Polpetta's CB350

[Roaduser]

im loving the look of it when u got it! rough old bikes that simply work are so much fun to ride around on a lazy sunday. ESPECIALLY when they are kick start! man do u get some looks of admiration when you kick start a rough looking old bike on the first kick!

ill find a better pic when i get home but this is me picking up my xs 650 when i got it a few years back.
has spoke steel wheels and a factory twin disc front with metalic black paint and chrome front and rear fenders. stiffer springs in forks with valves, shorter stiffer rear shock/springs, open filters and pipes, upside down 2inch rise bars and a shortened seat. we tried to rejet it and its runs great if your constantly up it but sit in a little traffic and its fouled plugs.. ill order some new jets soon as in a silly move we drilled the old ones when rejetting as i didnt have any that fit this models mikunis.



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[2-Skinny]

Nice XS650!  Nice Ute!  And is that an FJ in the background!?

[Roaduser]

thanx man, and yeah thats dads fj40. we lifted it and put a 350 chev on lpg in that with a pto winch and deisel diffs it goes nearly anywhere!  its a rough bush basher that got a bit too scratched up and rusty so it got blasted and painted matte black haha. had some crazy times in that thing.

[DucatiTorrey]

aaaaaaah! el camino! ha ha ha
i know its a ute, just never seen one but for their website

[SacDuc]

Okay, I've been told by THREE different suspension vendors AFTER I ordered from them that they didn't actually carry the product they said they did. I'm now desperately looking for a place to buy new fork springs. orks, progressive and Honda orld were all a no go. RaceTech also said no.

I'm ready to reassemble the front end. Improving the suspension is a very important part of getting this bike ready for my wife, so used springs off of ebay aren't going to cut it. Some retard adjusted the rear suspension on her m620 to a scary/unsafe level of soft (before we were married). She kept complaining that the wind was blowing her around too much. I finally road it and turns out that the suspension adjustment was so frickin' terrible that the back end would start walking around after the smallest bump in the road. I think I cranked the preload down about four or five full rotations. In short, she wants primo suspension on her bikes after that little experience. It will make me feel better as well.

HELP!!!

sac

[speedknot]

I've never seen progressive or any other aftermarket springs for your application.  I believe the 71 CB350 has the external springs.  Tough find.  Try some vintage jap bike forums or start looking over in europe, austrailia, places like that.  I got a lot of parts overseas for my projects.

[The Bacon Junkie]

They're internal.  I disassembled the front end of the bike...

After sliding the forks outta the triples, we got a surprise...  more cobwebs than fork oil! 

[671M900]

I checked all my usual cafe/vintage bike restoration places, no go on the front suspension...

z1enterprises.com (The CA-cycleworks for UJM's)
crc2onlinecatalog.com (Cycle recycle, new parts though, great resource for carbs and all sorts of stuff)

I hope those will help though.

Okay, I've been told by THREE different suspension vendors AFTER I ordered from them that they didn't actually carry the product they said they did. I'm now desperately looking for a place to buy new fork springs. orks, progressive and Honda orld were all a no go. RaceTech also said no.

I'm ready to reassemble the front end. Improving the suspension is a very important part of getting this bike ready for my wife, so used springs off of ebay aren't going to cut it. Some retard adjusted the rear suspension on her m620 to a scary/unsafe level of soft (before we were married). She kept complaining that the wind was blowing her around too much. I finally road it and turns out that the suspension adjustment was so frickin' terrible that the back end would start walking around after the smallest bump in the road. I think I cranked the preload down about four or five full rotations. In short, she wants primo suspension on her bikes after that little experience. It will make me feel better as well.

HELP!!!

sac

[speedknot]

They're internal.  I disassembled the front end of the bike...
After sliding the forks outta the triples, we got a surprise...  more cobwebs than fork oil!  

Mmmm?  The springs were inside the fork pistonl?  The OEM forks for the 70,71 CB's had springs that went over(outside) the piston and sat on top of the fork lower, covered by a shroud.  Looking at the pic, it appears that those are period correct forks.  Being that the springs were external they were prone to rusting and breaking.  
External, meaning not inside the sealed portion of the fork.

There weren't many upgrades for this type of fork.

[Roaduser]

im not sure on the dimensions of springs you need, but i brought mine from www.mikesxs.com
obviously because mines an xs! but if you can get dimensions of yours you might be lucky. otherwise mike is a very informative guy, he may be able to advise where he gets his springs from.

[The Bacon Junkie]

External, meaning not inside the sealed portion of the fork.

There weren't many upgrades for this type of fork.

The piston was inside the springs, but everything was inside a sealed tube.  At least they were until we unscrewed the top of the forks to get them out of the triples. 

I'm just lending a helping hand.  I'm no mechanic.  When I read external, I was thinking you meant like the springs on the outside of the rear shocks.

So... What you said. 

[SacDuc]

They're internal.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory - Wrong Sir!



Dr Cox - Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong



Thanks for helping with the dis-assembly though.






sac

[SacDuc]

I checked all my usual cafe/vintage bike restoration places, no go on the front suspension...

z1enterprises.com (The CA-cycleworks for UJM's)
crc2onlinecatalog.com (Cycle recycle, new parts though, great resource for carbs and all sorts of stuff)

I hope those will help though.

Thanks. I didn't find the springs I'm looking for, but I think I found the sprockets I want at z1.   


sac

[awall41]

Thanks. I didn't find the springs I'm looking for, but I think I found the sprockets I want at z1.   


sac

Hey Sac,

There's a place in Santa Clarita on Railroad Ave that deals with vintage Triumphs,  I went in there and the guy was extremely helpful.  I forgot the name of it but tomorrow when I drive by it I'll get you his number.  When I was talking to him about my boss' 50's Harley he said he can get parts for almost any vintage bike so it may be worth a shot.

[SacDuc]

Hey Sac,

There's a place in Santa Clarita on Railroad Ave that deals with vintage Triumphs,  I went in there and the guy was extremely helpful.  I forgot the name of it but tomorrow when I drive by it I'll get you his number.  When I was talking to him about my boss' 50's Harley he said he can get parts for almost any vintage bike so it may be worth a shot.

Cool! Thanks! 


sac