Upside down vs. Conventional forks

flyliketrains
Edited Date/Time 4/17/2022 10:48am
Was looking at classic steel and noticed suzuki was last to join the party. Who was the first brand to switch over? Did anyone do it long before it was a major change in the industry? Seems like it must have been a why didnt I think of that moment.
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SoCalMX70
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SoCalMX70 4/16/2022 10:52pm
4/16/2022 10:52pm
Suzuki went back and forth. My 92 RM125 had upside down forks. Sorry, I don't have an answer to your actual question though.
Sully
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Sully 4/16/2022 10:55pm
4/16/2022 10:55pm
Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki 250s all changed in '89, and Kawasaki switched in '90.
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Bnagazina 4/16/2022 11:25pm
4/16/2022 11:25pm
I believe KTM was the first to switch to upside down forks (1985?) which were god awful. They then switched back to conventional (1995)as the other manufacturers were going upside down and had some of the better forks. Of course all are now upside down.
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SmokinJoe439 4/16/2022 11:40pm
4/16/2022 11:40pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2022 11:56pm
The 1984 KTM 495 I believe was the first production bike to come with. Then more of the models got them in 85. Maybe ATK was the next in 86 but they were basically using the same WP forks as ktm. I guess the ktm setup stock sucked but the better setup atk had decent performance. Cagiva in 87 again WP forks.

Japanese works bikes mainly honda and showa. Had inverted forks early as 85. Johnson ran them a couple of times in 86. KYB was the ones late to the party think 88 is when they finally switched. 89 is when the big switch happened. The 95 is the birth of the modern conventional fork.
They all tested with them too that fad lasted maybe 2 years. Ktm n Suzuki stuck with it because for once they had good suspension. Weight and fork tube flex is what ended it. The showa conventional had 49mm tubes to fight the flex ktm were 45 then jumped to 50.
All in the quest to find the right flex early 90's spent a lot of time changing the fork tube taper. Initial response was they were too stiff for less than pro.


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Sully
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Sully 4/17/2022 12:23am
4/17/2022 12:23am
Bnagazina wrote:
I believe KTM was the first to switch to upside down forks (1985?) which were god awful. They then switched back to conventional (1995)as the other...
I believe KTM was the first to switch to upside down forks (1985?) which were god awful. They then switched back to conventional (1995)as the other manufacturers were going upside down and had some of the better forks. Of course all are now upside down.
That’s right, I completely forgot my brother’s buddy had them on his ‘85 KTM 125, so I stand corrected in my original post.
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JBecker 72
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JBecker 72 4/17/2022 6:04am
4/17/2022 6:04am
I never understood why Suzuki went back to conventional forks for a little while in the late 90’s.
ATKpilot99
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ATKpilot99 4/17/2022 6:04am
4/17/2022 6:04am


Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .
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Chris_Buehler 4/17/2022 6:35am
4/17/2022 6:35am
JBecker 72 wrote:
I never understood why Suzuki went back to conventional forks for a little while in the late 90’s.
Didn't a lot of the GP teams still run conventional works back then? By all accounts they were amazing forks for the average Joe
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FWYT
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FWYT 4/17/2022 6:54am
4/17/2022 6:54am
Chris_Buehler wrote:
Didn't a lot of the GP teams still run conventional works back then? By all accounts they were amazing forks for the average Joe
They still are! I swapped a set on to my '03 YZ250 and love them.
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metal_miracle 4/17/2022 7:59am
4/17/2022 7:59am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2022 8:02am
Tm had conventional forks as an option from 94-99

But the TM80 (big) had conventional forks up until 98 except for in 1994



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queen of spodes 4/17/2022 8:25am
4/17/2022 8:25am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2022 8:26am
Kawasaki's 1989 46mm conventionals were amazing. Riders continued running them on their KX's into the early 90s.
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BAD10
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BAD10 4/17/2022 8:58am
4/17/2022 8:58am
ATKpilot99 wrote:
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/42/84/314284523c31ec937974abfb9801a9c3.jpg[/img] Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .


Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .
Wow look how raked out that front end is though!! 🤣😳
backinthesaddleagain 4/17/2022 9:39am
4/17/2022 9:39am
ATKpilot99 wrote:
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/42/84/314284523c31ec937974abfb9801a9c3.jpg[/img] Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .


Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .
BAD10 wrote:
Wow look how raked out that front end is though!! 🤣😳
It is a good looking bike for sure
KONG
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KONG 4/17/2022 9:44am
4/17/2022 9:44am
With upside down forks being the norm, aren't classic forks now upside down?
Laughing
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Dirty Points 4/17/2022 10:35am
4/17/2022 10:35am
JBecker 72 wrote:
I never understood why Suzuki went back to conventional forks for a little while in the late 90’s.
Because the early 90s USD Showas were some of the worst feeling forks ever.
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Dirty Points 4/17/2022 10:38am
4/17/2022 10:38am
ATKpilot99 wrote:
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/42/84/314284523c31ec937974abfb9801a9c3.jpg[/img] Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .


Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .
Production:

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stillwelding
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stillwelding 4/17/2022 10:48am
4/17/2022 10:48am
ATKpilot99 wrote:
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/42/84/314284523c31ec937974abfb9801a9c3.jpg[/img] Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .


Not production of course but Brad Lackey ran Simons inverted forks on his 1982 championship winning machine . Suzuki wasn't happy by some accounts .
I remember being at the British GP, where Lackey beat Vromans, and hearing a Japanese engineer saying, sadly,
“Is not Suzuki, is Lackey bike”.
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