Wheel size modifications/variations

It would be smart to stick with a 18" or 19" wheel to keep as much ground clearance as you can, considering you lost an inch or two with the new forks. It's not hard to drag the pegs on these bikes when they are stock, seems a shame to put that modern suspension on there if you can't lean it over much.

I'm probably going to do the front hub as well , I'm looking forward to see what you lace up .

did you end up going with an 0ffset triple on top? i just order the stem with bearnings and the steer stops, not sure i understand the benefits of an offset triple. ill be lacing up my 19" rim

gixxerkidd03 wrote: did you end up going with an 0ffset triple on top? i just order the stem with bearnings and the steer stops, not sure i understand the benefits of an offset triple. ill be lacing up my 19" rim

all triple trees have some offset. It has a direct effect on the trail value which is a big factor in how a bike handles. more offset = less trail ; less offset = more trail.

here is a calculator to help you understand how offset and fork length will effect your trail
www.rbracing-rsr.com/rakeandtrail.html

gixxerkidd03 wrote: did you end up going with an 0ffset triple on top? i just order the stem with bearnings and the steer stops, not sure i understand the benefits of an offset triple. ill be lacing up my 19" rim

I did not go offset and would not recommend it on an 80-82 KZ-H. While Cognito recommends running a larger offset for larger (18"-19") wheel diameters, any more offset would be reducing trail even more as DoctoRot mentioned. 80-82 KZ's reduced the offset to increase trail from factory as is. With the 19" stock wheel (which I will be getting a laced of the same size) I'm coming in just over 4" of trail at 24 degrees of rake having brought the rear suspension up a half inch from stock.

For comparison Stock trail and rake on a GSX-R is 23.45 degrees rake and 3.82" of trail. Once I get the front wheel built i'll be taking a look at whether I can go with an inch bigger rear without changing trail any more but I may need to stay with stock wheel sizes across the board. Not sure what an inch bigger wheel will do if anything and given the loss of trail you'll already see from the shorter forks, you're going to hit a limit at some point, Larger offset triple trees will just get you to that limit sooner

Also, if you're really worried about trail coming in less than ideal, you can go the direction of a raised triple. I know some others here have looked into these. you can see them here

So I was finally able to get some updated photos with the new from wheel on the build. Fitment is spot on and overall I'm really happy with the quality of the machine work done. I ended up retaining the 19 in front wheel with standard wheel width to keep things as similar as I can with all the geometry changes and am actually really happy with the look. Also it's nice to have direct fitment of GSXR rotors etc. I would definitely NOT recommend losing any more ground clearance than this so if you're thinking about doing the fork swap to a smaller wheel combo (17x17 for example), you'll probably want to rethink exhaust options to work in more clearance. Should be getting everything off to powder this week or next and I'll try and update my build thread.