Toe up

Tore her up a bit last night.

I want to at least start with the same length as the original forks, so some measurements are in order. I took the measurements I wanted, but as a precaution also spray painted the interface area with some cheapie spray bomb in case I needed to find this dimension after removing the forks. It will wipe of with most solvents when I decide I don't need it anymore.

 Original is about 2 inches longer than the new R6r parts. Which is a bit of a relief because the R6 head tube is a lot longer than the VFR tube and I was worried about the lower clamp landing too high on the R6 forks... if that makes any sense.

 So pretty. The lower bearing might fit right up, sure felt like it did, but the upper isn't even close, in this picture the ball bearings are just sitting on the top rim of the tube. So there's still a ways to go. Looks good though.

 Now I need to see if I can find some bearings that have a 22mm ID and an OD to match the VFR wheel. If not I'm going to have to have an axle made and I'm not looking forward to that.

Bear with me

I've already tapped the races into the steering head so I can't show you the full stack, but it doesn't add any height

Old ball bearing stack on the left, new tapered roller on the right... minus the outside race.

The astute viewer will note that I had to use the thin washer (.125) to get the spacing correct.

give her a whack or two... I didn't heat or chill anything, just sprayed the seat down with a good coat of WD40 and got some PVC pipe to direct the pressure.

and she's home...

...and ready to be packed

like this

the upper bearing on the other hand is less than a perfect fit... hopefully I wont have to eat my words, but I don't think it will matter. The seal's kind of silly though.

Before

After

Getting your' bearings

Bearings are expensive, and I don't like working in the cold... so I'm moving slow, and moving inside.

These pics were on my good camera so I'll be posting some more soon