front end upgrades

[Smev]

I have fitted a Ducati 749 front end (complete) to my NC30

I used a kit which was Machined by a forum member called Riley - Not sure if he is still making them though?

The kit from Riley was £90 ish then there was all the sourcing of parts via breakers and evil bay. Adds up to a fair old bit of money but I love it for the looks alone, plus it handles brilliantly - in my opinion.
£90 for forks off ebay
£30 for spindle
£120 for the wheel
£80 for yokes
£90 adaptor kit
£90 for brakes etc etc etc!!!!!!!

Its has usd forks - a light weight marchesini wheel, carbon mudguard, 4 pot brembos and I uprated it to an RSVR factory radial mastercylinder.

I'll post a pic or two later

[spongy.bob]

Ohhh, very flash! I had wandered what is was that you had! thanks for that Smev.

CMSMJ1: what would yuou say is the dividing line between looks and performance? I'm guessings it's USD vs right way up? I suppose that if pushed, I'd rather have the performance over looks.

[Smev]

Here are a couple of pics of the forks fitted and the fitting kit itself.

[CMSMJ1]

Ohhh, very flash! I had wandered what is was that you had! thanks for that Smev.

CMSMJ1: what would yuou say is the dividing line between looks and performance? I'm guessings it's USD vs right way up? I suppose that if pushed, I'd rather have the performance over looks.

Well, it matters sod all if your bike looks all pretty but it does not work. It winds me up that people forget this is a machine for a job. If it looks nice and does not work then it is a crap machine.

In an ideal world you could get some USD forks but you still have to then have them set up for your bike. If you are paying £200 for setup on some forks, why not get the original ones set up?

If you have the cash...get on it! I'd buy some custom yokes and get some BPF forks from a new zx6r.

I think that the ZX6 forks might fit using the ZXR400 yokes....so that would be my route.

[Nielsy]

Hi Smev,
I was hoping you could give me a little insight into the finer points of your 749 fronted nc.

More specifically can I run the standard front wheel if I get bits to suit, and would the standard duc yokes, or honda yokes be usable?

Any information is greatly appreciated,

Cheers
Niels

[amorti]

I have a spare pair of 1996 CBR900 yokes + clip-ons lying around. They fit straight into a CB-1 and knowing honda's parts-bin mentality for suspension parts, I bet they'd fit into an nc30. These are pretty much the last word in RWU forks, the last thing before RWU became "so last season". As a bonus I bet a 96 CBR900 is barely heavier than a VFR400 so you wouldn't even need to re-spring or -valve them.

Anyone want to make me an offer and try it out? To get it going you'd just need fork legs, axle+spacers, calipers (and maybe master cylinder depending what calipers you go for, you could fit early blade and use nc30, 98-03 blade and use any 5/8" or cbr600rr3-4 and use the matched m/c). You original wheel and discs will fit. You'll have to figure some way of fitting a mudguard but can't be that hard. You could just use some fairing nuts and do something like I did.

[andreasmkr]

Hi.

I've fitted a pair for GSXR600 front forks on mine. Not much modifications to do..:

Complete GSXR 600 K7 front end: 400 US$
New bearings: 40US$
A bit of grinding on the steering stem "lock": FREE

I`m posting some pictures of it as soon as it gets back from the paintshop

[Smev]

Hi Smev,
I was hoping you could give me a little insight into the finer points of your 749 fronted nc.

More specifically can I run the standard front wheel if I get bits to suit, and would the standard duc yokes, or honda yokes be usable?

Any information is greatly appreciated,

Cheers
Niels

Hi Niels,
I'm unsure that the original NC wheel would fit with the ducati front. There are several reasons for this -
The front wheel may be a different width to the NC30 one, plus the discs are 320mm on the 749 and 310mm? on the NC, so mounting the calipers would also need modifying.
The spindle for the 749 is quite large , Bigger than the NC I believe so a one off one would need fabricating.
The distance between forks may also be different so spacers would also need to be made as a one off.

It all starts getting expensive when bespoke parts are made.

I've used all 749 parts to avoid these problems, the only bespoke part is the fitting kit from Riley.

Hope this helps?

The front end andreasmkr has fitted sounds great and I'd love to see some pics of it.

GSXR 600 K7 - that has radial brakes right?!

[Nielsy]

The front end andreasmkr has fitted sounds great and I'd love to see some pics of it.

GSXR 600 K7 - that has radial brakes right?!

Ditto,

I've already got some 749 forks, and I'm hoping I can come up with a plan for fitment of the old wheel or similar, but failing that (and if andreas would post some more info/pics of his conversion ) I might be tempted to find a whole usd front end instead for the butchering. (not that i mind the 749 wheel, i'm just not sure it would suit with the back one)

Does anyone know of any other wheels that fit the Duc 749/999 spindle? Perhaps a question better suited to a Duc forum but hey

Cheers,
Niels

[Alex_ludd]

Ohhh, very flash! I had wandered what is was that you had! thanks for that Smev.

CMSMJ1: what would yuou say is the dividing line between looks and performance? I'm guessings it's USD vs right way up? I suppose that if pushed, I'd rather have the performance over looks.

Well, it matters sod all if your bike looks all pretty but it does not work. It winds me up that people forget this is a machine for a job. If it looks nice and does not work then it is a crap machine.

In an ideal world you could get some USD forks but you still have to then have them set up for your bike. If you are paying £200 for setup on some forks, why not get the original ones set up?

If you have the cash...get on it! I'd buy some custom yokes and get some BPF forks from a new zx6r.

I think that the ZX6 forks might fit using the ZXR400 yokes....so that would be my route.

That would be an awesome set up, BPF

I hope you have deep pockets

Performance over beauty, it's always more fun to fly past someone on a rough looking missile