Topic: CB750 Lucky

[lucky]

Very sharp looking so far. 

Thanks Fastbroshi,
It has been mostly cleaning, scraping ,sanding, and rust prevention on all of the parts of the entire motorcycle. 33 years of service so many small parts needed attention. Most of the parts held up extremely well compared to modern motorcycle parts.
The parts are simple but rugged.
I also ran the engine on a test stand before getting the engine rebuilt. It turned out to be a good decision to completely rebuild the engine, because things like rubber cam chain rollers get hard and can come apart. Also on a used bike it is hard to tell the actual mileage.
The rubber cushions in the rear hub were hard as a rock. I replaced those.
Photos below of the beginning.

[lucky]

Now I am onto the rear shocks.
There was nothing on the internet that I could find about RFY shocks.
EXCEPT there was one guy on the internet that completely rebuilt and machined new parts for the RFY shocks and added oil and nitrogen and built special tools to to take em apart and put them back together.
We will leave him out of this .
 
So I will tell you what my experience was.
I originally bought the Cycle Exchange 11.4 inch )"shorty" shocks but was a little worried that they would be too short because of the long swing arm on this 1978 Honda CB750.

So I took a chance and bought these RFY shocks. They had the looks alright but could they carry a heavy load. They were 13.5 inches long.

When I opened them there were no instructions of any kind about how to adjust.
The bottom clevis would not fit my 1978 Honda CB750 even though when I found them on Ebay the ad said "Honda CB750"shocks.
The clevis had a small hole that was threaded on one side of the clevis and a larger hole on the other side of the clevis.
But the 1978 Honda CB750 swing arm had a larger bolt hole than either hole in the RFY shock.

I decided to drill out the holes in the clevis to fit the hole in the swing arm bushing of the 1978 Honda CB750.
Had to drill the holes about .060 thousandths larger.

Then I went to NAPA auto supply to get a bolt that would have a smooth shank all the way through the clevis.
A long shot I know.
Well I got lucky ,they had the metric bolt and it had the smooth shank just long enough to go all the way through the clevis!


Click once on photo to enlarge.

[70CB750]

I keep finding them on ebay , for sure like the look. http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=170646237631&index=2&nav=SEARCH&nid=89124411779

the low price keeps me from buying them - ironic I know:)

Hope they work for you - looking fwd to real life experience.

[fastbroshi]

Shoot, finding those was easy, try finding those acorn nuts at your local hardware store!

[Mcwilliams570]

I could be wrong but I think it was ace hardware that I saw they had chrome acorn nuts had a little section of chrome bolts just glanced at them so again could be wrong..

Bike is looking good lucky I too ordered those shocks just got the clevis part in shocks should be here tomorrow. I saw I was going to have to drill the hole a bit bigger to get it to fit seems like the bolt (lower one) I have in the 550 is a bit bigger than what you have on yours but hard to tell in the pictures. I think the shocks will work fine for what I will be using the bike for but they look nice will see how they work..

Matt

[lucky]

I keep finding them on ebay , for sure like the look. http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=170646237631&index=2&nav=SEARCH&nid=89124411779

the low price keeps me from buying them - ironic I know:)

Hope they work for you - looking fwd to real life experience.

I will report back.
You can count on that.

I wish others would do the same.

The technology is way ahead of what originally came on the bike.
These are 13.5 inches. That is what the ad said.
Is that eye to eye or overall measurement?
What were the length of the original 1978 shocks?
The workshop manual does not say.
I just went and looked at the ad one more time.
Friday Nov.23,2011
Almost NO info given other that they are new ,unused etc.,.
Does not say eye to eye or overall measurement.
The guy selling them should take note:
There were 4,200 viewers!!  One bid.    That means they looked but there is no information.
HINT....The buyers need more information !!
But I can tell you that I did have to modify the bottom clevis to
fit my Honda CB750 made in 1978.
I had to drill the holes in the clevis using a drill that is .060 thousandths larger than the large unthreaded hole in the clevis.
I drilled through both holes in the bottom clevis of the RFY shock. The bolt goes all the way through with washer and nut.
The shank of the metric bolt is smooth all the way through. I will trim the threaded part of the bolt. I put a layer of teflon tape between the steel and aluminum to keep them from touching.

There is no information about adjustment that comes with the shock. Nothing on the box either. Just two spanner wrenches.
TWO nuts two spanner wrenches. That is all I can tell you.

[lucky]

Very sharp looking so far. 

The video link on your post no longer is available. Did you know that?

[lucky]

I installed my carb boots after boiling them in winter green.
Just water and winter green.
I used the OEM clamps
A few other items also today.

Click once on photo to enlarge.

[fastbroshi]

Very sharp looking so far. 

The video link on your post no longer is available. Did you know that?

Fixed it.  Keep forgetting to do that.

[lucky]

Thanks!! Now I can view it.

[Freaky1]

Sellers who don't include enough info bugs me too, even worse when you ask them a question and they don't respond. I will be interested in seeing how these work out for you Lucky as I'm interested in a pair myself.

[Flick]

Hey man, back on page one what did you use to strip the paint off of your frame and swing arm?
Thanks-Flick

[Retro Rocket]

There was nothing on the internet that I could find about RFY shocks.
EXCEPT there was one guy on the internet that completely rebuilt and machined new parts for the RFY shocks and added oil and nitrogen and built special tools to to take em apart and put them back together.
We will leave him out of this .

Tell me why you would leave that out ..? I is the most comprehensive, detailed rundown of what is wrong with these shocks. Cheap seals, cheap oil, poorly designed dampener and cheap alloy parts that are prone to breaking, it was all in that write up. That guy spent a lot of time making those shocks work and even stated it wasn't worth it. I posted that blog somewhere on this forum about 2 years ago..... He didn't just put them back together, he remade some of the parts {mainly the bottom alloy section} because of the poor quality.......  I have said it before, i have a set and will only use them for mocking up, they will never live on one of my bikes....

[lucky]

I could be wrong but I think it was ace hardware that I saw they had chrome acorn nuts had a little section of chrome bolts just glanced at them so again could be wrong..

Bike is looking good lucky I too ordered those shocks just got the clevis part in shocks should be here tomorrow. I saw I was going to have to drill the hole a bit bigger to get it to fit seems like the bolt (lower one) I have in the 550 is a bit bigger than what you have on yours but hard to tell in the pictures. I think the shocks will work fine for what I will be using the bike for but they look nice will see how they work..

Matt

Yes please let the forum members know what you think of them after you take a ride.

[lucky]

Hey man, back on page one what did you use to strip the paint off of your frame and swing arm?
Thanks-Flick

I am glad to answer that.
I used Jasco brand stripper but make sure it says "paint and EPOXY remover"
It is much much better than just their "paint and varnish remover".
The paint and epoxy remover is like the old days when you brush it on and 2 minutes later all the paint bubbles up and just slides off the metal. WhOoooo oh yea!!

[lucky]

There was nothing on the internet that I could find about RFY shocks.
EXCEPT there was one guy on the internet that completely rebuilt and machined new parts for the RFY shocks and added oil and nitrogen and built special tools to to take em apart and put them back together.
We will leave him out of this .

Tell me why you would leave that out ..? I is the most comprehensive, detailed rundown of what is wrong with these shocks. Cheap seals, cheap oil, poorly designed dampener and cheap alloy parts that are prone to breaking, it was all in that write up. That guy spent a lot of time making those shocks work and even stated it wasn't worth it. I posted that blog somewhere on this forum about 2 years ago..... He didn't just put them back together, he remade some of the parts {mainly the bottom alloy section} because of the poor quality.......  I have said it before, i have a set and will only use them for mocking up, they will never live on one of my bikes....

The reason I left out that excellent story is because many of us cannot machine all of our own parts. I wanted to know if the shocks work well enough to even be as good as the stock Honda shocks. The technology is better.
The reason the guy in the article machined an new lower portion with clevis was because he said that one time a shock broke (different brand) where the spring mounts, and that this shock looked weak in that area. So he made his own beefed up version of the part.
I have not heard any reports of RFY shocks breaking at that lower spring mount.
And to make sure I ad all the info, there was a person that said he knew the guy that completely went through the RFY shock and that (his words) the guy kind of went overboard on everything he did. So that is thrown in also.

There is just a lack of information right now about those RFY shocks.
I just wanted to tell others what my personal experience has been with those RFY shocks.

I told the guy that sells them that he need more information included with his shocks. He wrote back and said, Thanks.

[lucky]

Ok....Back to my build thread story.

The wheels were the stock wire wheels and were rusted etc.,.
So I was able to get some Honda CB750A aluminum wheels and added a EBC prolite rotor on the the front wheel.
The aluminum wheels are much lighter than the stock wheels.
I used the AVON Road Rider 26 tires.
The AVON tires fit the 19 inch front and 17 inch rear wheel and looked right.

[Flick]

Alright!! Thanks lucky...

[lucky]

That special nut for the top of the steering stem arrived today!

[70CB750]

Purrty!  Speedo and tachometer - where are they from, please?

[liPPy]

Purrty!  Speedo and tachometer - where are they from, please?

They look like the Dime City ones :http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-chopper-custom-motorcycle-electronic-parts-mini-chrome-black-face-led-speedo-speedometer-15-0032b.html

[lucky]

Purrty!  Speedo and tachometer - where are they from, please?

I got mine from Dime City Cycles. You guessed correctly liPPy.
The reason is, is that they listed the proper ratios for the CB750.

You can also get them from Cycle Exchange. They also will sell you the correct ratios for your stock CB750.

Or you can get them from JP cycles but they do not tell you the correct ratios for your bike so you have to find that out first.

I have used them on 3 different motorcycles and I like them.

[lucky]

Today's photo progress.
First is the battery ground strap.
I took the wire all apart and soldered it back together to make sure it was not corroded inside. 33 years you know.
Then I put the coils in place and main wiring harness in the approximate position.
The coils are Dynatech.
The front fork tubes are in place after being rebuilt.
And finally the rear brake light switch.

CLICK ONCE on photos to enlarge.

[lucky]

Purrty!  Speedo and tachometer - where are they from, please?

Almost forgot to mention that the steering nut is a Cycle Exchange item.
Aluminum  $28.00!! -Beautiful machining.

[lucky]

Since I was working on the front end i went ahead and put on the front wheel.
I did not see any reason not to.
Avon Road Rider 26 tire and EBC Pro Lite aluminum hub brake rotor.
Honda CB750 A front aluminum rim.

CLICK ONCE to enlarge photo.