New member with Commando 850 cafe project

Hi all, just registered here. I have a '75 Commando 850 that I'm doing a modern inverted fork and twin disc brake conversion on. I have the forks and brake calipers from an '05-06 Kawasaki 636. I want to run 18" WM3 and WM4 gold anodized spoke wheels front and rear. Haven't decided on which ones just yet, but I'm planning on getting some adjustable rear shocks with piggyback reservoirs. Also want to mount a more modern rear brake caliper and disc, but haven't researched that much yet.

I was hoping some of you could shed some light on some of my challenges.

Are there any 40 spoke hub options out there that accept a twin disc setup? I don't have discs yet, but they need to be about 300mm diameter. I saw that there is a blue Dreer-based mono shock Commando (member GrandPaul ?) out there with a very similar front end setup as what I am planning. It has Kawasaki 636 forks with twin discs and spoke wheels, running a Dreer front hub. Can you still find these hubs, or are they too rare? Any other twin disc hubs that may work?

I wanted to run a WM4 18x2.50" rear excel rim but cannot find that in the gold anodized finish I want. Buchanan Spokes however sells their Sun rims line in a 18x2.75" size in the gold finish. They call it a WM4.5. Is this too wide though for the stock swingarm?

Also trying to find a suitable set of rear shocks. I like Ohlins, may go with that. Also considering Penske, Racetech, and Works. Any input here?

Still haven't decided on seat yet. I like the Gunshooter, but also may go with a more spartan fiberglass rear tail and some padding. Think I am going shorten the length of the Loop on the back of the frame, so it doesn't extend so far off the back.

Here's a pretty crude photoshop of what I'm going for. My bike is black with the gold lettering. The forks I have are gold anodized Showas, not Ohlins. Also note I have a different exhaust setup currently and will not have the front fender seen below. I'd love to hear some input!

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Cheers,
Connor

There is an alloy Harley hub that will take twin discs, they are not all drilled for twin discs though, not really a problem as you will probably re drill it for the discs you are using anyway

Thanks for the tip! That looks like a good solution. I would simply have to turn down the Kawasaki axle about 1mm to fit in the HD hub's bearings.

BTW Cheesy, your 3D models are awesome. Did you use Solidworks for those? I was planning on modeling my project on Solidworks myself. Any chance you could send me that frame model for my own use? Would just save me a ton of time, but I understand if you don't want to give it out.

Connor

cburke996 said:

Thanks for the tip! That looks like a good solution. I would simply have to turn down the Kawasaki axle about 1mm to fit in the HD hub's bearings.

BTW Cheesy, your 3D models are awesome. Did you use Solidworks for those? I was planning on modeling my project on Solidworks myself. Any chance you could send me that frame model for my own use? Would just save me a ton of time, but I understand if you don't want to give it out.

Connor

Click to expand...

http://grabcad.com/library/norton-frame

I have gone down this path, but turned around near the end. I used a harley hub and 93 gsxr front end on wm4 x 17 front rim and wm 5 x 17 rear. Check out my build threads. I just got a RGM dual disk hub that you would also work nicely. Currently using the parts on a featherbed project. I wouldn't machine the axle,, bearings are cheap and result available.

cburke996 said:

Thanks for the tip! That looks like a good solution. I would simply have to turn down the Kawasaki axle about 1mm to fit in the HD hub's bearings.

BTW Cheesy, your 3D models are awesome. Did you use Solidworks for those? I was planning on modeling my project on Solidworks myself. Any chance you could send me that frame model for my own use? Would just save me a ton of time, but I understand if you don't want to give it out.

Connor

Click to expand...

Swoosh has the link there, if you download it download the wheels and other bits separately (if you want them) as they have all the spokes and things.

Also the wheels are not laced quite right, the spokes go to the wrong bulges in the rim

The 636 forks work great with Kenny Dreer's hubs, but they're no longer available. I'm having a couple of copies made from one of the Dreer hubs I have, to do at least one more similar bike to the Blue one.

I used a Mk III rear disc with an adapted UJM 4-pot rear caliper that worked great on the alloy tank bike. The standard MkIII unit is more than enough rear brake.

The HD hubs are a great solution, and readily available on e-bay.

The other thing to look into is the trail you will have with the new forks/clamps. The significantly smaller offset will increase the trail a lot, getting around 140mm, I haven't ridden a bike with this much trail however Im guessing it will no longer be a nimble light feeling Commando.

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So that's what my girl would look like with inverted forks! Keep the rear loop.

cburke996 said:

Hi all, just registered here. I have a '75 Commando 850 that I'm doing a modern inverted fork and twin disc brake conversion on. I have the forks and brake calipers from an '05-06 Kawasaki 636. I want to run 18" WM3 and WM4 gold anodized spoke wheels front and rear. Haven't decided on which ones just yet, but I'm planning on getting some adjustable rear shocks with piggyback reservoirs. Also want to mount a more modern rear brake caliper and disc, but haven't researched that much yet.

I was hoping some of you could shed some light on some of my challenges.

Are there any 40 spoke hub options out there that accept a twin disc setup? I don't have discs yet, but they need to be about 300mm diameter. I saw that there is a blue Dreer-based mono shock Commando (member GrandPaul ?) out there with a very similar front end setup as what I am planning. It has Kawasaki 636 forks with twin discs and spoke wheels, running a Dreer front hub. Can you still find these hubs, or are they too rare? Any other twin disc hubs that may work?

I wanted to run a WM4 18x2.50" rear excel rim but cannot find that in the gold anodized finish I want. Buchanan Spokes however sells their Sun rims line in a 18x2.75" size in the gold finish. They call it a WM4.5. Is this too wide though for the stock swingarm?

Also trying to find a suitable set of rear shocks. I like Ohlins, may go with that. Also considering Penske, Racetech, and Works. Any input here?

Still haven't decided on seat yet. I like the Gunshooter, but also may go with a more spartan fiberglass rear tail and some padding. Think I am going shorten the length of the Loop on the back of the frame, so it doesn't extend so far off the back.

Here's a pretty crude photoshop of what I'm going for. My bike is black with the gold lettering. The forks I have are gold anodized Showas, not Ohlins. Also note I have a different exhaust setup currently and will not have the front fender seen below. I'd love to hear some input!

\

Cheers,
Connor

Click to expand...

Wow super modern ..or what,
Think about ditching the twin lump and sliding in a fire blade motor :lol:

Just finished a 75' Commando and used Brembos front and rear. I really like the feel of the rear now very progressive.