Hi. I'm new to the forum and am looking for advice on changing Ohlins fork bottoms. Presently my 1997 916 SPS has the standard Showa forks. I have long wanted to change to Ohlins ( merely for looks, I'm afraid ). So I bought a second-hand pair of radial Ohlins forks (stamped FG 811 2009.05.30) off a 1098 and second-hand Ohlins bottoms off a 748 with the intention of fitting the 748 bottoms to the 1098 forks. I thought it would be easy, but when I tried to screw the 748 bottoms (stamped FG 8500 2000.11.16) on to the 1098 fork, they 'tightened up' after a quarter turn. Kais Ohlins Centre provided me with the reason - the thread on the 1098 fork is 1mm pitch while the thread on the 748 bottom is 1.5 mm pitch! I do not want to put radial forks on to my 916 as, for me, it's too much of a visual change to the bike and am dumb-founded that I've been thwarted by some 'perverse' thread change by Ohlins! So my first question is this - does anyone know whether some (earlier, later?) 748s/916s etc with Ohlins forks had bottoms with 1mm threads, so I can look for these? Second question is where can comprehensive data about all Ohlins forks be found as Ohlins seem to be more secretive than MI5? Thanks a lot and sorry I'm so long-winded.
hello and welcome dude.. i cant help but welcome all the same! some one will be along who can im sure.
Hi Chizel, thanks for the welcome. I was hoping someone would know about the different thread pitches on Ohlins bottoms - nothing so far, so maybe it is subject to the Official Secrets Act! Cheers
speak to dom at harris about ohlins tech specs stuff he has always been very helpful @Dukedesmo put radial fork bottoms on an older set of forks so he might be able to tell you where he got them as the 1098 forks are Road and track FG43's you might find that some 2nd hand fork bottoms with axial caliper mounts are out there from other like him who upgraded (but couldnt tell you for sure what the thread pitch is)
Indeed I did but they were Showa forks which have a different thread to Ohlins. I also have 1198 Ohlins on my 916 but with the standard Ohlins radial mounts. You could try 'Bursi Evolution' Accessori Moto Modena, Preparatore di moto per pista, Componenti per moto Ducati, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki in Italy, they list various fork bottoms for Ohlins forks...
Thanks Dukedesmo. It all helps and I used your link to Bursi Evolution, an interesting site - could only see radial bottoms, I'll have to contact them . Now got to go away for 14 days and will resume on return. Regards John
If you can't get axial mounts for the 1098 forks (and I would think that's likely to be the case) then, maybe you could fit the tubes with the axial mounts into the 1098 fork body? I'd ask Ktech (they fitted new ti-nitride coated tubes into my 916 Showas) or Harris to see if Ohlins have anything compatible.
Yes, you could be right and changing the fork legs is a second option. I'll look into both. Cost is a big factor for me. Thanks for your advice.
