A "Trick" CBX 550.

The following essay was received from Rob Wolley after I contacted him about an article on his CBX 550 on the Japanese CBX site.

Phil, Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.On Sunday I,m moving to Japan with my family for a couple of years and the last few weeks have been hectic. Here are a couple of paragraphs to go with the pictures.
I've had the CBX for about seven years now and have had no major problems with it. The exhaust rusted out and was replaced with a 4-into-1 which I got from the wreckers. I think it is a Transac system but aren't sure. I didnt do any re-jetting etc. when the new exhaust went on but it goes a bit better anyway. Feels a little smoother and sounds much better.

The only other problem was a siezing rear brake calliper which wasn't too expensive to get fixed. There are a few things I've done to try and improve it. WP (White Power) suspension progressive springs were added to the forks which really made a difference. The old springs had been cut by a previous owner,and valve spring sadded to compress them.They were awful.With the front working well the rear felt a bit ordinary now.

I had the rear shock rebuilt which improved things slightly, but it really needs an after market shock absorber. The best thing I did was add rearsets which I bought on a trip to Japan. They are made by a company called BEET and make the overall riding position more sporty but still reasonably comfortable. The only negative is a little less power in the back brake due to the shorter brake lever. My father doesn't like them, prefering the standard set up. I also bought a fiberglass race single seat made specially for CBX 400s in Japan.I will use it when I turn the CBX into a dedicated track bike one day.

One thing I added that made things worse was clip-on handle bars. They were good on a track like Eastern Creek, but terrible on the road where they made the steering too heavy. They will go back on the track bike. The bike has an ugly bikini fairing which is effective but makes stability a bit suspect at speeds over about 140 kp/h.

I want to put on a half fairing like they used on early eighties endurance racers, mainly because I like fiddling with the bike. The only other things I want to do are add braided steel hoses to the front brakes, replace the air box with pod filters so the race seat fits properly and remove the lights and replace the battery with a smaller one under the seat hump.

I used to own a GPZ 600,which was faster and better in every way than the CBX, but I always came back with a bigger smile on the CBX, probably because you really have to ride the CBX,to go fast.

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