New parts for the CB-1

I went with the spring that YSS installs and ships standard on this shock (I need to verify). But I have been very happy with what they installed on my 4 other shocks from my Hawk to my ST1100. I am about 180 w/o gear, and I seem to be on the low end of what they set-up their shocks for, 12 - 14 stone. They are a little on the firm side, which is fine with me.

I really appreciate your set-up notes, my plans are very close. Probably start with some 15wt fork oil, I know your forks were custom set-up and I'm trying the YSS version of Emulators for the first time. The roads to get to the good roads around here are pretty shit, so I do need/want to dial in some compliance for riding around home too.

When I built this bike for my wife, I did stock gearing which it still has. What are you changing too?

The rear will be high and the front low, I prefer that bias too and appreciate the feedback I get. Honda's geometry in this era lets you experiment quite a bit without repercussions (twitchiness, tank slappers, etc) I have found.

 

Current (CB-7) gearing is 525 15/41 because I'm lazy. It is nearly time for a chain and I have it and sprockets in a box. RK Racing Chain 525XS, 15T front and both 42 and 43 rears to try. The bike is so heavy and makes so little power, if you don't need top speed, I like the get-up-and-go of the 43.

My last CB-3 was 520 15/42.

My first CB-1 was 15/43.

 

Off to a good start on the forks. Bottom bolts cracked loose with zero drama. Not surprised, I completely rebuilt these forks when I built the bike.



Oil looks brand new, so my bushings should be great still.



These upgrades are good timing, one of the seals was just starting to leak.

 

Yep, bushings look brand new, no surprises.


Don't normally do forks in the main shop, but it's Sunday night of a holiday weekend. I wanted to be around the TVs and be spoiled. But man, used fork oil, no matter how good it looks, still stinks. Like cracking open a differential.

 

I have had a little experience with emulators. In my 86 VFR they were great and I had no issues.

For S&G I also had a 600cc Silverwing scooter for a while that I upgraded with uprated springs and emulators, plus seals and bushings. On that one I was never able to get decent rebound damping although I went up to 20W oil and also changed out the seals on the damper rods assuming the oil was bypassing the holes in the rod. The ride comfort did get massively better than stock however. The scooter was a funny beast being fully capable of topping 170km/hr in remarkable comfort which made me think it would be a fun open-road ride, but not so good when it was trying to tie itself in knots if you hit a decent dip while leaned over at a good clip...

 

Those tiny wheels. Speed is fine, but try to steer or suspend and scooters...aren't very excellent.

 

Tubes checked for dings, stoned out two and then polished them up.



So when I built my Hawk, I bought some CB-1 forks for parts I needed to complete the dual disc front end. I used the damper rods out of those forks and drilled the extra holes for the emulators so they were done ahead of time. No problems, worked great.

So I'm standing there last night with all my parts laid out for the CB-1 fork upgrade. I used the damper rods out of the Hawk to pre-drill and have ready for these forks, and they are in a zip-loc with some WD40. So grab one the CB-1 dampers and one of the YSS Emulators just to double check everything...



Uh-oh. What the fuck? I'm standing there dumbfounded. I used CB-1 dampers on the Hawk, no issues (albeit those were RT Emulators). Ok-ok. Grab the old Hawk dampers modded for this job out of the bag...



Well, fuck me. They are different at the top.



I'm really glad I decided to pre-drill the Hawk dampers. It wouldn't have been the end of the world, but I would have been grinding, not drinking eggnog and Tullamore Dew.

So I'm not really sure what this means. Were the CB-1 forks I bought for the Hawk project '90 and have different dampers from my '89? Or do the RT Emulators have a slightly smaller OD where it needs to engage the damper? Both? I might see if I can find some dimensions for the RT versions to compare.

Anyway, whew. Proceed.

 

I am not aware of an '89/'90 difference in the front end. I took a look at my many pics, but have no pics of the forks apart. Sorry. I keep a spare set of forks in the corner of the garage in case I ever need them.

 

I agree. But with Honda, you never know.

Likely the RT version allows for the different possible damper rods. Something to look out for in the future if I end up liking the YSS version.

 

Forks back together. New oil seals, re-used the dust seals. With the new caps all the way backed out is 10mm preload, so they should dial in nicely.



Gotta pick up fork oil tomorrow after work and wrap this up this weekend. "New" exhaust is next and then wait for Spring.

 

There's a little more attitude...



Forks feel very different, in a good way. 135mm oil height, 15mm preload, 10mm up.



Forgot to put my thin oring on a fork to monitor travel, gonna have to put a zip ty. 10mm up might have been a little aggressive for this bike, but I went up more on the Hawk with great results. I have a feeling I'll be approaching the lower triple on some harsh roads.

 

Still drooling...dammit!!

 

You can get away with a lot on the front, but as you know, it depends on the back.

 

Modified the left footpeg bracket to take standard aluminum CBR style foot rests and ditch the steel tube style.



Gotta go from 20mm to a tad over 22mm keeping them parallel and consistent and then file a nice radius at the base. By hand. Fucking time consuming. I did the same thing for the Hawk when I built it and really liked it. Had to do the L and R brackets on that bike. You can always just modify the pegs, but I wanted the ability to just change out pegs if needed / wanted.

For the right peg I've got a CBR900RR bracket to replace the CB-1 item.

 

Extra mile is always worth it. Nice!

 

You do much better work than I require! I did but regular metal grippy pegs on my 1, but they don't help with vibration like the stock ones did!

 

Ive put these CBR style pegs on a couple bikes. They are well made and cheap.

 

Finally got to ride it on Sunday.



Suspension feels great, big improvement. Sudco full exhaust back on. Sounds and runs a lot better than the stock headers / Yosh slip on setup from before. Cleaner sound and pulls smoother. I forgot to take a sound bite, but it sounds awesome. Yes, it is loud, but it is actually quieter than before.

Very happy with everything. The mirrors actually work really good mounted like that too.

 

Great looking ride Cap
That red just pops


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Did I miss the mirror upgrade portion of this post? I like the look. Agreed with Six, that red is poppin!