Project Cosette (Yet Another Sportster conversion)

Edit on June 10, 2015

I am editting the first post because most of pics from this page to page 7 has been lost due to my divorce with Smugmug. There must have been some sort of miscommunication with them and they boot me off including my photo so I have moved to Photobucket. In meantime, here is a pre-build info before I send you off to page 7 to see the building process.


A bit history.. My friend who was mechanic at Harley dealer at the time.. he bought the bike looking like this.. 98 XLH 883



Then he converted that into this..




Disaster strike when he sold it to "someone his wife know" and he financed it to the buyer.. big mistake.. Was able to recover it.. sold it to me. Fuel tank was messed up, poor wiring job, etc. Wiring harness will need to be replaced, the center console is messed up badly on inside.. You can see that paint job for fuel tank is not matching with front/rear fender & oil tank.



So I decided to convert it into a Dual Sport bike so I could ride it anywhere..

The stripping begin..




Parted out parts I won't need.. mostly dead weight anyway..

Front end replaced with KTM 50mm White Powder Extreme forks and Triple Tree with top part from Applied Racing. It bolt on perfect without any modification!



Rims replaced with Buchanan's SunRims rims from Buchanan's Spoke in CA. Billet aluminum hub ordered to go with front end for better strength and HD steel hub was used for rear. HD hub weight 9 lbs and billet aluminum would be 6lbs but it is $300 so I decided $300 wasn't worth 3 lbs difference.



Let me go ahead and send you off to Page 7 and start at #101.

Will you be going to chain drive or extra belt with you ? 19"and 18" tires ?
Thanks,Ed

I am on the fence between 21" front and 17" rear but I haven't decided on that until I mount the KTM fork on then I will play around with it a bit. Possible 20"f and 17"r?

Will be going chain too.. most likely using the following:
*5-speed trans sprocket spacer HD #33334-85 ------------$20
*Mainshaft Oil Seal HD #12050 -----------$4
*Quad Oil Seal HD# 11165------------$3
*Renthal R3-2 O-Ring 520 chain X114 links --------$80
*48 Tooth 520 rear sprocket Chris Products (PBI ?)#205348 ------------$60
*21 Tooth 520 front sprocket PBI # 277X-21-----------$35

The chain may need to be cut short before locking the master link.

20" front ?
Good luck finding replacement tires in that odd size on the road.
If you step too far away from the common, you may find yourself alone.

I can see why you are pointing it out.. in that case, 21 or 19.. I have not really get to that point yet.. My current focus point is the engine itself downgrading from high performance to regular 1200cc with high tolerate for poor octane fuel.

Thanks for pointing it out, appreciate it man!

For reference, when i did my chain conversion, it took 124 links with the following:
- 56 rear sprocket
- 25 front sprocket
- 4" extended swingarm

I went taller on the sprockets (both front and rear) to gain clearance over the swingarm pivot. Otherwise, with the longer travel suspension and swingarm angle, the chain would wear on the chain slider. Now its fine with this setup.

Subscribed.

So what's the rise on the bars that are mounted now? The wife just inherited her dad's'07 Heritage, and there's no way she's riding it with the mondo apes that are on it now. What you've got on there looks more appropriate.

Lookin' great so far! Keep it up. I had an 883 Sporty... everytime I see a conversion I kick myself for selling her.

Best of luck - can't wait to see how she turns out!

Those forks look like a great choice for a project like this, but I am not sure about them being from a 2003 525 KTM....
Every KTM I have seen since before 2003 has had USD forks. My guess on those would be maybe '98 KTM forks. This is important for seals and spring choices.

Cool build though and keep posting pics

Kellymac,

Would you please help me to get the info I need to order seals, axle, and if the KTM Supermoto front fender would work with this? Is there any way I can identify the fork by finding part # on it or no? I tried to inquire on KTMForums.com to no avail.

WAWC,
I believe those are the 50mm KTM Magnum Marocchi forks from the circa 1998 era.
The seals are available. but sometimes are hard to find.

The Sumo fender will fit just fine. At most you will need to oval 2 holes a bit, but I doubt it.

Make sure you use at least some Seal Saver Neopreene covers on the forks. The saels are a bit fragile on those and cleanliness is next to Godliness on those forks...

If you have a micrometer or caliper just measure the diameter of the forks, they should be 50mm upper tubes. That should help a bit.

Are you sure there not wp 50mm extremes?

They could be, but alot of the wp Xs I see are aluminum colored and not annodized black like that....some are though so you very well could be right.

The Marzocchis had a little tab cast into the top of the lower tube where the fork protector would slide. I have not seen that on my earlier WP Xs forks....again not positive though and do not claim to know alot.

To WAWC,
Look at the bottom casting of the forks around where the axle fits there will likely be a WP cast into it or some kind of brand cast into it like Magnum or something other than KTM which has run both of those.

These are WP 50mm Extremes...no tab.

These below are the Marzocchi magnums that I am speaking about...discusses them in like the 4th or 5th paragraph

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/ktm/ktm_300_exc 98.htm

From this listing it looks like Joe is right. WP 50mm Xs

http://www.ebay.com/itm/99-KTM300EX...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ec29a0268&vxp=mtr

The seller said this was a WP 50mm extreme that came off a 525. He mentioned that these are forks that are used on various of late 90's KTM so..

I'll look up for seal that work with these forks. There is an authorized KTM dealer about 30 mins from me (Smithfield NC) but sad to say they doesnt carry inventory of bike or parts. They place order the parts you need and that's it. Another one about 2.5 hours drive is in Henderson, NC and they carry inventory on bike/parts. In this case, eBay is probably better..

The seller MAY have taken them off of a 525, but they never came on a 525 stock. The 525 only came with WP inverted forks, not conventional forks.

The mid to late 90s saw KTM using both Marzocchi Magnums and WP Extremes and they are similar in style in the last 50mm incarnations of both of those brands.

The lowest casting for the front axle will usually have a WP cast into it or an M that is fat and in a circle I believe on the Marzocchis.

I am not an expert on the conventional forks so please verify what you can. I hope this at least gives you a direction to start in though.

Kellymac,

Your first guess of fork being Marzocchi Magnum could be correct because I went out to look at the fork and I see circle with weird 'M' letter inside it. I didn't bring my camera with me but it is raining outside right now. Is that what the logo is supposed to look like?? I see MCR suspension sticker so I will assume there is a possibility that it has MCR fork spring inside it?

If not sure on the logo or you don't have a pic, I will take pic tomorrow and post it here.

Depending on how off-road you want to get, a 19" front wheel can work just fine. I had a DR 650 that I ran with a 17" rear and 19" front, and it did pretty well off road and was amazing on road. No doubt, for extreme off-road, a 21" front would be best. However, in most dual sport situations a 19" front can work well enough.
The other consideration is that there are plenty of stock 19" HD front wheels out there and you can have your choice of spoked or cast wheels.
The 16" rear wheel is a bit more of a problem in that there are not many off-road tires available for 16" rims. I have seen some Sportsters with Duro 16" dual-sport tires, and that seems like a good solution.
On my 96 Sportster I run a 19" front and 18" rear combo and that seems to work well. I ride the Sportster mostly on the street, with some light gravel roads, so I don't know how well it works in real off road situations, but it works real well on the street.
Only other thing I can tell you is that if you expect to ride in mud, only real knobby tires will work. Dual sport tires don't seem to provide much confidence in mud, especially, on the front end of the bike
Good luck with your project, I am looking forward to see where it ends up.

Those are WP "Extreme's"... used in 1999 and 2000.

Inmate konflictmotorsports provided me with some custom springs for the ones I have on my 1981 R80G/S..... typically they do require re-valving for heavier bikes to work, but if you need to shorten they it is an easy job.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=676340&highlight=extreme