r1 forks in a r6

[Ben.]

Right im thinking of sticking better forks on my r6. As far as i know the only forks that will fit are 00-01 r1 forks.

It involves putting r1 forks in, r1 yokes, r1 brakes, r1 wheel and an r1 mud guard. You keep the r6 steering stem (the r1 is about an inch longer).

Now its going on to a track bike (plan on putting better springs in the forks) so I want to know if this is a good idea.

My take on it:
pros:
Stronger forks, better brakes, higher tyre profile which will help turn in.

cons/ problems:
ride hight - although this can be solved by having the top of the forks sticking out of the top yoke.
frame - although it wasn't designed for USD forks,, I would of fault it would be able to handle them.
expensive - compared to sticking better springs in r6 forks.
I dont know about the rake angle, but if i keep the ride hight the same it shouldn't change. Although would i be able to change the angle by adjusting the fork hight for better tip in.

missed anything?

Can we keep random comments from people who dont work on bikes, or have good bike knowledge to a minimum please.
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[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Personally I'd just whack a cartridge kit in and be done with it.

Also means you'll have to change it back to stock if you want to race it in supersport/superstock 600 classes.

O, and I didn't think a 70 profile rubbed on the mudguard anyway?
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[Ben.]

[MarJay]

I heard that R1 forks aren't actually that good. They have extra travel to cope with the power of the R1 and to help prevent tankslappers. This would mean that they won't work well on other bikes.

There must be better choices of fork that will fit the R6. I'd have guessed that (despite being RWU forks) the R6 forks are actually better quality than the R1 ones...
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[White un]

How about USD's from a newer R6 ? Wouldn't they be better suited with having similar frame and power ?

[Ben.]

Don't know if new R6 forks will fit...
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[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

What's lacking in these 1999 R6 forks? Surely they aren't that shite.
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[chris-red]

[Ben.]

bike stoppie's way too early, and i want to upgrade the brakes...

they aren't bad per say, I was just wondering instead of spending £500 on brakes and fork upgrades, would it be better to stick an intirley new set on for say £700
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[G]

I thought the R1 brakes were pretty much exactly the same from that year.
I've owned and ridden stock and sorted R6s on track. The sorted R6 didn't make a massive difference compared to my skill level.
R1 from that year didn't have noticably better brakes.

The stock R6 brakes in good nick with braided hoses are VERY good to my mind, not have much better even on much more recent bikes. Ie quite like the Nissin radial calipers on my 675 race bike, but not sure they're actually better than decent early R6 brakes.

The forks may be set up a bit soft for you. First off, have you set up the preload? Maybe turned up the compression a little.
£500 spent on sorting the internals of R6 forks will I expect make them a hell of a lot better (relatively - in the real world they should be decent as stock, so not so much releveance) than a stock R1 front end stuck on.
What's inside is what matters and the R1 stock suspension isn't that amazing.

I'd be surprised if the forks stick straight in - I presume you're swapping yokes?
As an idea for swapping forks, it cost me £50 (skimmed spindle) + 2 bearings to make some chunky KTM/CCM yokes/forks fit in to a C90 - most front ends can be swapped with a little effort.

The tyre profile is nothing to do with this really - can fit one on an R6 easily enough.
Not sure why you'd need stronger forks - sure they may do better in a crash, but that may also mean they bend the frame instead.

[chris-red]

[Ben.]

The brakes out perform the suspension as it is, let alone when i put new discs etc on it.

I plan on sticking better springs on the r1 forks if i put them in.
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[MarJay]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Ben.]

hmm think I've got the answer.

To say the brakes out perform the suspension isn't true, it can be sorted out with better springs and sorting out the set up.

The reason I was asking about the r1 forks was, before I spent a lot of time and a bit of money sorting out the stock forks, I thought it might be better to invest a bit more time and money into the r1 set up. Having looked at the actual components inside the r1 forks, its true what your all saying, its hardly any different. I also presumed the r1 brakes would be better but by the sound of things they aren't.

So in answer to the question, yes I think they look better, I also thought they were vastly different (which they aren't), its not worth the extra weight and money on them by the sounds of things, so i think I'll be sticking to stock forks (not going to put later model r6 forks on purely because its going too cost too much even if they will fit)
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[MarJay]

[Spit-Fire]

your pros list was shorter then your cons

when ever thats the case, the idea probably aint a good one
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