Polpetta's CB350

[DucatiTorrey]

UMMM NO

[happily everafter]

Please. I'm begging you. Talk me out of this. I should just find oem springs for $40 and be happy, right?

we alllllllllllllllllll KNOW you'r reaching in your pocket for your credit card as i type.. & the cash register goes KACHING!

[Buckethead]

What does wifey want?

[speedknot]

11pm local time. I just spent 3 hours obsessively cleaning 40 years of dirt, grime, grease and rust from every square millimeter of the forks. Now would be a really good time for someone to tell me that polishing the rims would be a really stupid idea.
sac

Chances are, the hours you spend on cleaning the spokes/nipples and other hard to reach spots, would be better spent disassembling and relacing them.  On my XS650 project, the aluminum rims just needed some polishing but the spokes were real snotty.  I got beautiful nickel plated spokes w/nipples for one of my projects off ebay for $50/F&R.  I found an online tutorial on lacing that made it a breeze.  Disassembling the rims/hubs gave the opportunity to really get in there and clean/resurface anything that needed it.  I was glad I did in the end.

Hey Eric, nice to see you found this site.  We spoke a few times on sohc4.net   Thanks for your help with my cafe projects.  Your CB400F was one of the bikes that got me motivated.

[eyduc]

I thought I just said this same thing earlier??   Another idea for improvement in the chassis is to press out the plastic swingarm bushings and press in bronze bushings.   For the rear shocks, check out Progressive or Ikon (formally Koni) for fully adjustable units.   

[Syscrush]

Oh god, get the good forks.  No amount of springs and fresh oil (or even some Gold Valve emulators) is going to make that stock CB front end worth a tenth of those GSX-R forks.  It's not just a performance issue, good suspension is a comfort and safety issue.

[SacDuc]

Oh god, get the good forks.  No amount of springs and fresh oil (or even some Gold Valve emulators) is going to make that stock CB front end worth a tenth of those GSX-R forks.  It's not just a performance issue, good suspension is a comfort and safety issue.

This was my thought. I'm currently looking into what my front wheel options are.

God help me.


sac

[The Bacon Junkie]

Dude, get the gsxr front.   After all, we are talking about the comfort and safety of your wife here...   


I'll see ya tomorrow.  I'll bring the quick connectors.   

[SacDuc]

Not finding any good info on my front wheel options. Hate the thought of using the gsxr front wheel or having to cobble something together with bushings and spacers. Am now thinking I'll just get oem springs and start looking into the gsxr fork conversion later. I can really only find one guy that did it and the details are minimal. Might be too much to bite off at the moment. New seals and springs for the stock forks. Yeah. That is definitely the right thing to do at the moment. The responsible thing. I'M NOT GOOD AT BEING RESPONSIBLE!!!

What does wifey want?

Quiet you! 


sac

[Buckethead]

Quiet you! 


sac

Actually, this post:

Oh god, get the good forks.  No amount of springs and fresh oil (or even some Gold Valve emulators) is going to make that stock CB front end worth a tenth of those GSX-R forks.  It's not just a performance issue, good suspension is a comfort and safety issue.

...makes a lot of sense.

Wifey won't know she has a crap front end until she rides someone else's bike, or someone else rides hers. Regardless, better suspension technology has become commonplace in the last 40 years.

Upgrade.

[SacDuc]

Okay, I just ordered the oem springs ($70 shipped). I missed a note about the gixxer forks that one of them is leaking. Don't want to deal with that on top of everything else. I'm sure my wife would like to ride this decade. And this thing ain't for racing.

Man, I should have tried harder to make buying fork springs just a little more dramatic.    My apologies, I'm a little excited about my first go at this type thing. what fun! So much to learn!

Thanks all, for your input and your interest.   

sac



/hates doing the rational thing
//but anything for the wifey   

[RAT900]

Nuts!

[Duck-Stew]

The trouble with such a dramatic upgrade is that it would expose ALL other weaknesses in the chassis, bearings, bushings, stamped steel frame members, and on and on...

You did the right thing.  If you mod it too much, it loses the old-bike feel and character that she's so enamored with...

You learned a valuable lesson:

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

[The Bacon Junkie]

Stop making so much sense, will ya?!  Sheesh! 

[RAT900]

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

I really really wish someone had said this to me a few decades ago....

not that I would have listened

but excellent advice in any pursuit

thank you