USD Conversion

[surfib]

Good deal??

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/mcy/968071126.html

[ThumperTDC]

Not sure what year the forks are, but I spent probably $500 on my conversion...............so if its newer forks than I would say its a good deal.

[Dwight_Rudder]

Personally, I think your stock forks are probably better or can be modified to be better than USD forks.

Dwight

[AHRMA17L]

I'd spend the $300 on a revalve from Precision Concepts. You'd have a superb set of forks without the decreased turning radius, the tank interference issues and the funny geometry change.

[kawamatt2]

I'd spend the $300 on a revalve from Precision Concepts. You'd have a superb set of forks without the decreased turning radius, the tank interference issues and the funny geometry change.

Both very good points. Unless your just looking to change the looks of the bike money might be better spent working over the stock forks.

With that said, $300 for all that seems like a good deal but those forks appear to be quite old. Definitely not 2000'- era. I'd want to know exactly how the guy gets the stock XR wheel to work and what way he went with the steering stem.

[surfib]

I think the guy is a machinist as I called him and he machines a new axle and a new stem.

The only reason i looked is because there seems to be some interest in the conversion.

What exactly is the reason for the conversion? newer tech, better dampening, more tunability?

[AHRMA17L]

I think the guy is a machinist as I called him and he machines a new axle and a new stem.

The only reason i looked is because there seems to be some interest in the conversion.

What exactly is the reason for the conversion? newer tech, better dampening, more tunability?

People do the conversion for any number of reasons, from the cool factor, to increased stiffness, to yes, a wider range of damping capibility/range.

I have done three conversions to the XR400 over the years, the first was a 1992 KX500 Fork Conversion on a 1997 XR400, the second was a later 90's CR250R fork ona a 1998 XR400 and the last was a 2006 CRF250R complete fork/wheel/brake assembly on the 2002 XR400.

Believe it or not, as far as overall performace went, the KX500 fork worked the best, although I never like the mess of various parts necessary to make it all work. The cleanest and most sano conversion was the last one where I used the complete CRF250R front rent withan Emig Stem. It looked like it came from Honda. We won't even get into the conversion with the late 90's forks on the 1998 bike.

Personally, I'll never do another conversion, unless someone can make a 1995-1998 RM250 or DRZ fork work on the XR.

The increase regidity was a definate plus--you won't believe how much the XR forks actually flex, but the changes in geometry, ride height and so forth make the XR kind of frankenbike like, and very unbalanced. Except for the KX500 fork conversion, I never shortened the forks to match the XR--who knows, that may have been the magic trick, but I find it hard to believe that even shortening them 1-1.5 inches would compensate for the 3-3.5 inch increase in steering head tube height increase.

IMHO, the best thing a person can do is send out both the fork and shock to the same suspension shop, have them set up so that you will have correct balance in the chassis. The XR400 is a very capable chassis, the suspension is just out of balance.

[Campisi]

People do the conversion for any number of reasons, from the cool factor, to increased stiffness, to yes, a wider range of damping capibility/range.

I have done three conversions to the XR400 over the years, the first was a 1992 KX500 Fork Conversion on a 1997 XR400, the second was a later 90's CR250R fork ona a 1998 XR400 and the last was a 2006 CRF250R complete fork/wheel/brake assembly on the 2002 XR400.

Believe it or not, as far as overall performace went, the KX500 fork worked the best, although I never like the mess of various parts necessary to make it all work. The cleanest and most sano conversion was the last one where I used the complete CRF250R front rent withan Emig Stem. It looked like it came from Honda. We won't even get into the conversion with the late 90's forks on the 1998 bike.

Personally, I'll never do another conversion, unless someone can make a 1995-1998 RM250 or DRZ fork work on the XR.

The increase regidity was a definate plus--you won't believe how much the XR forks actually flex, but the changes in geometry, ride height and so forth make the XR kind of frankenbike like, and very unbalanced. Except for the KX500 fork conversion, I never shortened the forks to match the XR--who knows, that may have been the magic trick, but I find it hard to believe that even shortening them 1-1.5 inches would compensate for the 3-3.5 inch increase in steering head tube height increase.

IMHO, the best thing a person can do is send out both the fork and shock to the same suspension shop, have them set up so that you will have correct balance in the chassis. The XR400 is a very capable chassis, the suspension is just out of balance.

Maybe the reason the KX500 forks worked best was because you lowered them whereas the others you did not? I put a set of twin-chamber showas on my XR250 and hated the extra height, even after raising the tubes in the clamps as far as they could go. I then lowered the forks by 2" and it's much, much better but now I have the tubes as low as possible in the clamps and I think I went slightly too far as I get a little head shake on the road at 60MPH! I need to acquire another set of springs (hopefully .38's or .42's) to cut - I think I'll go 1 1/2" short this time and then use the tube height in the clamps as fine adjustment. The forks do work really well. I also just like monkeying around with my bikes.