alternative front ends

van883

Guest
Could anyone out there give me some advice on the most suitable Japanese trail bike front end (in terms of least engineering work necessary amongst other things) I could fit to my R80ST
thanks!
 
Believe it or not,I`ve got a Yamaha DTR 125 front end on my 800 g/s,and it is fine. The forks are 41mm,so a fair increase over the originals. By machining 2mm off the bottom bearing area of the stem,I could fit a standard g/s lower bearing,and a visit to a bearing supplier produced a bearing to fit the g/s headstock and the top of the stem. Voila ! I also fitted Africa Twin fitment progressive fork springs with 22mm long spacers,and 10 weight fork oil. The brake ain`t very good on the road,so it`s lucky dip in the breakers wiv yer vernier.
 
XT600 forks

Thanks for the reply. I've come across a complete XT600 front end. I wonder if anyone has any advice on using this set up. A quick measurement reveal it to be 4cm longer front axle to top of top yoke when compared to the ST.
 
That`s near as dammit the same length as the DTR with the springs/spacers. XT suspension is normally very good-I`ve had four of them over the years.
Forgot to say,I also fitted a Spax adjustable rear shock,which is longer than the standard one.The bike looks a bit 'broken backed'
if you don`t raise the rear end.
 
on a guys bike i know

On the front a set of upside downs from a yamaha YZ250 1992. Bearing sizes are the same, steering stem length only slightly longer.
 
SPAX monoshock

Adjustable for rebound damping and compression preload
Rose jointed top and bottom mounts
Bought from M.R. Holland 01775 766455 ( If still trading )

I raised my rear subframe by chopping off the original lower tubes and replacing them with longer thick wall tubing ( had to bend the right hand one for shock absorber clearance ) then gusseting the joins for extra strength. I kept the upper section
as was,so the seat fitted ok.
 
Van,

Did you get a front end sorted? I'm going to start shopping around next week so if you have sorted one out I wouldn't mind some advice.

:beerjug:
 
I've got an XT600 front end complete, but am having second thoughts (!)-I've been scared off by Andrew Sexton talking about extended swing arms and Tarka talking about radical surgery to the rear subframe...All I wanted was a better set of forks for my ST with a little more trailability and brakes. (I know XT brakes aren't great, but it will be better than the ST, and there are big disc kits readily available for them).
Then I thought I could put a longer shock on the back like a G/S
I had hoped that this would be sufficient. I did not want to spend much moey as the bike is a tatty winter hack!
Silly me.
Unless anyone can come up with a relatively easy route to my goal, that is.

Good Luck.
 
thanks Para-however I've not seen paralever GS forks for sale at that price...hence I started looking for a complete Japanes front end.

Van
 
Yo,don`t be scared by my 'radical surgery' !!
I built up an almost Dakar replica ( cosmetically ) so I wanted to get away from the 'Ironing Board' profile of a standard g/s.
The front end mods will be fine with a standard subframe,also a standard shock if its a hack type bike.
Indeed,that`s how mine was for a while,as I built it up in stages,
proving each mod in turn........GO FOR IT !!!
 


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