xj front forks on 80 xs standard

[snowdog51]

all you guru's what do you think? xj leading axel a better fork
are xs calipers compatble

as ever bill

[John]

I wouldn't try it. The XJ forks are longer than the Standard, and they have holes drilled near the top to accomodate the air fork fill hose, and the XJ calipers are more rare than XS calipers.

[Jerry]

Also, the XJ uses square handlebars vs the 11's round handlebars. Extra work to swap the two.

Another minor issue is that the XJ front end was designed to work witgh Yamaha's unified braking system, where the rear brake and front-left caliper are operated from the rear master cylinder. Again, this can be changed to the 11's set-up, but the XJ front master brake cylinder is smaller - less volume - than the XS. If you want to power both front brakes you should use the XS master cylinder, but then run into problems with the square vs round handlebars noted above.

While you could swap the XJ front onto another bike, there is quite a bit of work involved and the results are not significant. Would recommend rebuilding the stock forks with new seals, Progressive fork springs, rebuilt calipers, and stainless-steel brake lines. Add a fork brace and the front end will be better than the day it came off the assembly line.

[snowdog51]

xj fork

i will post some pics of this fork i thought
it was a xj because it had linked braking
like back and one front together but it has round handle bars.

as ever bill

[snowdog51]

forks

on my standard i did new seals did revalveing and progessive springs also fork brace and amsoil fork. forks are much better but i have read that leading axel is much better design any way i post some pics of this.
as ever bill

[DiverRay]

Bill,
Leading axle CAN be better. The fork geometry needs to be correct, FIRST. The standard fork setup is good for the bike, and you WILL need to change the triple trees to go with the forks, if you swap. Playing with the front end can cause some serious problems, if you do one little thing wrong.
There are a few members here who HAVE done swaps, and I'll let them tell you of any pitfalls or problems they may have had to overcome.

[Jerry]

Trail
The second part of the equation is determined by the distance, at ground level, between a vertical line intersecting the wheel spindle and a line that passes through the headstock at the angle of the rake. It is almost guaranteed to be the case that the line through the headstock will hit the ground some way ahead of the vertical line intersecting the wheel spindle. This affects the ease with which the bike steers. The longer the distance, the more stable the bike is, but the heavier the steering; the shorter the distance, the lighter, and more twitchy the steering is. Cruisers have a longer trail, sports bikes a shorter one. It doesn't mean that cruisers don't go round corners, or that sports bikes don't go in straight lines, but it does affect how easily they do both. A classic, utility motorcycle will have the best compromise between the two, being startling in neither respect but being predictable in both.

Having the axle in front of the forks makes the line shorter, making the XJ handle a bit more like a sports bike than a cruiser. This does not make the leading axle inherently better; it does mean that Yamaha could build more sports-like handling into the XJ without major changes to the tripple-T or frame.

Above quote has been modifed slightly; original, with diagrams, is at this site: http://www.american-v.co.uk/technica...etry/body.html

Given the XJ is now 26 years old, I would assume any front fork assembly is going to need maintenace, rebuilding, or upgrades. Therefore, a swap may or may not yield any handling gains, depending on the relative condition of the two sets of forks. An 80G fork with new springs would probably out-handle an XJ fork with saggy OEM springs.

One needs to decide what it is they are after, what the budget is going to be, and how much 'tinkering' is going to be needed to complete the swap. IMHO...upgrade the stock parts before considering a swap.

[snowdog51]

xj1100 forks

here is what i have
as ever bill



<a href="http://www.photodump.com/snowdog51/xj1100 parts.html">xj1100 parts</a>

[snowdog51]

try again





this is what i thought was the link for photo dump but doesn't work
as ever bill

[snowdog51]

add some more

<a href="http://www.photodump.com/snowdog51/xj1100 parts1.html">xj1100 parts1</a>

<a href="http://www.photodump.com/snowdog51/xj1100 parts[2].html">xj1100 parts[2]</a>

<a href="http://www.photodump.com/snowdog51/xj1100 parts[2].html">xj1100 parts[2]</a>

<a href="http://www.photodump.com/snowdog51/xj1100 parts[4].html">xj1100 parts[4]</a>

<a href="http://www.photodump.com/snowdog51/xj1100 parts[5].html">xj1100 parts[5]</a>

[snowdog51]

not sure what i did

not sure what i did to make work
any way thats what i have i asume those
are xj brakes but except for the brakes the fork and tripple clamps are the same size as xs1100. so if not this i also have a complete 80 special fork does anyone think that would be an improvement.
as ever bill