martin_csr wrote: Are you planning on swapping forks or the entire front end?
KLR650 fork tubes are probably bigger in diameter than the KZ440 & you'll need to check if there are steering bearings that will mate the KLR triple to the frame. see All-balls-racing fork conversion page & the ohio cafe racers fork tube conversion chart.
Martin
My initial plan will be to swap the entire fork with KLR triple clamps and a stem swap (or custom stem if that is required), but if that screws up the trail too much I will have to machine custom triple clamps. I believe the KLR stem is much longer than the stock KZ440 stem. The 2008-2017 KLR tubes are 41mm. I don't have a KLR front end yet so a lot of this is up in the air. The other set of forks I'm considering are Suzuki DZR400 forks, but the motard upside down version... Either way, I'm figure I'll either need a custom stem or custom triple clamps. If I get lucky and the KZ440 stem will press into the KLR triple and the trail is fine, then that would be awesome, but I'm not counting on it.
I'm also looking into a monoshock swingarm conversion for the rear, but I'm wanting to stick with a rear drum brake, I have a spare KZ650 rear drum hub. The hub will take either the belt drive or a chain sprocket so I can swap to a chain if I need to. This is all TBD right now... I'm in the research and planning stage of this build. The stock 440 frame just screams Scrambler/Adventure bike without needing too much fabrication, so that's the direction I want to go.
The engine will get a single carb conversion, C5 Ignition, and custom long tube 2-into-1 exhaust to maximize the torque.