[A_Piazza]

If you really want something to tinker on that bad you are welcome to come respring my GSXR forks. Free of charge

 

[fencingdude101]

If you really want something to tinker on that bad you are welcome to come respring my GSXR forks. Free of charge

Hahaha heck I'll pay you to do so!

 

[rcannon409]

Those silver locating dowels in the lower fork, right where the caliper mounts, will twist right out. I used some thin nose vice grips, but regular pliers will work. Then you can use any caliper you want. On an older fork, you might use a drop of pb blaster, but thats probably not necessary

Pull them out, and you can use the Honda cbr spacers. They fit perfectly if you smooth one side off.

Race Tech's spring calculator is seriously off when it comes to offroad springs and there are several errors I've found. I'd check with Sonic Springs or anyone else for more accuracy. If you use race techs, count on being one or two steps too soft unless you use their gold valves.

Race Tech will also have items listed and priced , for your specific bike, that will not fit in the forks.

 

[A_Piazza]

Hahaha heck I'll pay you to do so!

Man I wished it worked that way all the time.

 

[fencingdude101]

Those silver locating dowels in the lower fork, right where the caliper mounts, will twist right out. I used some thin nose vice grips, but regular pliers will work. Then you can use any caliper you want. On an older fork, you might use a drop of pb blaster, but thats probably not necessary

Pull them out, and you can use the Honda cbr spacers. They fit perfectly if you smooth one side off.

Race Tech's spring calculator is seriously off when it comes to offroad springs and there are several errors I've found. I'd check with Sonic Springs or anyone else for more accuracy. If you use race techs, count on being one or two steps too soft unless you use their gold valves.

Race Tech will also have items listed and priced , for your specific bike, that will not fit in the forks.

Thanks for the spacer tip- you're right, I took those out pretty easy, and can just tap them back in. This raises a few questions: In all the pictures, the bottom of the calipers are flush up against the fork caliper mounts. If I take them off, how would the caliper be able to sit 5mm lower if it's already right up against the mount? And in that case, why do those spacers even exist if they don't actually space it?

 

[rcannon409]

The ones you removed are not spacers. I'd call them locating dowels. The caliper that belongs to the fork, from the factory, would have matched up to it perfectly. The caliper would slide in place, and you'd not see the locating dowel.

Its used for makign sure the caliper is sitting in the "perfect" spot.....

So, how to you live outwith them? Snug down the caliper bolt...not tight. Apply front brake and the caliper will center itself. This is how many bikes do it. Or you just drop them on. No real need to worry about alignment with four floating pistons.

For spacers, you may or may not need them. Brembo just has flat 5 or 10mm spacers that just sit on. Or, you can go crazy. Look at the image here and you'll see the idea. ROGUE RACING CBR1000RR 04-05 to 06 Rotor Conversion

If you need spacers, pm me. I have some brand new Brembo spacers I double ordered and was too lazy to return them. Half price and it comes with nice bolts, too. Honda also sells spacers from their cbr1000 bike. Theirs are cheap, but require to sand off one side due to a locating dowel size issue.

 

[kojiiro]

Those silver locating dowels in the lower fork, right where the caliper mounts, will twist right out. I used some thin nose vice grips, but regular pliers will work. Then you can use any caliper you want. On an older fork, you might use a drop of pb blaster, but thats probably not necessary

Pull them out, and you can use the Honda cbr spacers. They fit perfectly if you smooth one side off.

Race Tech's spring calculator is seriously off when it comes to offroad springs and there are several errors I've found. I'd check with Sonic Springs or anyone else for more accuracy. If you use race techs, count on being one or two steps too soft unless you use their gold valves.

Race Tech will also have items listed and priced , for your specific bike, that will not fit in the forks.

Serious? I had Sonic Springs in my old forks and thought I made a mistake buying the cheaper springs when I saw how well laid out the Racetech site was. If they are making those kinds of errors, then maybe they arent any better than SS after all.

 

[rcannon409]

There was debate, years back, that race tech figured their spring rate based on gold valve use. Thats the point of their gold valve, honestly. Its nto a great valve, or design, but it locks you into using their settings and oil. Brilliant, really.

Sonic springs are good. Not a fancy web site so you do occasionally have to call them..but you get correct answers.

For several years Race Tech gave the z 1000 the same fork specs since 2003. Maybe they still do? Its a 100% different bike. The 03 to the 2010....

Dont assume zx6 forks will be soft on a Ninja. We sit back, with less weight up front, than the zx6. What sounds soft really might not be. Also, modern suspension is seriously comfortable. It does nto have that "riding the spring" feel at all.

 

[fencingdude101]

The ones you removed are not spacers. I'd call them locating dowels. The caliper that belongs to the fork, from the factory, would have matched up to it perfectly. The caliper would slide in place, and you'd not see the locating dowel.

Its used for makign sure the caliper is sitting in the "perfect" spot.....

So, how to you live outwith them? Snug down the caliper bolt...not tight. Apply front brake and the caliper will center itself. This is how many bikes do it. Or you just drop them on. No real need to worry about alignment with four floating pistons.

For spacers, you may or may not need them. Brembo just has flat 5 or 10mm spacers that just sit on. Or, you can go crazy. Look at the image here and you'll see the idea. ROGUE RACING CBR1000RR 04-05 to 06 Rotor Conversion

If you need spacers, pm me. I have some brand new Brembo spacers I double ordered and was too lazy to return them. Half price and it comes with nice bolts, too. Honda also sells spacers from their cbr1000 bike. Theirs are cheap, but require to sand off one side due to a locating dowel size issue.

Ah, I've had my suspicions that those had that purpose instead of spacers, but thanks for the confirmation. Also good to know that tactic regarding lining them up without them! I won't be needing other spacers, although I appreciate the offer. My goal is to have the fork/caliper combo be 5mm shorter than the stock fork and stock monoblocs. My best bet is to buy the older Nissins and hope that one guy on the ZX6R forums was correct about being able to do that with 300mm rotors.

On the springs, are Traxxon Dynamics good? I'm already planning on buying a double clicker Penske rear shock from them after I'm done with the swap, I assume their springs are good? I did notice that they had stiffer recommendations than Race Tech, and I guess this explains why. Good information.

 

[rcannon409]

Traxxion Dynamics is awesome and will nail it right on as long as you give them real rider weight, which is a problem, they say. LOL Race Tech is ok, too. Just call. Dont use the online calculator. Its ok, for a very rough idea, but person to person is where its at.

PS..If you really weight 185, say it like, "Yes, I just stepped on the scale this morning..185. WHY? 185 is the equivalent, in suspension talk, of telling the cop. "yes, I've had two beers...." Its always more. 185 will throw up a red flag, and lead to a bunch more questions.

Also, 185, without gear, is really about 195-200 with helmet, heavy boots, jacket and pants. If you talk "without" and the suspension guys "with", you may have an issue.

If you aspire to weigh 185, but currently go 215, mention that. A ninja 650, with fairing removed may very well take a spring rate lighter, up front, than normal.

Worst case, on calipers, is that the caliper needs 5mm machined off each leg. That should be cheap enough, if needed, right?

The Nissin radials, like the zx6, concours 14 and zx14 uses are awesome and as good as you can get without spending 5k on the GOOD Brembos.

Still, at that point, I'd avoid machining an dgo with

 

[fencingdude101]

That was the plan- no way I'm buying anything suspension related without a phone call.

Luckily I weigh 125, so no worry about lying about my weight to feel better.
I think I will be calling Traxxon today at lunch and see what spring rate they would recommend for me, also see what stock rate is for the forks.

On the calipers, the hope is to not have to grind anything down; I'd rather buy larger rotors then start doing something like that.

 

[fencingdude101]

Just went to my dealer to ask a few unrelated questions about my bike, but also took the chance to measure their 2013 636 triple stem. I wanted to make sure, before making an offer on a set on EBay, that the lower triple had the same 7.5" stem as the 650's.
It does in fact have the same length- not sure if that information will ever be useful to anyone.

 

[fencingdude101]

Just bought a set of 13+ 636 upper and lower triples off Ebay- I confirmed the steering stem diameter and length is the same as the 650's.

I could've bought a set of 09-12 lowers and 03-08 uppers, as the clamp diameters matched, however I didn't want to have to deal with the hassle of the offset or something similar was off. Also, although they were a bit more expensive than this option, I felt the newer triple sets just look a lot nicer.

I'll be sure to post up when they come in, along with when I test fit them (Probably next weekend?)

 

[A_Piazza]

Yawn. When we going to see some pictures. You are boring me now!

 

[fencingdude101]

Don't you be worrying! The triples will be here on Tuesday, and I'll be test fitting everything on the bike on Wednesday with lots of pictures!

With my claim and paycheck coming in at the end of the month, looks like I'll be doing the final install the second week of January.

However, just for you A_Piazza:

 

[XPyron]

That's twice now fence has been called out for no pictures. I'm starting to get suspicious nothing is really going on anywhere with him.

 

[fencingdude101]

It's not a picture, but... I just said "Screw it" and went ahead and bought the rest of the items needed to do the fork swap. That was probably the most amount of things I've purchased at one time!

Anyway, just for you guys I'll post a picture of every shipment that comes in over the next two weeks. You better not call me out on lack of pictures after this!

 

[kojiiro]

It's not a picture, but... I just said "Screw it" and went ahead and bought the rest of the items needed to do the fork swap. That was probably the most amount of things I've purchased at one time!

Anyway, just for you guys I'll post a picture of every shipment that comes in over the next two weeks. You better not call me out on lack of pictures after this!

I lost patience too. Ended up using PayPal credit.

 

[Olympus Racing]

does anyone here think Cartidges in the stock forks are good enough and the whole front end swap is more money for no real benefit?
I am discussing this in regards to racing, not track days or street use.

 

[kojiiro]

does anyone here think Cartidges in the stock forks are good enough and the whole front end swap is more money for no real benefit?
I am discussing this in regards to racing, not track days or street use.

I don't race or track but have seen both track and race bikes set up with both. The cartridges will probably cost more but then you don't get to upgrade your brakes. Why not upgrade to the zx6r forks then upgrade its internals like how a race prepped zx6r would then you get a good brake upgrade as well.