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Old 10-09-05, 08:22 PM   #10
northwind
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: In the garage where I belong
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No GSXR front bolts straight onto the carbed bikes... Your best bet is to get a set of SRAD 750 yokes, which are a near perfect match for the ignition lock and steering lock stops, and have a very similiar geometry, and then either swap the stems (this requires a small spacer to be made for the top yoke as well, though) or simply get the Twin Works Factory top bearing, $60 delivered from the US and that makes the SRAD yokes a direct swap. I did the bearing swap, it's less of a faf and getting that spacer made looked to be a pain. For all the price difference (few quid either way) I chose the option that I could do myself in a few minutes, instead of the one that meant finding engineering companies to do work for me...

Then, you can fit a variety of forks into those 50mm yokes- I used K2 750 forks, but you could use more recent 750s if you want the radial brakes. I used a SRAD wheel and axle, as they look identical to the SV rear wheel- more recent ones are a little different, but still close. The SRAD ones (and TL1000S and R, and early Busa) can be had in the same colours as the SV too which saves you spraying or coating them. Plus they're well cheaper than newer ones.

The SRAD yokes are slightly wider than the more recent ones so I spaced the calipers in slightly with M8 stainless washers. Obviously, this prevents buying a complete front end since you're using bits from different bikes, you could use all SRAD 750 bits- I only used the K2 bits since they're that bit more recent and it's easier to find good ones (plus the mudguard's nicer)

The speedo drive for the SV's run off the front wheel, but I moved the speedo drive to the rear- old trick, but one which IMO had only ever been done badly till I perfected it (not that I'm smug or anything! ) and it's actually more accurate than stock... I've got a .doc writeup for this if you want it. Costs nothing to do short of a bit of time, if you own a grinder and you can solder a couple of wires.

It cost me, all in, around £600 I think- though that includes powdercoating both wheels, a new front tyre, and EBC Prolite discs. You could do it for a good bit cheaper if you're patient.
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