1975 KZ 900 , ZRX Swingarm, 89 GSXR front end

one problem that you will encounter unless the frame is raked when you lower the forks it the trees is that you are getting closer to the pipes and when you hit the brakes hard it can jam the front wheel into the pipes causing an instant stoppee not a good thing when you haven't planned for it. seen it happen at the top end of the track one time last year with a guy on a zx10 needless to say at over 140 mph he went down not to cool.

Ok the Low fork thing first...

I am always surprised to see a bike that has minimal ground clearance and super trick forks. Kind of defeates the purpose. If the super trick upside down forks turn into a safety hazard, they are not much good.

I was fortunate, in that a good buddie of mine is a GSXR guru..(the guy who posted the 160 Honda photo).

We tried several forks, and pulled the springs to see where they bottomed out.

You are correct, it would be possible to slam the front wheel, this is why you see older conventional forks on my KZ. It is difficult to find long enough "upside down" forks.

I am putting th bike together for the last time, and now have the front end on with Brakes and lines.

I just put my motor back in and fired her up. i had a look back at your pics and then my bike. a few things to consider ,although i think it is to late. My chain travel has scraped the paint off the frame rail about 1 ½” up, with the new chain adjusted correctly , it quickly stretches , and there is a lot more travel than u might think, as the swing arm goes up and down. I have more clearance than u, a good 1/8” and to chain still rubs on the frame (as it slaps around I guess). I did have to grind the inner lower foot peg boss. I thought I had enough clearance, but after a season of riding I noticed it had worn there.
Also did u remove the lower bolt on the upper motor mount, and cut the bottom off of the plate? It looks like it in the pic? I have a major clearance issue there. I would like to remedy it by getting Irishwill to make me a new mount like his. The only down side is I will have to completely redo my battery box. Unless I can come up with another solution.
If u plan on heading to the strip, u should mount a bearing support , as the 5/8” offset will apply a lot of load on the output shaft (so I am told).
Did u have to mill your hub?
I really don’t understand why other that use dif swing arms don’t have the same clearance issue as we did??
Do u think it can even be done with a ½” offset while maintaining the rear rim center point??

Mark,

Well you are absolutely correct about the lower foot peg bracket bolt, it looks like I will need to remove some material there.

I think you are right about the upper motor mount bolt/plate, and I thank you for the "heads up" on that, I can still remove material from that area.

The plate I put in the frame has about 1/2 inch extra clearance (up and down) for chain slap, but now I am wondering if thats enough.

I did not machine the hub, had sprocket specialists take .060 off the indside of the sprocket, and that lined it up.

Not planning on Drag racing, but it seems like there is a reliability issue, so next go round (stage two) I will probably put the bearing support on. I live five miles from a road course, so the shakedown cruise will be on a road racing circut.

Did the chain get much damage doing its own clearance work on your bike?

If there is minimal damage I may ride mine for a while then in the winter I can do some more surgery.

I sincerley thank you for your input, this is great!!

There does not appear to be any chain damage, except that it broke the clip on the master link. Fortunately i noticed it while lubing the chain and replaced it. now that u have me thinking about it, maybe i should put the master-link in from the opposite side. that way it will not get hit by the frame. I think I had better.
I think u may have a serious issue with the chain hitting the new channel? mine is able to slide up the frame rail. but at times it hits the bottom of the motor mount very hard.
I put a longer bolt in that hole and put about 6 large washers on it. I was hoping that this would act as a bumper. The washers got smashed up pretty good.

On the Santuary frames they put a roller above the lower frame rail for the bottom of the chain to ride on.I'm not sure why. if u PM me i may be able to send u the PDF file with a pic of it.
Shovelfred from Sweeden does his frame like u did. but i dont know how much clearance he cuts. i will try to find out.

tk11b40 wrote:

I am putting th bike together for the last time,

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Phew, well, ummm, last time, last time he says, last
time, chortle, snicker, guffaw. There is no last time, you can never escape, the mod addiction has you. All is lost, give up hope now. Last time, really.


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Troy341

Man I love this post....

The progression and the fabrications are just awesome... Well done! Keep the images (KZ Porn) coming....

Now question regarding "1/2 inch extra clearance (up and down) for chain slap,"

1/2" extra over specification of 1" - 1 1/4" chain slack?
A new chain will stretch some and spec is 1 1/4" max travel measured midway between sprockets.

If I miss read, disregard but if only 1/2" this is going to be one taut chain.... :blink:

OMR

Ahhh

Ok been out for a short vasation to Miller Motorsports park for the World Super bike event.

HHAAaaaaaaa....

I think you are right on on that observation.
:laugh:

Chain slap thing, the clearanced area measures bout 2 1/2 inches top to bottom (verticle).

I cant help but post this photo of Jake Zemke, I asked for a photo, after the race and he just invites me in to talk...he is the greatest.

ok too big so resize and try again

Now that is just TOOOO COOOL
check your PM's

Mark,

Got the pics thanks.

I hope to work it out this weekend.

I spent last Saturday getting the front brake lines and system all squared away. I removed .125" from the bracket that clamps the master cylinder to the bars, this gave a flush fit when the bracket holding the fluid resivour is held on by the clamp.

The front end is all done the brakes feel great!! Spent a great deal of time bleeding all the air out, as the whole system was "dry".