CB350F Fork conversion

hey izzy. welcome.

i think im not going to be the only one to go here. it sounds to me, at least from the naivity of your question, that youre not an experienced rider or mechanic. i mean, maybe you are one or the other, but not both im guessing.

so, from this, i am going to make 2 huge assumptions.

1. if you had newer better forks, you actually wouldnt be able to utilize them without tossing the thing into the weeds.

2. if you do begin this project not knowing what youre doing, you will have a never ending string of "how do i....." questions that we have all covered here before.

i will spare you my complete asshole attitude by giving you the following tips.
this list will apply to everyone who is new here.

first, get a decent set of tools. more than pliers, an adjustable wrench, and a hammer. youll need combination wrenches and a set of sockets. deep and shallow. get an impact driver. a basic hammer type will work for now. a hammer. a plastic/hyde/brass hammer or deadblow hammer. you'll need a couple of philips screw drivers. the nicer the better. and most importantly, get a book that covers maintenance of your specific bike. a clymer manual, a factory one is better. whatever. a wood box, a lift, some jackstands, somethng to support your bike while youre working on it.

the books will walk you through about 98% of everything you'll need to know. anything you get lost on, feel free to ask here.

as far as forks go, your question is so vague, its almost impossile to answer. are you talking about cbr1000 forks, or 70's cb750 forks? most likely, if youre going to swap a disk front with a spoked wheel for the same, you should consider swapping an entire front end. from a 500/550/or 750. just my opinion. if youre going to put clipons on it, you will have to figure out cable and wire routing, master cyl location, brake hoses, headlight mounts, gas tank clearance and multiple other issues. its not just a simple swap. it can be difficult to just find a clean set of forks. much less ones that have good seals, arent bent, etc...

if youre not outriding your suspension now, (translate, if youre a squid) i wouldnt bother. you probably wont notice a huge difference other than it handles like a 72 fleetwood in parking lots and makes your back stiff. learn to ride the thing first. before you decide youre going to be geoff duke. (google his name) it wont be as cool in front of starbucks, but it will be well worth your while.



now call me an asshole, and let the flaming begin.

jc

the difference, in text, from fuzzbutt, and izzy is fuzzbutt seems to have an idea. he has interesting ideas and more than just one post. im not dissing izzy, not at all. but lets just say that swapping a front end requires more than just a bunch of guys on a bulletin board telling you what to do. you need some tools, some knowledge of how it all works, and i think most importantly, a little experience with motorcycle mechanics. we've all seen the hipster with the coifed hair and arai, and $1500 jacket. they can buy a nice bike, but dont know how to gap a set of points. and please, dont get me wrong, i am not assuming izzy is any of those things. im just making the point that there can be a fair amount of work involved, and if you dont know what youre doing, it can be a major pain in the ass, not to mention dangerous. lets not forget here that you are taking apart the front of your motorcycle. at 70mph down the highway, you dont want to realize "uh oh, i forgot to tighten that bolt". i take this from the vague way the question was posted. i dont think its unfair to jump to the conclusion this person may not know alot. nor do i thnk its unfair or unhelpful to say get some good tools before you try riping apart the front end of your motorcycle.

so if youre unfamiliar with how your bike handles and works, for now, you might be better off learing how to ride it, doing basic work, and leave making it into a manx for later.

of course, if i am waay off base here, i will take the beating.

also, i have a very close friend, who does coif his hair, who drives a bmw 3 wagon, who designs websites, and wears a really nice helmet. (no, not aaron) hes the last person i would have ever thought would tear into a cb500/4 motor and pull pistons and rebore and want to rebuild it. but hes done alot of shit on his bike that i think is great. and hes learning a ton. so im not saying anyone cant do it. im just putting out there that you need some basics before you try something like swapping a front end. just be sure youre ready to tackle a project like that. it can be bigger than you think.

nothing against you izzy.

jc



Edited by - joe c on Feb 07 2007 10:37:37 PM

jeremy raced a 350/4 against me several times. it wasnt death slow, like we had some great races, so he would know more about the mods. the stem length is the only real fucked up thing you might have to deal with. i prefer the grind and press method. that way you have the same bearing. it is possible to just drop a few washers on sometimes to make the difference up though. on the bottom. like was said, most forks have lugs on both legs for dual disk conversions. to swap your wheel to another set of forks may be tricky. if its the same as the 350 twin it has the 4 bolt rotor, which is smaller than most. the later bikes, 550 etc...had a larger rotor with 5 bolts. so youd need to make a caliper mount. if you stick with the smaller rotor. at least thats my guess. or switch out to a different wheel. that way you just yank the entire front end. at least thats my opinion. most of those honda single puck disks pretty much sucked. and in the rain the are really non existant. like useless.

go for the 550 front end. 35mm. cheap. and it'll add some stiffness and you can find them easily in good shape.


now if you'll excuse me, i need to go refill my tank with a bottle of dom. my bike likes the cheap stuff.

jc



Edited by - joe c on Feb 08 2007 9:31:07 PM