Day 7 - Dropped the forks out and offered up the KTM yokes to see if they will fit. Looks OK, but will need work. First job is to press out the steering stem from both yokes and fit the Fazer stem into the KTM yokes. I took them along to my friendly fabricator who has an hydraulic press at his disposal. They pop out easily. I had thought that I would need to sleeve the Fazer stem to fit in the KTM bottom yoke. However by a stroke of amazing luck both stems are exactly 30mm wide where they press into the yokes. This is seriously lucky.

With the Fazer stem pressed into the KTM yoke I trundle off back to my garage to fit it. All goes well except there is not enough thread showing above the top yoke, so I can't fit the stem nuts. The bottom yoke needs machining to remove 7mm so that the stem can be pressed in that extra length.

I will also need to make an insert for the top yoke to locate the stem centrally in the bigger hole of the KTM top yoke. I design a simple "top hat" design for that.

Underside of KTM lower yoke:

Underside of Fazer lower yoke:

Day 8 - Lot of measuring of swing arms, bearings, sprocket offset, etc. Removed bearings in EXUP swing arm. Went to a fabrication company to source some bearings for the swing arm. The OE ones are 30mm wide with a 28mm ID. I need them to be 25mm wide with a 24mm ID. The nearest is only 20mm wide. Would prefer to keep as close to standard as possible, but this is my only choice. However there is a lip to stop the bearing going too far inside the swing arm which the OE bearing did not press up against. So I may actually be able to get another 30mm wide one in there. Will have to check this. That lip is approx 36mm inside, so after I take off 5mm from the end that leaves me with 31mm to play with, so another bearing with the reduced inside diameter of 24mm, but 30mm width is potentially doable now. I would prefer to keep the bearing size as close to OE as possible as greater minds than mine have decided that that is an optimum size.

Tried to take some accurate measurements of the sprocket offset on the rear wheel. From a chat on the Fazer Forum with Wraith600 who had installed an Aprilia rear wheel on his build, he suggested the maximum offset the frame could handle before the chain hits the frame is around 10mm.

I took two measurements from the KTM and Fazer rear wheel. The first was using the seam on the wheel spoke that was in the centre of the hub to the centre point of the sprocket teeth. That gave me a difference between the two wheels of 2.48mm. The KTM sprocket being 2.48mm further from the hub than the Fazer wheel. The second I used a straight edge placed on the sprocket and another straight edge flat on the sides of the tyre so they were parallel. Took a measurement between the the two straight edges and then subtracted half the width of the sprocket to get the offset figure. Glad to say that this figure came to 2.5mm and so confirmed my first measurement as being accurate (hopefully!) and well within the limit of 10mm that Wraith600 suggested.

The KTM had a 525 chain fitted and the Fazer a 530, so this will further aid clearance. Although a 2.5mm offset doesn't sound too bad to me, however I've never done this before so it could all go a bit Pete Tong. I understand from Wraith600 that I can order a custom made front sprocket from Talon to incorporate the additional offset. This will prevent any dodgy bodging on my part. The upside is that things are looking positive.

Day 9 - 1-10-13 - Fabrication course at college. Finally got the chance to remove some metal from KTM bottom yoke so I can get the Fazer stem to be at the correct height above the top yoke. The Fazer stem is pressed back in. Didn't get back from College until 2130 and I was making dinner as my wife had been out too doing Pilates. So first job in the morning is to offer up the yokes again. Fingers crossed I've got my measurements correct. Started on making the insert for the top yoke on the lathe, but ran out of time. Won't be able to finish that until next week. Blast. Was hoping I could pretty much finish the front end graft on. Never mind it will give me the chance to double check my calculations for the insert for the top yoke.

Starting work on insert for top yoke. Ran out of time so will be finished next week. How frustrating.

Day 10 - 2-10-13 - Yoke fits nicely and I can get both lock nuts on. Looks like the KTM yokes are not quite as kicked out as the standard ones, so I hope I don't run into any tank slappers. A steering damper is on the cards any way, just have to work out how to fit it. There are no stops for the lock nuts to work against so I'll get some welded to the underside of the headstock once the bike is completely stripped.

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