ride quality/handling characteristics

cbxtacy · Post by **cbxtacy** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:40 pm

Pro link-If you remove the rear wheel and the shock, the swingarm should swing down and hit the ground. It usually doesn't. There is so much friction in the linkage bushings that the swingarm just hangs there. The effect is the same as having adjustable rebound and compression damping and setting them both on the stiffest setting. Makes for a very harsh ride. The solution is to remove the linkage, lube the bushings, and re-assemble the bike. A very time consuming service. And if you ride the bike a lot, especially in wet weather, you'll have the same problem in no time again.

Unsprung weight. The CBX's have very heavy wheels/calipers/rotors. That is all unsprung weight. And the pro links have really heavy rotors in front.

I'll let someone else cover why unsprung weight and compression damping are so important. Mike? Larry? Kayeboo? (boy, Mike can cover a lot of people)

I'll cover my solutions and perceptions of my own personel CBX's.

alimey4u2 · Post by **alimey4u2** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:38 am

Thanks George, As for unsprung weight, my feeling it's the unsprung hero..

I went extreme with magnesium wheels, drilled rotors & aftermarket brakes...... If you have money to burn.
As for shocks, I'm old school with twin Koni's which I love.....

Few manufacturers make aftermarket wheels for the CBX which are lighter than Comstars, one I recommend is DYMAG, expensive yes....

cbxtacy · Post by **cbxtacy** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:40 am

All the modern sport bikes have extremely light wheels, nothing like carbon fiber but just about as light as trick magnesium aftermarket wheels. And their rotors are extremely light also, and they float.

I used a pro link CBX for my singlesided swingarm conversion and to get away from the friction problem I used the VFR shock and linkage with a VFR swingarm. I moved the shock and linkage mounts to the same place in relation with the swing arm pivot on my CBX as the VFR. To mount the swingarm to the frame, the pro link CBX has threaded collars the swingarm bolt rides in and I just had them machined out for the VFR bolt to fit. With the threaded collars it's much easier to get the proper fit side-to-side. I did a conversion like Dan's before and you have to be much more careful with the measurements and work. The VFR swingarm is longer then a pro link swingarm and much longer then a Duc swingarm so the ride on mine is real stable. Like a long/heavy VFR.
On the front I used a CBR600F3 wheel. It has the full floating rotors and readily available from most salvage yards. I just replaced the wheel bearings with smaller ones to fit the CBX axle and made a spacer for in the wheel. Used the stock CBX axle. The rotors work with the stock CBX calipers. I don't have a speedometer drive on it but shouldn't be to hard to adapt one. I got forks 1.5" longer then stock to compensate for the lost ground clearance in the front. The engine has the same ride height as stock but you have more ground clearance when leaned over because the wheels/tires are so much wider then stock. I have never ridden a CBX that has a ride like it. Between the lighter unsprung weight and rear suspension that works like it should, you don't get the harsh ride like a prolink CBX.

Mike Barone #123 · Post by **Mike Barone #123** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:47 pm

My solution to unsprung weight on the CBX is to not eat breakfast.

In my case this saves 5.238 pounds of weight while on the CBX.

Rick Pope claims his not eating breakfast saves 10.007 pounds of combined rider and CBX weight

EMS · Post by **EMS** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:52 pm

That doesn't help, Mike, that's sprung weight

Your efforts are commendable, but the weight you save by not having breakfast goes above the shocks and springs.

Mike Barone #123 · Post by **Mike Barone #123** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:19 pm

EMS wrote:That doesn't help, Mike, that's sprung weight Your efforts are commendable, but the weight you save by not having breakfast goes above the shocks and springs.

But Rick and I also dont store what is left from breakfast off the bottom of the front forks anymore either

alimey4u2 · Post by **alimey4u2** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:03 am

You guys must be eating one helluva breakfast....

My piece of toast weighs a few grams......

EMS · Post by **EMS** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 7:35 am

alimey4u2 wrote:You guys must be eating one helluva breakfast....

I'll say

alimey4u2 · Post by **alimey4u2** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:05 am

Sod the wholegrain toast with fat free butter, lemme check my frequent flyer miles, that looks too good Mike....

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:07 pm

What , no pancakes soaked in syrup? :suspect:

Mike Barone #123 · Post by **Mike Barone #123** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:46 pm

EMS wrote:
alimey4u2 wrote:You guys must be eating one helluva breakfast....

I'll say

Haaaaaaaaaaaa....this would be just a warm up breakfast snack for Rick...........not kidding.

As of July this year Rick has been banned from at least 36 "All You Can Eat" Restaurants in SE Indiana and his photo is in most of their doorways with a black circle around it with a line from 2 oclock to 8 oclock in black.

For real

cbxtacy · Post by **cbxtacy** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:52 am

back to the subject at hand-burp-the ride of my CBX's with improved suspension/wheels/brakes. The race bike still has a harsh ride but no way close to the harshness of a stock prolink. I've pared about 100 lbs off of it and that with the light wheels makes a big difference. The turbo is considerably heavier but rides even better. Not as flickable though. I personally believe I've ruined it by turbo-charging it. Gobs of power is nice but it's not very tractable. I've had stock X's with over 100,000 miles and still run decent. The off boost power of the turbo is lousy because of low compression and minimal advance. It did make 200 hp at 5000 rpm, occasionally. Usually it would bog or backfire. The ride is better then the FJR1300 or ST1100/1300 bikes I've ridden. I'm getting motivated. I might finish it, all it needs is the ignition hooked up and fuel pump hooked up. Should I finish it? I'll probably sell the engine/turbo out of it and then put a stock engine in the bike. I love the chassis but if I want power I think I'd get a ZX14 and a Muzzy turbo. Much more tractability.

EMS · Post by **EMS** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:38 am

cbxtacy wrote:back to the subject at hand-burp-the ride of my CBX's with improved suspension/wheels/brakes. .

You mean, you don't like the hijack, George

You know, we all learned from the Master

cbxtacy · Post by **cbxtacy** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:23 pm

But I love good hijacks, Larry, and that one was excellent. I just didn't want to start another thread. Sorry to ruin an excellent hijack.

alimey4u2 · Post by **alimey4u2** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:55 pm

cbxtacy wrote:But I love good hijacks, Larry, and that one was excellent. I just didn't want to start another thread. Sorry to ruin an excellent hijack.

Alas not all my own work George, I had "assistance"......