Fork Upgrade

Well with the ZX-7 totaled (not my fault), its time to get back to the KZ.

I know the whole front fork swap has been covered to death. My question is this:

When do fork swaps become an upgrade? When the forks went over to the inverted style? The reason I ask is that the older the parts bike...the cheaper.

Finally, when swapping front ends (triple trees, forks, wheels, brakes, etc.), how much modification is required to the steering head to get it to fit properly? Spacers, new bearings, etc?

It was a simple stem swap on the lower tree for me. Using the wheel that comes with the new front end is the easiest.
Mark

What year would be a significant upgrade? I can grab a 1990 Gsxer with a blown engine for $300...but thats relatively old technology and non-inverted shocks. I'm not sure that would be enough of an upgrade to make it worth the expense/effort, even if they were in perfect condition.

Post edited by: minutiesabotage, at: 2008/01/16 00:30

Suzuki sportbike front ends from 88 on are a great upgrade, usd forks are a minor upgrade from the normal style of the same period.

My $0.02 anyway.

Is there a reason everyone chooses Suzuki suspension parts? Is it for fitment purposes or because they have the best performance?

why not just change the oil in your stock forks,maybe add some progressive springs?

Well it's not just the suspension, its the brakes too.

PLUMMEN wrote:

why not just change the oil in your stock forks,maybe add some progressive springs?

Changing front and rear means wider rims thus better tires, bigger and better brakes, more rigid handling...

minutiesabotage wrote:

Is there a reason everyone chooses Suzuki suspension parts? Is it for fitment purposes or because they have the best performance?

There's a large quantity of Suzuki parts avaible and most of them are swapable between their own models. The Suzuki stuff also doesn't normally take a whole lot of fab work to fit the Kz's.

For example the '01 Gsxr front end going on my 900 fit right in to the the Kz bearings. The only problem I had was the nut on top of the upper bearing engaged only 2-3 threads (not quite enough but some maching of the stem and tree took care of that).

The '91 Gsxr750 arm I'm using is actually narrower than the Kz frame by a few millimeter which is easier to fix than if it was too wide.

Later, Doug

Z1109R Fin wrote:

PLUMMEN wrote:

why not just change the oil in your stock forks,maybe add some progressive springs?

Changing front and rear means wider rims thus better tires, bigger and better brakes, more rigid handling...

im from nebraska,our roads are pretty flat and most of our corners have stop signs on them!

Anyone tried Yamaha parts? I ask because I found a 2001 R6 parts bike for sale, and thats a good decade newer technology and less aging. Not USD though.