Upgrade(re-valve) or replace?

[LQQKR]

For those who have done this, would you suggest to re-valve the front forks and rear shock on a 1997 SS CR, or replace them with used adjustable ones?

Thank you.

[ccolwell]

Neither is rebuildable on the 96/97 CR. That said, springs and heavier oil will make the fork worlds better. I replaced both, Ohlins rear and SBK for the front. The set up works great with lighter springs for the SBK fork (1.0 were the sptock springs).

http://www.ducatitech.com/2v/sp_cr_faq.html

[chaas67]

+1 on the SBK front forks and Ohlins rear shock..

Click on the link to my website, I made a PDF document on the process to install SBK forks on my '95. It will give you an idea of what your in for....

[1996900sp]

The Showas from a SP revalved are just fine with an Ohlins rear with the height jacked up is all you need. Do Superbike forks even fit?

[ccolwell]

Originally Posted by 1996900sp

Do Superbike forks even fit?

You can make them fit. Here is my take on doing so, a search will bring up more info. If I were doing it again, I would just as soon put on SP forks and save some work, but when I did it SP forks were hard to find and expensive.

Putting SBK forks on a 1996 900SS. I was lucky enough to get the whole front end off a 1999 996 but doing it piecemeal could be cheaper with the right parts. 1. Forks – Bruce Myers told me that the brake calipers off the 900SS will fit on 916 forks. They do not fit on 996. Fortunately, I got calipers in the deal. 2. You will need different handlebars to fit the larger forks, ones that fit a 9x6. 3. Triple clamp – The SBK forks are larger at the top and smaller at the bottom than the stock forks (doesn’t make any sense to me either). You can either have the stock upper triple clamp bored out to fit and have shims made for the lower triple tree or get the clamp and kit from Cycle Cat. When I checked around, only BCM Ducati had experience doing the conversion. The price difference was a wash for me particularly since I would have had to send the parts to BCM to do the work. The Cycle Cat piece is gorgeous and fits well. Use any easy-out to remove the safety bolts holding the ignition switch in place. 4. Axle – if you use the stock wheel, you will need to have spacers made as the 900 axle is 20mm and the SBK is 25mm. There may be a way to find the right bearings and inner spacer to fit a 25mm axle to the stock wheel, but it would take some research. The 996 wheel is noticeably lighter (and so are the disks) and I can feel the difference on the street. 5. Speedometer drive – if you go with the larger axle, you will need a 9x6 speedo drive. You need to replace the worm and roller in the SBK drive with the parts from the SS drive. The roller slides right out. As for the worm gear, first there is a hollow locator pin that needs to be driven out. A drill bit works well. Then put the brass end in a vise and gently tap the speedo housing off. Note that it is easy to crack the housing. Both the worm gear and the pin will slide right in to their new homes. On the 996, there is no provision for mounting a speedo cable guide, but it seems to doing fine without. The torque settings I got from someone on the Index are 63 Nm for the axle nut, 19 Nm for the axle clamp bolts, and 43 Nm for the caliper bolts.

[marvin]

I have a set of SP adjustable forks, with Racetek springs and valving. It will be a while before I get time to remove them from the bike if you have time to wait. PM me if you're interested.

[1996900sp]

Originally Posted by ccolwell

You can make them fit. Here is my take on doing so, a search will bring up more info. If I were doing it again, I would just as soon put on SP forks and save some work, but when I did it SP forks were hard to find and expensive.

Putting SBK forks on a 1996 900SS. I was lucky enough to get the whole front end off a 1999 996 but doing it piecemeal could be cheaper with the right parts. 1. Forks – Bruce Myers told me that the brake calipers off the 900SS will fit on 916 forks. They do not fit on 996. Fortunately, I got calipers in the deal. 2. You will need different handlebars to fit the larger forks, ones that fit a 9x6. 3. Triple clamp – The SBK forks are larger at the top and smaller at the bottom than the stock forks (doesn’t make any sense to me either). You can either have the stock upper triple clamp bored out to fit and have shims made for the lower triple tree or get the clamp and kit from Cycle Cat. When I checked around, only BCM Ducati had experience doing the conversion. The price difference was a wash for me particularly since I would have had to send the parts to BCM to do the work. The Cycle Cat piece is gorgeous and fits well. Use any easy-out to remove the safety bolts holding the ignition switch in place. 4. Axle – if you use the stock wheel, you will need to have spacers made as the 900 axle is 20mm and the SBK is 25mm. There may be a way to find the right bearings and inner spacer to fit a 25mm axle to the stock wheel, but it would take some research. The 996 wheel is noticeably lighter (and so are the disks) and I can feel the difference on the street. 5. Speedometer drive – if you go with the larger axle, you will need a 9x6 speedo drive. You need to replace the worm and roller in the SBK drive with the parts from the SS drive. The roller slides right out. As for the worm gear, first there is a hollow locator pin that needs to be driven out. A drill bit works well. Then put the brass end in a vise and gently tap the speedo housing off. Note that it is easy to crack the housing. Both the worm gear and the pin will slide right in to their new homes. On the 996, there is no provision for mounting a speedo cable guide, but it seems to doing fine without. The torque settings I got from someone on the Index are 63 Nm for the axle nut, 19 Nm for the axle clamp bolts, and 43 Nm for the caliper bolts.

Good God man, What a process I hope you enjoy the new forks! I happen to love my Showas with Ohlins kit done by PPS. To me they are perfect for this bike.

[LQQKR]

Originally Posted by ccolwell

You can make them fit. Here is my take on doing so, a search will bring up more info. If I were doing it again, I would just as soon put on SP forks and save some work, but when I did it SP forks were hard to find and expensive.

Putting SBK forks on a 1996 900SS. I was lucky enough to get the whole front end off a 1999 996 but doing it piecemeal could be cheaper with the right parts. 1. Forks – Bruce Myers told me that the brake calipers off the 900SS will fit on 916 forks. They do not fit on 996. Fortunately, I got calipers in the deal. 2. You will need different handlebars to fit the larger forks, ones that fit a 9x6. 3. Triple clamp – The SBK forks are larger at the top and smaller at the bottom than the stock forks (doesn’t make any sense to me either). You can either have the stock upper triple clamp bored out to fit and have shims made for the lower triple tree or get the clamp and kit from Cycle Cat. When I checked around, only BCM Ducati had experience doing the conversion. The price difference was a wash for me particularly since I would have had to send the parts to BCM to do the work. The Cycle Cat piece is gorgeous and fits well. Use any easy-out to remove the safety bolts holding the ignition switch in place. 4. Axle – if you use the stock wheel, you will need to have spacers made as the 900 axle is 20mm and the SBK is 25mm. There may be a way to find the right bearings and inner spacer to fit a 25mm axle to the stock wheel, but it would take some research. The 996 wheel is noticeably lighter (and so are the disks) and I can feel the difference on the street. 5. Speedometer drive – if you go with the larger axle, you will need a 9x6 speedo drive. You need to replace the worm and roller in the SBK drive with the parts from the SS drive. The roller slides right out. As for the worm gear, first there is a hollow locator pin that needs to be driven out. A drill bit works well. Then put the brass end in a vise and gently tap the speedo housing off. Note that it is easy to crack the housing. Both the worm gear and the pin will slide right in to their new homes. On the 996, there is no provision for mounting a speedo cable guide, but it seems to doing fine without. The torque settings I got from someone on the Index are 63 Nm for the axle nut, 19 Nm for the axle clamp bolts, and 43 Nm for the caliper bolts.

WOW!!!! How much did that end up costing you?? Thanks for the detailed info.

[Desmomaniac]

WOW!!!! How much did that end up costing you?? Thanks for the detailed info.

$300-ish for the forks (900 calipers fit 916 and early 748 forks)
$125-ish for wheel/spacer (900 rotors fit the 916 early 748 wheels) bought braketech axis later on
$100-ish for sbk front fender
$25-ish for the 748/916 speedo drive/components
$300-ish for cycle cat upper triple... or you can bore out stock triple for pennies
$300-ish for cycle cat rips... you can sub other bars for less... i eventually picked up the cc for the 900ss and put the modified clips on my S4 before there were clip ons available for it.

you can do it on the cheap for about $600 or spend the dough @ $1000 and up depending on front wheel/rotors/calipers/forks you want.

if you have a CR w/marzocchi's and plan to keep it, it's worth the cash imo... if you have an SP maybe not depending on condition of forks. SP forks were not easy to find 7 years ago but the superbike forks were/are plentiful; that may have changed as more bikes retire. back in 2000 when i did the conversion folks where asking $800+ for their used SP forks, so it was easy for me to justify the better superbike components.

to me it was worth it because i don't plan to ever sell the ss... i just add to the stable.

remember these are 10 year+ old bikes...

[Jeff H.]

I'm almost finished with the front end conversion for my '98 900CR. I pulled the Marzocchi's and replaced them with some revalved Showa's off a '99 900SS ie. I swapped out the 20mm bearings in my Marchesini's and put in some 25mm ones after I had the internal spacer from the '99 machined down to fit my rim and the new bearings. I used a bicycle headset spacer next to the bearing to position the speedo drive just right as well. '99 calipers and master cylinders went on next as well as some new bars from Cyclecat. It's looking pretty sharp. Hopefully we're buying a digital camera this weekend so I can take some pics.

This was a fairly labor intensive project and I made a few mistakes along the way. There were a couple times when I thought perhaps I should've gone with the old SP forks, but I'm glad I stuck with it now. I'm looking forward to my 1st ride this spring.

I concur with the previous advice on the Ohlins rear shock. One of the best mods I ever put on.

Whatever you decide, enjoy and good luck! I had lots of help from the folks on this board as I'm sure you will as well.

Best regards,

Jeff

[chaas67]

As many have said , the best money in any bike is spent on suspension and wheels.

After I put the 'new' frontend and rear shock on, my bike handled alot better.

To add to Jeff's comments, although labor intensive I didn't find it difficult. I think the one thing that can make this project a bit easier to do, initially, is to keep the front wheel by modifying your current front axle. It allows you to keep the orginal wheel and speedo. I changed the front axle and wheel after a 'minor' off-track excursion damaged the rim...

For me, it wasn't about adding value to the bike but making the ride much more enjoyable.

C'mon give in to the peer pressure and just do it !

http://mysite.verizon.net/res1mmqr/s...conversion.htm

[LQQKR]

Thanks you all for your replys. I appreciate your time.

[Nick D.]

Assuming you find parts that fit, I would go the Sbk/Ohlins route.

BCM swapped out my springs and valving on both the OEM forks and shock and Chris (old parts person) said I would be surprised at how "plush" the ride would be, especially over train tracks.

I definitely noticed an improvement in the ride but I would never call my bike plush. The biggest improvement I noticed was the forks of course and the rear ride height, but the rear really doesn't feel much different from OEM. And I wouldn't call it cheap either. For what it cost to go through all of that I could have thrown another couple of hundred into the pot and scored an Ohlins in the rear and Sbk forks up front.
An Ohlins (or whatever) is the way to go out back. When I re-did the suspension on my M900 I had BCM re-do the forks and I bought an Ohlins out back. HUGE difference. Maybe it's the Ohlins, maybe its the different type of suspension, maybe both, but I like to think the Ohlins is a big part of the difference.

[marvin]

Originally Posted by Nick D.

Assuming you find parts that fit, I would go the Sbk/Ohlins route.

BCM swapped out my springs and valving on both the OEM forks and shock and Chris (old parts person) said I would be surprised at how "plush" the ride would be, especially over train tracks.

I definitely noticed an improvement in the ride but I would never call my bike plush. The biggest improvement I noticed was the forks of course and the rear ride height, but the rear really doesn't feel much different from OEM. And I wouldn't call it cheap either. For what it cost to go through all of that I could have thrown another couple of hundred into the pot and scored an Ohlins in the rear and Sbk forks up front.
An Ohlins (or whatever) is the way to go out back. When I re-did the suspension on my M900 I had BCM re-do the forks and I bought an Ohlins out back. HUGE difference. Maybe it's the Ohlins, maybe its the different type of suspension, maybe both, but I like to think the Ohlins is a big part of the difference.

Rick at motocd.com has made a kit to install superbike fork parts in the old showa forks. they are then just as good as the superbike forks, lots cheaper than switching tripleclamps, axels, fender, etc. etc. I have the Showa's on my 851 with the Penske superbike parts, awesome. they can be made "plush" if that's the way you want them set up. The Ohlins or Penske shock is the way to go in the rear.

[Desmomaniac]

just commenting... but one benefit of the 916/748 wheels are that they move the mass of the wheel more towards the hub and away from the rim like that on the older 900/monster 3 spokes... small difference but worth the buck fitty imo. not to mention it was just easier for me to swap the speedo bevel and worm gears.

prior to the fork conversion i had found a wrecked 99 and replaced the front brake master cylinder, 5.5" rear wheel, rear master cylinder, lines, & caliper, showa shock, aluminum swing arm, and axle for about $700. tada the front and rear wheel now match... but couple of years later the showa sits on the shelf next to the stock boge with the new ohlins from kyle racing gracing the mongrel.

one day hopefully there will be a set of forged marchesinni's on it to finish off the project.

enjoy the wrenching, i know you'll enjoy the riding later on...

Originally Posted by chaas67

To add to Jeff's comments, although labor intensive I didn't find it difficult. I think the one thing that can make this project a bit easier to do, initially, is to keep the front wheel by modifying your current front axle. It allows you to keep the orginal wheel and speedo.

For me, it wasn't about adding value to the bike but making the ride much more enjoyable.

[NC Rick]

IMO the advantage of the SBK forks is how cheap they are. Once you pay for all the other mods, your better off paying for a set of adjustable SS forks and re-spring and valve them. Stock SBK springs and even valving is a little stiff if your under 240lbs. The Adjustable forks from an ss or an 851 make all the other stuff fit. I put SBK forks on my 98 by having Marvin turn down the outside of the tubes to 50mm. That way all the clamp and bar stuff fit back. Not a recommended mod though, I sort of dove in before totally realizing all the implications. It works well and now I know!