Forks upgrade

[andyvh1959]

I can't resist digging through the Kawasaki models to see what parts from one model may be applied to upgrades on my 1600 Classic. I've already changed over the stock Classic wheels to Mean Streak 17" wheels front and back, which also uses the larger diameter full-floater style light weight brake rotors. The front Mean Streak wheel/tire/rotors is ten pounds lighter than the stock Classic wheel/tire/rotors.

The Classic and Nomad use a 43mm cartridge style front fork with 5.9" of travel, but no easy preload or compression/rebound damping adjustment. The Mean Streak 43mm forks are inverted, but also do not feature preload or compression/rebound adjustment. The larger Ninja models, like the ZX10, ZX12, ZX14 and Concours all feature a 43mm cartridge style fork, with preload and compression/rebound adjustment. Seems it would be a direct fit alternative. However, the ZX10, ZX12, ZX14 and Concours forks are over 1.5" shorter, with only 4.5" of travel.

So I wonder, does anyone have experience using the cartridge internals of the ZX/Ninja series forks into the Classic/Nomad series forks? Can it be done to add these features and fine tune the ride qualities of the Classic/Nomad?