First Generation Ascots > The Thumper Years: Modified To Full Customs

Race tech springs and emulators vs progressive springs for FT500 front shocks

(1/6) > >>

johnnymot1:
I may have missed this in my search, but which is the preference?  I'm a larger guy (230lbs), and some say the progressives can still be a bit "mushy".....At first glance the Race Tech emulators and a set of their .95kgm forks seem to be the set up.

Any opinions on the pros and cons of each fork spring combo?

Right now I'm giving up on my dream of finding a CBR hurricane or Honda hawk front end and rebuilding my stock set of forks.

J6G1Z:
Wish I could help you better with your questions, but I went with the Hurricane front end.

I was able to find a guy parting out a 600cc Hurricane by running a "Wanted" ad on Craigslist.

If you find a complete first generation bike for $500 or so, grab it. You can use the front end, brakes, plus the front & rear wheels. Then sell the Hurricane engine, frame, etc. Take a look at the brake disks & measure how thick they are. Those are the hard or expensive parts to replace.

Good luck with the rest of your question.

J.

johnnymot1:
The hurricane front end (rear wheel too) is still my first choice, but I've had no luck running a want ad on CL and even on a state .com site that is full of motorcycles and parts. Murphy's law will have it that if I do buy the race tech springs and emulators, then one will show up!

Just getting impatient, and don't want the forks to hold up my build.  How much of an improvement are the hurricane forks offering?

J6G1Z:
Well, I have no idea what a tricked out Ascot front end feels like, but the Hurricane swap with the 17" wheels front & rear completely change the bike. It's still a very fun bike to ride, just more so. You have to be careful of speed-bumps though, as the ground clearance is limited. I really like the lowered front end.

Now if I had a real cherry, low mile, stock Ascot, I would not do the Hurricane swap. The bike that I built had been lightly dumped before.

I can recommend Hagon shocks for the rear no matter which way you go.

Good luck
J.

johnnymot1:
Thanks, and thus my allure and waiting to see if I can find a nice CBR donor bike. I may have to expand my horizons and travel further to find one. Handling and ride is definitley what I'm going for on this "cafe/tracker" build.

Seems like every cafe being built these days is getting a GSXR front end adapted to it too. I'm interested to see how they are doing that to all of the various bikes and the degree of expertise and fabricating involved.

All of my FT's are less than pristine and I've been bitten by the cafe' bug as well, so hopefully I can do a few different tasteful builds that are fun. I'm still on the hunt for the elusive honda hawk front end as well.

I like the fact that the hurricane fork lowers the front end and is a bit bigger diameter tube in addition to the dual discs and 17" wheel too.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page