CBX Suspension Tips


Mike Brown offers his thoughts on CBX shocks

Mike Cecchini on his 35mm forks

Brakes

Gary Allen's Modified CBX

Other Swingarms

CBX Head Shake

Mike Brown, Bracing DA DAWG

More Bracing






Shocks
Shocks are rated from Best to Worst 
fox twin clickers
 
10
 
cost 750 plus
works shocks 8 cost 400 or so, soft ride
1100f 6 cost less than 100
progressive 1 better than nothing
stock cbx 1 dangerous at speed
Additional comments on 1100F shocks: 1. Compression, Damping and Spring rate adjstments. 2. Easy to adjust....can be done without tools except spring rate. 3. Fast to adjust for when you want to ride someone on the back or are on a fast ride and come to a red light and want to provide a minor tweak. 4. They are reasonably priced....i have never paid more that $35 for the sets i have bought...... 5. Adjustment range will make a difference in the ride....and this can be fine tuned....i set the top on mine at 2 one shock, 3 on other ....; two at bottom both shocks; and spring at second from highest spring load both shocks. they are 15 year old period shocks now...dont expect a soft compliant ride like the new ones mentioned below 6. No matter how worn the used 1100f shocks are....they will be better than the stock cbx shocks or the shocks in the what does not work section below. i have run these shocks on other bikes too like my 75 goldwing replica road racer...RC003....with great success also 7. They look good and appropriate....ie they are a honda part and if honda had made a 1983 cbx twin shock...these 1100f shocks would have been on it P.S. One nit is that on one bike of all the ones now that are running this setup....you may have to mount the shock backwards ...ie ...oil cooling chamber to the front.....this is due to muffler clearance, on the right side because of brake caliper contact, but this still looks great. btw...if this happens the number indication on the top can be moved to the front....makes knowing adj easier...and faster at your option to have the reserviors face to the rear, you can grind away the bottom of the offending shock so it will not touch the brake caliper since there is min 1/4 inch of material. ********** WHAT DOES NOT WORK ********** I have tried s&w, progressive and koni over the years...and found them all to be way oversprung (stiff) and with out the adjustment latitude to accomdate this problem...and at speed in turns these shocks will actually "move" a cbx over three or four feet when a bump is hit...not good ....and dont tell me none of us will never ride like this every so often. Even if you dont ride fast....these shocks do not adjust well or fast for two up rides. ********** FINAL FIX PART 2 ********** I have rode Paul Jasovskys super x....suzuki front and rear with twin rear shocks and he had a set of intermediate Works Performance shocks. I was amazed at how compliant the ride was compared to any other cbx i rode.... while I never went to fast on his bike...I can tell you that I had total confidence in these shocks unlike any other shocks that I ever used before on a cbx. I think these are priced in the 375 range (may or may not be rebuildable...dont know this) ********** THE FINAL FINAL FIX ********** In the realm of final fixes i would recommend a custom set of fox twin clicker shocks with the resevour or the Ohlins. This will end this shock issue forever, but aint cheap....expect 750-1000 and this maybe light. I can forward the number of fox to you if you elect to go this route. These shocks are rebuildable so this is where the word final comes from as this being a fix. Nits FINAL FIX PART 2 AND FINAL FINAL FIX: only nit is these shocks do not look anything like stock or in the case of the 1100f fix...anything honda made, but of course this is up to you.......your wallet and your need for control and the ultimate in twin shock solutions.... Mike Brown

Mike Cecchini on his 35mm forks

In my attempt to get my 80 suspension set up as right as possible, I have found that the Progressive fork springs to be about 50% weaker than they should be (35 inch lbs. vs the 60 inch lbs the should be). Without stupid spacers on the springs (making things REALLY stiff, I couldn't get the proper "sag" with or without the rider. I knew that the springs were out there...........all I had to do was find them. The real problem was the inside diameter of my 35mm fork legs (29mm I.D.). The 29mm I.D. severely limited the available springs that were on the market. The hunt was on. God knows the brain dead people answering the phones these days, so I had to get catalogs of several spring companies and do it all myself (what ever happened to REAL customer service in America ??). RaceTech Suspensions (www.race-tech.com , 909 594-7755, rtech@race-tech.com ) sent me their catalog and that was my answer. I found that early Harley Davidson 35mm forks were as close as I was going to get on my 80. Spring # S2350 comes in .80 kg/mm (44 inch/lbs), .85kg (47 in/lbs), .90kg (50 inch/lbs), .95 kg. (53 inch/lbs), 1.0 kg (56 inch/lbs). BTW.........55.8 inch pounds = 1 kg/mm. Have you any idea how many spring people do NOT know this ??? Amazing. I chose the heaviest spring, 1.0 kg/mm (55 inch/lb) spring and with 1/2 inch of pvc pipe as a preloader, I got the 0-5mm of static sag and 20mm of dynamic (rider on board) sag that I wanted. Life was good. I know that by now your saying......"I don have 35mm forks !!". Yea.......I know, but many do and all this is for them. But since I don't have the inside diameter (I.D.) of your 39mm forks, I cannot make a specific spring recommendation. But I'm sure somebody out there will let us know and then I'll look things up for you. OK ?? Mike Cecchini 80X & 81X


Brakes
The '79 & '80 CBX use the thin rotors, single puck calipers front and rear. The '81 & '82 models use the twin puck rotors and vented disks. Twin puck calipers can be grafted from other Honda's. Below is a list of sutible donors.
I prefer the calipers from the VF1000F, they use the same thin rotor as the early CBX and are slightly larger than the calipers off the other V-4's and 81-82 CBX's. Jeff Bennetts
Any of the CB 750/900/1000 DOHC bikes from 1979-1983 will also fit, but there are three sizes of pistons. There are 25mm, 30mm and 32mm pistons. To tell the difference, look on the ends of the caliper body for an embossed arrow and right next to it you will see the piston size. Tom Whaley

Gary Allen's Modified CBX
I just returned from a test drive on my modified '79. It is without question the finest handling bike I personally have ever ridden. Mike Donndelinger took the frame and welded in support struts under the tank and behind the battery box and relocated the swingarm pivot points down one and a half inches. I grafted a '95 GSX-R1100 front end raising the bike one and half inches in the front. The swingarm is GSX-R1100 as well and I have GSX-R750 wheels on it. I use a Dunlop D207GP rear 170/60-17 and a Dunlop D207GP front 120/70-17. The bike feels incredibly light when cornering and actually dives into it with very little effort. I tried an 18 tooth countersprocket with a 45 tooth rear which sucked at a 250 ratio and went to a 40 tooth rear sprocket giving me a 222 instead of the stock 233 with a 530 chain. This worked out amazingly well and the bike corners like it's on rails. Nothing dragged with the 6-2 Kerkers and the bike has all kindsa power throughout. Gas mileage was about 25 mpg but that was mostly hard riding through the canyons. Today was one of the most exhilirating rides I've ever had. Gary Allen
Other Swingarms
The GSXR front end (upside down model) is a DIRECT BOLT ON to the CBX frame! fits bearings and others ! just use a COMPLETE front end !!!!!! The GSXR rear swingarm fits with small mods. and you have to weld mountings for the two shocks ! EASY DONE !!!! REAR SWINGARM fits best the twin shock - I had never tryed it on Pro-links ! For the Pro-link you take a COMPLETE rear swingarm and shock ----- and offcause the linkarms !! from a Kawazaki ZZR600 ! this is a direct bolt on to the Pro-link ! and this gain for the loosing ground clearance from the upside down in front ! For the lack of clearance on the twin shock ! dont play KING CARL FOGG. on it! Rear tires less than 200/45x17 is for pussy´s ! Sincerely Jens-chr. Bogner ICOA #4097
CBX Head Shake

In reading some of the discussions lately about CBX head shake...I thought I would offer some of my experiences over the years with my '79X. There are several factors to check in keeping this to a minimum ...especially on the earlier model CBXs. The first place to "always" check is for proper torque adjustment of the steering head bearings. If this doesn't fix the problem, you might also want to check to make sure that the bearings aren't worn out on your 20 year old machine. To see if yours needs adjusting, have someone sit on the passenger seat while your bike is on the centerstand ...until the front wheel and handlebar moves freely. Move the handlebar all the way to the left and to the right to see if there are any "notchy" movements or tightness in it. The handlebars should move very easily and freely with no notchiness or tightness to it. Next, while bending down, grab the front wheel with both hands and push and pull (fore and aft) on it to see if you feel any play (clunking) in it. If so, you will need to torque down the steering race some more until this disappears. Another area to check is for cupping on the front tire...some of which can be caused by improper air pressure in the tire or improper tire balance (which even without a cupped tire can allow handling problems). This can cause a mild shaking of the handle bars when letting go of the handlebars at certain speeds. However, some of the problem can also be attributed to the front end design (i.e. expecially early models...small diameter stanchion tubes). To help cure most of the handling problems on my '79X ...I installed new Progressive fork springs, a new steering stem bearing kit (with careful torqueing), a good quality tire, and finally installing a SuperBrace fork brace. Now don't expect to outrun R1's or CBR929's in the corners...but there is quite an amazing difference in smooth handling for the 'ol '79X. If you need any of these parts or have any questions, feel free to call me (800-522-1672). Enjoy the ride, Bob Franzke CBX Performance WEB: www.cbx.performanceintl.com EMAIL: performanceintl@virtualrep.com or franzke@attglobal.net
Mike Brown, Bracing DA DAWG
hope these fotos help you but the perspective here is this bracing i did in 1980 though helpful is really old school compared to what people are doing now.....buttt keep in mind at the time no one knew any answers about how to make an early model run true at speed and handle in the turns....so i gave it a try TK1 shows steering head bracing also you asked about......and for the time the steering damper was pretty trick also same brace as the late model below the side covers was added and is not shown in any foto. at the same time i had the orig swingarm bracd results: it took 1100f front (39mm) and back to bring the dawgie to where it is today.......so the bracing w/o taking the 35mm tubes off the early model will not get you totally where you want
Mike Brown
More Bracing
Use an X pattern below the battery box and use a triangle shape plate on the frame side rails below the side covers.
Jeff Bennetts