Found a $300 CB550

My seat got delivered today. I thought it was a British company but it actually was from Greece. It's a nice piece. I've bought a lot of motorcycle stuff from Europe and it's always been successful. I think I've officially moved on from a cafe racer build to a tracker.
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chesterburnet said:
I think I've officially moved on from a cafe racer build to a tracker.
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I completely understand what you are saying. If I had gone the tracker route on my CL360 (378) there's a good chance I'd still own it. I liked my final result but it was a bit of a fold for someone my age. Somewhere along the way there was a little voice within me saying "go tracker" and I didn't listen.
 
Rider52 said:
There is a lot of good reasons for tracker style bikes.
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I was a little embarrassed to stop working on this project but I did have some big home projects that I had to prioritize. I've been on other forums and some are good and some suck. This one is turning out to be very cool. A lot of interaction and support and a lot of very knowledgeable people.

My every day bike is a 2019 MT10 which I've done aftermarket suspension on and is the motorcycle love of my life. I've always leaned towards these type of motorcycles. I owned motocross bikes until I was almost 40. When I was a kid I liked British bikes and had a clapped out BSA 350 and trying to keep that running left me to admire British bikes from afar. I was never a Harley guy but I was gag over the XR750 flat tracker when it came out. I always had an idea of building one for the street but they just seemed to be so far away from the performance I want out of a motorcycle. This Honda was started as a cafe racer and I always thought they were cool so I figured I'd go with that. The poor quality of the workmanship from the original owner made it easy for me to switch over to my original admiration of flat track style.
 
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3 Saturdays and 2 Sundays of work to get the rear hub sanded and polished. Most of the cafe racer builds I see have the hubs painted black. If I was willing to paint it black I could have finished it in a couple of hours. I still have to do the plate with the brake in it but it's just 1 surface so not an ordeal like the hub. I have new aluminum rims, bearings, sprocket and brake shoes. About $200 worth of parts to build the rear wheel.
I didn't take a picture of it in the original condition but a couple of progress pictures and finished one.
 

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You did a nice job on the hub. How well did the special tool work? Did you get it from Carpy? I've been looking at it as a single item replacement for multiple tools. I suspect the average wheel (spokes, bearings, rim, tire/tube and lacing/truing (If the owner can't do it) costs about $400 each wheel. Added fasteners, sprockets and other bits will push the price higher. Polishing, paint, powder adds more cost and time.
 
Rider52 said:
You did a nice job on the hub. How well did the special tool work? Did you get it from Carpy? I've been looking at it as a single item replacement for multiple tools. I suspect the average wheel (spokes, bearings, rim, tire/tube and lacing/truing (If the owner can't do it) costs about $400 each wheel. Added fasteners, sprockets and other bits will push the price higher. Polishing, paint, powder adds more cost and time.
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Thanks. The special tool worked well after I struggled for an hour with no success. THEN, I decided to look at the shop manual to see if it was a left hand thread. It makes it a lot easier. I got it from common Motor. Carpy is a cool guy but IMO his shipping costs are insane. I'm not paying anyone except for the powder coat, paint, and a friend who is a welding artisan.
 
After 3 weekends, I got the brake plate polished and am done with the rear hub. It sure is a lot of work polishing out aluminum parts. Some how I lost the new wheel bearings and had to buy another new set. The brake shoes & sprocket are new. They came in and I also bought a truing stand. I've been working on motorcycles since I was a kid and I guess it's time to learn how to true wheels.
 

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I put a preservative finish on the wheels, hub & spokes. I installed the new wheel bearings and laced up the wheel. I have to say that the time spent polishing the hub now seems worth it. I bought a truing stand and now have to teach myself how to true a wheel. It looks pretty cool to me. It's ironic, 6 days to polish out the hub, 1 half day to do bearings and lace up the wheel. It's satisfying to start putting this together.
 
So tonight after work, I put the wheel on the truing stand and watched some YouTube videos and I actually figured it out and trued my first wheel. It was very satisfying as I originally planned on paying someone to do it.
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I love building wheels, easier than most think. Nice work.
 
I'm finishing up the rear wheel and starting the front. I'm wondering about those tongued washers on the rear sprocket. What is the point of them? Are they some kind of lock washer. Can I put flat washers on with some thread locker?
 
I picked up a second rotor. The existing caliper was nasty so I bought 2 new ones and an extra bracket. I sent my rotors out to Truedisc spoke to the owner. They grind them rather then cut them and claim that it's a much better surface. I'm having them ground from 7 mm to 6. He also drills them. I told him I want as many holes as possible. He said he'll make em look like swiss cheese.

I'm using the Motogadget speedo set up and eliminating the mechanical one. I got a blank out cover. I thought I saw somebody say that you need a spacer if you do this. I was wondering if anyone knows if I do and what to use as a spacer.


I spent a few hours this week sanding the front hub. Sanding metal is very tedious but the polished hubs are worth it. Typically I minimize the time I think it will take to do things but the front hub was a lot easier than the rear. All done. I'm going to treat the hub, rim and spokes with this finish / protectorant called Sharkhide. someone on another forum turned me on to it and it works well. I'm going to lace up the wheel and true it and then it's on to building new forks. I plan on assembling the entire front end and then pack it away and move on to another area.
 
I've attacked the things that seemed like they'd be the most difficult. The motor is done, the wheels are polished out and built. I pulled the forks apart to start building. They are so simple compared to the Ohlins cartridges on my MT10. I have to sand and polish the lower tubes but that's substantially easier then wheel hubs. That will be the last polishing I have to do. The actual polishing is pretty easy....it's the sanding out the nicks and scratches that is tedious and time consuming.

It feels like it's all getting a lot easier now. This is not a whole lot more complicated than a motocross bike. There is so much info on CB350, 550 and 750 on websites, forums and Youtube that there's very little to screw up if you pay attention. I'm really enjoying the process.
Here's what the front wheel looks like with the discs machined, centers painted and the freshly polished and built front wheel.
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