XS1100 forks on '81 XS650 using XV920R tree!

Clutchslip

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Hey everyone! Look what I did!!

I'm planning on using my XS as a dual-purpose bike with a high mounted front fender, meaning I won't have the low fender to help with bracing. So, I figured I'd be wise to use a bigger diameter forks. I wanted to retain the stock mag front wheel, and retain the stock single disc brake which should perform well on diet and adequately on the street.

After a fair amount of research I settled on 37mm XS1100E forks for their extra 50mm of travel and extra 2" of installed height, and of course the extra 2mm diameter for strength. The parts fische at partzilla says it uses the same axle spacers & bearings and brake caliper & bracket. I found the Maxims used a different 37mm fork with an offset axle & different front brake setup altogether so those were out. The problem I had was that the XS1100E used a much shorter stem, and those that had tried it had to either cut & extend the XS11 stem or press the XS650 stem into the XS11 triple.

Through my research I stumbled on a bike that looked like it had used the stem I needed pressed into a beautiful aluminum tree. It was a real unicorn bike though, a XV920R Seca, which I had never heard of! Think of it as a Seca with a XV920 Virago engine in it. Well I found a XV920R triple in New York on eBay and ordered it, but couldn't find an upper clamp anywhere for that bike, until I located one in Germany which was quite expensive. Well I put on my Big Boy Pants and bought it, and waited 5 weeks for it to arrive. It took almost 7 weeks.

But it's here now! And I'm so happy to say that everything just bolts together!! The fork offset is 5mm less on this setup, so I expect to see a slight increase in trail, but with the added ride height hopefully I'll come out ok. The together pics are from last week when I test fit it all together, and the box of parts is me bringing the forks home from work where I installed the new fork seals today. I'll reassemble it tonight after my daughter goes to bed!

Won't run for a few months yet, got to wire the bike next.
 

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Yep I checked The steering stop when I had things pre-assembled there like in the pics, they don't hit squarely but they do stop.

I won't know if they will be enough until I put some bars on it and a tank of course. If I need to add some material to the frame mounted stop, I'll update This post to let you know.
 
Guy from the old 650Rider site done this to his XS650. Its an XS850 front end and sounds like this will be what your trying to make your bike look like. Plenty of ground clearance. He used a MikesXS Fork brace on his.
xsl project 012.jpg
 
Did the XS1100 have 8"/ 200 mm of fork travel? How much overlap would a fork like that (non-leading axle) have when fully extended? I am puzzled and intrigued....
 
I found a spec for the fork travel online someplace. Don't remember now what the travel was listed at, but I do remember it was 50mm more than my '81 650.

The main reason I did it though was to get the 37mm forks.
 
Guy from the old 650Rider site done this to his XS650. Its an XS850 front end and sounds like this will be what your trying to make your bike look like. Plenty of ground clearance. He used a MikesXS Fork brace on his.
View attachment 190288

Wow yes that's close to what mine should look like, even down to the color of the tank! .....wait, maybe I need a different tank now.
 
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