fork swap on cb500

hi there am new to the site ( and cb500's ) and wondered if any body had changed forks .... cbr , hornet or the likes
mainly for twin discs up front any ideas welcome
cheers

I'm shure that someone mentioned that they had put CBR forks/head on.

I guess you need to either find some forks that are the same diameter and length or some other forks which come from a bike which has the same size yokes as the CB5.

thanks figured as much but hoed someone had don it to save me trawlin through parts at breakers
cheeeers

Hi sadsack

If your doing it to improve braking performance, are you sure what you have is working aswell as it could be.
After an overhaul, new fluid and a steel line, these brakes work suprisingly good ( I`ve just overhauled mine and i`am used to a twin set up on the other bike) especially the later brembo caliper.

Might save you a bit of work..and cash?..

Hi there, i've been doing a bit of research on this myself, standard forks for the CB are 37mm and the forks from CBR 6's Hornets etc are not, DUH! so you would need to swap the lot, including yokes, however, they do share the same headrace bearing kits so the easiest way of upgrading your forks/brakes etc, especially if you want to keep the front wheel looking the same, is to transplant the entire front end, yokes, forks, wheell etc from a CBR600F or early Fireblade, if you're not fussed about the style of the wheel, the Hornet and many others will fit too, have a look here http://www.te-motorcyclespares.co.uk/HeadRaceBearingKitHonda.asp Also bear in mind that most of these bikes use a 120 section front tyre which might affect your handling, and not in a good way, so if you decide to do this, i would also recommend swapping the rear wheel from a CBR600F 91-92, (assuming you have a rear disc brake) it's a 4.5 inch rim and they take a 160 rear tyre. you will need to put CB wheel bearings in the CBR wheel as the CB wheel spindle is 17mm to the CBR's 20mm (the bearing outside diameter is the same at 47mm and both are 14mm thick) and swap the brake disc as the CBR disc is smaller in diameter by around 20 ish mm, and you may need to shave a bit off your chain guard but otherwise they slot straight in, and look AWESOME!!! I know cos i've done it. well i hope this helps, and just so you know, this is exactly what i'm about to do, I chose the CBR as the wheels look the same and retain the CB character.
Please also bear in mind that fitting bigger tyres WILL slow down your steering/turn in speed, so if you like the extreme flickability of the CB as is, it may be better to take Haydens advice and just service what you have, in any case, good luck and let us know what you decide and how you get on. Fogg.

thanks to all for reply ..... bit of both really brakes are sh#t n have drum rear Oooooo not nice, also have a thing about modding bikes .....just cant keep em standard ( does my uva halfs head in ) only had bike since thursday n love handling n enough grunt ( for now )
cheers

I must admit to being pleasantly suprised by the brakes on my CB, both Brembo that have had an overhaul with new lines etc. ( the steel hoses made more of an improvement than I had hoped) that said I dont know how effective the drum set ups are, but they didnt stop using them for no reason...

Its not very fasionable in this day and age to have a single front disc, but it is complemented by a very good rear that actually works. I`ve had a ZX9, VFR800, SV650, Ducati 900 and three Daytona`s...amongst others, all had excellent front brakes...and absolutely crap rears, the rear on the CB is actually capable of helping the front.

But, if you like tinkering, then I suppose that is half the fun of a bike and each to there own, I`am certainly not going to criticize...afterall, your speaking to the man that transplanted the whole front end from an 06 Daytona onto an 02, just because I liked the headlamps better..

All I will say is, once the novelty had worn off I was left thinking " what a waste of time and money that was".....

have fun what ever you do..

yeah know what ya sayin , had big bikes that go , stop n turn better faster and never seem to be happy with what comes out of the crate have bordem issues hahahahahahahaha but must say find small bikes a lot more fun and useable than bigger bikes ....
Owell might just convert back end to disc....
cheers

I know what you mean about the drum brake, I only ever tend to use mine for hill starts as it's fairly useless at slowing the bike down.

Converting the rear to disc is on my 'to do' list (all you need is a >97 swingarm, wheel, R/H hanger & brake) but it certainly isn't at the top. I'd also want a brembo on the front to match.

I've never had a problem with the nissin front though but it'd already had a goodridge line fitted when I bought it.

Just to let you know, i've just finished swapping a cbr wheel and 160/60 tyre into the back of my cb and all is well. I had to put cb bearings in the cbr wheel, swap and shim the brake disc by around 3mm to stop it binding, but that's it, no other mods needed, looks great. Next thing is to swap the standard 110/80 front hoop for a 110/70 but not until it's needed. unless i find a cheap front end that takes a 120 tyre, cbr etc (i want to keep the wheels looking the same.I'm currently on a bit of a mission to tart the old girl up a bit and am half way through giving her a new coat of paint (plain gloss black with orange wheels and orange tank badge, satin black engine and polished footrest hangers etc) I also got rid of the ugly rear mudguard so all that's hanging down now is the number plate, sooooo much nicer, i'll try to pop some pics on here when i'm finished.

Foggie15 wrote:Just to let you know, i've just finished swapping a cbr wheel and 160/60 tyre into the back of my cb and all is well. I had to put cb bearings in the cbr wheel, swap and shim the brake disc by around 3mm to stop it binding, but that's it, no other mods needed, looks great. Next thing is to swap the standard 110/80 front hoop for a 110/70 but not until it's needed. unless i find a cheap front end that takes a 120 tyre, cbr etc (i want to keep the wheels looking the same.I'm currently on a bit of a mission to tart the old girl up a bit and am half way through giving her a new coat of paint (plain gloss black with orange wheels and orange tank badge, satin black engine and polished footrest hangers etc) I also got rid of the ugly rear mudguard so all that's hanging down now is the number plate, sooooo much nicer, i'll try to pop some pics on here when i'm finished.

Did it not Work ???????? was looking forward to seeing the Photo's

Hello everyone, I have done it, I now have a cb600 hornet front end on my CB500R[img][/img] I looks AMAZING cant wait too get the discs

I was looking at doing a front end swap on mine at some point in the future. If I do I will be swapping out for a 690 duke front end. 

When doing a front end swap you need to take into account a lot more than just getting it to fit. The suspension on a bike is set up to work with a specific rake and trail. If you go too far from the original then it can make the front end feel absolutely horrible to rise with. The 690 duke has a rake and trail within a few mm/degrees of the cb so should work a charm. It will take a lot more Work to get it all fitted but should be worth it for the results

Foggie15 wrote:Just to let you know, i've just finished swapping a cbr wheel and 160/60 tyre into the back of my cb and all is well. I had to put cb bearings in the cbr wheel, swap and shim the brake disc by around 3mm to stop it binding, but that's it, no other mods needed, looks great. Next thing is to swap the standard 110/80 front hoop for a 110/70  but not until it's needed. unless i find a cheap front end that takes a 120 tyre, cbr etc (i want to keep the wheels looking the same.I'm currently on a bit of a mission to tart the old girl up a bit and am half way through giving her a new coat of paint (plain gloss black with orange wheels and orange tank badge, satin black engine and polished footrest hangers etc) I also got rid of the ugly rear mudguard so all that's hanging down now is the number plate, sooooo much nicer,  i'll try to pop some pics on here when i'm finished.

Hi Foggie, 

How have you got on with the cbr rear wheel? I'm thinking on doing the same mod...What did u use as shims behind the brake disk and did the bearings just transplant straight over? cheers g

I have changed the front end on my CB500S to a CBR600F front end.
The model to go for I found was the 1991-94 model, you can use later models but you would lose the speedometer drive from the front wheel as they went to electronic in 95.
The fitment is pretty straightforward, I needed to file a little from the steering lockstop on the frame so the steering lock plunger would engage properly.
The handlebar fitment as standard is clip-ons so I had to modify the top yoke with risers to accept Renthal handlebars. That is down to personal taste I guess.
This gave me 41mm forks with adjustment for preload and damping, twin discs and a front wheel that would accept radial tyres whilst looking the same as the standard one.
Of course it wouldn't make sense to run a radial on the front and a skinny crossply on the rear so I fitted a rear wheel from a CBR400 NC29. This keeps the standard look but is 4.5 inches wide and allows me to use a 150-60-17 rear tyre. I could go up to a 160-60 but it would foul the centrestand.
The bearings are to suit a 20mm spindle rather than the 17mm standard one so I made up some spacers to suit. The standard rear disc needs to be kept and fits straight on. 
The sprocket carrier and cush drive from the NC29 need to be used.
To clear the wider tyre the chain needs to be moved out by 5mm, originally I used a spacer behind the front sprocket, but now use a gearbox from the CBF500 which is exactly the same as the CB500 apart from the sprocket being out far enough to clear a 160 tyre.
The difference in the ride quality, handling and braking are VERY noticable, and to the casual observer it looks pretty standard.

well done on the project, and a great write up. would really like to see some pictures of the finished bike.

Apologies if everyone already knows this, but a CBR600F-H through L also shares 37mm forks and will slot straight in. Also, it is perfectly legal to fit a crossply on the FRONT only if the rear's a radial.

Hi guys, I am new to the site. I have question about front folk change ...
have seen already few advise but just want to check.
I saw on ebay few cbr 660f folks which are 37mm same as the cb 500. the only different what I see those folks were made for to front discs not one. But will I be still fitt them on the 500??
Thanks

Yes Sergio, it will fit. Keep the CBR brakes too.

Thanks Badseeds.
But I only wants to change folks and leave original front wheel brackes etc... still gonna work, right??

sergio101 wrote:Thanks Badseeds.
But I only wants to change folks and leave original front wheel brackes etc... still gonna work, right??

No, the CBR600 wheel spindle is bigger diameter at 20mm.
The wheel bearings, spacers and speedo drive would have to be changed.
The CBR brake disc is smaller than the CB500 one so it would take a bit of modification to keep the CB500 wheel and brake.

thanks Andyc.

Whole front end? Andy, maybe you should be a club technical adviser as you do seem to know your onions with these bikes and as a courier, your opinion is worth a bit more :-)

Do you know guys if its any other bike front folks which will fitt without any modification, or others than cb 500 folks will need some kind of modification?
Thanks