Honda-SOHC

£600 for a pair of 550 wheels? Ebay item number 251574308695.

Maybe if there was 300 quid stuffed inside of the tyres? :-)

Don't worry, it's nothing to do with geriatric fetishists on viagra - I've just had a try of the How To Refurb Rubber thing from this month's Practical Sportsbike and it's worked!

For anyone who's read the article and thought "Hmm..." I'd say give it a go. Two CB550 carb-to-manifold rubbers are now eminently flexible enough to use again - and they were stiffer than the aforementioned geriatrics before receiving the treatment.

The only thing I did differently to the article was to pop the rubbers in a container inside the pan of water - a double boiler affair - and cover 'em with the 50:1 solution recommended in the article. This has two benefits over a plain pan - firstly, you use less of the water / Wintergreen mixture and secondly it helps control the temperature better.

Popped them in and left to cook away for 90 mins with an occasional jiggle to keep things nice and even, I've just fished 'em out and given a good wash in cold water and Bob's my Uncle!

Okay, so at a tenner for the Wintergreen oil it's not that much cheaper than new bits from DSS, but it's handy to know it'll work for the more expensive or hard-to-come-by rubbery bits.

Evening all!

Well, I'm still accumulating parts left right and centre, the plan being to put at least one 400 back on the Queen's highway and I happened across this - http://is02.thegumtree.com/image/big/133128418.jpg

Not exactly a K4 or RC rep fairing, but interesting in it's own way. Anyone have any clues as to manufacturer etc?

Cheers folks.

One for anyone who's lost the bearing retaining nut for their CB400/500/550 (not me, of course - I never lose anything... ahemm...)

Getting an OEM replacement can be a pain, but the stem nut from a cr or crm 125/250/450 fits nicely. Stem nut for a Husqvarna WR125, TC250 or SM250R is the same thread so should fit too.

I was mooching around the web and found an article about a guy's '78 Kawasaki KZ650 rebuild - in it he mentions using a CB400F gear shift to accommodate his rear-sets, as the shift rod splines are the same. So I got thinking (the sound of grinding metal...)

Checked a few part numbers on http://www.motogrid.com/pages/OemParts?aribrand=HOM, and the selector shaftwas used in a fair few Kwaka's, so logically their spline patterns should also be compatible with the CB400 shifter too.  Here's the list -

KZ550 A1-A4 (80-83), C1-C4 (80-83), D1 Gpz (81), F1 Spectre (83), F2 LTD Shaft (84), H1+H2 Gpz (82-3) and M1 LTS Shaft (83)

KZ650 B1-B3 (77-79), C1-C3 Custom (77-79), D1-D2 SR (78-79), E1 LTD (80), F1 (80) and H1-H3 CSR (81-83)

KZ700 A1 (84)

KZ750 B1-B4 (76-79), E1-E3 (80-82), F1 Shaft (83), G1 LTD II (80), H1-H4 LTD (80-83), K1 Belt (83), L3 (83), M1 CSR Twin (82), N1-N2 Spectre (82-83) and R1 Gpz (82)

ZL600 A1-A2 Eliminator (86-87) and B2-B3 (96-97)

ZN700 A1-A2 Shaft (84-85)

ZR550 B1-B4 Zephyr (90-93) and C1-C3 Zephyr (91-93)

ZR750F2 (2000) and H1-H3 ZR-7S (2001-03)

ZX550 A1-A3 Gpz ( 84-86)

ZX600 Ninja (85-97)

ZX750 A1-A3 Gpz (83-85) and

XZ750 E1 + E2 Gpz Turbo (84-85)

Most of these won't do as a straight swap for the CB400F goodies but some will - but the others might come in handy for people building specials / choppers / bobbers absed on the little four.

Evening all - just a quick pop-in to say Hi.

So - erm... - Hi!

Am currently in the process of acquiring the makings of (what I hope will be) a nice little project (400f2 motor in a 550k rolling chassis if all goes according to plan).

I'm a desk-jockey by day but am pretty comfortable around spanners and oily things that go BRUMMM.

My mystical super-power is the ability to ask really stupid questions, so apologies in advance folks!