Katana Parts----KAT FRONT END!! now with pics--

[pjm204]

I have an entire 1997 Katana parts bike. Let me know what you need.

What you are probably interested in is the front end:

I'll post pics ASAP but the price is $250+shipping for the forks, triples, bars, calipers, master cylinder, wheel, rotors, axle tire....pretty much the whole front end...I think that it will give you everything you need to do a Kat front end conversion

[The Buddha]

What happened to the motor ...
I'll want the carbs ... FE ... I am prolly gonna regret not buying it ... but I have 3 in the works I gotta get out and take stock. I am prolly short axles at this point. But lets see ...
Now rear shock too is GS swap material.
Cool.
Buddha.

[pjm204]

I just don't feel like working on the motor, it makes more sense to sell this to raise funds for something new.

Make me offers on what you want buddha. I've got the carbs, they are in great shape.

[The Buddha]

You call $$ ... I sell parts off carbs for $5 each, needles and slides mainly and the tops too of late. Those are $60 ... rest prolly wont sell, I got 10 of some stuff, 1-2 of others ... Your slides stock or drilled and blocked ?, needles ? stock kat needles are same as GS, but I cant have more DJ crap, I have 5 pairs of that junk ...
Cool.
Buddha.

[pjm204]

needles are stock as far as I can tell, they don't have clips or anything so I assume stock. I was hoping to get $100 for the carbs but I have no idea what you are used to paying. I'm just basing my prices off of what they sell for over at katriders and on ebay and then making my price a bit lower.

[The Buddha]

Its a bit steep for me, I'll never sell more than $60 worth off it, more like $50 ... I'll skip, more than likely I am far too cheap when I sell stuff ... like who sells slides and diaphragms and needles for $5 each ... so I am limited by that as to what I can pay for it. It may be worth more to someone who has a katana and no carbs. Now I have bought carbs with floats missing or the T fitting broken off or other defects in the body for 10-30 or so. I bought a set in houston with the spings in the synch part missing so 1 butterfly will hang open ... and I got it for $25 ... it had good everything ... just no butterfly spring. Scoooooore ...
Cool.
Buddha.

[pjm204]

Yea, unfortunately, I am pretty confident I can get more than 50 bucks for the carbs. Let me know if there is anything else you are interested in.

I was considering throwing the front end on my GS but I just put in progressives and I'd hate to waste them.

[The Buddha]

Ha ha ... progressives are a waste ... I have pulled 3-4 out of GS forks in the last few months.
Cool.
Buddha.

[The Buddha]

Yea, unfortunately, I am pretty confident I can get more than 50 bucks for the carbs. Let me know if there is anything else you are interested in.

I was considering throwing the front end on my GS but I just put in progressives and I'd hate to waste them.

And for those to whom I have said ... your carbs are crappy, they got DJ in them, and sorry I cant fix it cos I dont have needles ... now you know where to direct your anger ...  - PM me, I'll send you his address, email, work address, phone numbers, credit card number, bank acocunt number ... yea ...  ...
Cool.
Buddha.

[pjm204]

haha so you're going to make me regret the fact that I sent you parts to be worked on in tbe past...!!!???

[The Buddha]

That is not a 97, that is an 88 atleast where FE is concerned.
Its really one weird puppy, no rebound adjustment and if I remember its a 39 fork tube, you see that press in top cap on the forks ... that means ... like you're screwed, it being screwed in, means you are unscrewed  - I dont quite remember if 39 or not cos I measured so much crap one day and never wrote it down.
Disks, calipers, legs, and wheels are all different. The 89-97 kat wheel looks just like the GS wheel, cos its the same wheel. The GS came on the scene and changed the katana forever ...  ...
The top triple is the same 88-95 and I dunno bottom triple. If the bottom triple is the kat 1100 style its unuseable on a GS.
BTW a 88 katana carb is also not the ideal thing for me. Its got the floats and seat spigot in 1 and you cannot remove the float needles ... of yea ... who thought of that ... Idiots. However The whole float can be used in the GS, just pray that you never need a set of float needles.
Cool.
Buddha.

[pjm204]

The carbs are from a 97....my thoughts are that the whole front end was replaced at some point....would that make the front end more or less valuable since it is from an 88?

[The Buddha]

88 FE's ... not worth the effort of swapping over ... if it is the 39 ... its nearly useless. OK you get 2 disks, but that is it. 2 weird fixed discs - not floating, fixed, and some hack job calipers ... prolly not get any stuff for it at all that easy ...

IMHO the most valuable ones are 89-95. They are the easiest to machine up, they are the ones with the best features. The drain bolt, the black adjusters on top etc etc ... these are the easiest to get stuff for, disks, calipers and pads etc etc easy.

The next rung is the 96-98, there is a screw driver slot for doing rebound, no idea if its as good ... probably is, no drain bolt ... so dunno if its got plastic BS like the GS FE. I've never split one ... and I dislike the threaded axle fitting on the lowers, though it may not be a huge deal. The top and bottom triples are different, making my machining jig only partially functional and they have the idiotic ball bearings instead of roller ... you definetly have to swap that out.

I am prolly going to settle on a 89-95 triple set and wheel + disk+ calipers but use 96-97 legs in 1 FE I have working now. If it works, I'll rate that as a second option. The legs aren't the worst of the 96-97 FE IMHO ... Heck, that whole FE is just a step below the 89-95.

98 and later FE's ... They are wider ... a sorta needless feature ... you can run 120 front tire, and the straight 3 spoke pattern will match a kat 4.5 rear if you swap, however so many colors and so many different things to work through on the FE, not worth it, also the top triple cant take the dash mount the way I do it, and I dunno what else, but I actively stay away from post 98's. I've never had anything more than a passing look at one, and I dont like what I see.

89-95 is first, 96-97 is second, and mixing and matching between the 2 is possible if some common sense is used. Past 98 all bets are off.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Mdow]

ya i was going to say that doesn't look like the stuff i just bought that clamed to be from a 97.  that sucks man.

well i guess you should just get the bike running now

[The Buddha]

Mdow - you're sending me 97 top triple ... I will have to weld GS ears to it, I cant swap you a 89-95 top triple ... it wont fit your 97 stem anyway ... Oh crap ... wait, you're getting aGS stem in a kat triple, so you do need the 89-95 style triple ... so that is what you're sending me right ... then yea we can swap. Let me know when its all in, I think I am confusing you and myself ... 
Cool.
Buddha.

[Mdow]

PMing to clear it all up

[pjm204]

its cool, I've already sold enough parts off the bike to cover my investment, I can just thrown the whole front end in the trash if I want hahahaha.

[The Buddha]

I have a trash can right here ...    ...
The real deal is actually more like this ... you cant fit a GS wheel in it which is central to atleast all the swaps I have made, so you gonna have to have someone buy it all ... wheel to triple ... and after all the effort its only slightly better than a GS ... till you need pads or rotors ... where it becomes a nightmare.
Yea you can toss this but you want $100 for the carbs ... bwaaaaaa ...
Cool.
Buddha.

[Kurlon]

If the wheels on that are the same as a GS's, sling me a price shipped for both to 04005.  (Assuming they haven't sold. : ) )

[The Buddha]

Oooo pjm204 dude ... there is 1 part of that bike that is worth serious $$ ... Heck ... almost new $.

I would buy it off you, but there is atleast 3 katana's lying face down in the mud in a 10 mile radius (cos I yanked their FE's) ... and them clowns have no clue, I can get it form them for less than the cost of priority mail from you to me.

Can you guess what ?

Anyone ? - Hint: I have not mentioned it at all in this thread. Maybe even ever on gstwin. Maybe ever. Not sure.

OK old timers quiet here.

Kurlon ... that front wheel ... look at the disks then rethink the question you asked.

Cool.
Buddha.