This week....I have mostly been finishing the fitment of a Yamaha XTZ750 'Super Tenere' front end to the LegoBike.
When I originally built the LegoBike,I fitted a modded Yamaha DTR125R front end.
This may sound like madness,but the DTR forks were bigger at 41mm diameter with a good long travel,and the tiny single disc was actually no worse than the original R80G/S one (
).
The only modification needed was to machine 2mm from the bottom of the DTR stem,so the original G/S headraces could be used...and I added some Progressive fork springs intended for a Honda Africa Twin along with 25mm spacers.
The brake wasn`t too good with the bike fully loaded with camping gear or two up though...so I began the search for a twin disc front end.
By sheer fortune and coincidence,I bought some R1100GS parts from fellow UKGSer Garry Holloway ......and in his garage was a COMPLETE twin disc XTZ750 front end !
The XTZ 750 front end is a big fecker.....43mm stanchions and long travel.
A rapid deal was struck....and the LegoBike was dismantled.
After some measurement and thought,the easiest way to fit the XTZ front end would have been to swap stems with the modded DTR one.....but I wanted to keep it intact for a future project.
Twenty two tons of hydraulic pressure later,the DTR and XTZ stems were pressed out and measured up....and a piece of solid stainless bar was machined to fit the XTZ bottom yoke but with the dimensions of the DTR one.
(One of the many 'perks' of working where I do
)
The DTR yoke/stem and forks/spindle/wheel,etc were reassembled and stored for future use.
I put the AfricaTwin spec Progressive fork springs in the XTZ forks,along with 62mm spacers and 690 cc of 10w fork oil (told you it was a big fecker
).
With the new stem in place,the front end swap was just like assembling a kit, even my original home made brackets for the G/S instrument binnacle and the GPz style fairing lined up with the XTZ yoke pinch bolt holes
The 'sheetie' in work made up a forkbrace for me,and I used the XTZ low level front mudguard screw holes to mount the brace.
Because I wanted to keep the LegoBike`s braced high level front mudguard,I made up an adaptor bracket and fitted it to some holes I screwed and tapped in the XTZ bottom yoke.
After stripping and cleaning the XTZ calipers,I used the LegoBike`s single braided brakeline to the left caliper and ran another braided line over the forkbrace to the right caliper.
An added bonus is that I`ve kept the XTZ speedo drive (currently blanked off ), and a future addition will be a Yamaha speedo...thus giving me a considerably more accurate speedo.
Enough of the waffle....here`s a few pics ( sorry that I`ve posted a couple before...during the build ).
.
.
Pic 1
The new discs looking purposeful
When I originally built the LegoBike,I fitted a modded Yamaha DTR125R front end.
This may sound like madness,but the DTR forks were bigger at 41mm diameter with a good long travel,and the tiny single disc was actually no worse than the original R80G/S one (
).The only modification needed was to machine 2mm from the bottom of the DTR stem,so the original G/S headraces could be used...and I added some Progressive fork springs intended for a Honda Africa Twin along with 25mm spacers.
The brake wasn`t too good with the bike fully loaded with camping gear or two up though...so I began the search for a twin disc front end.
By sheer fortune and coincidence,I bought some R1100GS parts from fellow UKGSer Garry Holloway ......and in his garage was a COMPLETE twin disc XTZ750 front end !
The XTZ 750 front end is a big fecker.....43mm stanchions and long travel.
A rapid deal was struck....and the LegoBike was dismantled.
After some measurement and thought,the easiest way to fit the XTZ front end would have been to swap stems with the modded DTR one.....but I wanted to keep it intact for a future project.
Twenty two tons of hydraulic pressure later,the DTR and XTZ stems were pressed out and measured up....and a piece of solid stainless bar was machined to fit the XTZ bottom yoke but with the dimensions of the DTR one.
(One of the many 'perks' of working where I do
)The DTR yoke/stem and forks/spindle/wheel,etc were reassembled and stored for future use.
I put the AfricaTwin spec Progressive fork springs in the XTZ forks,along with 62mm spacers and 690 cc of 10w fork oil (told you it was a big fecker
).With the new stem in place,the front end swap was just like assembling a kit, even my original home made brackets for the G/S instrument binnacle and the GPz style fairing lined up with the XTZ yoke pinch bolt holes
The 'sheetie' in work made up a forkbrace for me,and I used the XTZ low level front mudguard screw holes to mount the brace.
Because I wanted to keep the LegoBike`s braced high level front mudguard,I made up an adaptor bracket and fitted it to some holes I screwed and tapped in the XTZ bottom yoke.
After stripping and cleaning the XTZ calipers,I used the LegoBike`s single braided brakeline to the left caliper and ran another braided line over the forkbrace to the right caliper.
An added bonus is that I`ve kept the XTZ speedo drive (currently blanked off ), and a future addition will be a Yamaha speedo...thus giving me a considerably more accurate speedo.
Enough of the waffle....here`s a few pics ( sorry that I`ve posted a couple before...during the build ).
.
.
Pic 1
The new discs looking purposeful
)
)
blimey do you still have it tarka
