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Forks / swingarms


Tom

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Thinking about doing something with the Bird over the winter, and there are so many threads on these topics, figured I'd try to make one and distill all the info as much as possible before diving into this, since I'm not really a garage guy.

 

As far as I managed to read, Busa front forks (2006 model year?) are easiest to install, RC51 are "easy" too but those bike are very rare as of late. I found few pics of Nissin big brakes with USD forks, apparently WP branded...any ideas what's the source on these forks? KTM usually puts WP pieces on their bikes...

KKErUg8.png

 

As for swingarms, I saw few threads mentioning TSR swingarms, and they are very cool looking (there's one incredible, fully spec'd out red Bird here that has (had) one) but they remind me of 929 swingarms, with a bit of material welded on :) 

 

qzhfStJ.png

 

TSR aside, 929 should be the direct fit right?

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45 minutes ago, FTM said:

TSR aside, 929 should be the direct fit right?

 

I'm 99% sure it won't be. Not because I've tried it, but because after most of two decades hanging out here I think I would have heard about by now it if it was. The forks pictured are undoubtedly riding in aftermarket or custom triple clamps...once you go that route, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

 

You're going to find the aftermarket awfully lean when it comes to this bike and suspension upgrades. It was never hugely popular and it's now been out of production for a decade. The latest solution to the XX's suspension woes seems to be converting the entire front end over to ZX14 bits...it's a relatively straightforward process documented around here somewhere. The swingarm can be swapped for the ZX14 part as well, at least one guy has done it. If you want to spend serious money on high dollar components, perhaps convert and then look into the ZX14 aftermarket.

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New fork internals will do wonders on the Bird, but I think it's better to change the whole front just to get much better brakes.  Hard to go wrong with Busa or ZX-14 parts.

I don't think much can be gained, performance-wise, by swapping the swing-arm.  A more modern arm will be longer, and increase the wheel-base, making it turn slower.  A fully adjustable aftermarket shock?  Definitely better.

If you go the Busa route, I do have some parts from a 2006 I recently built into a drag bike.  Need to sell (freshly powder-coated front wheel, rotors, left-side caliper, handle-bars).

Edited by jon haney
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I'm digging around japanese web trying to find if there's some new trick to the front fork business :D

 

VnEUAjy.png

SP1? RC45?

 

4jpOwlk.png

This is a SC59 bridge...did anyone convert the Bird's fork to SC59?

 

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