[bikerjosh]

So after lots of dicking around I'm finally making progress on my new fork for the TW. Found a pair of 97 RT180 forks on ebay, pulled them apart replaced the seals, found an old pair of 92' tw forks on ebay for the crown, had them bored out to accept 35mm tubes and ordered some new boots.

Originally it looked as though the TW caliper might work, but after getting both forks apart and side by side that is not the case. Have a caliper and hose from a 97' RT on the way, shoudl be here by the weekend.

Here are some pics of the fork legs and a couple from the front of the bike.

So far I'm into this project about $100 for the two forks,front brake/hose, seals and new boots.

Josh

 

[neverseemefall]

So after lots of dicking around I'm finally making progress on my new fork for the TW. Found a pair of 97 RT180 forks on ebay, pulled them apart replaced the seals, found an old pair of 92' tw forks on ebay for the crown, had them bored out to accept 35mm tubes and ordered some new boots.

Originally it looked as though the TW caliper might work, but after getting both forks apart and side by side that is not the case. Have a caliper and hose from a 97' RT on the way, shoudl be here by the weekend.

Here are some pics of the fork legs and a couple from the front of the bike.

So far I'm into this project about $100 for the two forks,front brake/hose, seals and new boots.

Josh

 

[neverseemefall]

OK, I want one. That looks like the right fork for the mighty dub. How much height did it add to the front? How much ride height did just the fork add? Guess I'll have wait for a full ride report.

 

[TWrider]

Looks good Josh, looks like my idea worked, Do you still need pics of the XT200 caps?

BTW for those of you with front drums, the same mod can be made with XT200 forks which are very similar in dimension to the RT forks, except they are setup for drums.



PS Josh: If it still doesn't work after new RT caliper, you may need the RT or XT rotor

 

[Dyno]

Forks are nice, but I want to see more pics of the Lotus Seven!

 

[bikerjosh]

I think the forks will add about 1.5" of ride height (not counting sag). Tough to say until the bike is back on the ground. Hopefully this will give me better front in suspension and level the bike out. Here is a shot of the bike form the side. Keep in mind I'm sporting a 3" lengthened swingarm, and banshee rear shock with a spacer and v-star rear spring. Lengthening the swingarm made the rear suspension so much more active I needed to play with the front.



More pics of the 7? I'll have to dig around for those. I've been lagging on building the seat bottom and reviting in a plate for the anit-sub strap.

Josh

 

[TWrider]

I think the forks will add about 1.5" of ride height (not counting sag). Tough to say until the bike is back on the ground. Hopefully this will give me better front in suspension and level the bike out. Here is a shot of the bike form the side. Keep in mind I'm sporting a 3" lengthened swingarm, and banshee rear shock with a spacer and v-star rear spring. Lengthening the swingarm made the rear suspension so much more active I needed to play with the front.



More pics of the 7? I'll have to dig around for those. I've been lagging on building the seat bottom and reviting in a plate for the anit-sub strap.

Josh

Can't wait for the test report, have you thought about a custom fork spring rate?

 

[bikerjosh]

Ok, so long time no post.

Been working on my new (to me) 4runner, cause I need something to haul the tw to the trailhead.

Pic at the bottom of post.



So when I swapped the forks, I lost my speedo due to cable routing. Picked up a Vapor from a forum member with speed, and temp sensor. Allowed me to remove the tiny tacometer I had been using and go with one unit. I couldn't use the guard sent with the vapor, but mounting turned out good. Cut a piece of alum and sandwiched a rubber gasket between it and the plastic speedo mount. Works awesome, although I haven't the "up shift" warning lights.

Still not enough seat time on the forks, but will likely need stiffer progressive springs, suspension feels like my ttr250, read: very plush.

and this is what has been occupying most of my time.

 

[Tferre]

Man im jealous, wish I had the time and money to mod mine out like yours. Very impressive. Thanks for the post.

 

[TWrider]

sweet, 35mm forks in stock triples. Did you finally get the brake working properly? did you go with air caps or stock? I would get springs match directly to your weight.

What was the problem with the speedo routing? It should be on the same side as TW forks.

Did you have to shim rotor to get caliper to line up?





Anyone with drum brakes can do a similar mod, just substitute the rt fork for xt200 units and bore the triples the same way as Josh did, but remember Josh's bike also has a slight rear lift as well.

 

[TWrider]

How about some pics of the finished product sitting on the ground under it's own weight?

 

[bikerjosh]

How about some pics of the finished product sitting on the ground under it's own weight?

So the problem with speedo clearance, the fork legs don't have enough clearance where the speedo cable goes to the inside of the fork leg. If you had a longer speedo cable you might be able to rotate the reciever around, but the cable would be exposed to front impacts with braches etc.



Brake is now fixed, good stopping power, and didn't have to shim it. Used a rt180 caliper.



Here are some pics on the ground.

thanks

 

[sorethumb]

Is that a homemade Kaiser sled at the bottom? Man I HATE those things...

BTW, I like the Red Bull can!

 

[bikerjosh]

Is that a homemade Kaiser sled at the bottom? Man I HATE those things...

BTW, I like the Red Bull can!

Too funny, no not a keiser sled (my dad was captain in the LA city FD for 21 years)

Actually it's the underside of an alum ramp for my race car trailer. The PO loaded a passenger car on the trailer that was made to haul a sub 1100lb car. Ramps bent and I was trying to straigten them before having an additional support welded in.

J

 

[TWrider]

"Brake is now fixed, good stopping power, and didn't have to shim it. Used a rt180 caliper."



Do you mean an RT180 ROTOR? or does the TW rotor work with the rt180 caliper?



bummer about the speedo cable, I was hoping that would work, You'd think it would work because it works on a rt180/dt200 bike (however that is routed) Or are you trying to use a TW speedo drive with RT forks instead?

 

[bikerjosh]

Rotor: tw200 disk and 97 RT180 disk are the same. Didn't figure that out until I bought one off ebay. At least I paid less than $10 with shipping. Live and learn.



For the speedo, I was using tw speedo cable and tw gear (or whatever you call that thing attached to the front hub).



Josh

 

[bikerjosh]

Anyone with drum brakes can do a similar mod, just substitute the rt fork for xt200 units and bore the triples the same way as Josh did, but remember Josh's bike also has a slight rear lift as well.

Actually it might be even better with a stock swingarm and shock, due to the front end beeing a little taller.

I needed longer forks to balance out the height with the banshee shock, bighorn tire and lengthened swingarm.

 

[TWrider]

Rotor: tw200 disk and 97 RT180 disk are the same. Didn't figure that out until I bought one off ebay. At least I paid less than $10 with shipping. Live and learn.



For the speedo, I was using tw speedo cable and tw gear (or whatever you call that thing attached to the front hub).



Josh

that's probably part of the problem, maybe a rt180 style gear would work? although I'm not sure if they're blanked for the RT, I know the early style rt (gear on the right) gear is blanked(unmachined).

 

[bikerjosh]

[quote name='bikerjosh' date='11 May 2011 - 08:49 AM' timestamp='1305132573' post='18206']

Ok, so long time no post.

So when I swapped the forks, I lost my speedo due to cable routing. Picked up a Vapor from a forum member with speed, and temp sensor. Allowed me to remove the tiny tacometer I had been using and go with one unit. I couldn't use the guard sent with the vapor, but mounting turned out good. Cut a piece of alum and sandwiched a rubber gasket between it and the plastic speedo mount. Works awesome, although I haven't the "up shift" warning lights.

Still not enough seat time on the forks, but will likely need stiffer progressive springs, suspension feels like my ttr250, read: very plush.

Quick question, regarding engine temps. I hooked up the temp sensor to the engine case, to get a ballpark temp reading. Using this technique any idea what I should be looking for or rather when the oil is likely getting too hot?

thanks josh

 

[bikerjosh]

As an update to the RT180 fork swap:

Just got back from Death Valley trip the combination of the rt180 fork legs, extended swingarm/banshee shock/v-star spring and spacer exceeded my expectations. The bike is awesome in the dirt. I was a little worried I'd bottom out the front suspension because it seemed so plush in the initial part of stroke, but that didn't occur. This was my first real world test of the suspension. The bike now feels like my ttr250, lots of fun and great for floating through sand.

Josh