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Thread: Rollin' on Inverts, version: Tri-Z

  1. #1
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
    Billy Golightly is offline Always finding new and exciting ways to not give a hoot in hell Catch me if you can
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    Rollin' on Inverts, version: Tri-Z

    I was gonna take these yesterday but the camera was not available for use. Finally some pictures out in the light. Theres a lot still to do, but I think the worst of it has passed. Let me note, that in a few of the pictures the front end looks INSANELY high compared to my yellow Z. The reason being is #1, the black Z has bigger tires on both the front and the back. #2, The rake is not nearly as much as the stock Z. I'm pretty sure that once I put the 23.5in front tire inbetween the forks instead of that huge 25 it'll get a little bit better. #3, Weight. The red Z has no engine, gas tank, or any other parts with some weight to it. I also have not welded in the stem bushing for the top clamp. I was just thinking if I removed it from the underside, and put it on top, that would allow me to put the handlebars a bit lower. Problem with that then is that the bars would have to be raised again to make room for them to sit over that with the lock nut on it. Talk about a catch 22, heh. I'll figure something out.

    The axle spacers for the front wheel are not complete yet. It is slightly out of center, about a 1/2 inch or so. THe problem is the hub is damn near dragging on the inside of the fork, especially with the brake disc on there. I can gain another 1/4 inch going from external hex head bolts to tapered allenheads. I'm gonna more then likely have to modify the hub though to allow the wheel to move over without moving the hub itself.

    After that, I have rigging up a brake caliper. I've got a nice KTM520SX front caliper here I'm going to try and re-drill the mounting bracket for and use it. Nice twin piston Brembo with lots of pad surface. I think I'll be able to get it setup without a whole lot of trouble after the wheel is centered. The fender is just wired onto the tripples in these pictures, to give you an idea of how it will look. I have to make some permanent mounts for it and weld them onto the bottom tripple. Also some brackets for the headlight to mount. I dont believe the original round tubing headlight guard will bolt up to my tripples. After that, all I gotta do is make, posistion, and weld in the handlebar mounts. Thats going to be the very last thing I do (minus the steering stops). I'm gonna really take my time and make sure the bar mounts are posistioned correctly. I've got a whole bunch of pictures...Probably atleast 2 replies worth. Their big and are going to take a few minutes for me to upload so bare with me.


    Picture #1: Front view of the New 2003 KTM85SX dirtbike forks, a long with my custom tripple clamps adapted onto the spare 85 Tri-Z parts bike I have.

    Picture #2: Left hand side view. These forks are really, really beefy compared to the stockers. I think after I get them re-sprung and valved I'll be able to jump damn near anything without a single worry. Also, notice that the front forks are now a leading axle setup instead of trailing.

    Picture #3: Right hand side view. Gives you a good view of the diameter the upper part of the forks are, and also of my tripples I've been slaving on.

    Picture #4: Left hand side view with the front forks turned in what will probably be close to full steering lock. This is a considerable amount more then the stock Tri-Z and it might be comparable to a HRC kit for a 250R.

    Picture #5: Just another picture to give you an idea of how much turning radius this will be capable of. I dont have any steering stops welded on yet, but I'm confident I'll be able to get very close to that much out of it without rubbing or hitting on anything.

    Picture #6: Nice left side straight view of the forks on the Z. It does look tall, but if you check the ground clearence under the frame its not to bad considering its got like new 20in holeshots on the rear and an overinflated 25 in the front.


    More pictures and stuff in another reply
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Inverts1.jpg   Inverts2.jpg   Inverts3.jpg   InvertsTurn.jpg   InvertsTurn2.jpg   Inverts4.jpg  


  2. #2
    traxxasx's Avatar
    traxxasx is offline Alligator sized brain can't spell you correctly. Arm chair racerRoostin Away
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    wow that great, those forks look like there made to be put on the z. There hella big. but i was wondering about your triples they seem thin to me. i would have made then a lil thickers. but w.e but looks great.

  3. #3
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
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    Picture #1: Front view of the tripple clamps. They came out suprisingly well. I'm far from proficient at tig welding steel but I dont think I did to bad on these. Theres definetly a few places I dont like the look of but overall I think they turned out pretty good. Not everything can be perfect I guess. I plan on to get them powdercoated after all the other mounts and what not are done on it. Not sure on the color yet...Probably gloss black or something. Not sure.

    Picture #2: A little bit of a closeup on the bottom tripple. There was a little bit of undercut into the tubes that actually hold the forks in a few places. Got it a little to hot. Atleast I know its not just a bead sitting on top of the material, heh. Also, on the bottom tripples I did the part where the bolts go through to clamp the forks a little bit different then the top. On the top, I welded on each piece the bolt went through individually. This was working out OK, until I had to weld the second one on and each side and I realised I was going to have to stick the tig torch in, and weld around about a 1inch long corner. I tried it and it just didn't work out. The one side I ended up half assed oxygen and accetylene welding. The other side Is just weld on 3 sides. Best I could do there. For the bottom, I welded both pieces together as one. I then welded all the way around it on 4 sides. I got them a little bit to close together though. You have to use an open end wrench to tighten them up. Because of the intense stress these bolts will be under I'm probably going to invest in some Ti (Titanium) allenhead bolts, with nuts. The nuts and bolts seriously hold the whole thing together and I dont want to take a chance on a normal nut and bolt. Even if I were to get a grade 8 bolt, there are only "no grade" nuts around here to go on it. No sense in taking any chances IMO.

    Picture #3: Picture of the top clamp. If you look in the corners, theres a coupel of those beads I was talking about I dont like. It was kind of tough because the pipe outfront did not match the contour of the pieces the forks go through. I had to fill up about a 1/4inch gap. I think I did pretty good going straight across. All of it was done free hand too, which is pretty tough.

    Picture #4: Front end view. You can see the front fend held on with wire isn't exactly straight, heh . Also if you look closely you can see the front wheel isn't centered like I had mentioned previously.

    Picture #5: Yeah...that should give you an idea of how close I'm having to cut things and why I think the hub is gonna have to be modded to make the wheel move over.

    Picture #6: Turning raidius comparison with the black Z and my yellow Z that still has the stock front end.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Tripples.jpg   Tripples2.jpg   Tripples3.jpg   offsetwheel.jpg   Tightclearence.jpg   Turningradius.jpg  


  4. #4
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    Talking

    Thats awesome Billy! I think the ride height looks fine, if anything it may be a little low with some wieght on it, (but I am sure you know that and will address that in the near future) I want inverts on my R now!! Keep up the good work, and if you are taking orders on a set of triples, mark me down for a set. j/k HH

  5. #5
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
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    Ok, last of the pictures.

    #1: Yellow and Black Z side by side, with a little bit of an angle to give you an idea of how they site. This is one of the ones i was talking abotu that makes the front of the black Z seem insanely high. I'm pretty sure once the 23.5in front tire and some weight gets added to it, it'll be back down to a normal height. I've got alot of internal suspension work to do to these forks. I need custom weighted new fork springs, and also a revalve kit. I was considering just sending them off to someone but fork work is very spendy...I can get all teh parts to do it myself for about $250. Its about $350 just for revalving from a MX suspension company. No new springs included.


    #2: This is another one that makes it look really tall. You can also tell the difference in the fork rake angle. I'm sure this also attributes to the ride height. The Z forks must have had some rake built into them. I still might flip around that bushing in the top clamps and make it a little bit lower since its not welded yet. I'll atleast look into doing that. Also noticed the leading vs trailing front axle.

    #3: Same angle as picture #1 but just a little bit more close up. If you study the forks of each one for just a second the difference is very evident...those KTM forks are BEEFY with a capitol B!


    Thats pretty much it for now. Still some more work to do on them but I'm definetly getting there.

    traxxasx: The steel plate is 1/4 inch, which is actually a little bit thicker then the laegers clamps I was basing these off of. The part that actually holds the forks themselves is however a little bit thin. That was an error that was not realised until after they had been partially welded. My next set will be a little bit thicker there if they are steel, and definetly thicker all around if I make some out of aluminum.

    Anyone else with any questions or comments, lets hear em!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 2Zs.jpg   Zsfront.jpg   2Zs2.jpg  

  6. #6
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    That is too nice Billy! Welds look good as well, better than I can do with the MIG thats for sure.

    James
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  7. #7
    jmack3986's Avatar
    jmack3986 is offline At The Back Of The Pack Arm chair racerAt the back of the pack
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    billy i am sure you can rake it out a little wih tripples angle the mounts more. if you take the old tripples and put them to the trees on there now you will see what i mean .the alignment might not be that straight.the holes persey could be out of align and that could cause rake to be like that but it might just be the tire

  8. #8
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
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    Hey Harry, Thanks! I'm figuring on when I set the forks up with the springs and what not I'm going to have a lot of sag, so that it'll be stiff for jumping but we'll see. I think I should be able to tweak everything the way it needs to be.

    James, Yeah the welds aren't too bad...but I'm a perfectionist and theres always room for improvement to me!

    Jordan, The Z clamps I believe have an angle to them where the stem hole is. These tripples are just straight, like say that this _ is the tripple this | is the stem. The tripples depend purely on the angle of the frame to determine the rake. The Tri-Z tripples I think are more like _ / know what I mean? When I make the next set this is something I'll have to keep in mind. Who knows though, it might ride better like this because one of the complaints with the Z is that it had to much rake and it rode like a chopper.

  9. #9
    thedeatons is offline At The Back Of The Pack Arm chair racerAt the back of the pack
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    Sportbikes are the same way, the angle is done at the stem hole. Racing triples have a straight hole, and different angled inserts to go inside, to set up your rake differently for different tracks. James

  10. #10
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    Firstly, the forks look great Billy! I LOVE the rake!! That's the way the Z should be!!

    I'm wondering, though about the use of steel triples on aluminum forks. On the older forks the chrome plated part gets clamped into the triples, not raw aluminum. Won't this gull and gouge into the aluminum from vibration?

    Might also be a good time to think about switching to a Honda front hub. That would solve your disc issue, as the Honda one sits in further (if i'm not mistaken) and would allow you alot more choices in front tires.

    Again, I love it! Definately would ride the thing before you change the rake, I bet it will steer awesome into turns! Have you pulled the springs yet to look at them? Maybe you can swap in your Z ones!
    2007 YAMAHA YTZ450 went to a great home RIP Sam


  11. #11
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
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    Derrick I mainly used the steel because I already had everything I needed except for a $7 piece of 1/4in steel plate. The laegers 500R clamps were also steel. I'm figuring after they are powdercoated I wont have to worry about it marring up the surface any. The top clamp is a pretty tight fit...I might run the bar hone through it loosen it up a little bit. The bottom one is fine, if anything its a little looser then I'd like. I hadn't thought of swapping over to the Honda hub now...I might still do that. One of my concerns though is the size of this caliper I'm wanting to use. It might rub on the inside of the wheel. Definetly an option to explore.

  12. #12
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    So these are the set you were telling me about yesterday huh! They look real trick mate, should give you an awesome ride too. Good stuff.

    Matt
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  13. #13
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    Great Job....best work I have seen!

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  14. #14
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
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    Thanks guys...Hopefully I'll get it all done and I can give it a test ride soon

  15. #15
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    Those are some sexy looking forks! Good work Billy.
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