So you want to build a cafe racer?

The CB550 Brake Upgrade Everyone Rushes — and the One Master-Cylinder Number That Decides If It Works
Two of the SOHC/4 forum's most-read CB550 brake threads — the nearly-10,000-view master cylinder debate and the classic dual-disc conversion — end up agreeing on the same thing: the biggest stopping gain on a 550 doesn't come from a second rotor. It comes from one number on your master cylinder. Here's what the veterans actually say. Read more...
The Exhaust Nobody Can Name: Inside the SOHC/4 Forum's 160,000-View Pipe Library
The single most-referenced visual archive on the SOHC/4 forum isn't a how-to — it's a fifteen-year-old, quarter-million-view photo thread built to answer the oldest question every CB550 owner eventually asks: what exhaust is this? Here's what the community learned building it. Read more...
Getting Your CB550 to Steer Straight: The Tapered-Bearing Institution Thread and the Great Steering-Damper Debate
Two of the SOHC/4 forum's most-read CB550 threads both live in the front end — the 320,000-view tapered steering bearing bible and the long-running steering-damper debate. Here's what the veterans actually say, and why one of these jobs should almost always come before the other. Read more...
Two CB550 Upgrades Everyone Wants to Bolt On — and What the Veterans Say First: Charging Systems and Front Ends
Two of the longest-running CB550 threads on the SOHC/4 forum both start with a bolt-on dream and end with the same lesson: get the fundamentals right before you buy the exciting part. What the veterans actually say about charging upgrades and front-end swaps. Read more...
More CB550 Threads Worth Their View Counts: The Leak-Free Top End and the Lost Art of Lacing a Wheel
Volume 3 of our deep-dive into the SOHC/4 forum's biggest CB550 discussions — this time, the definitive leak-free top-end assembly thread and the evergreen how-to on lacing your own wheels. Two jobs every 550 builder faces, decoded. Read more...
This Week in CB550 Land: Ghost in the Ignition, the Great Fuel Filter Debate, and O-Ring Wisdom
A roundup of the most active Honda CB550 discussions on the SOHC/4 Owners Club forums — including a high-load cutout mystery with a surprise ending, the great inline fuel filter debate, and carb rebuild o-ring wisdom. Read more...
The CB550 Threads Every Owner Ends Up Reading: Pods, the Assembly Bible, and 100,000-View Wisdom
Volume 1 of our deep-dive series into the most engaged Honda CB550 discussions on the SOHC/4 forums — the threads with hundreds of replies and six-figure view counts that every 550 owner ends up reading. Read more...