Doing things the hard but awesome way...

[geddyt]

My brother bought an FZ-07 for his first street bike.  It's an awesome little machine, so after testing one out, I called him first thing and told him, "I've found your bike, Man!"
 
Thing is, though, he's a bit bigger than me, so monkey + football... you get the point.  He likes the bike a lot, but didn't like the big front end dive during braking, lack of stopping power, etc.
 
So we're sitting there one day last summer in his garage, talking about his thoughts on the bike, and I'm looking back and forth between his track bike and his FZ, and it got my brain working a bit...  So, a "mere" nine months later, here's quite possibly the first FZ-07 with a GSX-R600 front end grafted on:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
He's pretty new to riding, so his GSX-R600 track bike is a little overkill, but it was priced too well to refuse, and it came with some really tasty suspension that was already setup for his weight (bike was cheaper than just the suspension upgrades would cost someone). He only does a couple track days per year, so why not put that fork to good use the rest of the summer, right?
 
The fork legs already had GP Suspension extenders on them to help bring the front end up closer to stock ride height (and GP cartridges to match). It just so happens that Suzuki's blue wheels from '06 are an exact color match to Yamaha's FZ-07 blue. A matte black front fender off eBay completed the look for dirt cheap.
 
I originally figured it would be an afternoon project, with conversion bearings from All Balls (their chart showed the swap as possible), a K6 GSX-R600 lower triple and stem, a K5 GSX-R1000 upper triple (centered ignition tumbler and identical offset and fork leg center-to-center as the '06 600). It ended up being much more difficult, though. For starters, the Gixxer top clamp, although having a centered ignition opening, didn't match up well with the headlight assembly. I also just didn't like how flimsy it seemed after drilling through it for the handlebar risers. I know plenty of guys are rocking drilled sport bike cast upper triples on SV650s, but it just didn't sit well with me. Beyond that, the GSX-R steering stem didn't even come close to aligning with the FZ-07 steering tube. The stem was slightly short overall, but it also didn't have enough lower thread to get the upper bearing locking nuts on.
 
For this latter problem, we first tried an '05 R6 stem pressed into the GSX-R lower triple. Internet research suggested it used identical bearings as the Gixxer stem but fit into a steering tube the same length as the FZ. Once again, though, there were design differences that prevented it from working. So we scrapped the whole idea and started from scratch instead. First, I went to eMachineshop.com and designed and priced a custom upper triple clamp, leaving off as many finishing operations as I could get away with to keep the cost reasonable. Five weeks and $250 later I had a really sweet blank to convert into a top triple clamp (just needed to drill and tap clamping bolt holes and split the clamps on the table saw):
 

 

 

 
It came out perfectly! Well except, in a "measure twice, cut once" failure, I designed the steering stem hole to be 2 mm too large in diameter, so I had to turn a sleeve and press it in. Otherwise, everything was located perfectly, right down to the ignition tumbler ring fitting perfectly into the headlight trim, and with built-in tabs for the upper headlight assembly mounting bolts.  The stock steering lock is even retained!
 
The steering stem was a bit tougher. I've wanted a lathe for about 15 years now--ever since I took that machining course in college. Figured it was finally time to get one. So I bought a little Chinese lathe, made some improvements to it so that it would actually make decent parts, and tried my hand at a custom steering stem. And got it right on the fourth try... I'm not worried about a few extra ounces of aluminum, so I didn't line bore it all the way through, but I did machine a pin hole on the bottom for a front stand so that he can easily swap the fork legs back onto his track bike a few times a year. And the end result was a stem that fits and works perfectly.
 
Front end went on, headlight went on easily (we were going to fab up a lower mounting bracket, but the two upper bolts actually hold the headlight in place plenty well), installed some Spiegler lines between a Gixxer master cylinder and a set of Gixxer calipers all sourced from eBay for cheap, and had the local shop swap the stock front tire onto a blue Gixxer rim sourced from eBay as well. Yanked the front brake light switch off of my R1 track bike and threw that on there as well to keep the brakes legal, so that was free. Oh yeah, and a Penske double-clicker in the rear topped it all off.
 
The end result? It WORKS! The geometry is definitely now more sport-bike-ish. The front end sits at about the same height as before (slightly shorter but stiffer fork), but the rear is quite a bit higher thanks to a proper shock. So it's steeper in the front, but it also has more trail (GSX-R has 7 mm more trail than the FZ-07 stock) to return any lost stability. Due to being more on its nose, the bike isn't as wheelie-prone as it is stock, if you're into that sort of thing, but it's completely stable, turns in precisely and quickly, holds a line perfectly through a turn, and just rails. It feels exactly like you'd think it would feel to sit upright on a supersport with riser bars. I intentionally aimed for potholes and road turtles on my test rides, testing for compromised comfort, and this setup is definitely a lot harsher over square-edged hits than the stock sponge. Then again, I'm about 40 pounds light for this setup, and the shock isn't even broken in.
 
I'm calling it a complete success. Definitely took a lot longer than planned. Ended up costing slightly less overall than upgrading the stock front end with cartridges and whatever you'd be able to do with the brakes*, and I'm guessing it performs better than that would, too. Then again, definitely took a lot longer than planned...
 
*I suppose this wouldn't be the case if he didn't already own a sweet set of donor forks.

[JanM]

Nice - looks like a good result, congrats!

[pgeldz]

I applaud you for your efforts! Great info!
 

 
- Paulie

[Beemer]

Not a project that everyone is up to but a damn nice job! Sounds like it's going to work alright and it looks sharp! Are you a mechanic?

[geddyt]

Not a project that everyone is up to but a damn nice job! Sounds like it's going to work alright and it looks sharp! Are you a mechanic?

Sort of.  I was a vehicular design student for a few years in college, but I didn't really put a lot of effort into it at the time due to other distractions, so I'm 99% self-taught.  I did take a few machining courses, CAD/CAM courses, etc. at the time that at least taught me what's possible, but most of this project was all YouTube University and Google graduate school...  I mostly just started doing my own wrenching to make dirt and track riding (and owning a Ford...) more affordable.  Done several engine rebuilds (see: Ford...), built a handful of track bikes, etc. 
None of that really mattered for this build, though.  If you've got some accurate measuring tools and patience with research, this front end swap is doable for even a novice mechanic.  The most important part is deciding what donor front end you want to use, as fork leg length, offset, and steering bearing sizes are important--maybe even color/look of the wheel, if you're into that sort of thing.  I spent a bit of time at the local dealership with a tape measure, comparing various bikes and considering donor parts.  Since we used a GSX-R front end, the SV650 guys are a wealth of knowledge as far as dimensions and geometry goes.  Not sure what's out there if you want to use Yamaha parts.
 
As to getting down to actually making the parts fit, again, it's all about measuring things accurately, designing hybrid parts to adapt the new front end to the bike, and sending it off to a machine shop to be made.  I turned the steering stem for this project, but I believe there are companies that will make you a custom steering stem for a few hundred bucks.  And make no mistake about it: I doubt there is an off-the-shelf steering stem that will work on this bike due to the weird top nut arrangement in the stock setup.  Not sure how C. Dolan got around that, as I don't remember reading that he made one.
 
I used eMachineshop.com for the top triple clamp, as it's pretty affordable for custom CNC machining.  You do NOT have to be a CAD expert to use their software.  The downside to this is that, in an effort to make the software user friendly, it's extremely limited, not parametric at all, and pretty much horrible in general.  But you can learn it very quickly, and it got the job done.
 
With parts made, the rest was pretty straightforward.  If you can install your own rearsets and clip-ons and bleed brakes and whatnot, you can do this build.  Should you?  I don't know.  I haven't ridden this bike with cartridge emulators installed, so not sure how this setup compares.  The front end swap route is definitely the more expensive, labor intensive, and time consuming way to go if you don't have access to machine tools and are having to buy all of the parts to make it work.
 
Anyway, thanks for the kind words, guys!  My brother's loving the bike, so it must be working well.

[Beemer]

You make it sound easy.  :-S

[motomeek]

You make it sound easy.  :-S

I agree  8-)  
 
 

[gregjet]

Beautiful and elegant job.
Makes me think of designing a set of triples for the std forks with steeper angle and more trail to help load the front a bit more. Kill 2 birds with one stone. USD forks are always nicer though.

[geddyt]

Beautiful and elegant job. Makes me think of designing a set of triples for the std forks with steeper angle and more trail to help load the front a bit more. Kill 2 birds with one stone. USD forks are always nicer though.

Thanks! 
I'm not sure you'd want to design a triple clamp to steepen the fork.  It's possible and sometimes done (mostly in the chopper world), but usually rake is established with frame geometry (angle of the steering tube, etc.), and triple clamps are bored straight.  Your specialized triple clamp would get the job done, sure, but it seems a lot more difficult than just lifting the rear end up, which this bike really needs anyway.  You get increased ride height and cornering clearance and a steeper rake in one fell swoop.  The trail, though, you're right that this is something that needs addressed once you steepen the front end, which is where your custom triple clamp would do the trick with a different offset.
 
I had an '03 CBR600RR track bike with an amazing front end, so think the USD vs. standard fork debate is picking nits at the level of something like an FZ-07, particularly one that's ridden on the street.  With proper adjustable cartridges, a standard fork can be quite good, making the main advantage of the USD setup the ability to mount much better brakes.  And even that may be a bit overkill.
 
With your custom complete triple clamp, though, the sky's the limit as to what you could bolt on there, so you might as well go nuts.  It's my understanding that there's a guy in SoCal that's already making complete triple clamps to adapt a modern R6 front end onto these bikes.  I've heard that he's only making them available, though, as part of a complete kit for race conversion, but take that with a grain of salt.
 
Like I wrote above, the main reason we went with a Gixxer USD front end is because we already had one on hand.  If I could have popped, say, a pair of pre-2005 stock R6 fork legs right into the FZ-07 triple clamp and made it work, I'd have been all over that route.  Probably could have bought an old R6 fork for less than we spent to have the upper triple clamp machined.  But I couldn't find donor fork legs that would fit, and projects are always fun anyway.  Ideally, the top triple clamp that I designed would taper down to drop the fork legs lower (raise the front end), allowing for shorter forks and geometry tweaks, but once you get into machining parts that are three-dimensional like that, the price skyrockets.  My dream is to one day own a 3-axis VMC, and on that day I'll be able to start doing things right and machining real custom triple clamps (and any other part I want) like you're thinking of doing.

[gregjet]

I already have the rear raised 25mm, but, as Pattonme has pointed out, these things have not a lot of trail std. so dropping the Triple clamps down the forks will give me a steeper front end but the trail will be even shorter.
If you make a set of clamps that have less offset you can increase the trail with the legs in the stock height position. If you then drop the clamps down the forks will be steeper and now have more acceptable trail. It will also bring the axle back towards the CoG and load the front a bit more , which in my opinion, these bikes need. It would allow both things I want, steeper forks with same trail and front tucked back a bit for more surefooted front.

[drewnabobber]

Would you be willing to share your cad files at all? Totally understand if not, you put a lot of great work into this. I just also have a GSXR front-end sitting around I'd like to put on my FZ.

[rick]

Wow, Awesome work!

[hugson2wheels]

Awesome stuff!!!

[geddyt]

Would you be willing to share your cad files at all? Totally understand if not, you put a lot of great work into this. I just also have a GSXR front-end sitting around I'd like to put on my FZ.

Sorry, I don't hang out here a lot, so I'm just seeing this.  Unfortunately, I don't have the CAD files anymore, otherwise I'd totally give them to you.  The file is in emachineshop.com's proprietary software format, so they're not all that useful, anyway.  Plus there are a few mistakes in the final design that I'd want changed before sticking somebody else with it.  I think I still have all the dimensions, though, so feel free to send me a PM if you want all of that.  Like I said, I don't hang out around here much, so probably won't see a post here. 
In other news, my brother is still loving the bike.  After breaking the shock in, it's even better than it was before.  He rode the hell out of it all summer long, but it's parked in the garage for the winter now.

[rowdy]

I somehow missed this thread when it was originally posted, but I have to commend you on some awesome work! It is really nice to have so many talented people contributing to this forum!

[fzar]

Outstanding work, staring with my mouth wide open.
 

[Roman]

Great job! I wanna try same, can u upload 3D model of parts ?