Special Forks on a Std.

[sidecarKev]

I'm in the process of building a bike up to go with my sidecar. I'm thinking that if I put Special forks on a Std. it will reduce trail and make for easier steering with the sidecar. Looking back through the archives I see there may be problems with this. I have a '79 F. Will some forks work and others not? Will I still be able to use my calipers? Any other problems?

Kevin
My XS1100 Sidecar Rig

[Snow]

Not sure exactly what rake is at the moment, need some more diet coke or coffee...but yes, special forks will fit on your 79'F, but you will also need special brake calipers and a special fender.

How do I know? My 79F came with special front end and I've been converting it all back to Standard. In fact, I've got the old forks, triple tree, and calipers that I need to throw on ebay to make room for other things. Too bad the forks are a bit pitted.

[cuda_phish1]

forks

O, first off, you WILL need the brake rotors from a special. Second you'll need the calipers. The special calipers are smaller and mount differently. and third, you will need the fender too.

The only trouble ive heard about changing you're forks like this is that the Special forks that are Air instead of Hydrolic. The extra weight of the standard can blow your forks out. So it's something to think about.

Good Luck man,
Cuda_phish1
A happy Barracuda on Nitros

[jimg1au]

FORKS

hi from australia
the std and the special fork swap.the fork tubes are the same diam. only different in length so you can use your std tripple clamps.you dont need to use air as the progressive fork springs + spacer 3.5in is all you need.the spacer is the difference in the lenght fo the fork tube.you can fit your std fork legs on special tubes and special fork legs on std fork tubes.the brake calap. are different ,so you will need them.i have swaped the fork legs and brakes and wheel between my rh/and std.rh is the same as midnight special 1981.so check out the wheel and rotors.but they will interchange
jim garvey
1981 xs1100 std
1981 xs1100 rh/special
1981 xs1100rh/sport

[fusionking]

I do believe that the triple clamps are diff. between std. and special so you would be creating a unique handling machine. I think Denny had posted info on this at one time. I'm not saying don't do it...just making you aware of the situation

[sidecarKev]

From what I have found decent sidecar rigs will use 1-2 inches of trail. Some racing setups even use negative trail. I've done a little digging and I think I have came up with a few options. Trail on a 79 Std. is 5.19"

Option 1- Obtain a front end from the Special which used a
28.5 degree rake angle and different forks that increased the yoke
offset by about 1 inch. These bikes had about 3.7" of ground trail.
This option would also mean I would have to find forks, fender, triple trees,
rotors, and calipers.

Option 2- Use all the same stuff as option 1 except the triple trees.
Stay with 29.5 degrees of rake. Somewhere around 4.0 inches of trail.

Option 3- Use only the reduced rake triple trees (28.5) from
the "special". This should get me about 4.8" of trail.

Obviously the best option is also the most expensive.

My question is, are these options doable?

From what I'm hearing I can put forks from a special into Std. triple tree clamps. Right? Will the calipers from the special be routed to the master cylinder of the Std. the same way?

Maybe I'll just keep everything the way it is and if I like the rig I can build or buy something like this.





Thanks,

Kevin

[Geezer]

I've gonw the other way. I put a standard front end on a special. I call it my XS11 Mongrel.

Geezer

[Jdwags]

My Mongrel came with a special rebuilt (after an accident) on a
Standard frame.. but the upper tubes of the forks we haven't figured out where they came from.. Even Mike Hart couldn't figure out what vintage, brand they were..

79sf on 78 std frame

[Geezer]

My mongrel started as an 80 Special that I was going to part out. After I took the parts off it I needed for another bike I was selling. I decided to resurrect it with standard parts and a few odd bits. It’s a pretty nice machine but it needs a bigger tank and that’s the next project.

I’m not sure what happened to the pic in my last post but the same pic is on the Bike Pix page at www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com. it the only XS11 there.

Geezer