B1250 Front End Transplant

I have been thinking about a ‘final’ solution to the (IMHO) craptacular B1250 front-end. I have been working away at it for a while now and so far have installed:
• Cogent/Holeshot 1.1 kg/mm springs
• Racetech Next Gen Gold compression valves
• Rebound damping modified to suit the 1.1 springs
• Holeshot fork brace

While all this stuff has improved the front-end performance hugely over stock I am still feeling limited by:
• The puny fork leg diameter (given the girl’s beefy weight)
• The lack of rebound and compression damping adjustment
• The not brilliant braking feel (this is an ABS model) despite the stainless lines and Hardie-Freodo pads.

So, I have identified 3 options:
1. Late model Hayabusa (K8+). The pro’s are 43mm USD forks with low friction coating, full adjustability and radial calipers. The con’s are cost (about USD1000 for the forks, triple clamps and brakes), and will need another upper triple clamp with handlebar mounts. The biggest issue is that I believe that he ‘Busa forks are about 50mm shorter which may result in an unacceptable change in geometry or clearance issue with the radiator (and we all know there’s not a hell of a lot of clearance there anyway)
2. CBR 600 F4i forks. Like the B1250 forks these are 43 mm Showa’s but have full damping adjustability and I believe they are pretty similar in length to the B1250 units. This would probably be the most straightforward conversion as I could use the stock triple clamps and may even be able to re-use the fork brace. So pro’s are cost (should be able to pick up the fork legs for about A$300), and compatibility. The main con is that they are still only 43mm and so may not address the flex that I think I have with my current set-up
3. GSX1400 front-end. 45mm kayaba’s with compression and rebound adjustment and six pot brakes. This is probably my favoured option as these are about the right length and should be reasonably compatible as they are, after all, Suzuki. The con is that it may be hard to get a hold of one as they never went to the US so that source is out. Probably there will also be the cost of re-doing the spring rate and damping.

So, I’d appreciate your thoughts as AFAIK no-one has yet done a B1250 front end transplant.

Cheers Peter

lotsa work and lotsa money....

I don't believe RWU forks are worth the effort when swapping one set for another...

USD forks are a million miles better and now that the majority of sportsbikes come with them standard, they are a lot cheaper to buy than a few years ago.

Yes the steering geometry will change if you go to shorter forks, but unless you graft a set off a pitbike, the changes are only going to be for the better.
Here is an awesome chart with a heap of info for front end swaps:

potatomasher wrote:lotsa work and lotsa money....

Actually it is neither.

Mine cost about $600 total (forks, clamps, wheel, brake calipers, discs) and apart from getting the stem pressed out of my Bandit bottom clamp and into the GSX-R one took about 20 minutes to complete.

Thanks CruiseControl, I also posted on Max-Suzuki and one of the guys there put me onto this site http://www.billetbikebits.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_2 ,so its looks like I could go either the gxsr1000 K5+ or hayabusa k8+ route and maintain acceptable geometry, ground clearance and front wheel clearance. So now I just need the donor parts.

Regards Peter