Austin Cafe Racer » forks

Clean forks, clean frame

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:46:17 +0000

Shot of the bike without reflectors on the forks or stickers on the frame.

CB550 35mm Forks

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:50:54 +0000

You might recall a few weeks ago I ditched the original headlight brackets for some shiny aftermarket ones. The process revealed some fairly pitted and rusted upper forks that were hiding beneath those original brackets. No amount of sanding and polishing would make them look good, but buying new ones was out of the question. I looked around and forks are just too expensive. I emailed Forks by Frank, who come highly recommended by the SOHC4 veterans but they wanted over $250 bucks for a pair of CB550 35mm forks. So I tried my luck on eBay but everything on there was just as snotty as my forks. Until….

I found a pair that were in gorgeous shape. Complete forks for $35 bucks not including shipping. The chrome is perfect. They just need to be wiped down and cleaned. They even still had a label on them that reads: 1976, 1977, 1978 Honda CB550 Forks. This will be a project that I’ll work on in the next few months, but not anytime soon. I’m going to polish the lowers and sell them, take the dust covers and forks for my bike and then sell my crusty forks.

Removing the fork ears (headlight brackets)

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:00:08 +0000

They’re nice and all, but they’re just too bulky. Ultimately, I’m going to install some clip-ons, drop the headlight bucket a few inches and buy new mini gauges, so the old fork ears have to come off and to do that I have to remove the forks. To remove the forks I have to lift the front end to get the tire off.

1. Place bike on center stand
2. Tie down rear end so front end props up.
3. Remove front tire.

Two bolts underneath each fork. Easy peasy.

Next, remove top two fork bolts and loosen the four bolts that clamp the forks down on the upper and lower triple trees.

Slide forks out from the bottom.

Now just pop these old guys off.

Replace with shiny new ones.