Help! My 600 feels heavier than America's debt!

[ducatilover]

Here we go


According to online calculators I'm running about 108mm/4.28in of trail.
Oooooopsie! There's my problem.

The specs incase anyone wants to check and make my trail look better

24.5deg steering angle
Tyre diameter 600mm
Triple clamp offset 25mm
Fork length to axle 730mm
Triple tree rake 0deg

[ducatilover]

Yup, so it definitely has 108-109mm of trail, dropping the forks 10mm isn't going to move the trail back much at all, I want similar to what it had, or just slightly less.
So I have a plan.

Give up and ride the fuckin' thing.

[Ocean1]

Yup, so it definitely has 108-109mm of trail, dropping the forks 10mm isn't going to move the trail back much at all, I want similar to what it had, or just slightly less.
So I have a plan.

Give up and ride the fuckin' thing.

It's 11-12mm more than std, which is admittedly on the high side to start with.

Dropping the nose 10mm won't get that 11mm back, but it, (and p'raps cranking the rear preload up a turn or two) might just make it feel a bit less like a very heavy non-turning sled thing.

[ducatilover]

It's 11-12mm more than std, which is admittedly on the high side to start with.

Dropping the nose 10mm won't get that 11mm back, but it, (and p'raps cranking the rear preload up a turn or two) might just make it feel a bit less like a very heavy non-turning sled thing.

I'll see what it's like with the 10mm drop in the front, hopefully the small reduction in rake and steeper steering angle will help 'er out.
The rear pre-load is a bitch to turn up, but can be done.

I've turned a fairly beige handling bike in to a tank, with less weight and more power Only way I can see getting the steering back to happy is doing the logical thing.
ZX6R/636 front end with custom triples...mmmmmm

[tigertim20]

they started with a stock 955i a year or so ago and put it on a hell of a diet, upped the performance significantly, and raced it in one class last year. This year they are racing it in a thing called Golden Era Superbikes which is unrestricted (vs I think thunderbikes which was power to weight ratio restricted),... let me see what I can come up with.

Yup, so it definitely has 108-109mm of trail, dropping the forks 10mm isn't going to move the trail back much at all, I want similar to what it had, or just slightly less.
So I have a plan.

Give up and ride the fuckin' thing.

how about a custom triple?
few lads on here have the tools, and might like the challenge for a fellow kb tinkerer

[ducatilover]

how about a custom triple?
few lads on here have the tools, and might like the challenge for a fellow kb tinkerer

With ZXR forks? Nah, fuck that. I'll get some proper bling forks, radial brakes and then upgrade the swingarm/shock. That'll make double sure that I ruin the geometry

[bogan]

if you take 2.5 degrees of the rake it'll be down to 94mm trail. Which only means dropping the front by around 68mm so 0.22mm trail reduction for every mm you raise the forks through the triples.

[ducatilover]

if you take 2.5 degrees of the rake it'll be down to 94mm trail. Which only means dropping the front by around 68mm so 0.22mm trail reduction for every mm you raise the forks through the triples.

Choice, thanks bro. So, I could put the 19 inch rim off the GN on the front and strap the forks down? After putting my bottle jack in the back instead of the old fashioned spring/shock.

[madmartin]

: After putting my bottle jack in the back instead of the old fashioned spring/shock.

from memory the shock in my ol ZZR600 was comparable to a bottle jack anyway...
sadly not too many wreckers have busted these bikes-well they hadn't when i had one anyway. If you can locate the guy up in auckland i sold my rolling chassis to you'd prob find yourself a good front end... he only wanted the vin plate. His name was Dean Bradbury, not sure if he's on KB or not

[ducatilover]

from memory the shock in my ol ZZR600 was comparable to a bottle jack anyway...
sadly not too many wreckers have busted these bikes-well they hadn't when i had one anyway. If you can locate the guy up in auckland i sold my rolling chassis to you'd prob find yourself a good front end... he only wanted the vin plate. His name was Dean Bradbury, not sure if he's on KB or not

The rear shock will be replaced when I get a different swingarm, have a set up in mind currently and it's not a Kawasaki unit The front end will not be going back to ZZR parts, the ZXR forks damp much better than the ZZR ones, the ZXR USD forks will be ditched down the road for newer USDs that have radial mount brakes

The rear shock in this is bloody good as far as ZZR units go, but, that doesn't mean much.

Have you got any ZZR bits floating around? I like spare parts

[madmartin]

i think i've got a weld repaired RH engine cover somewhere but would have to check, everything else got the big heave-ho years ago chap

[ducatilover]

I've got a spare set of covers, so no need to check
It's a shame you haven't got the motor floating around, yours was an E model and they have nicer internals (ZX636 pistons fit right on to those rods...)

[madmartin]

The engine was why i got rid of it, there were no valves left, was over $1500 in bits to get her going again

It had a kinda "colorful" life, being stacked into a river very early in it's life. Then it was a race bike for several years (hence me having to rebuild the gearbox twice)

Have some fond memories of my ol "krack-a-sickie" tho, she was cool

[ducatilover]

The engine was why i got rid of it, there were no valves left, was over $1500 in bits to get her going again

It had a kinda "colorful" life, being stacked into a river very early in it's life. Then it was a race bike for several years (hence me having to rebuild the gearbox twice)

Have some fond memories of my ol "krack-a-sickie" tho, she was cool

I'm wanting an E model bottom end to put my D model head/cams on for my turbo build
E model = better range of aftermarket bits because the rods/journals/wrist pins are the same as later ZX6 engines and the D model has a reasonable head for turbo set ups and the least extreme cams at 280deg@.50 lift

Mine's had a colourful life and I've only had it 13-14 months I think...

[madmartin]

sounds like you've done your homework, must be kinda tricky to work out the numbers with all those rocks in your head banging about tho!