ptxyz Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 found this on adv rider, of all places... http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/a-winters-worth-of-blackbird-mods.672031/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhawkxx Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Wow, that was a lot of work. He didn't even say if it handled better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptxyz Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 i know, right?! unless you got the donor parts for almost free, i think it makes more sense to upgrade the stock internals. if anyone here has ridden all 3 (stock, modified and converted), i'd love to hear your opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhawkxx Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 There is a retired government worker on here that put a Kaw frontend on his Bird and liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon haney Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Springs, Gold valves, and oil in the forks of my 99 made a big difference. Biggest thing with a conversion is adjustability and better brakes. The bar position may not be to your liking, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbird Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 3 hours ago, ptxyz said: i know, right?! unless you got the donor parts for almost free, i think it makes more sense to upgrade the stock internals. if anyone here has ridden all 3 (stock, modified and converted), i'd love to hear your opinions. I rode Jeff's (Byrdman) Busa converted XX years ago. Been long enough that I can't recall well enough to give an intelligent review, but it was a definite improvement. I also owned a ZX14 and I can tell you the Kawai bone stock front suspension was well ahead of my XX, which had been tweaked via oil and spring weight as well as fork height (I suppose the last isn't technically "suspension", but whatever...). Where the real everyday payoff probably is would be the brakes. Any modern setup (radial calipers and master) is going to blow the XX's 20 year old components out of the water in both feel and stopping power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptxyz Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 thanks for the insight. y'know, brakes is one area i'm pretty content with on my bird. i've been seeing this yoke setup on flea bay and think it would be the way to go if one had access to a cheap busa front end. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-Blackbird-Billet-Fork-Yoke-conversion-for-Hayabusa-TL1000-etc-forks-/331729784004?hash=item4d3ca2ccc4:g:fy8AAOSwbdpWaesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoWhee Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 If you really want better stopping on your bird, try and find a Brembo conversion. There's a guy in the uk who makes the brackets. I think the whole setup was about $500 with new lines and eBay calipers. Sorry crappy pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptxyz Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 thanks for sharing that. reminds me of the conversion i have on my klr to use an sv650 caliper with an ebc 320 mm rotor. do you know what kind of metal the brembo caliper adapter's made of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beestoys Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 If you do the conversion look for a gen 2 front clip better brakes stock. Gen 1 can be made better with a radial master. Also the second gen is 3/8 of an inch shorter so you have to raise the tubes up to get a full perch with clip ons. The biggest hurdles are the ignition switch placement and upper bearing. I have worked up a kit for my son and mines BB's. It uses the stock busa lower and a billet upper. The hat is designed to use the Busa bars which with the heli's puts it 1/2 higher than stock. It will also take a standard dirt bike bar if you want by using bolt in saddles and your choice of bar. Or you can use aftermarket clipons. The hat is dropped to allow for either gen and a full clamp on the tube. It's also designed to use the factory BB bearings. The BB and the Busa use the same lower bearing size. My setup lets you keep the stock upper as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwimack Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 any more info on the "hat' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 There were a few RC51 front suspension conversions done over the years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beestoys Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 On Thursday, May 05, 2016 at 4:45 AM, kiwimack said: any more info on the "hat' Still waiting on the machine shop to get it back to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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