Author Topic: Another CB550F thread (Read 5605 times)

randy merritt · « **on:** February 13, 2015, 05:09:59 PM »

I bought this bike a little while ago just to have something to tinker with. I used to have a CB350 back when I was in college, and always thought it was cool. My plan with this bike it to not hack it up, but do a few personal preferences on it. I have replaced one of the fuel lines and a couple of o-rings that were leaking oil, but otherwise, the bike seems to run good. I am keeping all the stock parts, and they should all just bolt right back up if I ever choose. I am starting this thread mostly for myself so I can look back in the future at how the tinkering has progressed.

As bought:

I will not be riding it much, so I removed the front and rear fenders. I got a cheap combo stop/turn/tag light off of ebay and made a bracket to mount it to the stock rear bar mounting holes:

Here is the finished install. The light plugged right up (it even had the correct connectors already in place) and works good. BTW, I was told by the seller that the seat came factory with the upside down "Honda" stencil on the seat. Has anyone ever seen this before? My searches have reveled nothing. My next step is a different seat look. I bought a seat cover off ebay from a guy in Hollywood, Fla. (he actually answered his phone and have a conversation with me), and I will be cutting my stock foam pad and fitting the new cover in the near future.

FunJimmy · « **Reply #1 on:** February 13, 2015, 05:15:26 PM »

Fun, fun, fun.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #2 on:** February 13, 2015, 10:23:39 PM »

I've never seen a Honda seat stencil upside-down from the factory.

rb550four · « **Reply #3 on:** February 14, 2015, 07:10:09 AM »

Factory seconds? I've never found China to be overly picky about quality control. And funny enough, their alphabet isn't like ours, so what uneducated factory worker would even notice the upside down HONDA . Maybe they ran a bunch of them, maybe just a few.
A ripped seat cover would bug me allot more than upsidedown logo.

randy merritt · « **Reply #4 on:** February 14, 2015, 05:41:03 PM »

I got the turn signals working today with an electronic flasher. I took the bike for a short spin around (no tag yet), and it seemed to run good, but a carb or two needs some road time to work better. I could feel the cylinders come in when the bike started to rev.

randy merritt · « **Reply #5 on:** February 15, 2015, 04:52:44 PM »

I decided to mess around with the seat a little today. Don't worry, not Honda parts were injured in this event. I pulled my old seat cover off and removed the factory foam. I decided to try some exercise matting to try and form a new seat more to my liking.

I built up several layers in what I thought I would like as a good shape.

I then glued and shaped a 1" thick foam pad over the whole thing to see how it would look.

I was not very happy with the height of the rear part of the seat so I removed the 1" foam and one layer of mat on the rear of the seat. I like this look better, and I am thinking of a way to get some sort of bob fender in the rear that is color matched to the tank and side covers to break thinks up a little. I am thinking of attaching something to the seat pan so it would just lift up with the seat. Big fun.

I also removed the stator cover and sealed it up with "great stuff" from Permatex. I figure if it is good enough for the china wall on my Syclone intake, then it should work on the stator cover.

randy merritt · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2015, 05:00:12 PM »

Well, I did a little more sweating over the seat today. I thought I would try and see if I could not use the factory pan for a seat, but remove the exercise mats I had cut up and glued to the pan and see if they would work mounted straight to the frame (not mounted exactly, just sitting on it). I added a little material at the back of the seat to better cover the frame area, as I am not going to be cutting the bike.

I took my foam seat form and covered it with a 1/4" or so layer of stiff foam material that I paid $5 for.

I then covered it in black vinyl that I paid about $10 for. I am not an expert at upholstery work, so the tucks at the back could have been better.

The seat tucks under the tank on the front, and fits well in the back on top of the factory brace. It probably weighs about 1 or 2 pounds. I added a metal brace (actually a left over hurricane strap from when I built my house) to the bottom of the seat foam to help it keep the curvature to look halfway decent. For 20 bucks or so, I am pretty happy with the looks. Just my personal opinion.

randy merritt · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2015, 05:03:45 PM »

Here is my latest seat idea. This was made from exercise mats and a seat cover off Ebay. I made it to fit over the stock rear seat brace.

mgzych · « **Reply #8 on:** March 06, 2015, 06:56:04 PM »

I like your latest seat creation. What seat cover did you buy off eBay? Who was seller? Any step-by-step photos of this one?

randy merritt · « **Reply #9 on:** March 06, 2015, 07:49:23 PM »

This is the seat cover. Very nice guy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cafe-Racer-Seat-for-Honda-CB200-CB350-CB360-original-pans-fits-many-others-/111615029393?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&var=&hash=item19fcc63091&vxp=mtr

Not exactly a step by step, but some work in progress pics:

mgzych · « **Reply #10 on:** March 06, 2015, 09:16:41 PM »

Thanks!

Bankerdanny · « **Reply #11 on:** March 07, 2015, 07:50:20 AM »

That's a pretty ingenious way of creating a cafe seat and not needing to cut off the seat support.

mgzych · « **Reply #12 on:** March 07, 2015, 08:15:48 AM »

Maybe some glass and resin applied to the bottom and you'd have a custom pan/base, too.

randy merritt · « **Reply #13 on:** March 31, 2015, 05:13:53 PM »

Here is the latest pic of the bike. Sorry for the poor quality. I have removed a bunch of things from the bike and made a mount for a GPS speedo (Garmin). I think I will be painting the tank and side covers black in the near future. They are not in the best shape.

FunJimmy · « **Reply #14 on:** March 31, 2015, 08:18:18 PM »

Quote from: randy merritt on March 31, 2015, 05:13:53 PM

Here is the latest pic of the bike. Sorry for the poor quality.

Cool effect.
It looks intentional.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #15 on:** March 31, 2015, 09:23:51 PM »

randy merritt · « **Reply #16 on:** April 01, 2015, 05:37:09 PM »

Today, I painted the tank and side covers with some water soluble paint just to get a look at it and see if I like it. In other words, it can be removed easy. I don't know how I feel about the flat black look. I am thinking a gloss would look better. BTW, the bike is running great.

randy merritt · « **Reply #17 on:** April 01, 2015, 05:54:04 PM »

Also, a few days ago, I pulled the carbs off to try to find why the #4 cylinder was not firing at idle. I know the pic is a little fuzzy, but that is the slow jet on the #4 carb resting in the bowl. I reinstalled it, and the bike idles much better.

randy merritt · « **Reply #18 on:** April 01, 2015, 06:16:55 PM »

Here are some pics I just took of the bike by spraying a little water on the paint to see how a gloss would look. Any thoughts?

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #19 on:** April 01, 2015, 06:23:25 PM »

I actually think the blue looks much better. So many people are doing the all black thing that it's becoming almost boring to me.

mgzych · « **Reply #20 on:** April 01, 2015, 06:30:26 PM »

+1 on the blue.

randy merritt · « **Reply #21 on:** April 01, 2015, 06:39:54 PM »

OK, last pic. While the water was drying, I took another pic for a "satin" look. I am kind of liking this look.

Stev-o · « **Reply #22 on:** April 01, 2015, 06:40:07 PM »

+1 blue. Or gloss black.

calj737 · « **Reply #23 on:** April 01, 2015, 08:19:35 PM »

+1 blue.

I'll paypal you $5 to clean the lens on your camera

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #24 on:** April 01, 2015, 09:51:14 PM »

Quote from: calj737 on April 01, 2015, 08:19:35 PM

+1 blue.

I'll paypal you $5 to clean the lens on your camera

Hahaha!

How about midnight blue metallic?

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Author Topic: Another CB550F thread (Read 5605 times)