[BadtotheBone03]

Hey guys, I am new here and have searched a little on my question and can't find a good enough answer to be sure. So I have a 1990 883 sporty and want to make a street tracker out of it. The only problem is I want to have inverted forks while making it taller than what it is now. I have looked into xr1200 forks but they are way out of my price range. I have also looked into buell forks but they seam to short for what I am doing. I was looking into putting 13.5 piggy back shocks on the rear to give it a little more clearance. Is there any type of sport bike front ends that would work? I don't mind working on the steering stem just would like to give my bike a good stance. I guess the real question is what are your guy's and gals opinions on the best front end for my situation? Thanks for your interests.


Corey

 

[Unca Mike]

BtB

I've seen a GSXR 'Zook front end stuck on a Sporty. Don't remember the details about the installation but it looked like a great idea though as it had the GSXR front brakes and wheel too. I don't remember what rear shocks that bike had. Too bad you don't think the Buell front end would work since there seem to be a lot of Buell parts floating around these days.

If you end up using the XL front end RaceTech makes stiffer springs and "emulator" valving. That's about as good as it gets with a Harley front end. Last time I checked the whole RaceTech set up price was around $300 for my FXR. It's on my wish list. This would be the simplest upgrade I would think. At the very least I'd put in some stiffer fork springs and heavier fork oil. I've tried modifying the stock Sportster front end with different (larger) holes in the damper rod and heavier oil but it just made a mediocre front end just a little bit better. Stock Harley springs are notoriously soft for hard riding.

Also there were some semi cartridge type front forks on some of the more trick stock Sportsters a few year back before the engines got rubber mounted. I think those were the 1200 S models.

I believe your stock shock length was 12". If you go with 13.5"ers consider that will change the front rake and trail a bit if the front stays the stock length.

Good Luck

 

[BadtotheBone03]

Thanks for the quick reply Mike. I was looking to give it the feel of the xr1200 so the inverted shocks are a big part on my design. I thought of street bikes for forks but haven't had much investigating on them, but wouldn't the gsxr forks be a little short? I know that my forks are roughly 31'' long, wouldn't a street bikes be right around 24 or 25? I was also looking into supermoto forks. Would that be a good route to go possibly?

 

[Unca Mike]

Thanks for the quick reply Mike. I was looking to give it the feel of the xr1200 so the inverted shocks are a big part on my design. I thought of street bikes for forks but haven't had much investigating on them, but wouldn't the gsxr forks be a little short? I know that my forks are roughly 31'' long, wouldn't a street bikes be right around 24 or 25? I was also looking into supermoto forks. Would that be a good route to go possibly?

BtB

You may be totally right about the length. You'll have to do your own research on which front end will fit. Just saying that I did see that gixxer front end on a Sporty. You'll have to get your own dimension requirements off your bike. I know Ceriani and Marzocchi both make forks that can fit most apps but they do cost some bucks. I have seen a Marzocchi front end on an FXR I was contemplating buying a few years back. Pretty slick although it wasn't inverted. It seems to me that if you're dead set on going inverted you'll be limited some on length since the inverted sets come off crotch rockets and they try to keep them low. I don't know man, I would think the Buells would be about the longest you could find. They are tall bikes. Of course most of the crotch rockets run small wheels.

As far as supermoto goes, yeah those might be real good for your app. However a SM bike is a lot lighter than a Sporty. Once again length and spring strength might me issues to deal with but, with a little tweaking, you might end up with something really cool.

Have you checked out or even called the guys at Storz? They might be able to get you pointed in the right direction.

Good Luck Dude

 

[BadtotheBone03]

Thanks for the input Mike, I looked at storz website and they had a killer deal on their front end. Bought the whole thing for under 800 bucks including the forks, triple trees and steering stem, front axle and even the rear shocks. Was shipped to my house within 3days too.