XT600e Front end swap?
 

Hello everyone
Ok so I do a lot of trail riding on my year 2000 XT600, but now I feel my riding skills are starting to get above the bikes capabilities, or maybe not. I feel im giving it a bit of a hard time. Now I could just sell it and buy something more suitable but where's the fun in that. I also use it for long trips as well and find it a great all rounder. Im 6ft tall and also feel its a little short for me, so I will be fitting a longer rear shock. So I will get to the point, I want some front forks that are longer and in a bigger diameter. I want to match raising the back end and have something with the capabilities of hitting ruts and bumps at higher speeds. Im happy to do a front swap using everything, for example DRZ400 forks, wheel, brakes, yokes.
Has anyone done this and able to provide info on best doner bikes?

It could be usefull to find a front end which uses the same steeringhead bearings, or atleast one of them.

But most will require some machinework anyway, so its not a big deal.

You will probably loose the cabledriven speedo, have you considered a digital one like trailtech? Otherwise you need work to fit a different fork, and then work to make the original front wheel suit the different fork. And you would still most likely need to find a a longer speedocable (if possible)

You'll probably also get a bigger turing radius, with the bigger forks.

Soeh, just something to consider. :D

I was thinking if I did find a good donor I would probably use its forks, brakes, wheel and speedo cable. I would use the original (xt600) stem and have some yokes custom made using the dimensions from the yokes of the donor bike, but having all the attachment points for the xt's clocks, ignition and so on.

I've put '01 YZ125 usd's on one XT , '01 RM125 usd on another , '04 RMZ250 on another, and have '02 CR250 forks( in RM triple trees) on my e-start '86 . The usd forks give the bikes a much more planted feel , better & more precise/controllable steering, and very little brake dive, but comes at a rather harsh ride drawback . If time is spent getting valving correct that harshness can be reduced greatly but it takes so doing and will never be as plush as the stock frontend.

The best forks have been the '01 RM125's twin chamber Showa's , 47mm IIRC , you can do more tuning with those forks . The Suzuki triples are the easiest to fit the XT headstock , I didn't have to make new stems , just got conversion bearings and a few shims. The top clamp was milled flat and drilled-tapped 6mm holes for the XT headlight/gauge bracket.

For the speedometer , if you think things through there are lots of ways to keep the stock setup. I've used a Honda speedo drive on a Honda wheel but on the opposite side of wheel used the Honda cable. Suzuki drz speedo-drive will work with several hubs , possibly even some Kawasaki's . There is even 2 drives , 1 for a 21" front wheel, 1 for a 17" sm wheels . I've found if the speedo drive was off the same size front wheel the gearing is pretty close on all the Japanese bikes . Research bearing sizes used in hubs and axle diameters , there is almost always a way to replace the hub bearings to change axle diameters , sometimes the speedo drive needs to be bored out 2mm maybe as I did with the Honda one. I have made a few axles to run a Suzuki wheel in a Kawasaki front end and Suzuki wheel in the YZ125 front end.


Another good option that would be inbetween the full on MX forks and XT oem's are KLX650C usd forks with the "R" model adjustable base valves. Those forks were already tuned for street but with a bit of offroad in mind . I have 2 of those bikes and like the forks all around for oem's .

For over in Europe finding a set of newer TT600R forks , they sold several options that I don't know but were probably pretty good since they were made for offroading. Paioli I think were the good ones along with an Ohlins shock Those would likely fit the best and easiest .

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use this research tool:

https://www.allballsracing.com/index.php/forkconversion

xt600 is listed as "dirt" BTW...

endless options more or less..

Has anyone ever found a similiar solution (as for the DR650) to this ? I had contacted the company FFRC inquiring about an XT600 set ... but it wasn't available at the time.

https://www.fullforceracing.com.au/d...alve-kits.html

Thanks for all that great info jjrider, exactly the sort of stuff I was looking for