SinglesGoinSteady wrote on 06/20/12 at 07:53:54:My opinion is that if you do a massive front end conversion or even an improved front brake setup on the Savage/RYCA, you will be doing it for fun and looks (which is fine of course) only. However, the limitations of this machine are the frame. I just finished my RYCA and the front brake is plenty adequate for my 165 lb mug on a bike that was lightened approximately 50 lbs. To get high performance, you need to start with a high performance base, and the Savage is not it. You may sink a ton of money/time into something that makes the whole bike shimmy when you mash on stoppers that are 10x as powerful as the stock ones. Just some thoughts before you commit, undoubtedly you will already spend a lot more on the bike than the kit cost (I did) just monkeying around. I talked to the RYCA guys and they even said that the uprated springs they have make it rather stiff and bumpy and are overkill unless you're a big guy. Good luck if you do, let us know how it rides. p.s. if you upgrade the front brakes a lot, you need top quality rubber on it too, all stuff to ponder... -Dave
All in all, I would agree. You should not expect sportbike performance from a sportbike front end on the savage as it relies on the entire bike to function as a system. Will it improve front end suspension and braking? almost definitely, unless you somehow find forks less advanced then ours or buy forks from a pitbike or something. Will it improve front end suspension and braking to the point of being comparable to a sportbike? no.
my two big reasons for swapping the front end on my XS (and i'd do the same for the savage should i need to) was that it had pitted forks and solid rotor (not drilled) brakes that would fade into uselessness at the sight of rain. new forks would be ~$200 easy and drilled rotors would be anywhere from $40 for ebay parts or $80 new/drilled existing.
Also keep in mind that aside from musing about it or doing research, a front end swap is really quick. maybe two hours. undo the top triple clamp, take off the controls, slide the new front end in, put the controls on that. IF you've planned well. my swap has taken three months (and still going!) because of other projects interfering with time and I needed to sand/paint parts. that and the XS has a triple tree mounted instrument cluster which takes some finagling (technical term) to mount.
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