front end swap

howdy gang, its been a while i know. be gentle.

So this winter i plan on doing a front end swap, my question is whats the front end set up that will drop my bike the least? i have a couple friends that are zed heads such as myself , they've both done swaps and they both say they wish they had more ride height. Ive heard a gsxr 1100 is the best as it has the tallest set of forks but i have no proof to back this up? anybody? whats your advice on the whole front end swap if you've done before. the best setup up to use in your opinion? year ? special tricks you had to do?

im eagar to know anything and everything so please dont hold back and thanks in advance for any help

I believe the early/mid 90's 1100cc bikes that had their clip-ons mounted ABOVE the triple clamp and when used with standard handlebars, gives you near stock ride hight. If you want to spend a little (a lot?) more money and run more modern forks, another member here, irishwill, is working on custom triple clamps for 05-08 GSXR 1000 forks. The custom triples will allow near stock front ride hight and fork offset to maintain stock steering radius. The thread is here kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&catid=5&id=364009

I also ran accross these fork caps on ebay cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yoshimura-Fork-T...fPartsQ5fAccessories
that alow you to drop the fork an additional 1" so that you can run forks like this:

and still maintain your stock ride hight. I hope this helped a bit

Out of curiosity, what are your plans for matching the rear setup?

Otherwise mix matched setups so what do you truly gain, Other than looks of course...

excellent thanks so much for the tips and keep them coming please.

old man rock as per your question , my biggest gain here is handling ! throwing a 32 yr old 500 lb bike into the corners can get a lil shaky, im not as concerned with the rear at the moment maybe a couple yrs down the road.

along with better handling you will get alot better braking.

Are you open to different handle bar setups? If so, I think that this will have much more of an effect on ride height than what front end you choose.
You just go with the original clip ons, or maybe a clubman, or upside down clubman, or superbike bars. I think that the clubmans, or superbike would drastically change the ride position more than the choice of front end.

Just my .02

mjkawa wrote:

Are you open to different handle bar setups? If so, I think that this will have much more of an effect on ride height than what front end you choose.
You just go with the original clip ons, or maybe a clubman, or upside down clubman, or superbike bars. I think that the clubmans, or superbike would drastically change the ride position more than the choice of front end.

Just my .02

ill be running superbike bars most likely after the swap, but what i meant by ride height bieng affected was with a zx7 front end it lowers the bikes ride height dramatically and id rather not scrape me frame everywhere i go.

"throwing a 32 yr old 500 lb bike into the corners can get a lil shaky,"... exactly!

I should of asked my question better... :blush: :laugh:

Without ideal(matched to front end) rear setup, would it be a little better, no doubt but to truly benefit and upgrade suspensions/braking/handling, need to mod the back as well....

Keep us posted with images....

so its been a while:dry: sorry i guess ive been busy. Here's what i ended up doing. I picked up a 94 zx9 complete bike minus the motor for 250 bucks and lucky me the guy just had the suspension rebuilt with race tech springs! i did the front end swap in 2 days, just like everyone says i cut the zx9 stem flush with the bottom triple tree and pressed in the kz stem easy as that bolt in and go. unfortunately i only took a few pics and they are not that great but here you go anyway. and no that is not the final paint i just wanted everything to match . And yes that front fender has to go it looks like a shark. The nice thing about the zx9 is i kept my stock ride height so im pretty pumped about that.

Next is the swinger, now i know this has been done before but any help is still appreciated, past experiences , links , tips etc.

thanks guys, comment away

May I ask where you sourced that rear cowl / seat combo? I really like it

turned out nice!good job.can;t wait to see it after paint.
keep postin,

leon

thanks. the tail section is made by unatec but there is a seller on ebay called niks euro bits. he sells them with the seat if you want cost about 180-200 American i believe. i found out from the guy on here with the supercharged z who lives in England ill try to find his post for you.