CB350F Fork conversion

Joe...I love you

If you want modern buy a modern bike. If you knew anything about bikes you wouldn't have bought a 350Four in the first place (and don't use that it was cheap excuse - I've paid some rediculously low prices for bikes that were decent)

If you are new to this, just get the bike running perfect, and I mean flawlessly perfect before you begin hacking away. chances are you'll find that the japanese engineers actually knew what they were doing when they designed the bike to be a street bike and that all those years dominating the marketplace were not just hype. If were were talking about a notoriously overpowered bike (early cb750, kawi triple, gs1100) then maybe fork and brake upgrades would be in order but it is a freaking 350four for gods sakes, they can't even get out of their own way.

The cb350F has the same disc front end the 350 twins had in their last year of production. Honestly the bike will probably never go fast enough for you to need the modern forks (the 350 four is a viciously slow lump).

You want to make a cafe bike strip the sucker down to the rolling chassis (with engine) and then just put back the bare essentials of what you need to make a running bike.

Anyway, joe alread said all the mean stuff I was going to say so I'll just give you this advice: planning goes a long way - and if you sit down and figure out what your goals are and how to accomplish them you'll soon find out what is really possible and worth it to mod on a cb350four, and then you can break down your questions as to how do I address this particular problem, etc.


NOTICE TO ALL NEWBIES: if you come in here with an uber general question like this about a hard subject and you give no info about your bike other than the year and the model expect your head to be put on a pike. I want to paragraphs people, long explaniations, pictures - the works. Gotta know why you want to do this, what is bad on your bike, what your background is, what kind of resources you have available....you get the picture.

It is not personal, it is jsut a waste of time to try and have to extract info out of you just to try and help you.

hugs and kisses,

Geeto67, asshole +1

quote: You're a very mean man. Don't read fuzzybutt's "new bike" thread.

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would that be the thread where I told him the bike was better served as a desk?


PS: Izzy, you're actually local to some of us so if you want to talk about this in person and want some genuine help there are plenty who open our ears and garages to ya. Also think about joining the NYCvinmoto list. I'm really a nice, generous person in real life...honest. Rosko can vouch for me. Hope we haven't chased you away.

Edited by - Geeto67 on Feb 08 2007 2:31:27 PM

quote:


No offense taken. Check out www.skyhighforafrica.com. Its a site I put together via satellite modem while on a 10,000 mile bike trip through Africa, so yes I know where the clutch is and how to get the lunker off the kick stand.

Second, I've been restoring vintage BMW's (R50s, R26 etc) for the last 8 years, so yes, I have a hammer, and know that a set of points is not where you plug your wife's vibrator to charge before satisfying her with it. (No offense to viagra brigade).

Now stop being a bunch of snooty assed Yale graduates, acting like your bikes run on Champagne and expel Eau de Cologne, while you sit on the saddle like the “Princess and the Pea”, gathering insects in your up-tilted nostrils as they jet off your stiff upper lips.

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I like this guy....welcome to the fold

quote:
That out the way, I asked the question because I have dealt mostly with the old fashioned forks on the beemers and have no experience with the more modern flair of clip ons etc.

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If you've worked on old beemers then these jap bikes should be a piece of cake. Comapred to an earls fork a telescoping fork was designed with crayons.

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I was wandering just how much is standard on the front end of these bikes and what one does for example when the neck length is not the same as your replacement forks but the bearing dimensions match up. What does one do if the new forks you have put on have space for 2 brake calipers but your wheel has only one rotor…is it safe to run the forks with just one caliper etc. I’m not asking for step by step, I’m more asking for stories and experiences, that’s all, so lighten up.

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A lot more than you would expect is standard on these bikes.

I am not sure what you are referring to when you say neck length, are you talking about the stem length? If the bearing sizes are the same in most instances you can just make a spacer and bolt the top clamp on.

As for the caliper lugs on both forks welcome to honda. They did it for a ton of bikes and most can be converted over to dual disc. On most bikes the fork lowers are the same, on some they planned a dual disc and never installed it (in rare occasions they offered a kit from the factory to bolt on). Most 70's hondas are single disc fronts (your cb350 four definatly should be) so yes as long as you have all the parts there then she is good to rock down the highway.

I had a friend who built a cb350F to look like an early ducati (called it the honducati). He had megaphones, a honda dream seat, and lights and signals off of old brit and italian bikes. With clip-ons and makeshift rearsets it really looked the part. The bike was wrecked however when a car made a right in front of him. It was a slow but fun bike.

if you can find a 400f motor and swap it in your frame. The 350F may be the conservative transportation of the honda set, but the 400F is it's big brother doing 8-balls in the back of a monte carlo.

BTW, we fuck around a lot here so if someone is giving you the business give it right back, so long as it is funny.