I have a 2006 Girly and would like to increase the front suspension travel. I read about using some cartridge forks from some other bike and using the lower portion of the tiger and make a hybrid front fork with more travel. I already have progressive front springs and before I do emulators I would realty like more travel for some more advanced off road stuff.
I searched in the forums and found some info in an offroad tiger build but the vendor or shop that was building the custom forks was left out of the thread. It does say something about xlr forks but its probably Honda xrl forks since they use 43mm front forks just like the tiger.
The rear shock is easy and any help with the front forks would be much appreceated.
The front forks will be easiest,with size and length,you'll just have the hassle of the internals/damping etc,the rear is another ball game,the swing arm and shock are designed for so much movement,with a longer shock that will be outside their remit,a longer shock effect's the angle of chain run/tension and you'll be a whole new world of R+D of what works and what breaks,and no doubt some kind of chain tensioner.
Take care as you can throw off the overall geometry with longer forks. You'll be disappointed with the handling.
Emig racing makes conversion clamps for KLR650s that allow the use of modern inverted forks. This might be an option, then you would also have the increased rigidity of an inverted fork.
So I've been looking at other bikes with ITG 43mm forks that are damping rod style forks. What I'm looking for about 2" of additional travel. It looks like the early Honda bikes such as XR600L. I think this is worth a try. I'm going to get some forks off eBay and try it.
just remember that a honda 600 is a lot less weight than a 955 tiger and you are going to need springs for the tigers weight I don't think the honda springs will be up to the task ...........but I could be totally wrong too !
Absolutely, I was planning on racetech emulators and proper springs also from racetech. What I need from the Honda forks are damping rods and sliders. The doner forks don't need to have as much travel as the Honda set but just 2 more inches of travel.