I have an 03 xb9s. I want to raise the front of my bike up after putting on an 18" wheel with a larger tire on the back. I know 03 triple trees are different than later models and im sure i will need different top and lower triples to make it work. Need to know which triples to use and if anyone has done this before?
with the potential wheel and suspension mods you speak of i can tell you this: your handling is going to be atrocious to say the least. you're creating trail and wheelbase parameters that are so far "out there" the bike will border on being dangerous. but then again to each his own.Originally Posted by madisonm55
To answer your question. You will just need a bottom triple tree from any 2004-2009 lighting/firebolt and 2005-2008 ully. All top trees are the same 41mm... you can not use 2003xb's or any year xbscg bottom tree.
A couple of things to keep in mind. Check your rear tire size. I think the tallest rear tire you can use on a standard Buell is a "65" and that is with a 17" rim. You will run into clearance issues.
Now with the ully front forks you will run into some handling issues. The bike might become a little twitchy so you might have to slide them up in the triple trees to get the ride high. Your best bet, if your set on ully forks is to get a after market rear shock to get all of the geometry right.
Y not just an equally larger front wheel and tire? Not that either option makes much sense to me but that seems easier.
I'd definitely look into checking out your trail measurements, and make sure you are somewhat close to stock (and probably lean to the longer trail measurement to be on the safe side). Like LF implied and I'll back that up... a couple of mm's here or there in the wrong direction can really make for a nasty handling bike.... and these bikes already steer a bit quicker than your average bear.
Thanks for the input. This is what iv got going on. Iv got a 240 tire kit with an 18" wheel. They dont make any other aftermarket wheels front or rear so i cant upgrade the front as well. I know handling is out the window but i dont live in an area where im gona be doing any hard cornering or anything like that, just simply for looks. That jacks me up about an inch and i was also thinking of going with a subframe spacer down the road which is why i need to lift the front up. Another alternative would be to buy a lowering bracket for my shock or buy and scg shock but they are hard to come by. Is there any difference between the uky models. The X-XT etc. I heard the 08 models are different.
what size 240 are u running?
tire sizes explained really helpful link: https://www.denniskirk.com/learn/tire-sizes-explained
stock is 180/55r17 so 180*.55= 99mm *2 for the height + wheel height (approx) 431mm= 629mm tire height
240/40r18 240*.4=96*2 +457= 649mm
now these arent perfectly accurate since the bead of the wheel isnt exactly 17 etc. but the difference should be close to only 20mm between the two (total height). so a slighty lower shock in the rear would be fine. In fact i think that cheap lowering link and the lower spring cone setup are between 20 and 25mm. plus the bikes only raising up 1times the sidewall height + half the wheel (if I'm thinking about this right).
Why not build on a different bike for something that won't handle? It will look better and probably safer in the long run. Sell the XB and find a Sportster or Big Twin to build off instead.
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