R80ST fork swap wisdom needed

[hardwaregrrl]

Originally Posted by ontic

[hardwaregrrl]

Wow Brad! You made me sound like a bad ass!!! Seth, you should see what Brad does to his DR front end. Wheelies for days, and big beautiful crashes off road!!!! I don't believe he has bent a fork tube, yet? Frame? Maybe....

[acap650]

Originally Posted by SPO

I'm pretty sure our bikes are gonna end up being twins. It's a slippery slope. I've got the GS tank ready to install (second petcock is needed and then it just feeds the right side carb only? As in one petcock per carb? Link up the fuel lines?).

How do you like the way your bike handles since the fork swap? I'm thinking that I'll get an aftermarket ST length rear shock and slide the fork tubes up into the triples a little to try to stay near the stock geometry/height. Is that crazy?


Thanks Gary! Sharp looking ride you got there. Though, I must say-the pic of your bike pre-GSification with just knobbies pushed me over the edge, purchase wise. Too damn sexy.
It 'seems' like the GS front end is the most economical way to go...

The earlier version of scarygary's ride was my fav:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...9#post14317779

I started out in that direction but wimped out at the poser stage:



Then back to the low fender for rain riding:



For less $$ than a full G/S transplant I added this:



Then I found out two bikes absorb more $$ than one. Does it ever end?

[scarygary]

Originally Posted by acap650

The earlier version of scarygary's ride was my fav:

now I am getting all teary eyed..

[Infracaninophile]

My plan is to buy a DR650 and put G/S forks on them. Based on all the fork threads there must be hundreds of G/S forks out there just sitting on shelves.

Tom

[scarygary]

You'll crash before you leave the garage.

Originally Posted by Infracaninophile

My plan is to buy a DR650 and put G/S forks on them. Based on all the fork threads there must be hundreds of G/S forks out there just sitting on shelves.

Tom

[One Less Harley]

Originally Posted by scarygary

You'll crash before you leave the garage.

Too bad DRZ 400 forks are so long as they are kick ass, and readily available. One guy here has some on his bike.

[cenji]

hi neighbour;
just a few comments.
You are telling where you want to ride the bike. It is identical to my riding.
It would be more helpful to me if you could tell me what the percentage of dirt roads/fire roads versus Oakland Streets/ pavement is.

The next question I asked myself before I proceeded with a front end swap:How do I want to ride my bike on those surfaces. Meaning, do I want to bumble, or is there the tickle for some more speed, maybe getting some air?"
You referred to bombing on fire roads. Fully loaded and bombing with an S/T frame??????/

Bombing might/will break your budget.

There is the budget, right. It eliminates a lot of options.

Can you do the swap yourself?

Will this be an upgrade that will stay on the bike for a few years and you keep upgrading the rest?

I have been fiddling with my bike for five years, small steps and finally I am seeing the end of the tunnel. I have one bike, it will always be a compromise, but gets me where I want to go with the speed I have chosen.

Because in reality, you can ride your ST anywhere where you want on paved roads, it handles decent, some even say it was the best handling bike on pavement. If you will only ride less than 10% off road of total miles driven, I would upgrade to the GS forks + triples (expensive), add a better shock and call it a day. But you could trade in your GS tank, as riding 200 miles off road is a long day. CDT has only one or two areas where you get an extra gallon of fuel and you are set.

Originally Posted by SPO

So, I'm enjoying daydreaming about what my ST will become. I'm just not sure what that actually is. As a few of you may know, I'm riding the CDT this August. I'm not saying I bought this bike specifically for this ride, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't romanticized (ala Motorcycle Diaries) about bombing wide open fire roads on this classic airhead.
All that being said, I've read the various fork swap/upgrade threads and I'm left feeling like I don't know which way to go. I'd like to improve the front end of the ST, but I'm not sure all the trouble/cost of a non GS front end would be worth it for me.
My ST is my only bike, and will serve many purposes. City bike, fire road explorer, long distance traveller. I know that people say to just leave the bike as is, and buy a KTM/KLR/blah blah for the off road stuff. Truth is, I'm not in any hurry to get ANYWHERE and don't plan on racing. In addition, if people are that concerned with keeping an ST stock, they should buy one for themselves.
So-I'd like to upgrade the front end for the occasional dirt dalliance, make it nice and stiff for twisty bumpy paved roads (I do live in Oakland, after all), keep the ride height as close to stock as possible, and not break the bank with a swap.

GS front end slid up into the triples, with upgraded inserts? WP super Gucci? KYB?

How did you guys decide on what forks to use?




Dang, I feel like I need a flow chart!

[SPO]

Originally Posted by infracaninophile

my plan is to buy a dr650 and put g/s forks on them. Based on all the fork threads there must be hundreds of g/s forks out there just sitting on shelves.

tom

bwhahahahahaa

[SPO]

Originally Posted by cenji

hi neighbour;
just a few comments.
You are telling where you want to ride the bike. It is identical to my riding.
It would be more helpful to me if you could tell me what the percentage of dirt roads/fire roads versus Oakland Streets/ pavement is.

The next question I asked myself before I proceeded with a front end swap:How do I want to ride my bike on those surfaces. Meaning, do I want to bumble, or is there the tickle for some more speed, maybe getting some air?"
You referred to bombing on fire roads. Fully loaded and bombing with an S/T frame??????/

Bombing might/will break your budget.

There is the budget, right. It eliminates a lot of options.

Can you do the swap yourself?

Will this be an upgrade that will stay on the bike for a few years and you keep upgrading the rest?

I have been fiddling with my bike for five years, small steps and finally I am seeing the end of the tunnel. I have one bike, it will always be a compromise, but gets me where I want to go with the speed I have chosen.

Because in reality, you can ride your ST anywhere where you want on paved roads, it handles decent, some even say it was the best handling bike on pavement. If you will only ride less than 10% off road of total miles driven, I would upgrade to the GS forks + triples (expensive), add a better shock and call it a day. But you could trade in your GS tank, as riding 200 miles off road is a long day. CDT has only one or two areas where you get an extra gallon of fuel and you are set.

The reality is that it'll be mostly road/rough road miles. I'm down in Baja occasionally, camping and exploring. Granted, that's usually in my landcruiser loaded down with gear, surfboards, family, dogs, etc.
At this point, I guess I'll just ride the snot out of my ST (ala hardwaregrrl) and keep my eyes peeled for a complete GS front end. Riding the bike and getting to know it is always sound advice.

Then again, I've been know to do some crazy shite-maybe I'll end up with USD forks on this beast...who knows.

Thanks for all the advice! Super fun, and I'm stoked to be a part of it.

Cool,

Seth

[Beemerguru]

Hi Seth,

Come on down to Redwood City...I have a couple GS and G/S front ends on the shelf.

Greg

[airheadpilot]

I also went the route of putting G/S forks on my ST and will agree with others here - it was a waste of time. They're lousy forks. I did the full Racetech upgrade on them, including cartridge emulators, and they were still lousy. Ended up going with a set of KYB 46mm inverted forks from a Yamaha WR426, modified to the same overall length as the G/S, with a G/S-length shock. Fantastic improvement, both on road and off. Like you, I mostly just ride this bike on the back roads and on dirt roads - I have an XR400R for actual dirt riding. But it does a great job on even lousy dirt roads. Plus, unlike the KTM stuff, the Japanese dirt bike components are inexpensive and easy to come by. The conversion isn't plug and play, but it's also not rocket science - I figured it out all on my lonesome and I'm not all that bright. I work in Emeryville - buy me a beer some time and I'll tell you all about it.



Andrew

[acap650]

Originally Posted by Infracaninophile

My plan is to buy a DR650 and put G/S forks on them. Based on all the fork threads there must be hundreds of G/S forks out there just sitting on shelves.

Tom

All this parts swapping incest has me feeling a little . . . well, horney.

[Infracaninophile]

Originally Posted by acap650

All this parts swapping incest has me feeling a little . . . well, horney.

TMI!

Tom

PS: Someone actually PM'd me today and asked me if I was really going to do this. For the sarcasm impaired: No. It was a joke.

[scarygary]

Originally Posted by airheadpilot

Andrew

a very handsome beast ya got there.