Help! Fork compability question....

Hi!

I've been hanging out on this excellent forum for a long time, but now I've finally registered!

The thing is this: A couple of months ago I was backed over by a van. I had to ditch the bike and throw myself on the ground. My XJ, wich btw had been registered and OK:ed for street use no more than 9 hours, got stuck under the van and the front fork just snapped right of! Now I'm finally going to get some money from the insurance company!

I've been searching ebay for a "new" fork but without any success so far. My question is: can I use a fork from another XJ model?

My bike is a YAMAHA XJ 550 4V8 -83

Maybe there's someone here that has a fork for sale?

Many thanks for your answers!

Felix, Stockholm Sweden

 

Welcome! Sorry to hear about your bike.

Which part of the fork snapped off? inner/outer tube, part of the triple tree or something else?

 

Welcome to the forum. You'll find a lot of information here and a great bunch of very helpful and knowledgeable people.

Go to forums.

Click on XJ4ever, send a pm to Chacal describing what you need, or browse through his catalog. Good chance he'll be able to help you.

Otherwise sit and wait for what you need to come up on e-bay or cruise some salvage yards. Do you have them over there?

Hope the insurance payment is going to cover this.

 

I found this a while back and saved the link:

http://www.customfighters.com/forums/sh ... hp?t=17555

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this list. I don't think a swap is that straightforward in that there are issues with brake caliper mounts, axle diameter, etc.

I'm having difficulty imagining how it is just your forks that are damaged. No damage to triple trees, head bearings or frame?

 

Thanks for your answers!

I've just mailed Chacal, hope he's got something in store for me!

Actually I don't know if there's damages to anything else besides the fork. Both outer tubes snapped of and I think the inner tubes have taken a good beating as well.

I didn't want to take the bike apart before the insurance people had seen it like it was right after the crasch. Now they've decided to give me 1000$ total wich I think will cover everything. If I discover any more severe damages (bent frame or so...) I'll probably try to chop the bike and sell the parts or get me another XJ and use this one as a parts bike....

Now that I know I'll get the money I'll take the bike apart! Any suggestions on how to make sure there aren't any consealed damages besides using my eyes and common sense? Do I need help from a workshop to control the frame for missalignment?

Thank you guys for your quick respons you're awesome!