Fork Ideas...

[DGXSER]

Ok, so I now have a set of fork lowers for a Special that are basically scrap. One got severely gouged in the wreck and these things ussually are needed in pairs.

So..I figure I have a great set to try some mods on to see what can be made to upgrade the brakes without ruining a good set of lowers.

Interested in ideas to try. Keep in mind, I do not weld, and have hand tools, no mills not even a drill press.

[bikerphil]

Ok, so I now have a set of fork lowers for a Special that are basically scrap. One got severely gouged in the wreck and these things ussually are needed in pairs.

So..I figure I have a great set to try some mods on to see what can be made to upgrade the brakes without ruining a good set of lowers.

Interested in ideas to try. Keep in mind, I do not weld, and have hand tools, no mills not even a drill press.

I don't think there is much that can be done with those Special lowers. If there is, it would involve some extensive machining/welding. Someone might need a left lower someday, you never know. Probably not what you wanted to hear.

[Rickrod3]

my first instinct

Ok, so I now have a set of fork lowers for a Special that are basically scrap. One got severely gouged in the wreck and these things ussually are needed in pairs.

So..I figure I have a great set to try some mods on to see what can be made to upgrade the brakes without ruining a good set of lowers.

Interested in ideas to try. Keep in mind, I do not weld, and have hand tools, no mills not even a drill press.

When I learned that the standard front brakes were better than the special ones and tubes were pitted really bad on the SG. I thought of swapping out the the whole front end with a standard one. I believe it can be done easily if you change out the triple trees. I think it would give less rake which would make the bike more flickable.
Shipping would be a killer tho.
As you know I opted to just find a set of tubes. and keep the cruiser look since I have an F.
Some of the guy's here are pretty creative I'm sure someone will have some ideas.

JAT.
Rick

[Geezer]

I've put a lot of thought into making the Special breaks better and I have what I think is a workable idea.

The idea is to make a block that bolts up to the original caliper bolts then the later R1 calipers could bold to that. I'm thinking the ones that mount with through bolts not the side mount ones that are being used in the conversion on the standard models.

I think I have one special lower in my junk stash in the shed and I'm going to look for it when the weather clears to use as an example to draw something up.

Geezer

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Phil,

You quoted him, but I still think you didn't quite get what he was saying!
He's not wanting to actually try to use the lowers on a bike, but to use them as an expendable TEMPLATE to try to mock up something to upgrade the front brake calipers for specials.

Like Geezer was saying, there's plenty of material there where that 1 swivel bolt goes, I would think there would be a way to make a bracket that would fit...possibly by drilling some other holes in the extra material for additional securing locations for the bracket that some other NON-swivel style calipers could then bolt onto and be inline with the rotor slot and such!

Run with it Dgxser, RUN!!!!
T.C.

[DGXSER]

Hey Rick,

Actually, if you swap out both the triple tree and the forks, there is no change to the handling. However, if you change out the forks and NOT the triple tree, then yes, you change the trail and the handling.

Phil, I am sure you are probably correct, but then, TC hit it on the head, at least the side that got gouged is scrap anyway, so what can it hurt to try something. I'll probably not tear up the other until I feel like I have something figured out. But those brakes have caused me enough head aches in more ways than one. A year ago tomorrow for instance.

[bikerphil]

I was also thinking about some sort of block of aluminum that would utilize the existing bolt hole and pad slots on the fork leg. The new caliper could somehow bolt to that.

[XS1100 Newbie]

I just got through changing my Special back to the right triple tree. It had a standard triple tree on it. It made the bike handle a lot better for some reason. May have just been the new bearings, but i doubt it. When we measured two Specials, mine and a very nice stock one, mine was an inch shorter. It now should be the same length. I plan on measuring again this summer with the same bike.

[DGXSER]

Hey Newbie, Yep, if you switch out the triple and the forks they are the same trail, but with them mixed, it changes the trail and the handling.

[Eveready1100]

By far the best solution would be to swap over the lowers for a set off an XJ ( same as the RH Sport over here) That would give you a more standard type of mounting arrangement for 4 or 6 pot calipers.
You'd only need to make basic flat plate adapters for the calipers that you choose to use instead of some mickey mouse 3 axis design which could come apart ( or loosen) unless designed and machined to exact tolerances

Keep in mind, I do not weld, and have hand tools, no mills not even a drill press.

[cywelchjr]

By far the best solution would be to swap over the lowers for a set off an XJ ( same as the RH Sport over here) That would give you a more standard type of mounting arrangement for 4 or 6 pot calipers.
You'd only need to make basic flat plate adapters for the calipers that you choose to use instead of some mickey mouse 3 axis design which could come apart ( or loosen) unless designed and machined to exact tolerances

The XJ uses pretty much the same Mickey Mouse setup as the special AFAIK for the brakes. I could be wrong of course never having actually seen an XJ, but that's what I've heard. Supposedly they use the same brake pads as the specials do, at least I thought they did.

Of course I'd be very happy to be wrong.

Of course the downside to being wrong is that while that might be a good option technically, from a sourcing standpoint it's not, since the XJ was a single year model and is in VERY limited supply, so that would likely be a VERY poor option for the special owners.

[crazy steve]

The XJ uses pretty much the same Mickey Mouse setup as the special AFAIK for the brakes..

The XJ does use more-or-less the same brake as the special, but the difference is the XJ uses a bolt-on 'knuckle' (for lack of a better term) between the caliper and the fork instead of having this cast right into the fork leg. Like you said, still not much help as XJ (and '81 MNS which share the same brakes) bits are even harder to find....