“How are we doing? in the CB project?” The question weighs heavily on my mind as I consider our halting progress in 1975. Honda CB550F project bike—is known as the People Watcher. Unlike those dusty gems in your garage, our bargain Honda was shelved for more pressing matters, and my boss needed a mad dash to keep it going. faith.
I was realistic in coming up with an antidote to stalled project syndrome, planning to tackle some of the kinks and closures as well as the big manufacturing jobs left over. While we didn’t cross every item off the list, I consider this a win—with renewed enthusiasm for the build. Sometimes progress is tiny compared to the pile of blender dust on the ground, and there’s no denying how far this bike has come since we traded four Benjamins for it.
Budget overhaul
The exhaust pipe on your classic motorcycle says a lot (heh), but in the case of our cheap Honda CB550, our rusty old exhaust pipes told the story of damp storage and passing trends. I don’t know who made these old loudspeakers or whether I could make them look acceptable, but our limited budget made me give it a try. Inspiration came from carefully curated Instagram reels and I came up with a plan to significantly shorten the pipes and add a pair of cones at the end to breathe new life into this old exhaust.
I started by cutting 4 inches off the end of the speaker, which also freed up the baffles to be welded on. We’re not begging for attention here so I dissected the old partitions and cut them shorter for reuse. After a lot of cutting, fitting and preparation to deal with all the rust, old sidings can be reinstalled in much the same way as whoever made them.
With the easy part done, it’s time to make some cones from scratch—a process that involves more art and craft than I’d like to admit. You can make a pattern by rolling some paper into a cone, cutting off the end, and doing it again when none of the sizes work. The finished pattern will be transferred to steel, and you’ll want to use a thin gauge if you roll it like I did.
I dug up a 20 ga scrap. (0.032) steel for the cones, matches the thickness of our old aftermarket exhausts and rolls easily on our combination cutter, brake and roll machine. I was able to get the shape to 90%, but that last 10% will have to be carefully honed because the cones are welded to the pipes.
MIG welding 20 ga. It’s not that difficult, but I can tell you it’s less fun with .035 wire on your spool and a full-sized Millermatic 350—the only welder I had at the time . Instead of placing beads, tubes and cones are joined one weld at a time, and you will certainly need to fill spots as you weld the joints.
The transition is very subtle, but it looks a lot better than the outdated loudspeakers we had before, and it costs almost nothing. Aside from time and consumables, the only cost involved is replacing the missing exhaust hardware—unfortunately it consists of four separate parts. each pipeline. However, that price is much cheaper than any of the aftermarket options currently available for this older bike.
Scrap car body
When our CB550 made the leap from sofa-covered cruiser to no-frills hoonmobile, it was clear that we needed to come up with new bodywork to compliment the front fender and small car. ours. Tuffside Street Tracker Saddle. Although you can find plastic universal license plates online, we already have 14 stations available. (.064) aluminum (maybe 3003?) and I really want to try it.
I experimented with many different shapes for the license plate on either side, wasting countless hours in the Cardboard-Assisted Design stage. The classic roundels don’t work, but the Honda’s chassis has a pair of tubes running parallel to the shock so mirroring that line was a must. The final shape does just that, along with enclosing the triangular open area that will house our battery, electronics, and air filter.
There would be a bit of pride in a pair of flat panels glued to the sides of the bike, so after placing my patterns on our scrap aluminum sheet, I carried the entire 2-inch sheet over to the roller. beads to create accents. I’d say that putting the entire plate on the bead roller helped control the warping, but I’m no expert and I’ve heard that this problem can be handled better by turning the part first . I started with the step mold and placed a 1/4 inch step over the license plate area and placed a 1/2 inch roll in front of it. Once the bead was rolled, I rough cut the panels on a band saw and used a cap wheel and file to get the final shape.
Now we have some nice panels, but they need to be attached somehow, and ideally we’d like to have a tool-free lanyard so we can reach important parts in a pinch. grant. I chose to use some self-pushing dzues screws, which is fine because the quarter turn pins are retained by the bezels. Meaning once you rotate them and the panel is released, the dzues will not come loose.
The process starts with removing all the tabs on the frame that secure the old plastic side covers, allowing for the final installation of the new aluminum pieces. Faster self-propelling dzues have a unique support plate and these also need to be installed and welded to the frame. Before the comments light up, I’ll say that wingnut-style dzues are just placeholders—because they all have a use in your business. I had to order additional regular slot type screws and they would be attached to the aluminum plates.
After completing the sides, I moved to the front and created a simple but retro rectangular panel with the same 1/2 inch step in the panel. It’s cut out to accept the LEDs, but I need to come up with some mounting tabs for the panel so I can aim the LEDs properly. The bare pieces of aluminum were begging for a little something, so I scoured my garage for old brushes and 1 Shot paint and laid down the best stripes my damn hands could do. . I’m not sure if it was a good effort or good enough, and I’ll look back at it with fresh eyes later.
Mirrors, chains and sprockets
The last thing this audience needed was a reminder to replace ancient chains and sprockets, but we decided to upgrade some while we were at it, and you might want to do the same. I ordered 520 sprockets from Sprocket Specialists, as they offer fully custom parts to your specifications.
We’ve detuned the steel front sprocket a bit and the aluminum rear sprocket with a ‘hot slot’ option to spice things up. It’s lighter than the stock and has a nice sprocket, but the Honda hub seal hides a lot of it. I was also surprised to see that their lead time was a lot longer than expected, and the rear sprocket needed a lot of filing to get it to fit properly.
To complete the refit, I ordered a DID 520DZ2 chain with great specs and a flash of flashy yellow at an affordable price. We used a standard chain instead of an O-ring or X-ring chain, because if memory serves, both are too wide and will wear out the oil seal on the CB550—unless you work on the front sprocket on the machine convenient. That’s something to keep in mind when you’re swapping out chains and sprockets — the key is to always do your research and double-check your measurements.
Looking for an easy win to continue, I rummaged through our parts warehouse for other tricks and found our motorbike mo.view mirror. In addition to being super adjustable and exceptionally well built, the mo.view is glass-free and the mirror surface is actually made of polished aluminum. With mirrors being one of the first items to go in the trash when you start tinkering with your bike, it’s hard to exaggerate the value of a mirror that doesn’t feel luxurious or look like a necessity. rethink.
After all that, I definitely needed a cold one. Now I have a few things to clean up, and hopefully the next time you see this machine, we’ll be dealing with the electrical problem—my favorite…
EXIF Bicycles thank you Motogadget, Tuffside, Bridgestone, low educated customs And Biltwell Company to support the construction of our Honda CB550F tracker.
