Tim's XS project - 750cc rephased ported head titanium valve hot cam craziness
- Thread starter Tim
- Start date
Re: Tim's XS project - April 2 2010 - went for a nice long test ride today 
Hard to say - haven't done a lot of spirited riding, but they're holding my ass up so that's something. Mine were older units that I replaced the springs on and repainted. In hindsight it would have been just as cheap to buy new ones.
I wanted hagons purely because they're typical of older brit bikes. Seemed as good a choice as any, so that's what I went with.
Hard to say - haven't done a lot of spirited riding, but they're holding my ass up so that's something. Mine were older units that I replaced the springs on and repainted. In hindsight it would have been just as cheap to buy new ones.
I wanted hagons purely because they're typical of older brit bikes. Seemed as good a choice as any, so that's what I went with.
Re: Tim's XS project - April 2 2010 - went for a nice long test ride today
So I mocked up my Suzuki 4LS front hub (MASSIVE) in my spare XS650 forks, and found the hub is a good 18mm wider than the XS650 front end can handle.
Tomorrow morning I'll be dropping the fork legs and brake plates off at Adam's place where one of the fork leg's axle hole (the non-clamping side in the XS front end) to accept the Suzuki axle/nut, and the two brake backing plates will have 9mm taken off to allow the hub to squeeze into the front end. Loads of meat on the plates, so no worries. Common method of making this hub fit narrower front ends.
Gonna look incredible once it's all sorted - probably a couple more weeks I figure. Once the hub and rim are polished they'll go off for lacing. Tire mounting and final balancing will wait till the front end is completely ready to bolt on as I'm taking the tire off my current front wheel and I don't want the bike off the road for more than a day.
Can't wait to have real brakes!
So I mocked up my Suzuki 4LS front hub (MASSIVE) in my spare XS650 forks, and found the hub is a good 18mm wider than the XS650 front end can handle.
Tomorrow morning I'll be dropping the fork legs and brake plates off at Adam's place where one of the fork leg's axle hole (the non-clamping side in the XS front end) to accept the Suzuki axle/nut, and the two brake backing plates will have 9mm taken off to allow the hub to squeeze into the front end. Loads of meat on the plates, so no worries. Common method of making this hub fit narrower front ends.
Gonna look incredible once it's all sorted - probably a couple more weeks I figure. Once the hub and rim are polished they'll go off for lacing. Tire mounting and final balancing will wait till the front end is completely ready to bolt on as I'm taking the tire off my current front wheel and I don't want the bike off the road for more than a day.
Can't wait to have real brakes!
Re: Tim's XS project - April 2 2010 - went for a nice long test ride today
There are nicer drums out there, but they'll run you a lot more. Grimeca makes one for about $840 CAD. A lot lighter than the Suzuki.
http://www.tbmperformance.com/products/Grimeca-4%252dleading-shoe-front-brake.html
There are nicer drums out there, but they'll run you a lot more. Grimeca makes one for about $840 CAD. A lot lighter than the Suzuki.
http://www.tbmperformance.com/products/Grimeca-4%252dleading-shoe-front-brake.html
Re: Tim's XS project - April 2 2010 - went for a nice long test ride today
So the mods continue...
First, the Borrani rim I got with the Suzuki 4LS hub and Buchanan spoke set was not in fact drilled for a large drum brake. It's drilled for a much smaller disc hub. So it's out. In its place I'll be ordering a new shouldered rim from 650central.ca, which is identical to what I'm currently running on my front wheel, and same as the Borrani. Just not a Borrani
Also, today I went on a mission to the Spring bike show, and got a set of awesome made-in-England Brituro Megaton silencers. "Not for Road Use" is stamped on them, right beside "Made in England" Going to look and sound the business.
Pics to come!
So the mods continue...
First, the Borrani rim I got with the Suzuki 4LS hub and Buchanan spoke set was not in fact drilled for a large drum brake. It's drilled for a much smaller disc hub. So it's out. In its place I'll be ordering a new shouldered rim from 650central.ca, which is identical to what I'm currently running on my front wheel, and same as the Borrani. Just not a Borrani
Also, today I went on a mission to the Spring bike show, and got a set of awesome made-in-England Brituro Megaton silencers. "Not for Road Use" is stamped on them, right beside "Made in England"
Going to look and sound the business.Pics to come!
CresentSon
Over 1,000 Posts
Re: Tim's XS project - April 10 2010 - Phase 2 - Evolution....
Had to get this off reply #666.
Had to get this off reply #666.
Re: Tim's XS project - April 10 2010 - Phase 2 - Evolution....
Just finishing up the new Suzuki 4LS GT750J front drum mounting... This thing is awesome! Can't wait to test ride it. Will need to trim a bit from the brake stays - those were the hangers that came with my new silencers, and with a couple bends and drilling of holes, they do the trick. Saves me having to make new ones and pay for chroming.
I'm using the top caliper mount from the XS650 forks for the brake stays. Removed the lower caliper mount as it was not going to be used. The brake plates on the Suzuki hub had a few mm milled off the outside to fit in the narrower XS650 forks.
I have the nice screens for the cooling intake on the brake plates, as well as the solid covers more typically used to keep wet out, as well as the black rubber plugs for the holes on the sides of the plates. Will keep all the wet-weather gear tucked away. This is more of a fair-weather ride
Tomorrow the old forks and front wheel are off to Shannonville to their new owner.
Just finishing up the new Suzuki 4LS GT750J front drum mounting...
This thing is awesome! Can't wait to test ride it. Will need to trim a bit from the brake stays - those were the hangers that came with my new silencers, and with a couple bends and drilling of holes, they do the trick. Saves me having to make new ones and pay for chroming.I'm using the top caliper mount from the XS650 forks for the brake stays. Removed the lower caliper mount as it was not going to be used. The brake plates on the Suzuki hub had a few mm milled off the outside to fit in the narrower XS650 forks.
I have the nice screens for the cooling intake on the brake plates, as well as the solid covers more typically used to keep wet out, as well as the black rubber plugs for the holes on the sides of the plates. Will keep all the wet-weather gear tucked away. This is more of a fair-weather ride
Tomorrow the old forks and front wheel are off to Shannonville to their new owner.
CresentSon
Over 1,000 Posts
Re: Tim's XS project - April 17 2010 - 4LS front hub
Holy shinny steel spokes Batman!
Holy shinny steel spokes Batman!
manchestermichael
hello
Re: Tim's XS project - April 17 2010 - 4LS front hub
dam thats good should look out for brake flex with the brake stay arms as i did the same with a much smaller hub and flexed like mad as thay had a bend in them and worked 100 times better when i changed them to steel as my alloy one was not up to the job. would of been fine if theres no bend but mine was the same as yours but saying that you have 2 stays so should be ok plzz let us no how well it stops endo worthy ? what price did you get it for?
dam thats good should look out for brake flex with the brake stay arms as i did the same with a much smaller hub and flexed like mad as thay had a bend in them and worked 100 times better when i changed them to steel as my alloy one was not up to the job. would of been fine if theres no bend but mine was the same as yours but saying that you have 2 stays so should be ok plzz let us no how well it stops endo worthy ? what price did you get it for?
Re: Tim's XS project - April 17 2010 - 4LS front hub
So I got everything pretty much sorted tonight. Got the wheel nice and centered, brake stays trimmed down so they look nice, everything bolted up good and tight.
I'd say it stops better than the old drum, but I think it may be a bit of time before the brand new brake pads are broken in (tell me if I'm wrong on that). I might also pop the wheel back off and give the drum a light sanding to de-glaze it.
Also on the + side I now have a brake light switch on the front end that I was missing with the other brake. The Suzuki lever has a nice little switch built into it. I had wired the bike up for a front switch, so all I had to do was plug the connectors into my harness and voila, brake light! My rear was working, so I did have a brake light before, but its nice to know I don't have to remember to tap my foot to alert idiots behind me.
The Suzuki speedo cable (picked it up new today) works perfectly with the speedo I was running too. Looks to be same ratio as the Yamaha and the cable fit perfectly. Nice and short too.
Above all it looks freakin awesome
For costs... here's the break down. Don't mind telling you it wasn't cheap. But a good investment - increased the value of the bike.
I paid $500 for:
Borrani WM3 18" rim
Buchanan stainless spokes/nipples
Suzuki 4LS hub
Suzuki brake pads - new
Suzuki brake cables - new
Suzuki brake lever
This was a very very good deal. I drove to Erie PA from Toronto for it. It was posted up for sale here on the board and I paid asking price. Typically the hub alone runs $550 or so on eBay. Pads another $100, $40 for cables, $100 for the spokes, $120 for the rim. So I got an easy $900 worth of stuff for $500.
I then paid $70 to have my 2nd set of XS650 fork legs machined to mate with the Suzuki axle and have a few mm taken off the brake plates to make the hub narrow enough to fit.
Turned out the rim didn't mate up well with the hub (spoke angles) so I sold it for $125 and bought a new rim from 650direct for $100.
Paid $50 to have the wheel laced
Paid $40 to have the tire moved over to the new rim
Sold my old front forks and hub/rim for $400
Cost: $500 + $100 + $70 + $50 + $40 = $760
Offset: $400 + $25 = $425
Total to swap out the front end = $335
A well spent $335 I think.
So I got everything pretty much sorted tonight. Got the wheel nice and centered, brake stays trimmed down so they look nice, everything bolted up good and tight.
I'd say it stops better than the old drum, but I think it may be a bit of time before the brand new brake pads are broken in (tell me if I'm wrong on that). I might also pop the wheel back off and give the drum a light sanding to de-glaze it.
Also on the + side I now have a brake light switch on the front end that I was missing with the other brake. The Suzuki lever has a nice little switch built into it. I had wired the bike up for a front switch, so all I had to do was plug the connectors into my harness and voila, brake light! My rear was working, so I did have a brake light before, but its nice to know I don't have to remember to tap my foot to alert idiots behind me.
The Suzuki speedo cable (picked it up new today) works perfectly with the speedo I was running too. Looks to be same ratio as the Yamaha and the cable fit perfectly. Nice and short too.
Above all it looks freakin awesome
For costs... here's the break down. Don't mind telling you it wasn't cheap. But a good investment - increased the value of the bike.
I paid $500 for:
Borrani WM3 18" rim
Buchanan stainless spokes/nipples
Suzuki 4LS hub
Suzuki brake pads - new
Suzuki brake cables - new
Suzuki brake lever
This was a very very good deal. I drove to Erie PA from Toronto for it. It was posted up for sale here on the board and I paid asking price. Typically the hub alone runs $550 or so on eBay. Pads another $100, $40 for cables, $100 for the spokes, $120 for the rim. So I got an easy $900 worth of stuff for $500.
I then paid $70 to have my 2nd set of XS650 fork legs machined to mate with the Suzuki axle and have a few mm taken off the brake plates to make the hub narrow enough to fit.
Turned out the rim didn't mate up well with the hub (spoke angles) so I sold it for $125 and bought a new rim from 650direct for $100.
Paid $50 to have the wheel laced
Paid $40 to have the tire moved over to the new rim
Sold my old front forks and hub/rim for $400
Cost: $500 + $100 + $70 + $50 + $40 = $760
Offset: $400 + $25 = $425
Total to swap out the front end = $335
A well spent $335 I think.
