CB 450 Front End On An XS

[ReycleBill]

A while back I got my hands on a Honda CB 450 K2 like the one in the photograph at this link: http://www.livablelandscape.org/CYCLES/450K2.htm Actually I got 2 of them.


The bikes I've got is pretty sad but amazingly one of the complete front ends doesn't need anything a little paint and polish won't fix. It even has the big black knob to adjust tension on the front end still intact. I've even got the complete dual cam drum brake-- 2 of them as a matter of fact. Chrome rim even looks like new which is amazing considering the back rim was rusted through.

Anyway, I like the looks of those style front ends with the covers at the top and was thinking it would look good on my next XS project so before I start I was wondering if anyone has any experience swapping old CB 450 Honda front ends to XS650 frames.

Will it bolt on?
What bearings will I need?
Will I need to put the XS stem in the CB 450 triple tree?

You know, those kinds of questions.

 

[pamcopete]

Well, I went the opposite direction. I installed the forks, 64 spoke wheel, caliper, rotor and fender from a XS650 to a CB750. I liked the XS650 fender without the CB750 braces and the brake is much better, both in appearance and function. The spacing of the triples was identical, so I was able to use the CB750 triples. I followed this with a conversion of the rear wheel to a 48 spoke XS650 16" so now I have a HondaHa CB750. I bought the 64 spoke rim, fender, brake rotor and caliper from MikesXS.

Check the spacing of the CB450 forks. If they are the same as the XS650, then you can just slide the CB450 forks into the XS650 triples.

 

[ReycleBill]

That's sharp, Pete. My '83 has those 60 and 48 spoke rims-- nothing is prettier.

Regretfully the CB 450 front forks are closer together than the XS.

Back to the drawing board.

 

[pa-powerstroke]

Ive recently looked into doing the same thing. My buddy has a cb450 front end that is 4-6 over that I was considering putting on my xs. The two options I have looked into was first: doing a stem swap from the xs into the cb. Ive done it once before and its really pretty simple. Secondly: cb forks and xs forks are both 35mm, but the triple trees from a cb are a little more narrow than the xs, you could try taking the forks out of the cb trees and putting them in the xs trees but then you would need to measure the extra space on either side of the axle and get spacers for it and possibly get a longer axle. the easiest option would probably be the stem swap.

 

[ReycleBill]

Thanks pa-powerstroke, Until I actually start turning bolts and comparing sizes I'll not make any decisions but I like the idea of a stem swap a lot better than trying to deal with a bunch of bushings, spacers and longer axles.

 

[pa-powerstroke]

Thanks pa-powerstroke, Until I actually start turning bolts and comparing sizes I'll not make any decisions but I like the idea of a stem swap a lot better than trying to deal with a bunch of bushings, spacers and longer axles.

I agree with you, simplicity is best, I probably would have swapped my stem into the cb trees by now but Ive already had to do a stem swap because Im using 73 trees on a 79 frame and my fork lowers are shaved and look really nice.