USD forks on my 1990

[Motoguy]

Been a while since I posted. The slippery slope of FJ mods has bit me again. This spring after browsing Aviation Fred's USD fork mod and following a link on the thread to Marc Rittner's YZF750 USD fork mod... I decided to surf that slope. I had RPM valves in my forks with a superbrace and .85kg/mm springs, a front wheel from an 88 FZR1000 and was generally very happy with the ride and feedback.
But chicks dig USD forks right!
I began in March and was hoping to be completed  in time for the Flood Run in April. It took alot more time and money than I had estimated.
I decided to source the bits for the YZF750 conversion and set off to eBay. Long story short I spent quite a bit and am still not completely done but am very satisfied with the results.
It inspires a new level of mid corner confidence that I missed from my FZR days and looks totally bad ass. It really cleaned up the look in front. I now find myself walking around the garage to
view it from different angles. Loving my FJ and this website. 
As I said I was happy with the performance of my old front end setup and am going to post it for sale on here before I take it to eBay.
I will post more pics later, I included one of the day I brought it home for comparison.

[Pat Conlon]

Very nice Jeff, I too have converted over to the YZF750 USD forks. My previous forks were the 1992 FZR1000 USD which had no external adjustments for rebound or compression. It took me 2 times R/R'ing  the FZR forks, disassembling and fiddling with the shim stacks to get the settings I wanted.

The YZF750 USD's have these adjusters external, but I found the adjustment range on the oem compression needle to be very narrow, so on the advice of Frank (Flynt) I sent the YZF forks up to GP Suspension in Auburn Washington. ( Note: They have since relocated to Oxnard Calif)
They installed their custom cartridges .95kg/mm springs and their proprietary adjusters which have a much wider adjustment range.

I am very happy with these YZF750 forks. I used a top triple clamp from Spiegler for my FZ1 bar: https://spieglerusa.com/controls/handlebar-conversion/handlebar-conversion-kit-4384.htm for an easy plug and play...no need to drill the top triple for the bar clamps.
Is that also what you used?

Well done Jeff.... Mike Ramos will get the word out to the chicks...you'll see....   Cheers Pat

[Motoguy]

Hi Pat,
So far I am happy with my forks but have not tried to tune much. I am hoping to dial thing in with oil weights, levels and springs. I have a Penske shock in the back but can't remember what spring rate. I think it is on the stiffer side because I thought wifey would ride on back... not so much. I will find out from Traxxion Dynamics, they also helped me with the front spring.
Nice people to work with.
I have 1.05kg/mm spring in front with minimal preload, midrange on comp and rebound as of right now.
Pretty happy with the feel but still have old tires on. Over the winter I am going to measure everything to come up with a base and then get new tires and go "dial it in". I am buying Sport tires this year not Sport touring.

I looked at GP Suspension, not sure what you went with.

Triple clamp wise , I think i got the last set of ThunderAce clamps in the US. I modified them following the link I got to from AviationFreds project.
www.fjmods.uk.MarkRittner2.htm
Bar adjustments are a little putsy the way I did things but it came out well. LSL superbike bars and 35mm risers from Spiegler.
Have a picture but the PC has the upper hand right now.

He spelled it out quite well and I followed it mostly except for the height you cut off the towers to locate the ignition switch.
I used the relative height of the ignition switch to the bottom of the upper triple clamp to make sure the handlebar lock lined up.

When you switched from FZR to YZF forks, were you able to use your FZR fender?
The YZF fender was one of the hardest to find and most expensive parts of this swap.

Ride on

Jeff

[Motoguy]

http://www.fjmods.co.uk/MarcRittner2.htm

Should have known better than to trust my notes.

[Pat Conlon]

Hey Jeff, no the FZR fender won't work with the YZF forks...different fork spacing.

Air tech did my YZF 750 fender...I had my paint shop match the quartz silver on my '84
http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/yamaz/YZF7501993-95.htm

Here is my '84 at the last WCR

[Motoguy]

Pat,
Such a shiny bike!
Looks very nice.
I like how the YZF fender scoops air to funnel across the discs.
Thanks for the link, the fender is priced is less than what I paid on Ebay. 

[Pat Conlon]

Thanks Jeff, the Airtech fiberglass fender was a bit ragged on the edges so the paint shop had to put a little extra time in to block the edges...I'm happy with the results.
With only a 4 year production run ('94-98) the YZF750 fenders are rare.

I do like how the fender design keeps my stanchion tubes free from bugs.

Cheers.  Pat

[Mike 86 in San Dimas]

Your post broke my camels back. My wallet is next.   Nice job.  Im accumulating goodies for this mod. Been burning up Pats email, I,m pretty clueless. Can you provide me some details on your brake caliper choice? I've read Marc,s project too.
Mike

[Pat Conlon]

Axial mount YZF R-1 monoblocks (gold or blue spots) see your PM, I sent you a FleaBay link.

Looking for a proper FZ-1 14mm m/c for you.

This will be a fun project Mike.....I just love spending someone else's money...bwhahahaha...

[Mike 86 in San Dimas]

just emailed you my cc number 

[Motoguy]

Your post broke my camels back. My wallet is next.   Nice job.  Im accumulating goodies for this mod. Been burning up Pats email, I,m pretty clueless. Can you provide me some details on your brake caliper choice? I've read Marc,s project too.
Mike

I went with the Blue dots because I already had them on my FJ forks. They seemed to bolt right up to Marc and Pats forks. I had to grind a little bit of clearance on my forks to get them to fit.
I guess Yamaha changed the lower casting a bit. Not sure if you can zoom into the fork that close but I will be happy to take some pics when I get back home. Working out of town this week.

[Mike 86 in San Dimas]

No need.  After my post I pulled the trigger on some 2003 YZFR1 units. Only few hundred $ more to go. Then I guess I put this stuff together...somehow. 
Thanks,
Mike

[johnod]

Would I be out of line asking what a ball park figure for the USD fork change might be?

[aviationfred]

I know what I paid for my GSXR1000 USD conversion. I have no idea what Jeff, Pat, or Tim (Axiom-r) paid. A ballpark figure to budget would be $1000.00-$1500.00.

Look at my GSXR1000 USD write up. There is an itemized parts list with prices that may help with an estimate.


Fred

[johnod]

Thanks Fred, that was great info, I've bookmarked that thread.