Building a CB550

[lordwhimsey]

Hi Everyone,

I

[UK Pete]

Hi welcome too the site, your bike looks really nice, i like the tail/seat unit, i have a very similar seat unit which is going on a future 750 cafe racer project, but it is too narrow so i have cut it in half length ways and i will fiberglass it back together about 3 '' wider.
Have you decided on a colour for it yet, and what sort of time scale do you have till completion?
Dont joy too much about a UK forum, it seems a bit like a ghost town here, there are a few regular posters.  but most people seem to give up and go to the .net site where there are new posts every hour
IMHO We need to get this UK site buzzing and lure back some of the members who no longer post,
Pete

[SteveD CB500K0]

Welcome (at last...)

I normally prowl the Newbies board over there looking for locals to redirect.

Must have missed you.

Sorry.    

[SteveD CB500K0]

Pete - they have 10,000 members (most of whom never post) and 90% of the stuff on there ("Babe Thread"?) is a waste of server space.

Still, as long as they don't break the rules, I don't delete them 

The Performance board is pretty good and I would recommend it to anyone.

Nothing can beat local knowledge though.

Steve

[Spitfire]

Hi and welcome, I used to frequent the US site a lot more and I have had some great advice from the guys over there, but it can be frustrating when stuff is not available in the UK that they use regularly.
Oh and welcome to the forum !

Cheers

Dennis

[Yoshi823]

Ah yes, the venerable CB550 Honda. Without taking my shoes & socks off I have forgotten how many of them that I have had in the past.

I was a regular poster on the USA site but I found myself stating the obvious on some of the questions that were asked, and found myself staying on there too long. It is definitely a popular site, but as Steve has said with over 10,000 members you'd think that it would be even more busy than it is.

So, keep the photos coming and have a good look at the bikes we have owned over the years. Sadly I no longer have any Honda SOHC fours, but I like to pass on what I have experience of, so happy reading...and welcome to the site.

[lordwhimsey]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone; I'll probably be asking a lot of questions.

As an update, to put the lower half of the engine in the frame at the weekend. I'd been dreading it but a friend came round to help me out and it was actually pretty easy. Here are some pictures:







I didn't have time to put the pistons in the barrels so I put the barrels and an old head on to stop anything nasty falling inside the crank case before next weekend.

Have you decided on a colour for it yet, and what sort of time scale do you have till completion?

Hi Pete, I think I'm going to paint it black; I'm always thinking of fancy colour schemes but then I chicken out and end up painting everything black.

As for time scale. I'm hoping to have it on the road for next summer; progress is very slow going. The main limiting factors are having two small children that require a lot of daddy time, lack of funds, lack of skill and having a shed that's too small to fit a complete motorcycle in!

[SteveD CB500K0]

How about black with a chequerboard strip - like a Carpy special or an Ace Cafe Thruxton?

[lordwhimsey]

How about black with a chequerboard strip - like a Carpy special or an Ace Cafe Thruxton?

I like it! Can you get chequered tape or would I have to paint the cheques on?

Actually, I was also thinking of a race number on the seat hump.

[SteveD CB500K0]

Something like this?