riding position.
So some straightish drag bars and a custom made seat and rear cowl that incorporate the LP and rear lights. The cafe look does not seem to work well with the LP, leaving no room for it, so I’m going to kick up the rear to fit the LP and lights in there. Hope full I can maintain the classic lines and not create a mutant. I’m a mechanical engineer and industrial designer so I will try to CAD model the rear of the bike and sketch up the back end before forming it out of foam and glassing it up.
I have two tanks that came with the bike, an older one with the off set filler cap and also the tank with the cap under a metal cover. I like the older style best but it is going to need some rust removal.
My only dilemma at the moment is forks hopefully you guys with more experience can help me here. The ones on my bike are stuffed, pitted and rusty. It’s going to be around $600 to re chrome and service the forks if I stick to originals. But I was hoping to upgrade, there are lots of guy that have gone the GSXR root and that looks cool and at the moment looks to be around $1500 for that set up including new Harley wheel, Busa rotors and complete GSXR 600 front end of Ebay. I cannot see how the Speedo will work with this GSXR front end?
I would really like to go dual brakes on the front, so I’m not sure if they fit but CB750 forks may work. Can any of confirm this and what the best model fork to go for? Will they fit into my current triples?
I will post up some picture soon and hopefully blog the build on here. The bike is currently stripped and I’m organising all the parts to start cleaning then PC, paint and chrome.
Colour are going to be satin black and gloss black frame engine with some chrome and polish as high lights. Tank and seat I’m not 100% sure yet, either gloss silver main colour with satin black thick and thin strip down the centre. Or satin black main colour with gloss black thick and thin strip down the centre. The paint is way off so this may change.
Any way I try to keep you posted, any help is greatly appreciated.
