Springer fronts for the XS400?

[skarpenz]

I have an old '78 XS Special in my shed thats been there a few years. I'm in the process of hard-tailing it and was wondering if there is a set of springer forks that will more or less be a bolt-on affair for the front end. Any help is appreciated!

 

[ivor]

Hi, I think you need to address the question to the manufacturers of the springers available. Most of the big US custom houses make custom forks with the fork yoke, (triple tree to you guys ) spindle in H-D size. Some may supply in Triumph or Honda size, but I very much doubt one will be off the shelf for an XS400. Anything can be made to fit as a one-off when needs be, a good custom shop should be able to fabricate whatever you need to adapt to your frame neck.
Depends where you are as to how many good custom shops are local.
Good luck.

 

[skarpenz]

Thanks for the info, too bad there are no custom shops within 2 hours of me that I can pop in and chat with, haha. I'll email a couple of manufacturers and see what I can come up with.

 

[Sokrates]

Hi...

Fine springs are here: http://www.wilbers.de/en/gabelfedern_oel.php

 

[skarpenz]

Thanks for the link, but thats not what I'm looking for. Those are replacement hydraulic fork springs, I am looking for the chopper style, non-hydraulic, purely spring front ends. I have emailed a few places and waiting on response this coming week.

 

[Sokrates]

ahhh, ok, i misunterstood.

 

[drewpy]

Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood!

great tune that

 

[Travis]

Yeah I highly doubt you'll find any springers that are bolt on and go. You should be able to make something work by swapping neck bearings and/or steering stems. Anyone know if the neck on an XS400 is the same as the neck on an XS650?

 

[cturek]

I have a complete front end for a 650 and I measured to see if a swap to the 400 was possible. I believe the head tube on the 650 is longer than the 400.

 

[skarpenz]

The fork spindle on the 400 is over 1" in diameter, that's the measurement I was worried about, I just assumed since it was a metric bike, it would have a smaller diameter neck than a Harley (guess I shouldn't assume). It tapers down to 1" at the end (top) and there is a company that sells the adapter for the Harley forks (brings the bottom down to 1" diameter) and is advertised to convert "all early model Yamahas" to accept a Harley forks. I am going to try this route and see how it works out, can't hurt I suppose. I am determined to convert the front of my bike to a springer, since it fits the bobber motif so well.

 

[skarpenz]

http://www.brosmfg.com/kits.html

For anyone who is interested. Scroll down and check it out.

 

[ivor]

Are you going to check with them it fits the XS ? Looks like it may well be what you're looking for.

 

[skarpenz]

It definitely fits the XS650. I will call them tomorrow.

 

[skarpenz]

Whats the length on stock XS400 forks? Trying to figure out how long I should be looking my springer front end to be.

 

[Pork Chop]

I just saw these on fleabay. Made for the xs650 but I don't know if they will fit on the xs400. Look pretty sweet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yama...6357824QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

[D-Train]

21.5 inches is the stock length of my 1981 xs400 if that helps any Skarpenz.

 

[D-Train]

I have a Harley DNA springer on my xs400 it was super easy to put on. All you need is a spacer for the bottom bearing.

 

[Travis]

So what bearings do you use? Any measurements on the required spacer? What is the length of that springer? It looks good but I'd want it a little lower.

 

[D-Train]

Stock bearings. I bought the spacer from bros manufacturing (www.brosmfg.com) The springer is the stock length of my old forks you can get it shorter or longer.

 

[Travis]

I'm pretty sure all XS400's had the loose 1/4" ball bearings in the neck. Are those the ones you're talking about? Or maybe your bike was already upgraded to taper roller bearings?