V649HP-Kawasaki's new gravel runner

Impressive.

naw, it's all in the build thread for anyone interested. coincidental that you mention "parts list", since just this morning i got a PM requesting that exact thing.

wishing you well on the job hunt.

well, the problem is those are Versys clamps, no mounts at present. i'll dream up something, i'm good at that.

i think you're right on the broke beak. not much of a fairing on this one, it's real naked.

...then a little mad max on the lights.

me either, but then i don't want anything to break. riders that haven't been up on those northern road don't understand the price you could end up paying for an unreliable or poorly prepped machine.

PM on the way to ya.

thanks, i should have taken some "before" photos. what a mess.

Oh Yeah ... I keep thinking you have the DRZ triple clamps installed ... any chance you could marry the bottom DRZ clamp to the Versys top ... that would solve 3 issues ... more clearence for the travel ... provide a fender mount ... no spacers needed for the bottom clamp ... still retain handle bar mount to get above the Versys tank ... what do you think ...

i'll work something out with the Versys clamps. others have run a high fender on the Versys, but i think they just drill the bottom clamp, and i want to avoid that. i don't see where the DRZ clamps allow more movement anyway.

i did lower the forks in the clamps 15mm before i tightened them up.

I think the DRZ steering head is longer than the Versys head ... thus the gull wing design ... to make the spacing between the clamps the same ... meaning installing the DRZ lower clamp in the Versys steering head will raise the lower clamp area ... however the stem will stick out the top farther ... I'm sure you get the picture ...

The pic in post 361 is impressive, looks cleaner than a new bike. I got this dirty KLR.........unfortunately it is -20 and my garage has very limited heating, so no detailing goin on. Can't wait to see this beast completed.

here's the picture.

the DRZ uses about 235mm of space in the clamps and 15mm to the bottom of the fender mount. gull wing yes, but the difference doesn't look like much.



the Versys clamps are about 240mm with no fender mount at present. by the time the mount is in place, the overall dimensions will be almost identical.



so the DRZ clamp is really only worth about 5mm, less than a 1/4", with fork interference being the bottom clamp, if there's that much travel.

thanks. ya need to get a wood stove in there and burn up a bunch of spruce like everyone else.

Spruce, Pine or Hemlock. We lost enough of those in that freak storm in early December. Christ Fred, you can come get some of the stuff bucked up in my front yard!

jdrocks...will you hurry up and make some progress already...I wanna see more pics!

the UPS guy brought me my custom R1 shock this afternoon. man, what a beauty. stock spring on right.



i sent my stock R1 with the OEM spring still mounted over to Cannon Racecraft (http://www.cannonracecraft.com/) after talking by phone with Tony, the shop foreman at Cannon. they hadn't built a spring for this shock previously, and i wanted a spring built to this specific shock, not a generic spring that might need extra collars. Tony wanted the whole shock, so i put it in the mail thursday, a week ago.

i called Cannon at 9am the following monday, and caught up with Tony just as he was opening the box. i wanted a 16kg/mm or 900lb/in spring built, and Tony replied "let me check a few things and i'll call you back".

at exactly 11am, only two hours later, Tony is back on the phone "your spring is done and i sent it over for powdercoating. tests at 16.1kg/mm, say 900lbs/in". it took two days waiting in line until they powdercoated a batch in gloss black, but the elapsed time in the Cannon shop for this custom spring was only three days. talk about smokin' service from Cannon Racecraft, thanks Tony.

Tony kept the spec sheet for this spring, so if you want a custom R1 spring you can have it built to just about any rate and mailed directly to you. just call Cannon, and ask for Tony, he'll fix ya up.

the spring cost $109, powdercoated in your choice of color.

i still need to bore the bushings, but exclusive of postage, this custom shock has cost a whopping $134. not too bad.

i thought i better add a post script: the R1 shock i am using is a 2008 model. there are some differences in the R1 shock over the model years, and i am not 100% sure all the stock springs are the same. verify first, or you can send Tony the whole shock, as i did.

jdrocks,
That's good information about Cannon Racecraft. I have two Yamaha R1 shocks like yours that I bought for a car project. My plan was to try using them on my 1964 Lotus Seven replica, as a low cost alternative to the expensive car shocks out there.

Thanks for posting their info.

SamM

Thanks for taking the time to check it out ... I'm so inquisitive because I have an extra set of DRZ forks w/clamps sitting in my garage ... they were going to be for another project ... however now I think they will be applied to a ninja/versys build ... I still like the Idea of having the DRZ bottom clamp married to the Versys top ... are the stem sizes the same ...?

geez, the ADV nation never sleeps.

maybe i can bore the bushings sometime today and get that shock on there.


got a cheap used taillight sent in from the UK too. now the build has some international flavor built in.

no problem. Cannon Racecraft people are great to do business with. Tony is top notch, not put off in the least by my request for a custom R1 spring, and then had it done in 2 hours.

happy to take a look at it for ya.

i thought about the DRZ clamps, and actually contacted a guy that could do the machine work for about $250, but in the end i stuck with what i had. as is usually the case, you would swap the Versys/650R stem to the DRZ clamps. the stem lengths are similar, but in this case it doesn't matter as much because there's plenty of clamping surface on these conventional fork inners. as you know, the DRZ uses a completely different steering bearing arrangement.

by sleeving the Versys clamps, i save the cost, keep the ignition switch in the stock location, and use Versys bar riser.

Couldn't tell from this photo - but do these bushings have a slot or cut down the length to aid in concentric clamping??