Motarding up a ROAD bike

[mike-s]

Yes i wrote that, and no it wasn't a typo.
I've been considering doing something silly and getting fork uppers & valving from a dirt bike and fitting it to the lowers of a pair of forks i have spare as well as getting longer rear shocks that don't max out the current swingarm movement ( i was thinking going from the current 29/30cm eye<->eye shocks to 37cm ones) and keeping the remainder of the running gear (fork lowers, rims, rubber, etc). I have eyed off a set of ttr350 forks on fleabay that may be up to the task providing the fork upper diameter works out in my favour.

I figure that as long as i keep the geometry as close to normal as possible (or that of another bike with similar head angle that is known to work well) by perhaps running the forks slightly through the tree, it may well work. As i have everything to do this as spares, bar the new suspension, it could be worth the time as an experiment and may work out well in the longer term. The only thing is i am going to have to get a spare sidestand and have that made up to the correct length to not have the bike leaning over at some rediculous angle as it already leans over heaps on the stock sidestand.

Thoughts?
anything from technical suggestions through "your a f*ing goose" graciously accepted.

[photomike666]

Have a squiz at Gos's thread about the insaze zx10 dirk bike and his z650 traillie.

Me, I'd rather take a KX500 or equivalent and motard that. Get it road worthy, then put all the 'not for road use' parts back on again. It would be insane fun - like 5th gear monos of the throttle kinda fun

[mike-s]

That's what i've been thinking about. Hence i figure if i mod the suspension alone to increase the throw to that of dirtbikes, but keep the road running gear. then i'll have a roadgoing bike that'll hopefully have the best of both worlds.

I suspect that due to tyre profiles (not taking the front mudguard clearance into account here however) that i will be be able to throw dirt hoops straight on there and change them over lickity split. For the meantime i'm quite happy to keep road tyres on there though.

[Slow and wobbly]

I read this early this morning over a coffee and it didn't make much sense then. Even now I am grappling with it.
Is this the RF your talkinboutwillis?
As a feasability study and possibly for the outcome why not source a front end from a trailbike for which the fork diameters are the same as current - keeps your triples in place - and fit your front wheel using a modified spindle to suit the new forks. Use the existing calliper with a purpose built mounting bracket to suit the new fork lowers.
For the rear in the first instance use shorter(?) dog bones to raise the rear to suit the front ride height. If it works out then replace the rear shock for a longer and softer option.The way your talking just sounds like both too much effort and $$$.
Never one to piss on anyone's parade but....Why would you want to do this?



Oh right!

You were drinking beer in the garage weren't you!?



Well look where that leads! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20969&start=20

[mike-s]

Firstly, no im not talking about the rf, i meant the gsx. It's an awesome little bike to blat about on, but even for me, it is a very short bike. raising it the 5-6 cm that the new forks and shocks would afford me would probably be benificial in general.

As to why? well i have spares here and if it turns out it is a shit idea i've only destroyed a spare pair of forks, any new shocks can go back on ebay whence i found them and i just get the original sidesdtand and put it back on..

[edit] the scary thing is i was clean freaking SOBER when i thought this idea up originally. All it took was the zest of seeing gos's monstrosity + his mates bastard 10 for me to go "fuggit, lets do it".

[zxsixr03]

Lots of older BMW's get converted this way...