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Took my '90 out for a serious ride for the first time today. Rocky, rutted, gnarly single track/woods ride. The front end is way harsh and deflects off just about everything it touches. Does anyone have tips and/or fixes to get the front end to cooperate?

Find the whole setup including tripples and front wheel off a 96 up, those work pretty good. The USD's before that I think kind of suck and I would much rather have conventional forks. There might be some guys that have some tricks for those forks but I never liked mine. Tripples can be had for $20 to $30 forks around $100 and $50- $100 for the rim. Then properly spring it and your pretty much ready to rip instead of chasing your tail trying to make those forks work right. My .02

If you are trying to keep it on the real cheap maybe just change out the oil and enjoy the arm pump....makes a man out of you

Rhinos right, bin 'em, and fit ither 87 conventionals (awesome with the anti-cav cartridge conversion), or post 96 inverted . . . or get used to spending money to make those suckers plush ! Other option is a White Power or similar conversion. I put 4054's on an XR600, it was Plush plus ! Mind you that was in the late 80's, so it would probably be considered unrideable now !

I am having a garage clear out and have a set of 1987 conventional forks with triple clamps, and Showa after-market damping rods and clickers. Let me know if you are interested...

Thanks for the input, guys. I really like the forks on my '97, so I may try to find a set of post '96 forks and triples as mentioned. I already have a front wheel off my '97 since I turned it into a supermoto.

Right now I have the forks set on full soft and they are tolerable, at least for the type of riding I did today which was mostly fire roads with some non-technical, tighter trails mixed in. I haven't run the forks full soft in my usual gnarly, rocky and rutted trails yet, so I guess we'll see how it goes.

So I have a 91 and am looking to upgrade the front suspension also. Is the best bang for the buck going with a complete 96 or later complete front end then?

Certainly looks that way.

I think so too...pretty easy and straight forward deal and with all the guys doing the AF conversions the parts are cheap, by the time you chase your tail trying to get those old dogs working you could have had way better newer ones.

Found forks from a '97. Very clean set that also comes with upper and lower triple trees. I already have a front wheel that came off of my motard when it was set up for dirt. These suckers should bolt right up to my '90, correct?

Forks, triples and axle bolt arrived today so I got to work this evening. Everything bolted up pretty well. Only thing that needs to be addressed are the caliper bracket bolts. The '90 bracket bolts are a little too long. I spaced them out for now. I'll have to order up '97 bolts.

Didn't get a chance to go for a serious ride, but I did manage a few laps around the yard. Even with the short ride, I still noticed a difference between the '90 and '97 forks. Can't wait to REALLY ride the bike!