Vintage Honda CB500 Front Brake Upgrade | Café Racer Build #11

1973 Honda CB500 Four Brat Style Café Racer Build #11
Buy the parts installed in this video:
$25 Master Cylinder & Clutch Lever
Stainless Steel Brake Lines: ebay.us/ndwVt8
Semi Sintered Brake Pads: ebay.us/yRugL2
In this video, I upgraded the front brakes! The upgrade included a new set of semi sintered brake pads and a stainless steel brake line conversion! Old rubber brake lines are a no go because they expand when you apply the brakes which leads to at least a 50% loss in braking power. The bike should stop way faster now, but we will find out in the next video when I take it for a test ride.
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All the Parts I'm installing on this bike:
$35 Headlight: ebay.us/nDznXT
$19 Turn Signals: ebay.us/nt28ie
$14 Tail / Brake Light: ebay.us/vtF76H
$30 Speedometer / Tachometer: ebay.us/a5i3qi
4into1 External Reservoir Rear Shocks: ebay.us/qtvRC2
Ignition Coils: ebay.us/jYTdiY
Niche O-ring Chain: ebay.us/OvysUH
Frame Paint: amzn.to/3LBxCm5
The Best Fork Oil: amzn.to/3lI0zCy
Carburetor Rebuild Kit: ebay.us/mpEQKF
Gel battery: amzn.to/3ZsypKl
Polisport Fork Boots: amzn.to/40vbaPC
Krator Handlebars: ebay.us/542G3I
Wheel Weights: amzn.to/43jrxBu
Rim Strips: amzn.to/3GuRKmS
IRC GS-11 Tires:
18": ebay.us/VOJYNY
19": ebay.us/in9n9L
Bearing and seal kit: ebay.us/27344Q
Grooved Brake Shoes: ebay.us/XMPtX5
CB500 Four Side Covers: ebay.us/YpUNd6
CB500 Four Emblems: ebay.us/olRtN0
Watch the Whole Build: • NEW BIKE! $340 Honda C...
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Stay hydrated my friends!
Buy the parts that I took off of this bike and more:
www.ebay.com/u...
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Thanks for Watching!
#motorcyclebuild #vintagehonda #caferacer

[@TheTbmillard]

Great build series. I work on a lot of CB bikes, mainly the 550 models, always excited to see fun interesting build series on these bikes. A quick tip, and I see this often. The fender is meant to be mounted on the other side of the brake arm, the inside of the wheel. It may seem like it doesn't matter but it changes the angle of the arm and the pads end up wearing unevenly as well as not contacting the rotor evenly. Best wishes on the remainder of the build and enjoy the fruits of your labour. 👏

[@GoldGuyRides]

Thanks for the info! I'll move the brake arm to the other side of the fender. That may explain the sticking as well.

[@mikeymike3240]

You better get a bit of rubber on the braided brake line where it’s rubbing on the front fender. Niiiiiiiiiiice video GG 😊

[@GoldGuyRides]

You're right! Thanks Mikey Mike!

[@mikeymike3240]

@@GoldGuyRides you’re very welcome mate 😎👍👍👍

[@MotoMango]

You wanna have the lever squeezed anytime you loosen the bleed screw or it lets more air back into the system mate xD

[@MotoMango]

Great work though! Stoked to see you riding this thing!

[@GoldGuyRides]

Yeah I know man I did that, maybe it didn't come across on the video.

[@MotoMango]

@@GoldGuyRides ah fair enough haha my bad! I knew you knew better so I was confused lol

[@larryfox4915]

Gravity bleeding is my preferred method because it doesn't involve moving the piston and cups in the master cylinder past it's normal range. If it is an older cylinder, there is a chance that there could be rust further down the bore and it could tear the cup and cause a bypass leak. I really like the look so far, anxious to see what you do with the seat. 👍

[@MatthewMenze]

Brake lines are always a wholesome upgrade. I seen some folks recommending getting a smaller bore MC, while this is a good way to upgrade the feel of that system, I would actually look for a bigger and better caliper. This will adjust the ratio in the same way, but also upgrade the caliper. Especially on these older bikes, you can often find a OEM takeoff caliper from something more modern that will be lightyears better at stopping, and usually quite cheap, and there is a ton of room for improvement over a single active piston caliper. For example, on my '89KLR 650 I got replaced the 2 piston caliper with a four piston off of a SV650, for which there are numerous used calipers available on eBay. In general, on motorcycles caliper swaps are very economical ways to upgrade the braking if you do some digging and find out what is a good upgrade from some other bike. Often they bolt right on, or adapter brackets are easily available. I almost always research this for any bike I own because as you mentioned, spending on the best braking possible is always money well spent.

[@Blackhart50]

Great video if you leave a zip tie on front brake lever over night all your air be out of the master cylinder I did it to my bike brakes perfect now

[@larryfox4915]

I replace the DOT 3 in my vintage bikes with DOT 4 when i flush and replace fluid. 4 has a higher boiling point and doesn't absorb moisture as fast as 3. That is important on a bike as a small amount of water in the caliper can cause the wheel to lock up when the water gets warm enough to evaporate. Living in a more humid area, like Pa., Its a good idea to drain, flush and refill brake fluid every couple of years.

[@AidanK1337]

I've had my breaks become sticky after a rebuild. Once I bled them, i used a c-clamp to drive the piston back a little bit and then they worked great afterwards.

[@Blurredman]

Surely it's easier/better to install the constituent parts on the bike before connecting the lines and tightening them all up?

[@thereve]

You will get the most improvement by using a smaller bore master cylinder. 1/2” is relatively common. I bought one of those eBay master cylinders and found it to be surprisingly well made. I purposely sought one out with a 1/2” bore. I took it apart and measured the piston and it wasn’t as advertised; I think it was 16mm iirc... would be fine for a dual disk setup but not for a single. The ratio is just all wrong. So I bought a used one, I think from a buell, which works great.

[@GoldGuyRides]

I never thought about the size of the master cylinder's bore, thanks for the info! I find it to be surprisingly well made as well, especially for the price!

[@MotoMango]

I bought a set of ratchet wrenches and neer looked back xD

[@GoldGuyRides]

I gotta do that!!

[@bogarth2o]

keeo on the good work love your job im working on a cb 750 1980 custom , imma need your help for carb tunning im going air pod filters and muffler

[@nicholaseyberg6849]

Howzit the bottom of the caliper hose is actually installed incorrectly where it bolts onto the caliper. You need one of those angled fittings for the bottom.

[@richardsmiley5135]

Hi, do you have the link for the master cylinder and clutch?

[@Kro_man_tx]

Did you remove the piston in the caliper?

[@GoldGuyRides]

No, I didn't see any reason to. It doesn't leak or have any problems so I just left it in.

[@Kro_man_tx]

@@GoldGuyRides It looked like you had the caliper submerged in water/soap. If there was any water in behind that piston, it could corrode and seize up on you.

[@antalgyori6744]

Good question. The bike is very old and who knows what condition the piston seals are in? It's a simple job to remove the piston, clean it up and install new seals.

[@GoldGuyRides]

@@Kro_man_tx I flushed a lot of fluid through the caliper and made sure it was drained out before reassembly. I probably should have just changed the seal but it'll be fine.

[@Kro_man_tx]

@@GoldGuyRides as they say... just send it!