BigOz
24-02-2011, 11:57 AM
I've had my 696 for two years now and started to think about upgrading to a 796 or 1100 before Christmas but decided that I'm quite attached to my 696 since it is my first bike. It has enough performance for the roads I ride but there are a few things that annoy me and I thought if I can "fix" these problems there would be no need to upgrade.
As I am just over 6ft tall the 696 felt too small, when I first got the bike the low seat height was actually good at low speed because I could firmly plant both feet when required. The 1100 I tried for size felt so much better even though it is only 35mm taller and during the last summer I found I was starting to occasionally ground the 696 pegs and side stand in corners, hanging off helped stop this but I took this as another sign the bike was too low.
The front suspension has always seemed a little compromised with it being non-adjustable and with only one leg being fitted with a damping cartridge. This I should confess this is an unsupported concern as I've little idea about suspension adjustment and no evidence that the ride is compromised by the dissimilar fork internals.
I started looking into possible options and thanks to a lot of work and great posts on various forums by amongst others Pjfa, Raux and DoWorkSon I decided on a solution. Drawing mainly on the modifications Raux did during his rebuild I decided to fit the top shock mount from a Monster 1100 and the forks from a 1098 which would allow me to make the 696 as tall as a Monster 1100 and would leave me with much better quality adjustable front forks.
Fitting the shock mount is easy but the forks take some further changes to make them work.
The first problem is the diameter of the 1098 forks at the yokes is 53mm top and bottom, the monster forks are 54mm at the bottom yoke and 50mm at the top yoke, it turns out these are normal dimensions for many Japanese bikes which I looked into but using these would involve changing the brake callipers too as the spacing of the radial calliper bolts is normally 108mm on Japanese bikes and 100mm on Italian bikes. The other option is to shim the lower Yoke and either machine the existing top yoke or replace it.
The second problem is the diameter of the larger unthreaded end of the axle that goes through the right hand fork is larger on the 1098 axle so the Monster axle would need a shim to fit the forks but Raux found that using the 1098 axle with one of the 1098 spacers, the one that is normally on the right of the 1098 wheel and the Monster spacer from the left of the wheel works perfectly.
The third problem is the positioning of the brake callipers is different on the 1098 forks the callipers are held 5mm further from the centerline of the wheel. The solution most who have upgraded their forks use are spacers between the 696 rotors and the wheel, but the existing brake setup is hubcentric, the brake disk is held concentric with the wheel by a lip on the wheel hub the spacer would unless carefully machined with a corresponding recess and lip mean the rotors are aligned by the bolts only which would not be good. Raux found that Braking make a six bolt 15mm offset brake disk that fit quite nicely with no need for spacers.
As I am just over 6ft tall the 696 felt too small, when I first got the bike the low seat height was actually good at low speed because I could firmly plant both feet when required. The 1100 I tried for size felt so much better even though it is only 35mm taller and during the last summer I found I was starting to occasionally ground the 696 pegs and side stand in corners, hanging off helped stop this but I took this as another sign the bike was too low.
The front suspension has always seemed a little compromised with it being non-adjustable and with only one leg being fitted with a damping cartridge. This I should confess this is an unsupported concern as I've little idea about suspension adjustment and no evidence that the ride is compromised by the dissimilar fork internals.
I started looking into possible options and thanks to a lot of work and great posts on various forums by amongst others Pjfa, Raux and DoWorkSon I decided on a solution. Drawing mainly on the modifications Raux did during his rebuild I decided to fit the top shock mount from a Monster 1100 and the forks from a 1098 which would allow me to make the 696 as tall as a Monster 1100 and would leave me with much better quality adjustable front forks.
Fitting the shock mount is easy but the forks take some further changes to make them work.
The first problem is the diameter of the 1098 forks at the yokes is 53mm top and bottom, the monster forks are 54mm at the bottom yoke and 50mm at the top yoke, it turns out these are normal dimensions for many Japanese bikes which I looked into but using these would involve changing the brake callipers too as the spacing of the radial calliper bolts is normally 108mm on Japanese bikes and 100mm on Italian bikes. The other option is to shim the lower Yoke and either machine the existing top yoke or replace it.
The second problem is the diameter of the larger unthreaded end of the axle that goes through the right hand fork is larger on the 1098 axle so the Monster axle would need a shim to fit the forks but Raux found that using the 1098 axle with one of the 1098 spacers, the one that is normally on the right of the 1098 wheel and the Monster spacer from the left of the wheel works perfectly.
The third problem is the positioning of the brake callipers is different on the 1098 forks the callipers are held 5mm further from the centerline of the wheel. The solution most who have upgraded their forks use are spacers between the 696 rotors and the wheel, but the existing brake setup is hubcentric, the brake disk is held concentric with the wheel by a lip on the wheel hub the spacer would unless carefully machined with a corresponding recess and lip mean the rotors are aligned by the bolts only which would not be good. Raux found that Braking make a six bolt 15mm offset brake disk that fit quite nicely with no need for spacers.