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Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 8:47 pm
by gussy
I'm having a tough time here in Vancouver bc Canada finding Yzf 
Thunder cat forks for my fzr4/600 and on eBay the forks with no triples are about 220 
With shipping and customs charges :-(
Has anyone here swapped the Yzf triples with Cbr forks and wheel On to Fzr 400? 
Wondering how it would handle ??
Or should I hold out for a pair of thundercats and front rim and use my blue pots brakes.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:34 pm
by Fzrmike33
Why are you swaping the 400 forks out in the first place ? gets some new springs and emulators and new oil, will be a big improvment.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:13 pm
by gussy
My 400 forks are single piston with some home made adaptors to squeeze the blue dots on . The forks bottom out and the fan hits the fender .I figured here it is about $150 for new springs and 120 emulators and oil plus the master front cylinder is rashed and sealed with silicon also both levers are busted.
I came across a set of cbr adjustible forks and yzf triple clamps with calipers and the wheel for around $300

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:38 am
by gussy
curious about the 99-02 r6 forks .
Are they the same lengths ? If I get my 400 stem pressed in to the r6 triples will the ignition and steering lock work? How about the handling?

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:29 am
by Freestyle72
Front end swap the whole thing. MY GSXR front end cost me $450 for everything but the wheel. And I mean EVERYTHING controls, calipers, lines, resevore, throttle tube, clip on, fender etc etc. Then I got a wheel for $200... bam done.

And it looks freaken trick on the FZR. Gave a machinist $20 to press my stem out, shim it and press it into the gsxr triples, and then lathe me up a bushing so the tope of the skinny FZR stem fis the GSXR top triple more snug.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:47 am
by gussy
How does it handle? Do you have the stock swingarm and rim?

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:51 am
by Freestyle72
It handles fine perfect although it drops the front end a little so it's a little bit more nervous than usually but its a fully adjustable radial front end.

I don't have the stock swingarm I have a GSXR750 swing with an 03 GSXR600 rear wheel and a fox shock TC.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:40 am
by RoadDogma
I forget the measurement, but first gen R6 forks are significantly shorter than FZR forks. I'm pretty sure that the R6 ignition switch is not in the same location as the FZR.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:05 am
by gussy
Ok Thanks ..
That's what I needed to know
Cheers g

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:48 pm
by blensen
RoadDogma wrote:I forget the measurement, but first gen R6 forks are significantly shorter than FZR forks. I'm pretty sure that the R6 ignition switch is not in the same location as the FZR.
The first gen R6 forks are an 1-1/2" shorter than the fzr forks. I just did the swap over the winter. The ignition is offset to the left, and the locking mechanism won't line up correctly. It didn't bother me though since I couldn't use the lock on my fzr forks either. What I did was move the clip-ons to underneath the top triple and slide the forks down so that they were flush and it ends up being roughly the same ride height in the front.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:59 pm
by Freestyle72
My GSXR1000 front end has the lock in the middle and I got my FZR steering lock to work with it.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:10 pm
by RoadDogma
I have had both T-cat and R6 forks on my 400. T-Cat is pretty much bolt-on, however, the steering lock did not work with that either. Alignment was fine but the bolt would not extend all the way into the notch. I'm sure it could be modified (lengthened) to work. YZF springs are stiffer (.81) than FZR . Damping and braking were improved dramatically. Steering was pretty similar with the 120/60 tire.

First gen R6 forks could work, as long as you don't mind running the clip-ons under the top triple like blensen. Fork off-set is the same as FZR, so you will want to run a 120/70 to maintain steering geometry. Damping and braking were much like the YZF set-up, however the spring rate is softer (.76). I don't see any way to make the steering lock work with an R6 triple clamp.

The YZF600 front will be less headache and likely offer better stability. I don't know your weight but first gen R6 forks are pretty soft, however, they have the potential to turn in quicker (at the expense of high speed stability) due to greater fork offset and shorter length.

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:02 pm
by blensen
I got lucky and got my front end off of a parted out race bike. The springs are definitely significantly stiffer than the fzr's. Haven't been able to get an official number on the spring constant yet, but I would bet it's in the upper .8's. Now if only all this snow would melt so I can actually ride with them...

Re: Fork upgrades Fzr 400

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:45 am
by gussy
Thanks for the info very helpfull
cheers gus