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There are some pitfalls to using stainless rather than original bolts. First is cost, they can cost more, however a new OEM bolt will cost more still, DS and CMS don't give these away, the cost far exceeds there worth IMO. Also certain bolts can be high tensile, now stainless isn't as hard as high tensile but TBH there isn't a lot in it and I can't personally recall any bolts used in the 70s which were marked as high tensile, the brake caliper bolts for instance aren't, they just look like standard bolts. The second is that most 8mm bolts are 13mm headed these days whereas the standard Honda bolts are 12mm headed, not a big difference but they can look out of place in certain location, same with 10mm bolts, Honda tended to use 14mm heads and stainless replacements tend to have 17mm heads, on stuff like the caliper bolts this can mean getting a socket onto the head can be awkward. You can source stainless with the correct size heads now IF you know where to look, 6mm stainless seem to get 8mm headed if they are shouldered bolts as well. I never use socket screws, they collect water if facing upwards, this encourages corrosion and you go to remove them and the inside of the socket just rounds off. Been there, done that. No problem if they are stood proud, quick grab with a pair of mole grips and they come out but not where they are sunken, points cover for example, I've also had them round off just by torqueing them up, or trying to remove even genuine Honda ones that have been in there a while, my 1300 pinch bolts for the front spindle were socket bolts, they were also coned so when they rounded off moles couldn't get a grip, ended up using a cold chisel to knock a slot into them to get some purchase. You want a cheap alternative to JIS casing screws, use modern Honda ones, they are 8mm headed, can be found in really odd sizes like the original ones are, try sourcing 32mm x 6mm screws, you can't generally. Find a breakers on Ebay where they are breaking a bike, they tend to offer all the bolts and screws as a bundle just to get rid of them, £20 or so and you can buy a hundred or so of all different sizes. They look better, don't round off and you can use air tools to remove and fit them. Or electric if that's what you have.
Any Honda dealer will order the modern ones for you. They use a very simple part number system, for example a flanged 8mm headed casing screw 32mm long by 6mm is part number 96000-06032-00. The 96000 part is the identifier of that type of bolt, 06 is the diameter of the bolt and 032 is the length, the 00 part is the colour generally. Some of these bolts are black so you’ll see that part change to reflect that. So if you want a 6 x 28 bolt you just change that part, so it would be 96000-06028-00. Measure an existing JIS screw and then see if the equivalent is available in modern Honda ones, some of the clutch case casing screws on the 550 for instance are quite long, one is 75mm and one is 80mm so try searching for 96000-06075-00 and 96000-06080-00 for instance to see if Honda made them that length, which after searching I can report they did. It’s generally much cheaper though to buy a job lot off a breakers and just order the hard to find ones if you need any.
