Front end crash repair project

[JonnyBoy]

Hi There,

Was stupid enough to rear-end a car couple of months ago and now after I found a place to work on the bike indoors I've started dismantling it.
The bike is a '99 SV650x (naked)

First thing to do is to replace the front forks inner tubes, they're bent beyond repair
http://www.bikebandit.com/partsbandit/showschematic~dept_id~1010011.asp
(part 11)

Now, they're not cheap so I would like to ask you about upgrade options for the front forks:
I'm 67kg, using the bike as road bike for commuting, city rides and touring.
Can you recommend some alternatives to replace the standard forks?
If you know where else to get this parts let me know...

Thanks
Udi

[TSM]

You could go the whole hog and get a GSXR front end swap.

A set of new stanchons for the sv forks cost about £150. There is an onlike bike shop that sells the parts along with fork oil.

[northwind]

How's the rest of the front? If the wheel's damaged, then I'd write off the whole front, sell the bits you can and get a GSXR front. SRAD 600 fits pretty easily, is a pretty good upgrade, and should actualyl be cheaper than SV parts! SRAD 750 also fits easily, but isn't usually so cheap- still not dramatically more than an SV front end (I sold my front end parts, in good condition, for only about £100 less than all the GSXR bits cost me- but ended up spending a load more on bells and whistles)

You'd need to figure out how to fit the speedo, bars, and headlight, and also do something for the speedo drive since it runs off the front wheel. If it were me, I'd go with clipons, and the rest's all bracketry.

[TSM]

I might do a GSXR front conversion but cant get my wallet out of my pocket.

The bike which crashed into me was a GSXR from the right year so i could use the parts from that bike to put on mine.

[JonnyBoy]

Well, I don't think I wanna get into replacing the whole front end. I would like to ask you about alternatives for the front suspension, to fit an aftermarket product to replace the stock one.

I was looking through some sites but it's not very helpful if I don't know what to look for...

[northwind]

There's not really anything to just replace the SV front with the stock wheel and yokes, other than another SV front.

Don't overestimate the difficulty of doing the GSXFR swap! I hate to demystify it, people think it's harder than it is and so they assume I'm better than I am ;) It's not easy, but it's about half as hard as you'd think- the SRAD GSXRs have many similiarities to the SV so it's just the lights and clock that you'd need to work out. You could add aftermarket light brackets easily, which makes it just the clocks. And I have absolutely no idea how you'd do that ;)

If you do want to rebuild using the standard yokes and wheel, then realistically you'll be doing it with totaly standard parts- you could upgrade the internals at the same time, stiffer springs, cartridge emulators if you want to spend a little. But again, that pushes the price up past what it would cost to do a GSXR one.

I suspect it would make the most sense to try and find a whole used set of forks... They generally go by for around the £100 mark on Ebay, or you could try a breakers. There's an SV specialist breakers whose details I've lost, but they look good.
Obviously it's a gamble with condition, if you're not careful. But it'll be far simpler, almost certainly cheaper, and no worse unless you're unlucky.

Are yo confident the wheel and yokes are straight? Yokes are fairly tough on the SV (they should be, they're massive and steel...), wheels are tough but not indestructible. You can stick it on the rear axle and give it some healthy spins to check for any runout. Yokes are less easy, really it's a pro job to check those- though if they are damaged, just PM me, I've got a straight bottom yoke here taking up space.

[JonnyBoy]

Well, been gone for a while but here's a quick update:
Got the whole front end off ebay: forks, yokes and front wheel rim.
Used the forks, replaced the rim and fitted a new tire on it. Due to lack of time still using the old yokes, the right fork leg went in smooth but a bit of force was needed to get the left leg into the top yoke so something there got a bit of the blow :?
I got the yokes, don't have time to replace it now, I recon it's ok... ?

I'll get it going tomorrow, got something licking in the bottom of the fuel tank to be sorted out, hope it's just a loose screw ( I can relate to that 8-[ )

I would like to ask your good advice about two things:
1) The front headlight is broken, and I was offer a universal replacement round headlight, but they say that I'll need to sort the mounting bolts. Can you recommend a replacement part that will use the original mountings bolts?
http://www.bikebandit.com/partsbandit/showschematic~dept_id~1003556.asp

2) I got a yellow mudguard and would like to paint it blue. Can I buy a spray can of the original blue? I'll probably sandpaper it and use plain blue if cant, as a temporary (or not) walkaround.

northwind, thanks for the advises, I think I PM earlier but my apologies if not...

[mart]

why not buy a set of forks from here loads of people have been doing front end swaps ask and see ive got a set of k4 forks that will be for sale very soon and im near sure all are the same sizes