4 into 1 exhaust systems for CB750 and CB550 still selling strong

Well Howdy Everyone

Hard to believe that almost 22 years ago I started making parts available for these and other machines and continue to do so today, I try and help everybody out where I can, and I really do enjoy what I do for a living.

None of these parts are made in China and I make all the Prototypes right here in California, with more parts I am designing right now for our machines and a few more brands too is in the works, but right now I am getting ready to build a Brand New Barn/Workshop and all the plans have been approved by the city , so not long until I can work from home once more.  I think you get more attentive to the detail and of course, can save any frustrations about driving to and from work.

Below is a shot of a 4 into 1 Ceramic Coated Exhaust system that I have sent to a Customer back home in the UK, and the system looks awesome on his 750-4 Honda.

Peter Hch Harrison In the UK has one of my 4 into 1 exhaust systems on his 750-four Honda.

I really enjoy what I do and thank you for sticking with me and not using Chinese Parts.

How to build a cool set of forks for your CB500-CB550 or CB750 Honda SOHC Motorcycle.

I get so many emails asking about certain things that I create on the bikes and parts that I build here at my place, so- I thought I would do a little Blog on my Custom Fork service that I have been doing for many years and shipping these set ups all over the Globe. So below is what they start off like, just a bog stock set of worn out, tired, telescopic front forks.

These came off a bike that was parked up many years ago and the Customer purchased the complete bike for a decent price and wanted to take the machine apart and create his own cool Custom ride, he wanted my fork service and this is a Blog on what I did.

Looks like Dogs or cats or something Hairy had been crawling across this bike for some time, also if you look, you can see the tubes are toast as there are many pits in the tubing and hard chroming these days has got so expensive to do.

The Caliper will need to be completely torn apart and I will Blog that a little later on, this is not an uncommon thing to have sent to me to fix and rebuild and hope you enjoy this little journey of what I did to get these set of forks into a really Custom looking piece.

The main goal is to take everything off, then clean up on the outside and then once happy with that, the fun begins in the transformation of these fork tubes.

There is an array of parts that I need to rebuild these and as you can see I have everything for this to fix and get the guy a really nice set up for his Motorcycle. If you look, you can see I machined the lower Fork Stanchions and put grooves in the legs for a great Custom Finished set.

Above, you can see I am about to fit brand new Honda Fork seals to the stanchions and what I personally use is some Home Depot PVC pipe that fits perfectly over the fork tube and allows me to use the tube as a Press to get the seal to slide into the recess inside the fork and not damage the rubber of the seal.

I sat the forks on a small pad and then used my Rubber Mallet and gently tapped the pvc tubing until you feel the seal come to an abrupt stop, that means its into its seating and no more tapping required.

Once the seal is in, I plop the snap ring into its place using some circlip pliers, this holds everything in snuggly and no scratches on the fork tube. You can buy these at Harbor freight Cheap.

I use Brand New genuine Honda Dampener Bolts and crush washers, I like using the real deal and not the Chinese crap that’s out there, and this will have longevity compared to China’s inferior quality.

I also fit Brand New OEM Rubber Fork Dust Caps and to really give it that Custom touch, I fit Chromed steel Dust Covers to finish off the polished Finned Lower Stanchion.

See what I mean?  It really does complete the front fork in dressing the part to show you this is no run of the mill ride, it has attention to detail.

I finish the lowers off by Polishing the clamps and adding stainless Lock washers and stainless flanged nuts, this is a great look and easy to get a wrench on to remove the front wheel at anytime.

I cleaned up the dampeners and spring and set a pre load using 4 stainless washers, an old Motorcycling Racing trick, I also do not ever use standard fork oil, I do like the old guys did and use ATF and that’s so much cheaper to purchase too.

How do I know how much to put in forks? As many of the years of the CB750 have different lengths of lower stanchions, so the volume of fluid changes.

As you can see, I have the Factory specs for the Honda CB750s right at hand and actually sell a book with all the settings in , so I can easily look up year and model to get the capacity required.

Bang on the money and now this is all ready to button up and get the forks completed for the Customer.

See, they sure do look Custom now and am happy with the way these look and the preload is right on the money too, I also use Brand new fork Caps to give the top to bottom New Parts finished look.

So there you go, a Custom rebuilt set of forks that I offer and boy do they look sharp, not cheap but add the parts up yourself, and you will see this is a good deal.

I sure hope that you liked this little Blog, thank you for following me and purchasing my parts, its my passion and Career.

A new motorcycle brand springs from a computer

WHEN the covers come off the Vanguard Roadster at the New York Motorcycle show on December 9th the moment will mark the launch not only of a brawny new bike but also of a new brand with big ambitions. Vanguard is an audacious startup that reckons it can use the increasing digitisation of manufacturing to ride with the pack of long-established bike companies, such as Honda, Yamaha, Harley-Davidson, BMW and others, who are together set to sell some 500,000 motorcycles and scooters in America this year.

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That might sound laughable. So far, Vanguard has built a grand total of one machine. At around $30,000, complete with a thumping 1.9 litre V-twin engine, it is priced at the premium end of the market (though well below the price of some superbikes, which can cost three times as much). But if Vanguard has its way, within a few years it will be selling several thousand motorcycles annually from a range of several different models.

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What enables a startup to aim so high is the way digital technologies are lowering the cost of entry to manufacturing businesses that were once seen as the preserve of giants. That is especially so in the costly and long-drawn-out process of product development. From sketches, to clay models, component engineering and testing, it used to take a carmaker five years or more to bring a new vehicle to market. It is similarly slow going for bike manufacturers.

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Some car makers can now do the job in just two, with the help of three-dimensional computer-aided design, engineering and simulation systems. In effect, the product—a car, motorcycle or even an aircraft—exists in a digital form where it can be sculpted and tested long before anything physical is built. It is also possible to simulate production methods.

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This is the approach taken by Vanguard, which was set up in 2013 by Francois-Xavier Terny, a former management consultant, and Edward Jacobs, a motorcycle designer. Despite lacking the resources of the big producers—for now, the firm has just a handful of employees—it used software- in this case Solidworks from Dassault Systèmes.

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A French company) to design a digital motorcycle before turning it into a real one. Such systems are benefiting from the falling price and increasing performance of computing power. “We now have the same level of design and engineering tools as the big boys, which would have been impossible ten years ago,” says Mr Terny.

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The digital designs also make it easier for the company to gain access to global suppliers who will quote the best prices for parts they need. Design files can simply be e-mailed to a vast network of engineering firms that offer their services online.

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Once road-testing and further development is complete, production of the Roadster is scheduled to begin at some point in 2018 at a refurbished industrial unit in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York, which is now home to a number of manufacturing companies. That is another feature of the way factories are quickly changing: with digital engineering, cheaper automation and new production techniques such as 3D printing, it may be possible to rev up inner-city manufacturing.

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Europe’s top custom bikes to debut at London Show

 

Europe’s premier bike builders will be descending on London in February as the London Custom Building Championships get underway at the Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show.

Fifty of the very best choppers, cafe racers, flat-trackers and bobbers will be fighting for a huge purse of £12,000 in a championship that looks set to become one of Europe’s biggest custom events.

Entries from the cream of custom builders: but to name a few: –

Auto Fabrica
Big CC racing
Black market customs
Burnout bikes
Celtic Choppers
Customized Choppers
Destiny Cycles
The Hogfather Motorcycles
House of Custom
Krazy Horse Customs
Lamb engineering
Medeza Cycles
Nick Gale Customs
Old Empire Motorcycles
P & D Customs
RedMax Speedshop
Second City Customs
Shaws Harley Davidson
Sickboyz Customs
Sooty’s Customs
Taylormade Wheels

The Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show runs from February 14-16 at the Excel centre in London docklands.

Advance tickets are just £16 and the event includes the star-studded all-action Revolution show, Custom, Adventure, Classic and Sports and Performance zones plus every important 2014 model will be on display. Get your tickets now!

http://www.mcnmotorcycleshow.com/