XJ650 to R6 Front End Conversion Step by Step

Erman, I redid all the pictures, let me know if ou still cant see them and I cand send you the direct link to them all.

Yoni, Today was the first ride with the new forks, I got it up to 68 mph with no vibrations of any kind. It is a bit touchy and reacts a lot faster than i imagined it would but thinking back it is almost exactly as my old R6 was. So far so good!!! Ill put some more miles on it soon and I will report back any adverse effects from the front end.

-Chris

 

The pictures are back. Thank you so much! Admirable how you managed to swap the forks.
What about the wheel and brakes, did the stock bolt on to the new forks right away?

 

I am using the stock R6 brakes and everything. The wheel is still off the R6 and I doubt that it will be changing. Thats a lot of testing and figuring out what works, and i am almost at my budget limit plus I like the look of the wide front tire matched with the rear.

 

i personally like the look of the stock light still there

 

I installed an aftermarket housing with a new lens but it is the same 8" light as the stock one. So it still looks the same just not chrome.

 

nice look to that bike! I just scored a very similar front end at the junkyard, and i'm considering whether to use all or just some of it, I paid $.40 a pound (about $5) for it! Still gotta run the #'s on it to determine exactly what its from to see which rims of mine will be compatible etc. But I figure the clipons it came with are worth it, by far, if thats all i end up using. So thanks for the excellent thread! If you don't wanna beat up your tank you might try customizing one off an old kz, pretty easy fit it seems to me. anyway nice work! I like that bike!

 

Alright so I thought this was cool. http://www.allballsracing.com/index.php/forkconversion. I used my bike as the search reference and it gave me a list of compatible conversions. Thanks for the idea and how-to Clownman!

 

Remo, where on earth did you find it for so cheap!!!! I would love to have found a motorcycle scrap yard around here, I just got mine off ebay. I have thought about different tanks and even just modifying mine, I am gonna paint it next week so I gotta make a decision soon. Need to ride it more to make a decision though. As for the KZ tank, I will look into that, thanks for the heads up.

HirsuitHeather, Just make sure you know the neck length of what your getting, the all balls racing conversions don't take that into consideration and only provide compatible bearings.

 

WOW!! very precise. So it looks like im gunna pass on the r6 forks, lol im just gunna cut the stock ones and figure out a way to cancle out the anti dive. But thanks for posting that in depth thread

 

Anyone know if this will work on the 82 xj550 Maxim? Clownman do you have any extra spacers for sale?

 

that is an awesome conversion, i would like to pick up another xj and mod it up also. something bigger than a 750 though would sweet.

 

Anyone know if this will work on the 82 xj550 Maxim? Clownman do you have any extra spacers for sale?

 

I am not sure if the necks are the same but they may be... As for the spacers, I do not, I had a local machine shop turn them down for me as I don't have access to a lathe right now. Should not be to expensive to get a single spacer made.

 

Hey Clownman sorry to bring this back, but had a question. How did you turn the r6s triple down the 1 mm needed? Or what would be the simplest way?

 

The stem needs to be gingerly pressed out of the lower triple and turned on a lathe to the proper dimensions. While I could have done this myself if I had access to a lathe still, I had to have a local machine shop do it. Any machine shop worth a damn can easily do it for you and can make the spacer as well, your looking around 200 bucks depending on the shops hourly rate. I got lucky and my guy was very reasonable and worked with me on the price at 150. Should not be more than a few hours work, its a very simple and common process.

Also not that you only need to turn it down where the bearing will be seated. Dont have them turn the whole lower portion of the stem down or it wont fit back into the triple.

 

If I'm pressing it out I'm just wondering if there would be any upside to just swapping in the xj stem as they both have the same lower diameter. Thanks for that info though

 

If I'm pressing it out I'm just wondering if there would be any upside to just swapping in the xj stem as they both have the same lower diameter. Thanks for that info though

 

if they have the exact same dimensions (Dia / Height) where they are pressed into the lower tree, I don't see why it would not work. I know for a fact that the lower bearing surfaces are different diameters, thus having to get the R6 stem turned down. I never even bothered to check the lower diameter of the stem to see if they would just swap like that... I'm gonna feel real dumb if it was that easy...

Post pics and your findings on here so we can see, I'm planning to do the same conversion on the XS I'm building so that would save a good bit of cash if I can just do that.

 

I only mentioned it because someone over on virago tech did a similar swap and that's what I think he did. I'll let you know though. Now I wish I had held off before ordering the bearings from allballs.

 

I only mentioned it because someone over on virago tech did a similar swap and that's what I think he did. I'll let you know though. Now I wish I had held off before ordering the bearings from allballs.