Honda front end?

GLENN KEARNEY ran a Honda front end on his Husky at the Ohio GNCC. Triple clamps, forks, axle, wheel and front brake.

I've got to look into that a little closer. I've got a few of those around here.

It didn't help much it seems, as he finished 175th overall with 1 lap!

Ive thought about it. Most racers agree the Husky front forks just arent up to the level of current jap bikes. God knows ive suffered with them in baja and beyond.

I had a nice chat with Les at LTR today, and i'll give him a shot at fixing my Huskys front end. I tried a local shop in SoCal but it didnt work out.

Bottom line is not many suspension guys know how to massage the Zokes.
It would be interesting to know the rest of the story--if the suspension guy for Kearney knew his way around the Zokes or not.

But yeah--tuff to beat jap forks, and its not hard to get a whole Honda front end from a parted out '06 CRF450 or whatever.

Just sayin.

I would definitely go to Les first before changing out the forks.

Havent tried the 50mm TXC forks. But both pairs of 45mm forks, and my '07 50mm forks all are/were harsh and in need of lighter springs and a re-valve.

used Honda front end -- maybe $600-800--easy to set up for baja and plenty of spare front wheels available.

New style TXC forks -- $2k--still need to work on them to get them baja ready, always hard/expensive to find spare wheels. Ive got 5 sets and thats not enough for the 1000!!

For sure if i had a new TXC i would first go to Les. For sure. Talked to him today. Great resource.

For baja the '06- '07 TC frame/triple clamps are the perfect set up in terms of stability and turning. Even Team Honda likes their older CRF's for the same reasons.

The TE forks aren't impressive. The TXC / TC forks are much better.

I have several Honda front ends and a bunch of wheels, it's something I'm going to look into a little closer.

The WEC guys are running the SHOWA fork with a Husky wheel and have been all year. Glenn just did the whole front end.

Kearney's personal mechanic was Jeff Stanton's(Wyatt Seales?). So I'm guessing he thinks in the "Honda Box". CH Racing running them says a lot though. Most interesting is Honda dropped Showa and went to Kayaba for the '09 450! Zokes work(with some massaging) for slow little old me!
Norman

following the NW guys I have an appointment with Les soon early in the Nov (budget/time).
I am not unhappy with my TXC suspension at all, it works super in our regular flowing and even in the tight trail zones around here.
But when I did another local familiar fave area with lots embedded and sharp rocks I got hammered even with rear HSCD loose, and the fork comp very soft, I was OC (out of control) in all the wrong places (edge of drop offs etc).
I agree its just gotta be set up at/for our level,,
these zokes are from planet earth (well sort of-Italia) like like Showa/KYB and WP,, they all have copy access to each other,,and all that fluid dynamic and spring software and engineers. I think alot of it is the test riders they use. And if you guys have ridden different bikes from different pro level/test rider guys they can be from regular guy (most of us) user friendly plush to insanely rock stiff. I am going to Les a shot and by all accounts from this crew and from a long discussion with Les I think he knows exactly what I (and we) are looking for. R

I've been messing with this for a few weeks and this is what I've found so far.

The fastest way to put Showa CR / CRF forks on a Husky is to use all the Honda parts. Everything is pretty close to bolt on, and this is how I did my test run, but the stem will be about 5mm too long and the forks could stand to be shortened 20 to 30mm.

I used Pro Circuit 24mm offset Honda clamps with the stem cut down 5mm, the Husky seals with the center holes opened with a die grinder. They are very close and need just a little bit to fit the Honda stem. I also moved the rear set of fender mounting holes back on the lower clamp so the Husky fender would bolt right up. I pressed all that back together and installed it with a BRP Honda sub-mount bar clamp and a GPR damper tower. This will allow me to use my damper and puts the bars closer to stock height. Plus this allows room to slide the forks up to get the rigth clamp to axle distance to match the Zooks.

This set up actually pulls the offset back 5mm from stock, so sliding the fork up in the clamps further may not be as important.

The cleanest set up for the brake, at the present time, is to use the CR Nissin caliper with a MotoMaster 260 rotor hanger and the OE master and hose. I still need to get with Brembo USA and see if I can get a 260mm Brembo to Honda hanger, but the stock Brembo hanger can be made to work. The top hole needs to be relocated slightly lower and a 5mm spacer on the bottom, with a 6mm on the top centers up well with the rotor. This might be a better option is you don't have several Nissin calipers lying around.

The front wheel has several options, but the cleanest way to get the Husky wheel on is to bore the lugs to fit the Husky axle. The distance between the fork lug is the same as a Honda, so with the lugs bored the stock wheel and axle go right in.

The fastest way is to use the Honda wheel parts. A speical set of spacers could be made to use the Husky wheel on the Honda axle. The spacers would have to be stepped for the bearings to ride on, since the Honda axle has a 5mm smaller O.D.

There may be enough room in the hub to run a bearing with a 20mm bore vs. the stock 25mm, but all I can find are 12mm instead of 9mm. You'd still have to make some spacers, because the Honda breaings are spaced about 15mm further apart than the Husky.

For using the front wheel you may want to look at a earlier model Husky axle around 1998 I think. Using that and the 1998 wheel spacers for the '08 wheel may fit. I am not positive on this but that is what I was going to try. I am pretty sure Honda is using a Keihin EFI on the '09 CRF 450.

I still use Fast By Ferricci FBF Eraldo and his crew sure seem to have a inside line
direct to the european teams where they exchange info.I have yet to ride a bike that handles better then my bone stock Husky 125 with FBF tuned suspention.I said it all last year and i will repeat it again i NEVER won a expert race until i changed to a Husky 125 with FBF suspention then i go out and win the AMA National Hare and Hound #1 plate in the open class on a 125 .Les might be good but with my race results i better stay with FBF.I even have to ship my suspention 6 thousand miles round trip
One more thing Eraldo called me today and told me about a new 144 kit he is working on for the new 5 port motor it is to be like the CH Husky Racing team bike.That sure would make my bike fly so it looks like a 144 is comming out west soon to have a run at the open class title again .

I thought the pre-'99 used a 20mm axle, but I haven't been able find anything for sure. If they use a 20x42x12 bearing then I might be able to use the bearing in the new hubs. They looks as if there is room, but I haven't took the wheel apart yet. I have another '08 wheel coming so I can look into it.

I've also noticed that the "works" zooks on some of the WR250's run a different caliper hanger. I'm not sure if it's a standard WR item, or something that has to be used with the "works" forks.

Enjoying this.
Let me know if i can help with odd bearings if it comes to that. Its the family business.

Looks very clean.

Sure. I need some good 20x42x9 2RS bearings along with a 20x42x9 and 26x42x7 seal. Got anything like that?

Hey is that a 2010 spy photo

I'm pretty sure Glenn was doing some testing for the mother ship as there are changes on the way.

It was top secret. Nobody was supposed to know.