Front Wheel

[Acro1985]

Hi All

Does anyone know how interchangeable the front wheels are, the reason for asking is I got hold of a very good condition front wheel that I was told was from a CB550 that been converted to twin discs, which is something I was thinking of doing to mine. however upon getting it home and comparing the axle that came with the wheel to axle from my bike, it appears to that wheel is from a gl1000. now my original axle fits the wheel, just doesn't stick out as much which makes it looks the fork tubes will be too close to the discs, but I cant check if my forks will work with the wheel or not as I have them stripped down and packaged up ready to send off for re-chroming.

Has anyone used a GL wheel before with a CB550 axle or if I choose to use it, I am looking at having to swap the forks and yokes to GL1000 assuming these are compatible with my frame.

[Johnwebley]

I would suggest you do a lot of measuring,

Even if your wheel is still in the bike, compare the length of the spindles,

I would think fitting a
GL front end is going to far,



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[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

If you have not already done so it is worth looking at the twin disc conversion in Aladdins cave where you will see it's not an easy task even when using the originall wheel. The section includes some things it will affect you are going to have to remove one of the calipers if you want to remove the wheel in the future since the wheel and tyre just don’t fit between the two pivot arms when they are both bolted on. There is always a downside-  https://info.sohc.co.uk/download/dual-disc-conversion-ben-hiles/

I would then measure the actual width of the original hub and the hub you have, subtracting the difference should give you a handle on if it's possible when you see how little room there is using your original hub.

[K2-K6]

I'm unsure but the wheel spacing and application may be wider than your bike's existing type, as you suspect.

Quite a few of the Honda bits will "fit" other bits as they share often common design and manufacture specifications, but still be different in some dimensions if that makes sense.

The GL 1000 did use substantially different brake calipers to original type on these SOHC bikes. There's significantly more material and consequently space needed from the inside face of the disc to the wheel spokes. The original are particularly "slim" in this aspect by contrast. Doubt that the spokes and the triangulation they form would be compromised by going to a narrowed formation, with moving outward of brake hardware a logical step for them to incorporate.

That will likely cause the fork stanchions to be moved outward in accommodation of this with their centres further from steering centreline and using yoke/triple tree geometry to facilitate.

Probably the only realistic way to determine is to dummy build what you've got to see the difference.

[robvangulik]

If you have not already done so it is worth looking at the twin disc conversion in Aladdins cave where you will see it's not an easy task even when using the originall wheel. The section includes some things it will affect you are going to have to remove one of the calipers if you want to remove the wheel in the future since the wheel and tyre just don’t fit between the two pivot arms when they are both bolted on. There is always a downside-  https://info.sohc.co.uk/download/dual-disc-conversion-ben-hiles/

I would then measure the actual width of the original hub and the hub you have, subtracting the difference should give you a handle on if it's possible when you see how little room there is using your original hub.

With most more modern bikes with twin discs you'll have to remove at least one caliper, and some (if not most) both brakes to remove the wheel! On my CBR I have to take them both off, and that is no real problem, 2 bolts per caliper...

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

If you have not already done so it is worth looking at the twin disc conversion in Aladdins cave where you will see it's not an easy task even when using the originall wheel. The section includes some things it will affect you are going to have to remove one of the calipers if you want to remove the wheel in the future since the wheel and tyre just don’t fit between the two pivot arms when they are both bolted on. There is always a downside-  https://info.sohc.co.uk/download/dual-disc-conversion-ben-hiles/

I would then measure the actual width of the original hub and the hub you have, subtracting the difference should give you a handle on if it's possible when you see how little room there is using your original hub.

With most more modern bikes with twin discs you'll have to remove at least one caliper, and some (if not most) both brakes to remove the wheel! On my CBR I have to take them both off, and that is no real problem, 2 bolts per caliper...

I think the article I was quoting was stating the difference between the original single disc situation and how fitting twin discs means removing a caliper pivot. I suspect like with cars modern assembly is not designed for ease of maintainance more to do with robot & CAD designed platforms for dealer only access with special tools.

[Acro1985]

I had a spare 5 minutes last night and dug the front disc out from the CB550 and it looks to have a minimal offset from the wheel (if that's the correct terminology), compared to the GL discs. So I am hoping when I try the 550 discs on the wheel the clearances will be ok with the 550 axle. 

[Bryanj]

Dont think the 550 discs will fit the gl hub

[Acro1985]

measured the hub and its exactly the same as the hub on my original wheel the only difference being on the right side of the GL wheel the hub face where the speedo drive goes is round compared to the CB wheel which is has two flat sides. other the disc fits on fine and the clearances for the axles and fork tubes is fine.

question on the disc's the disc that came with the bike measures 295mm in diameter and is drilled. But when I searched on eBay for another disc all the ones listed as for a CB550 measure 275mm and are solid. do I have the wrong disc ?

[Bryanj]

Drilled was never standard on a Honda, the bigger ones may be 750 not sure what size they are.
Unless you fit a complete gl front end you willnhave a problem with a speedo drive as the 550 forks are not wide enough to accomodate the standard drive plate

[Acro1985]

How I mocked it up last night (albeit with only one disc) on the speedo drive side. was the 550 disc then speedo bit (sorry dont know the correct name) that is fixed to the wheel and cover plate for it from the GL that bolts through the wheel hub and the speedo cable drive bit from the 550 all with 550 axle. the only bit that looked tight was where the speedo cable fits its very close to the disc.

I didn't think the GL front end fitted the 550, due to something to do with the yokes and stem ? because my first thought was to just get hold of a complete GL front end and fit that instead.

[Acro1985]

Hi Bryan

just on the disc's if they are from a 750 does that mean there is difference in the callipers and fixing bracket? just wondering if i go back to a standard 550 disc will i need to change the calliper and fixing bracket. 

[Bryanj]

Dont know, my crystal ball is broken! Try posting pictures of calipers and brackets plus sliders where they bolt on