My take on a KZ1000 Cafe

LarryC wrote:
How the Hell did I miss seeing that Ed :ohmy: YEP...that is a big concern. Scrap that tree and get another.

I don't understand why you cut it in the first place. If it's to stick a gauge in it, the gauge will be at a hard angle to read don't you think?

Im going to figure something out for a new triple tree. Probably going to use a beefier one that I designed and have it milled out of solid steel rather than having pockets in the bottom. Wayyyyyyyy stronger. It will be much heavier but that doesnt concern me.

Heres a picture of the gauges lit up.


This is a picture at a pretty extreme angle. I would have to have my face resting on the tank to view the gauges at this angle (which I wont be doing on this bike) but the gauges are still legible.

Your new design would probable work fine. The material in that axis is significantly stronger, so you probable could make it out of heat treated aluminum instead of steel.

FWIW,
Cory

you could bore the holes bigger and machine aluminum cups to drop in and weld them in to mount your gauges.
that would restore the strength and give you what you want.

6061 -t6 aluminum would work fine for your custom upper.

but,

7075-t6 would give the strength of steel and the light weight of aluminum.

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: ....
7075-t6 would give the strength of steel and the light weight of aluminum.

leon

What he said! :woohoo: Good post Leon...

Cory

531blackbanshee wrote: you could bore the holes bigger and machine aluminum cups to drop in and weld them in to mount your gauges.
that would restore the strength and give you what you want.

6061 -t6 aluminum would work fine for your custom upper.

but,

7075-t6 would give the strength of steel and the light weight of aluminum.

leon

Thank you very much Leon! I would love to do the idea of the cups because it would require less machining and would look great but if I bore the holes any larger there really wont be anything left haha. There is only about .250 in the thinnest area. Unless you are saying to use a thinner wall cup than .250".

The angle of this photo makes it look like there is more stock before you get to the outter rib but the hole goes right up against it. Looks like Im striking our on fixing my current triple tree so thank you again for the input with the 7075-t6 material suggestion!

Do the cups have to be recessed in the bore to be effective? Could they be welded to the bottom of the tree? Out of my area of expertise ( I have none) but I like to throw in my 2 cents now and then :lol:
Wayne

kzz1king wrote: Do the cups have to be recessed in the bore to be effective? Could they be welded to the bottom of the tree? Out of my area of expertise ( I have none) but I like to throw in my 2 cents now and then :lol:
Wayne

Technically, you would want the plate of the cup as close to the same plane as the top of the triple, where the material was removed. I think make them as shallow as the gauge itself will allow which from looking at the pics, would be below the bottom of the triple....

Cory

Why couldn't you make the new triple and machine cups the same dimensions as the bracket so that the stds that hold the gages in would instead be through the cup. Get the cup depth right and you would be able to use acorn nuts on the bottom of the cups.
Just my. 02

kaw-a-holic wrote: Why couldn't you make the new triple and machine cups the same dimensions as the bracket so that the stds that hold the gages in would instead be through the cup. Get the cup depth right and you would be able to use acorn nuts on the bottom of the cups.
Just my. 02

You read my mind! I was thinking about this while I was at work today! I slapped together a model of it just now and took a couple screen shots for you. I think this would be the most ideal design. Not only is it going to be much more rigid with the re-designed triple tree and using 6061 or 7075 (Thanks Leon) but if I weld the cups on the redesigned triple it will do a few things for me as well. One, it will add more rigidity. Two, like you said I can ditch the mounting bracket and instead just use the acorn nuts on the bottom of the cups, and three I can drill one more hole in the cup to run the wiring through. I can also put a rubber grommet in the wiring hole to help seal up the cup and keep any water from getting on the wiring port on the back of the gauge. I REALLY LIKE THIS DESIGN.

in the immortal words of mr.T
i love it when a plan comes together ,

keep us posted,

leon

nevermind

I like that design, nicely done. Looking forward to the finished product.