The last person in the world to finally do an R6 fork swap...

Sackmonkey

New Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Michigan
Visit site
Hi all,

I bought the R6 forks and brakes from Tom here on the forum. They came with R6 calipers, axle and shims. The forks were just rebuilt with new seals and had 1kg springs installed, which are perfect for my fat self (220lbs). I then spent over a month drooling over the parts because we were in the coldest part of winter. Finally, Michigan is warming up a bit, so I tackled it last weekend. I've never pulled forks off a bike before, so it seemed intimidating, but the actual swap was ridiculously easy to do. I think the hardest part was just deciding how to best route the new stainless steel brake lines.

I had my wife measure the sag with the old setup, but haven't checked the new one yet. If she measured correctly, I was at a whopping 52mm of sag in front!

I aired up my tires and went riding for several hours yesterday. I haven't dialed in the shock settings at all yet (I haven't even checked them!), but all I can say is WOW! I'm completely blown away by the change. It still feels like an FZ6, but it's better in every way. I raised the forks up 8.25mm from flush to tweak turn-in response. I thought this was going to be too much and that I'd be happier closer to 5mm, but I was wrong. I'm thrilled with the turn-in and the high speed stability is fine at 100+mph.

Bumps are definitely more noticeable on rough roads, but the bike seems so much more solid and planted that the bumps don't bother me at all. Mid-corner bumps are now irrelevant. Carving corners has never, ever been so fun on this bike.

The improvement to hard braking is huge. I'm not sure how much improvement is due to new pads, the better calipers, or just the fact that the nose-diving is cut down to less than half of stock amount, but those three changes combined are MASSIVE.

For the fender, I reused the stock hardware on the two rear mounting points, but added a washer hidden between the fork and the fender (otherwise the fender has to stretch out a few mm's to reach the fenders). In front, I stole the old design from the PDF online. I spent a couple days teaching myself how to use CAD (using a free trial of Rhino software), then recreated the tab design from the PDF. I then made the parts on a 3D printer at work. They're just plastic, but seem solid enough for now. I just approved a new 3D printer at work that will be able to print with carbon fiber and/or kevlar and can supposedly make parts stronger than aluminum. Once we get that in, I plan to re-print some new tabs with it and will swap those in.

Installing the front tabs was a little tricky to figure out, but I finally got it done. I used four new bolts (cut down in length) and a couple nuts. Once done, the installation is perfectly aligned and completely invisible. THANK YOU to whoever came up with this clever tab design in the first place! I don't know who you are, but I appreciate it.

The new forks look awesome in black, especially with the 2006 black fender. The blue plugs on the calipers actually look really sweet on my red bike. I bought brake lines that had anodize blue on their banjos to make a pretty cool theme out of it. I need to take some pics and post them.

Anyway, if you have ever considered this R6 fork swap but been intimidated by the magnitude of it, don't be. It was a piece of cake and definitely worth doing!

Rob
 

FinalImpact

2 Da Street, Knobs R Gone
Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
11,137
Reaction score
184
Points
63
Location
USA, OR
Visit site
Now do the back! :thumbup:
As you ride it more a couple things to keep in mind.
The critical setting is rebound damping. More often than not many apply too much compression damping but what you need to do is back that off and get the rebound damping dialed by increasing it until the front is slow to rise but doesn't pack down over a continued series of bumps effectively never rising. Perhaps about 3 clicks out from there is a good starting place.
Now dial in the compression damping so such that on your worst road / hardest braking, the nose doesn't bottom out. Place a velcro rip tie around the stanchion tube to monitor how much travel is used during normal riding. Simply push it down to the seal area before you set off. This also makes sag checking a one person job.

Now in the ideal world you get the front and rear behaving equally well and the bike is completely transformed into a whole new ride and is undeniably predictable and stable no matter what happens below you!

Have fun!
 

Barthups

New Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Utah
Visit site
I am trying to to this mod, but there are so many threads online and i got confused. I would like to put on the gold fork, but no one isn’t selling it for cheap. I don’t know if Dak081 still sells the kits, how did you manage to get it on? Little confused on where to get started, but will defenitely try this mod. Can you post some pic of yours?
 

Sackmonkey

New Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Michigan
Visit site
Now do the back! :thumbup:
As you ride it more a couple things to keep in mind.
The critical setting is rebound damping. More often than not many apply too much compression damping but what you need to do is back that off and get the rebound damping dialed by increasing it until the front is slow to rise but doesn't pack down over a continued series of bumps effectively never rising. Perhaps about 3 clicks out from there is a good starting place.
Now dial in the compression damping so such that on your worst road / hardest braking, the nose doesn't bottom out. Place a velcro rip tie around the stanchion tube to monitor how much travel is used during normal riding. Simply push it down to the seal area before you set off. This also makes sag checking a one person job.

Now in the ideal world you get the front and rear behaving equally well and the bike is completely transformed into a whole new ride and is undeniably predictable and stable no matter what happens below you!

Have fun!

Thanks for the advice, FinalImpact. I read a TON of your posts on this topic before taking the plunge and you were a big part of giving me the confidence to attempt it.

I'm super excited to start playing with the suspension settings. Now I'm just waiting for the stupid weather to warm back up and dry out so I can ride it again.
 

Sackmonkey

New Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Michigan
Visit site
I am trying to to this mod, but there are so many threads online and i got confused. I would like to put on the gold fork, but no one isn’t selling it for cheap. I don’t know if Dak081 still sells the kits, how did you manage to get it on? Little confused on where to get started, but will defenitely try this mod. Can you post some pic of yours?

Barthups,

What year is your bike? If '07+, you'll need:
- The correct year R6 forks (lots of threads explain this. I have no idea what year the gold ones were of if they fit.)
- R6 front axle and the bolt (there is no axle bolt on the stock FZ6 because it threads into the FZ6 shocks)
- Shims for the axle (just some specific washers will work fine, no need for the custom stuff people used to get all worked up over)
- Shims for the calipers (just some specific washers will work fine here too)
- Adapters for the front two mounting holes of the fenders (these are custom!)

If you have '06 or earlier, you also need to source a set of R6 calipers (or FZ6 calipers from '07+), and the fender adapters are also different.

I chose to also put on stainless brake lines, but that's optional.

I have extra washers that I'm happy to share (for the axle and calipers). Send me a PM if you get serious about the project. If you have an '06 or earlier, I could even 3D print you some fender tabs. They're just plastic (our new carbon fiber printer still hasn't arrived), but mine seem to be holding up fine so far.. very solid actually.

Here are a couple pics. If there's something specific you want to see, let me know.

Rob


Forks side.jpgForks side 2.jpg
 

FinalImpact

2 Da Street, Knobs R Gone
Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
11,137
Reaction score
184
Points
63
Location
USA, OR
Visit site
Bart
There is no bolt on solution allowing an inverted gold fork with the radial mounted caliper to jump onto an elderly FZ6. Now if you are willing to machine upper/lower triples or fit bushings to adapt R6 stem to fit the FZ chassis, well then the whole wheel including brakes, forks and all that, yes you can. But it is not by any means a bolt on solution without the aid of a mill and a lathe!

The R6 forks in this thread are 2002 - 2003 and the R6S from 07 to 09 IIRC. They are not inverted.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:

FinalImpact

2 Da Street, Knobs R Gone
Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
11,137
Reaction score
184
Points
63
Location
USA, OR
Visit site
Thanks for the advice, FinalImpact. I read a TON of your posts on this topic before taking the plunge and you were a big part of giving me the confidence to attempt it.

I'm super excited to start playing with the suspension settings. Now I'm just waiting for the stupid weather to warm back up and dry out so I can ride it again.


Good to hear. Seriously if you can set some funds aside for a rear shock it will pay for itself. The two ends are the only thing connecting you to the road so getting it sprung properly and having the damping rates set for your weight and style makes a monumental difference in the fun factor.

In 2011 when I got the bike I was paycheck to paycheck after an expensive D. So anything that went on the fizzer was critical funds. Things are bit different now but I'm riding less and less. Fix the rear. You won't be disappointed.
 

Sackmonkey

New Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Michigan
Visit site
Good to hear. Seriously if you can set some funds aside for a rear shock it will pay for itself. The two ends are the only thing connecting you to the road so getting it sprung properly and having the damping rates set for your weight and style makes a monumental difference in the fun factor.

In 2011 when I got the bike I was paycheck to paycheck after an expensive D. So anything that went on the fizzer was critical funds. Things are bit different now but I'm riding less and less. Fix the rear. You won't be disappointed.

The rear is definitely on my radar. I just need to let the wallet cool off a bit first (or I'll have my own Big D to manage!). ;)
 

Barthups

New Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Utah
Visit site
Sackmonkey & finalimpact

Thanks for the quick response. My fz6 is a 06. I really do like the inverted fork look, but with all that machine work, I have decided to go with the standard one. I just purchased an 09 r6s front set. Hopefully, everything will work out. Sackmonkey, if you send me those items that you’ve mentioned I would really appreciate it

Once the forks are done, I am planning on switching the rear to r6 swingarm. I really like how it looks on jtarkany and vision’s bike. I am not so sure if that’ll provide better performance, but we shall see lol. If you guys have any insight on that, please let me know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

FinalImpact

2 Da Street, Knobs R Gone
Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
11,137
Reaction score
184
Points
63
Location
USA, OR
Visit site
One observation is that although that swingarm looks cool, just go buy the R6 if you want that look as none of the owners appear to keep these bikes with that level of modification.

One big issue is getting room to mount the shock where it belong on our cast frame. Be careful chopping on the cast frame.

Put a good shock on the rear and deck the rest out without headache!
JM2C...
 
Top