hi all. im new to the forum, and i recently bought a ninja 500. i want to swap out the front end completely (for better suspension/cosmetic/for clipons).i qurious if any one has done this before and what triple trees/forks they used. i've got some sweet ideas for the bike to make it look more sporty, and im gunna ad some performance mods as well. this is all in time and i know there will be some research to do before i know what to get. but first things first, front suspension and clip ons

 

Ahoy Skin.
I have seen a few front-end swaps, but have only heard of a few track guys who have mounted late-90's CBR600 F2 front ends to the 500. But when you do this, you'll also have to lay down a significant dollup of dosh, customizing the rear end too. The guys who were doing this were pre-SV650 track guys who had plenty of money and incentive for having the hottest 500 possible.
In addition to the co$tly problem of matching triple-trees to forks to frame, the other challenges are:

~Mating the 500's front wheel to a foreign axle diameter.
~(OR more haphazardly) mating a foreign front wheel to a chassis it wasn't designed for
~The problem of fork length (most forks will be longer, which will cause sluggish, chopper-like handling; and we can only raise the rear-end so much before chain clearance becomes a problem.
~Your selection of suitable forks is further narrowed (or more likely confounded) by the axle position on the new forks. Some mount the axle in front of the forks, some behind, but very few of them are centered at the very bottom of the forkbody, as is done on the 500.

You're treading brazenly in dangerous territory here. But no guts, no glory, right? I'm one of the conservative-types who prefers to ride rather than tinker: if I want a better front-end or a more powerful engine, I'll buy a bike that comes stock with a better front end or a more powerful engine.

You might be pleasantly surprised at the 500's stock front end with Racetech springs, oil and cartridge-emulators when they're properly tuned. You still won't have adjustability, but once you get the front end dialed-in, what's the point of changing it for road use?
The botched adaptations I've seen on Ebay have made me a skeptic. The worst one was a guy who managed to bolt a ZX9R engine into a ZX6R chassis and frame, using a grinder and many fabricated billet-aluminum tabs, resulting in dubious frame integrity. He spent all that effort and money to create the ultimate sleeper, but the end result was a decidedly inferior bike to the original 6R.
But if you've got a beater 500 laying around... good luck!
-CCinC

 

i'll take yer advice. just update springs and oil. ive just been puttering the idea around in head. i suppose ill just keep it clean and maintained and see what i can trade in for. my credit is really not good, so im worried i wont be able to get a bigger bike with trade. thanx fer the help and the great advice.

 

hmm, good info calamarichris