[Kurlon]

I've yet to take a pair of Showa 38mm inverts apart yet... how difficult a machine job would it be to make new shorter uppers? (Planning on cutting the travel down to 3 or 4 inches, don't need all that upper poking above the trees.)

[gmdboston]

Originally Posted by Kurlon

I've yet to take a pair of Showa 38mm inverts apart yet... how difficult a machine job would it be to make new shorter uppers? (Planning on cutting the travel down to 3 or 4 inches, don't need all that upper poking above the trees.)

you want to put a KX 85 front end on a mini? I can do it, but we wont be doing any cutting.

[Kurlon]

I do, but I also don't want to have the front end much longer than what I've got now, which is 12" from the bottom of the steering stem tube on the frame to my axle. Looking at CR and RM 85 forks, they run about 12" from there to the bottom of the upper tube, with no room left on the clamp area to further up.

Basically I'm pipe dreaming at the moment, and have run out of wild ideas of how to make them work.

[gmdboston]

Originally Posted by Kurlon

I do, but I also don't want to have the front end much longer than what I've got now, which is 12" from the bottom of the steering stem tube on the frame to my axle. Looking at CR and RM 85 forks, they run about 12" from there to the bottom of the upper tube, with no room left on the clamp area to further up.

Basically I'm pipe dreaming at the moment, and have run out of wild ideas of how to make them work.

I can shorten forks up the amount of travel, but then there would be no travel left. Figure out how much stroke you want, and we'll look into it.

[Kurlon]

What's your opinion on RS125 forks? Seems there are clamp and wheel adapter kits so I could run my NSR50 front wheel with them. I would think they'd be shorter than CR85 forks but without a set in my hands...

[gmdboston]

RS 125 forks are 620 mm cap to axle center.

[Kurlon]

Originally Posted by gmdboston

RS 125 forks are 620 mm cap to axle center.

So the length is pretty close, cool. Can't seem to find much info online on them, are they basic damper rod forks, open bath cartridge, closed cartridge, or damped by specially trained seamonkeys? I can't imagine them being worse than stock NSR50 forks, but I wonder how they perform compared to a worked over set with emulators? (IE should I plan on having them reworked or did Honda spec something usable out of the crate?)

[gmdboston]

Brine Shrimp actually.... Either Internal Bleed or recirculating type depending on the year. Plan on a revalve and respring, they will be light years better than the NSR 50 tooth pick, spring/axle locaters

[Kurlon]

Originally Posted by gmdboston

Brine Shrimp actually.... Either Internal Bleed or recirculating type depending on the year. Plan on a revalve and respring, they will be light years better than the NSR 50 tooth pick, spring/axle locaters

I know I can't run the later units with radial caliper mounts, does that cut my options down to one style of internals, or is there a year range I should shoot for within the USD non-radial brake mount units?

[Paul_E_D]

95 were said to be a good year. Otherwise they are pretty similar up through the radial mount change. When buying used, beware of bent brake mounts... That's the weakest part of the fork. It's pretty tough to fix, although for your purposes may not be as critical...

[Kurlon]

Originally Posted by Paul_E_D

95 were said to be a good year. Otherwise they are pretty similar up through the radial mount change. When buying used, beware of bent brake mounts... That's the weakest part of the fork. It's pretty tough to fix, although for your purposes may not be as critical...

I'm looking at a near boltup setup, so I'll be needing that brake mount to be intact. Thanks for the tip!

Now if only these forks were all over ebay like Showa 37mm inverts...

[Paul_E_D]

For bolt up purposes, you'd need the wheel, rotor, and axle as well as the forks. Otherwise, these things are never bolt up affairs.

[Kurlon]

Fortunately for me, the conversion is a fairly common one for NSR50s over in Japan, and there are multiple bolt up kits to do the deed using an NSR50 front wheel and rotor. The only real question at the moment is weather or not you use a stock NSR50 axle and spacer set, or if there is a separate set for the conversion.

I just happen to have an NSR50 front wheel and rotor... and my bike already accepts NSR50 compatible stem setups as is. The only tweak I have to make is welding on a forward facing steering stop.