Chait Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Hi, my long pending VF1000 rebuild into a Classic Motard / Street fighter, has been dormant and now that all the parts have arrived i have got into the act. Being a purist i wanted to go the concours route but it was going to be too much work so i decided to go with giving her some robust forks, rear shock and upgrade the wheels and tyres. And work my way on the bodywork as i move forward. The VF's forks are really tall for a sport bike and after measuring several front ends the closest one (nearly the same or short by 1mm) was the Ducati Hypermotard. The tough part is that the bike has been in bits since 3 years after she was dismantled for restoration and never got to doing it. Finding them right parts is going to be time taking as i didnt label them. And its been crazy sourcing all the upgrades and getting them parts made as being in India, nothing is available locally. 1. Hypermotard 1100S Front Forks 2. Hypermotard 1100S Handlebar with Brake/Clutch master cylinders & levers 3. Hypermotard 1100S Brembo M4 Calipers 4. Hypermotard 1100S Brake Discs 5. Hypermotard 1100S Front Wheel - Marchesini 6. Machined Triple Trees - Made by Jamie of Daugherty Motorsports 7. Rear wheel conversion to CBR900 with front sprocket - Jamie 8. Rear CBR900 brake caliper and mount - Jamie 9. Engine oil lines kit - Jamie 10. Trail Tech Vapor Digital Speedo I need to buy the rear disc and other bits. Although i have been a motorcycle enthusiast all my life, i consider myself a novice when it comes to rebuilds. As the last ones were some 18 years ago on my RD350B and 14 years back on my GS400x. So i will be asking too many questions and the help would be greatly appreciated. The build already has a challenge with the lower tree on the left side nearly touching the frame and on the right it pretty much cuts into the frame half way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Kel Posted May 6, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted May 6, 2013 What is the offset of the triples? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 That triple design looks familiar. Too bad it wasn't developed enough to work for you on your bike. Interested in seeing your build come together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chait Posted May 6, 2013 Author Share Posted May 6, 2013 What is the offset of the triples? They were made to have the same offset as the stock ones by factoring the thickness of the forks etc but that didnt seem to go into these : ( That triple design looks familiar. Too bad it wasn't developed enough to work for you on your bike. Interested in seeing your build come together! sigh..i will have to find a way to get these to stop at the right spot without sacrificing turn angle but not sure how it can be fixed now. i cant afford another pair its was too much work and time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Going to USD forks causes these issues sometimes. The fork diameter is larger than stock so all else the same, they will touch sooner. I thought you meant the triple tree itself was hitting the frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chait Posted May 6, 2013 Author Share Posted May 6, 2013 Going to USD forks causes these issues sometimes. The fork diameter is larger than stock so all else the same, they will touch sooner. I thought you meant the triple tree itself was hitting the frame. Exactly, since the fork dia is larger the same has to be factored into the design. The triple tree is going past the frame and if the forks are mounted they would hit the frame. The whole idea was to mount the Hypermotard front end onto the VF, hence its fairly clear that while maintaining the clearances required to mount the Ducati wheel etc the triple clamps have to be made with an offset so as to not interfere with the frame. Its pretty simple and if some basic thought went into designing these then i would have had a perfect pair of triples. I mean how else would i or anyone want them to be made if these were to work as intended. A set of different forks mated to the VF by fabricating a new set of triple trees, i dont see any complexity in the objective. I feel very betrayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Chait, I may have this wrong but it appears in your pics that the steering stop is limiting the left lock to miss the frame by a small margin, but would hit the frame on right lock, appears to be caused by the steering stop not being centered, or duplicated on the right side of the triple tree. In your last photo, it looks as though all that is needed is another bolt added to the right side to limit it by a similar amount. As I said earlier, it is hard to get a true perspective from photos and I can't tell how much lock that would leave you, but it seems you have much more lock on the right side than you do on the left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chait Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 Chait, I may have this wrong but it appears in your pics that the steering stop is limiting the left lock to miss the frame by a small margin, but would hit the frame on right lock, appears to be caused by the steering stop not being centered, or duplicated on the right side of the triple tree. In your last photo, it looks as though all that is needed is another bolt added to the right side to limit it by a similar amount. As I said earlier, it is hard to get a true perspective from photos and I can't tell how much lock that would leave you, but it seems you have much more lock on the right side than you do on the left. Yes the photos do not completely cover the issue. The steering lock on the left does hit the frame on complete lock contact and the steering lock on the right hits the frame too early. Now trying to limit the right side with another bolt will limit turn radius in a big way and in any case the left lock is not sorted as the bolt location is shorter by a few mm or so. Even with this figured out, I will end up with a highly restrictive steering lock which ruins the purpose for which a new set of triples were custom made for. I'm posting below the photos of comparison of all the three triple clamps, stock VF vs custom vs stock Ducati. And you will see that the customs ones are hardly any different from the Ducati triple offset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmythecop Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 My Buell S1 came from the factory with rubber bungs on the frame to act as steering stops when the forks contacted them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chait Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 Photo 1: custom triples together showing similar offset Photo 2: shows the difference in offset between the stock VF triple and custom triples. This is enough to see where everything went wrong. The very idea was to mate the VF steering stem to the custom triples which are made to have the same offset as the stock triples whilst factoring in the dia of the wider Ducati forks and this would further increase the offset a bit more. this would have nailed it. And if the offset was perfect so would have the bolt to enable steering lock. Photo 3: all the three triples superimposed on one another to see how they are set apart from the stock triple at the bottom. I have ensured that the shaft pivot is in a straight line to get that photo right. Photo shows that the custom triples are made entirely out Ducati upper triple offset and the stock VF offset was not at all considered or largely disregarded, while designing these. Photo 4: the Ducati Hypermotard Triples fit really tasty on the VF but no way they will allow any turn as they are too straight. Surprisingly the steering shaft/ stem length is spot on and only bearings need to be sorted. If only the VF's frame was different enough to accommodate these!! The way forward is to make a new set! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Yeah, pic 2 is worth a thousand words isn't it? The offset from the centre shaft to the forks is obviously not enough on the "Custom" items. The other thing that wasn't immediately obvious is that the steering stops on the VF1000 frame are not equal left to right, or is offset to the left side of the frame. It seems that the triples are simply made incorrectly as you mentioned in previous posts. Have you spoken to the fabricator? You should have some recourse on his mistake, if that is the case. Good luck with your build, don't give up though, it's worth it. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chait Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 Yeah, pic 2 is worth a thousand words isn't it? The offset from the centre shaft to the forks is obviously not enough on the "Custom" items. The other thing that wasn't immediately obvious is that the steering stops on the VF1000 frame are not equal left to right, or is offset to the left side of the frame. It seems that the triples are simply made incorrectly as you mentioned in previous posts. Have you spoken to the fabricator? You should have some recourse on his mistake, if that is the case. Good luck with your build, don't give up though, it's worth it. Tony Hello Tony, yes, the steering stops on the frame are set a bit to the left side on the steering head and are perfectly aligned onto the stopper on the lower tree. It guess it all depends and varies on the possibility of where the stopper can be made to sit on the lower triple tree. Yes, i have requested the fabricator to refund the full monies and awaiting his reply. As the collateral cost to getting the stuff over to him like my stock triple tree from India and buying a set of Ducati triple trees in the USA for his reference, customs/shipping paid on the trees itself set it back to $550. Plus the cost of the Custom Trees was $650. This would been all fine if the trees came out well but sadly they didnt come out the way envisaged. More than anything else i was continuously following up if he got it right and kept assuring me he understood it all and nothing more to it. I did my part. Its only fair he refunds the amount paid for the trees. I am going to get a set of triples made here so back to the drawing board. No giving up on this project, i just hope the rest of the parts get hooked onto the bike as planned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Were you able to get any resolution on the triple tree issue? Please keep us up to date on your project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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