So...... having lurked here for a few years and reading multiple fork conversion threads I've finally taken the leap and started this conversion for myself
Thanks to the copious amount of info on here, I had a great starting point to narrow down potential forks and hopefully avoid any costly mistakes
After a few weeks of serious searching I picked up a set off a 2007 YZ250F, including the front axle, spacers and GYTR triples through a private sale for about $100 less than most forks were selling for online or through wreckers. I'm on a limited budget, so this now gives me some wriggle room to cover unexpected costs.
The forks look to be well used, but (hopefully) mechanically sound
My original plan was to keep the gasser triple clamps and pickup up a set of forks with the 35mm lug offset and bore out the top triples to suit the larger OD of the SSS's. Anyhow, these came up with triples for a good price so I'll be using them, with the bonus that this conversion would be reversible should I want to refit the Sachs forks when I sell my bike (I'd like to think a newer gasser or beta is my next ride, so the SSS's may be longer term forks)
Conversion plan for now is something like this:
- use the gasser front wheel (tubliss already set up front and rear) and brakes
- source the correct headstem bearings to fit the Yamaha triples to the gasser
- fit a simple rubber steering stop to the frame
- use the Braking oversize disc bracket (Part POW103) to fit my existing brake caliper to these forks. I'll ignore the speedo pickup for now
- research and hopefully source front wheel bearings with a smaller inner diameter to fit the 20mm YZ axle.
There was a thread on here somewhere where someone mentioned that older bearings had a 20mm inner, but the same OD as a later model hub. I figure then that I can get simple spacers made up which is a much easier path than the funky custom spacers that some have used.
Having never worked on these forks before, I think my first step will be to educate myself on servicing them and open them up and see what spring rates they have
From there I'm not sure whether I'll throw fresh oil in them and throw them on for a test, or ship them straight them off to a tuner for some generic off-road valving
My son also has a YZ125 with very firm SSS's that we've yet to service either, so at the very least I may open them up and see what setup is in there on the off chance that swapping components may save me some cash
At this point I'm also unsure on what's different between the OEM and GYTR triples apart from then having adjustable bar positions, but hopefully the overall offset is that same as OEM (the lower clamps are OEM)
Bear with me guys, this'll be a slow conversion
EDIT: these forks have been confirmed as 2006, not 2007 forks which run a different lug and offset. I'll update the thread title when I work out how to
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