My FXR

[trickytree]

.....as I bought her.


I fitted Yamaha Thunderace forks, discs and calipers last winter.


She's now all over the garage floor having more attention lavished on her.

[ALAY191]

my kind of ride! I dig it.

[Michael Psycle]

Thanks for posting those pics. What do you know about the history of the bike; year, model, mods, mileage, etc.?

[trickytree]

She's originally a 1990 FXRS-Convertable although by the time I got her just over a year ago all the Conv. gear had gone. No idea of mileage, there's no history and the speedo didn't match the other clocks....it had about 35 thou showing.
She came with a Supertrapp, 40mm Mikuni, PM 4 pots up front and a Corbin seat.
A PO had gone over most of the bike with a satin black rattle can at some point.....didn't even remove anything, just sort of half heatedly masked some bits of and blasted her all over...tins, wheels, fork lowers and a few other bits.
I sometimes think I paid too much for her but I just liked the look of the bike...."very little chrome and no live to ride shite" said the advert, just what I was after. Got to say i absolutely love her to bits, wish I had seen the light years ago!
There was a whole load of little jobs to sort out as I went along but she's always started first time and pulls like a train. I started to make her my own almost as soon as I got home and decided to do most of the major work this winter.

[trickytree]

Just to quickly bring you upto date with work so far. I fitted some cast wheels pretty soon as the original wires were quite rough and after a scary moment with a front wheel blow out I wanted to fit tubeless tyres.
Next up were the Yamaha Thunderace forks. I wanted something beefy and didn't want USD so these are pretty much perfect....48mm with adjustable preload, comp and rebound damping. They are only 750mm long so some custom yokes were required.

Here they are roughed out. Note the recess on the bottom of the top yoke.


As the fork legs were not long enough (I want some ground clearance for the twisty bits) I "gull winged" the top yoke. The fork stanchion does not go through the top yoke and gets clamped in the normal way....it sits in the recess and is pulled up with a modified top nut.


Here it is finished. The cap with the 6 Allen bolts screws into the original top nut via a spacer. I was going to make a new one piece but but it has the preload and one of the damping adjusters in it and is a pretty complicated thing to make. It works fine and the forks are super strong, a huge improvement over the original 39mm Showas, the only problem is that to adjust the forks I have to remove the 6 bolts to get to the adjusters.
The top yoke sits on a top hat threaded adjuster....this is split so when the head bearings are pre loaded, the pinch bolt is tightened which in turn clamps the top hat adjuster onto the steering stem.
The main top nut can then be tightened down onto the yoke without altering the pre load and with less chance of damaging the threads on the adjuster.......hope that makes sense
They are now effectively 800mm long so i have a bit of my ground clearance back. I still need to make a stainless top steering stem nut and washer.

[V-STRUM]

Nice, I like your new front end, how's it compare to the original?

[trickytree]

Originally Posted by V-STRUM

Nice, I like your new front end, how's it compare to the original?

Night and day differance, better in every to be honest. They never lose control yet there not at all harsh....in fact ride comfort is excellent. I wasn't unhappy with the PM calipers either but these stoppers are awsome.

Still with the front end, this is where I'm at now. Wheel is a 3.5x18 from a Yamaha TDM900 and slots straight in the Thunderace forks. I'm saving a whole load of weight with this set up.....the forks and yokes alone are about 12lbs lighter than stock. I've not weighed the wheels yet but the new wheel complete with discs and spindle seems lighter than the 13 spoke cast wheel that was on there before.
Next job is to shave some of the mudguard mounting brackets from the fork legs and sort out a more suitable mudguard. Tyre size is 120/70-18 so should hopefully sharpen the steering a tad.


At the rear I have another TDM900 wheel.....(I've heard all the YamaHarley jokes ), this is a 5x17. Originaly I was going to use a 2006 Road King arm....in fact I started to modify it to accept the new wheel but then I decided to continue on the "lighter is better" path so am moding a........yup, TDM900 ally swing arm!

The standard arm.


Chop the front off and square it up.


My tipped shell cutter happens to be 2-1/2" diameter........


......and that's the same diameter as the ally tube for the new bearing housing, so it fits nice and snug with no wobble.


Bearing housing machined up to take a pair of taper roller bearings each side.


That's about where I am at the moment. My little TIG welder is DC only so I need to find someone to do some welding on the new swingarm, I can then get the rear wheel in and see how much room I have for either a chain or a belt.

[gretsch58]

Nice work on the yokes! Welcome to the forum…

what year is the FXR? 84-85?

[Michael Psycle]

Originally Posted by gretsch58

Nice work on the yokes! Welcome to the forum…

what year is the FXR? 84-85?

He said

She's originally a 1990 FXRS-Convertable although by the time I got her just over a year ago all the Conv. gear had gone.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you turn it into.

[gretsch58]

Originally Posted by Michael Psycle

He said



I'm looking forward to seeing what you turn it into.

ha ha, thanks. now I see it. I was just skimming through… my bad.

[Michael Psycle]

Originally Posted by gretsch58

ha ha, thanks. now I see it. I was just skimming through… my bad.

Nah, I just wanted you to have the info asap.

Have a good day. I'm all geared up and will get on my fxr in a couple of minutes for a ride down the California coast to Santa Cruz this morning. The temps are in the low 60's, the weather is clear and all is right with the world.

[ALAY191]

nice work trickytree !

here's an idea for you ...
look at how Ceriani forks have a drop in the triple trees (yokes).
Betor forks that used on lots of Euro MX and trial bikes are very similar and I bet you can find them in 41mm. That would add length to the forks. I had something very similar to it on my BMW race bike.

[lucille]

Originally Posted by Michael Psycle

Have a good day. I'm all geared up and will get on my FXR in a couple of minutes for a ride down the California coast to Santa Cruz this morning. The temps are in the low 60's, the weather is clear and all is right with the world.

Envious Michael .....
Cold rain here. Up behind my place, sleet.
I have a Honda quad, so will have handlebars of a different kind in my hands. All dressed up like the Michelin Man.
Don't get sunburned now ... !

Trickytree ...... you've got a great looking scoot. A fellow FXR rider has a complete Yamaha front end on his. He cut the original steering head off and welded the Yammie steering head on. It looks like a 'factory' job. If you do a search on this site, you may find another past member who did this also. He no longer posts here. Very professional job.
Your bike has that 'street fighter' look to it, I like it very much. Please keep posting photos of the building/machining process.
Welcome to the forum .....
Greg

[trickytree]

Thanks for the comments and warm welcome....

Originally Posted by Michael Psycle

I'm looking forward to seeing what you turn it into.

The intention is to keep it looking like a FXR.....all be it an FXR that works out and has a bit of an attitude. It would be great if it ended up the sort of bike you have to look at hard to spot the changes...time will tell. Bet you can all guess what the colours gonna be

[Homesick]

Another cultist. Cool. Your secret decoder ring's already in the mail.

joe