Would this be a good front-end for my KZ1000?

upside down forks will be stronger than conventional due to the dampening area being the longer more rigid section rather than the sliding tubes being the long portion.alot less flex.more room for dampening.under hard braking old style will want to buckle rearward.forks look good in pics but like testa said look for rust at seal area and if forks are seperate from axle. lay on floor and roll them out. should be able to find a trpple set up on ebay??good luck

it's a great deal...does'nt mean the bike will handle better though...might handle worse..imo

What tianglelaguna is trying to say is that your front suspension geometry will change a bit running those forks since they will be shorter than the stockers. Will the fork perform better than the stocker, yes. Will it be lighter, you bet. Is it a good deal? If straight then hell yeah!

trianglelaguna wrote:

it's a great deal...does'nt mean the bike will handle better though...might handle worse..imo

IMPOSIBLE. big guy
The front fork flex will be gone. No more diving front end. WAAAAAY better brakes
Then u do the back end AND gusset the frame.
Annnd BAM, canyon carver!

you know what you know...and i respect that...but i know what i know.....and i know 95 percent of the hybrids are all show and no go.....I can tell just by looking at the screw jobs from ten feet that they got it wrong....
folks hate to hear this...but when you see thousands of racebikes and they all have the same basic dimensions and spacing ...then it's easy to go --duck---duck--goose...

from the britten 1000 to a race winning fzr 600 the fight is in the dog not the dog in the fight .....weird set ups come and go...a race bikes basic lines rarely vary....look at moto II and the front runners...the differences have to be measured in mm.....

i dont wanna paste pics to try and prove my points......

but the king has no clothes.....he'd be better of putting that money into 30 more hp before beefing up a stock motored bike imo...is the front end a good deal...sure...is the brake set up better,,,sure,,,,is the front gonna make the bike handle better...NO...by the time he's done fixing how bad that front will throw his bike off,he'll have so much time and money into that thing that he coulda bought a harris and just went riding

although it makes sense to use a 636-zx12r-zx9-zx10r and try and run the same front and rear from one of those models.....i have seen a few done right and after a ton of work they are probably ok for street rods....

they sit alone at the track and draw a few spectators to hang by em for a few...a tricked out era bike draws a crowd and you gotta wait in line to see em...that is the truth.....

the above pic and the pic here are around 40 yrs apart and both are focused on stopping and going and transitions from side to side...they could be super imposed on each other almost.....they are not tilted to one end or low to the ground

Either way i'll probably buy the set and sell it piece buy piece for a profit if I don't decide to use them.

trianglelaguna wrote:

although it makes sense to use a 636-zx12r-zx9-zx10r and try and run the same front and rear from one of those models.....i have seen a few done right and after a ton of work they are probably ok for street rods....

they sit alone at the track and draw a few spectators to hang by em for a few...a tricked out era bike draws a crowd and you gotta wait in line to see em...that is the truth.....

the above pic and the pic here are around 40 yrs apart and both are focused on stopping and going and transitions from side to side...they could be super imposed on each other almost.....they are not tilted to one end or low to the ground

I agree with some of what you are saying...and for sure there are alot of people out there that built there bikes with out considering what effect any geometry change will bring...and I am for sure not trying to start anything here...haha
BUT

the bikes in the pics are race bikes or atleast race replica bikes....not really apples to apples
and at the end of the day I would be willing to bet a bike with modern suspension wheels and brakes beats a stock bike (same motor in both) all day long.

The last one I did...did not wobble....stopped right now....and tracked through a corner without bump steer...is it a superbike ...hell no...is it a race replica....nope.....but is hands down a better set up than a stock '75 z1900....
thats my .02

well put...but is a 1980 kz1000 set up right night and day from a 75 z-1 also....

Interesting topic... Or is that just opinions again from us.... :blink: Like that's new for us here on KZR right.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Ok, my 2 worthless cents....
Was watching some bike racing this weekend and the topic being discussed was guess what?.... SUSPENSION Setups and how this was effecting winning or loosing races....

Forget about new versus old right now, the discussion being held with the bike crew chiefs and riders was in the setup making all the differences in the bikes handling and winning races.

Hell, ALL these pro riders are truly phenomenal riders and the majority of the engines are fairly close to the same in BHP & torque... The differences they were making during the race was suspension setups for that particular track... Made all the difference in the world in winning or losing (not 1st place)...

Now fast forward to this discussion, my ZX636 front suspension for example has numerous settings of adjustment possibilities. Now throw in the updated brakes.... (4-6 adjustable settings) & brake systems (larger floating rotors, 2-4-6 piston calipers, updated master cylinders, larger pads)...

Versus the 30 year old KZ suspension and brakes.... :blink: Good for it's time (1970's) sure for all we had back then but to say as good as today's technologies....

Sorry but can't compare for that just wouldn't be fair to the old girl....

I figure there is no going wrong with updating the suspension. The new stuff would deffinately make riding the old bike safer and more enjoyable. Plus you get to run high performance rubber.