not sure where to go with this one? zx-6 forks

[lowliferat]

so i picked up this 81 xs650, 6 monhts ago zx-6 2001 frontend , at least thats what the writing on the bars say, brakes work what kind of bearings will it take to make this combo work togather ? or should i just go with the stock xs frontend that came with it ? i think it has lowered shocks in the rear , what are my options?

 

[lowliferat]

i guess i can reply to myself, i found what looks like the ball bearings in the neck from the old xs stem in there when i took the frontend off. comparing stems it seems the zx-6 stem has a different taper at the top, so that is why there is slop in there. to be cost effective i will swap back to a xs frontend on this. guess i'll sell the sportbike frontend to help cover costs of this build. anyone know what a front fork with brakes is worth? maybe i'll try to see how other builders worked this out , would be nice having a cafe style bike too.

 

[GreasyC]

Check with all balls before you move on, the might have the right bearing you need to mate the zx inner to the XS outer. At least they're both metric, if you get into a situation where you have an imperial od and metric id then you're pretty hooped.

 

[lowliferat]

Greasy cyou was right on with the all balls suggestion, i found em for about 25.00 a bearing , now i have to measure the stem to see what front end i have. shame , because i already swapped on a stock frontend and am rebuilding the brakes. thanks again for the info

 

[XSLeo]

How ever you build the front forks adding the tapered roller bearing kit will be a good upgrade.
If you want to put a different front end on, the only place you can find the proper races for tapered roller bearings to fit the XS650 neck is to buy the kit.
Once you install the races in the XS frame, then any tapered roller bearing front end can be used as long as the stem is the right length. Use the roller bearing that go on the stem of the donor tree.
If the donor front end has to short a stem you need to swap the XS stem into the donor tree.
If you do a bit of searching, there are lots of threads on this.
Leo