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