900 SS/CR SBK fork conversion

This is my attempt to try and document what might be the most popular upgrade for the 900 SS that weren’t fortunate enough to come with an adjustable fork. I consider this to be a work in progress and as such is sublect to updates from myself and hopefully others that might want to add to this. So without further delay, let’s getter done.

• Make sure beer is in the fridge and cold…
• Disconnect the ( - ) battery terminal

Picture of cockpit before

• Remove fairings
• Remove the front calipers ( I found that wrapping the ends in a plastic bag kept the mess to a minimum )

Picture of brake end wrapped

• Loosen pinch bolts on bottom of fork
• Remove speedometer cable
• Get a 14mm hex socket to remove the axle. ( Forgot this and spent a couple of hours trying to track one down )
• Once you have the axle, wheel and speedo housing removed, you’ll need to use a hammer and drift to remove the bushing on the left side

Picture of removing bushing

• At this point you have one of two choices; modify your existing axle to work with the new forks or buy an SBK wheel and axle and use them. I went with the modified axle approach and below are pictures and some details on what needs to be done. I purchased mine already done but, I would think that someone with access to a local machine shop could get this done.

Pictures of axle

• The axle is modified by doing the following :
• Grind down the flange on the left side
• Add a 2mm bushing to the right side.

• Remove the front brake line clamp located on the bottom triple clamp

Picture of brake line clamp

Now that the wheel is off I directed my attention to the left and right controls. Before you get started, I would suggest that you cut the over-abundant number of zip ties.

• Remove the brake switch - You’ll need to disconnect the electrical connection using a 2.9mm screw driver. If your replacing the master cylinder, you can disconnect the wiring completely as it’ll be replaced with the wiring from the new master cylinder.

• Remove the START switch

• Remove the throttle assembly – Be sure to mark one cables and the slot that is goes in. It’s fairly obvious but better to know than guess.

• Remove the clutch master cylinder and control pod on the left side. The only note of interest is to get the 2 screws that tie the choke lever to the clutch master cylinder.

• At this point, I removed the forks and the top triple clamp.

Picture stripped down

The next surprise that I ran into was the security bolts used to fasten the ignition switch to the triple clamp.

The security bolts are conical but threaded. So, I went down to the hardware store, bought a couple of hex head screws and nuts ( #6 x 30mm ), threaded the nut onto the screw and threaded the screw into the security bolt. I then tightened the nut down hard on to the security bolt and unscrewed the whole thing. The picture below shows it better than I could hope to describe. I later used the hex screws to fasten the ignition switch to the triple clamp.

Picture of ignition switch

Installation of forks

From this point, I basically followed the Cyclecat instructions and did everything else in reverse. I’ve listed a few points of interest but other than that things went back together pretty well.

• You can not use your stock clip-ons ( New clip-ons 53mm - Old clip-ons 50mm )

• You can opt to keep your existing master cylinders but I believe there is a mounting kit that you need to get from Cycle Cat ( assuming you are using the Cycle Cat triple clamp – I will check for more details )

• You can keep the lower triple clamp but must shim it 1mm. ( You get 1mm shims when you purchase the Cycle Cat triple clamp )

TIPS:

• I took the shims and shaped them around the forks first to get the general shape
• I then turned in the ends a bit more with a pair of needle nose pliers
• I inserted the shims so that as I worked the forks up the shims would slide up with them

Picture of fork and shim installed

• To keep the upper triple clamp, you need to bore out the opening from 50mm to 53mm. There are those that say that boring the triple clamp can cause problems such as stress cracks and the like, I opted for the Cycle Cat triple.

I’ve still got a couple of issues that I’m working through. The biggest being the master cylinders on both sides interfering with the instrument cluster, I could hardly turn the bars without the banjo bolts hitting it. My solution is to move the masters down the bars about 25mm. I am working with Cycle cat to get longer bars and as a last resort I can cut the grips and throttle sleeve the 25mm. ( I always found the grips to have plenty of room and shouldn’t miss it ) ( I can hear the jokes now ….. )

Below is how the bars are laid out with my proposed spacing, the remote reservoirs even clear the fairing.

UPDATES:

11.05.04 If you want to keep the same rise as the stock bars, order from your Cycle Cat dealer the following;

The DBR-2 kit and ask to replace the standard risers with part #F25-53.

12.23.04 Here are some comments from Joe B, another Duc owner who did the conversion. ( Disclaimer – the comments and views expressed

are Joe’s )

First of all, CycleCat totally rocks! Their top triple clamp and handlebars were perfect!! Motowheels sent me the wrong triple clamp in a box that had been opened with parts missing and parts that had been used! . I'm still waiting for my return shipping to be refunded (a month since I returned the box). Get them from ca-cycleworks.com. Chris doesn't charge shipping on them. You will need different brake calipers and hoses if you buy the newer ti-nitride forks since they use 65mm caliper bolt spacing. (Editor’s Note: I can’t believe I didn’t mentioned this earlier – SBK forks prior to ’99 have a 40mm spacing for the caliper bolts, allowing you to use you stock calipers from your 900SS. SBK forks after ’99 have a 65mm spacing, you’ll need to replace your stock calipers with ones for a ’99 or later SBK. ) Galfer made me a set of hoses (2 days including shipping from cyclebrakes.com). I ordered them 1" shorter with a 90 degree bend for the bottom banjo bolt. I thought my originals might work but no way. Also, if you decide to shim the fork bottoms for the stock SS axle, you can get someone to order the shims from Ohlins. I went through BCM Ducati who was going to make me one but after waiting more than a month they ended up sending me the Ohlins one. Be aware that the axle must be removed to adjust the compression damping (the adjuster screw is in the bottom of the fork) if you use the old axle. The conversion took about 2 months; this was mostly waiting for parts. Costs were:
1. $660 2001 ti-nitride 996 forks and 2-pin calipers plus new Galfer green pads
2. $325 CycleCat top triple clamp and shims for lower clamp
3. $290 CycleCat handlebars and risers
4. $70 BCM Ducati axle shim and new threaded axle collar with flange machined off
5. $100 Galfer brake hoses
6. $190 BenFer carbon front fender from Motostrano (blue locktite the bolts)

So far they seem more supple and stiffer laterally than my stock (Jim Lindemann re-valved and re-sprung) original SP forks. The bike seems more solid in corners. They should be even better if re-sprung and re-valved but I need to ride it a lot more to see if that will be necessary. Of yes, it really dresses up the front of the bike (if that's important to you).