[guysironworks]

After purchasing a 2017 600mile Pure earlier in the year, I’d decided an Urban/Scrambler on steroids was going to be a better fit, so rather than trading a losing a small fortune, I figured an upgrade was possible for very little cost. Here’s the changes made. Note, the rake on the frames are actually identical between the models, the rake and trail only change because of the longer forks and shock.

Purchased a pair of F800R fork tubes, these are 635mm, 7mm longer than the Scrambler and 10mm longer than Urban. Purchased longer damper rods off ebay (mine were the 1” lower versions). Figured adding 5/8” spacers below the damper rod to get a little extra stroke. Purchased a Pair of RaceTech emulators, drilled out the damper rods and added longer spacers to give 20mm pre-load and assembled with synthetic fork oil. Added a Scrambler fender and fork brace off ebay to complete the front end build.

Before and After Forks below:

Stock Scrambler wheels were also sourced off ebay. The rear rim is a little narrower, and better suited to adventure riding and the front obviously is a 19” compared to the 17” Pure wheel. Brakes, axle etc all interchanged without issue, though I did need to extend the brake hoses.

An adjustable rod end tie bar was fabricated to allow me to figure out the best rear shock to suit the 3+” raised front end lift. Conclusion, was Ohlins BM940 shock normally installed on a R1150GS. This has a length of 383”, which should raise the rear by 3” and keeps the balls of my feet on the ground, whilst maintaining the 61.5 deg rake of a stock Scrambler. Shock is on order as are the high front fender from a KTM and an urban headlight surround. Will add some pics when the parts arrive to finish the work off.

A few other misc changes include a custom aluminum bash plate, a small rev counter, rear seat delete plate, monster long kick stand, and a battery frame to allow for K&N filters, a small tray for mounting a tool box where the old airbox was located. Custom seat mount to allow the aluminum side covers to be eliminated, and finally some aluminum covers for the sides of the seat base, and cover where the intake tube was.

Next project is to build a pannier frame for mounting my Tourtech hard cases, and adventure style tires will complete the build. Once I’ve sold all the parts I’ve changed out, I should be down about $1500 which is a lot less than I would have spent trading for a Scrambler, and I’ve got something a little unique now.

Should be able to post completed build pics once the remaining parts arrive. Hope you like this build.

 

[David37]

Nice job on the conversion of your Pure.

 

[GapRunr]

I'm confused but very intrigued. The Scrambler and Urban use the same fork uppers. You mentioned that the F800R are either 7mm or 10mm longer, then later you say the front is raised by about 3"?

Have you increased the ride height only, or is there more suspension travel as well?

I'd love to increase ride height and travel. I can do the Andreani fork cartridges for $700 and get 20mm, but if I can get 40-60mm more travel and throw in some Race Tech emulators I'd be happier.

 

[vagueout]

Really admire the resourceful way you went about altering the forks, particularly the use of Race Tech emulators, they are largely disregarded by R9T owners, as a diy proposition I reckon they deserve more attention. Got to question your move to pod cleaners, interesting to see if you like what they do.

 

[talox]

Great job. Can you explain better your solution for the fork?

 

[florent]

Very promising, I'll follow especially your suspension works.

 

[guysironworks]

I'm confused but very intrigued. The Scrambler and Urban use the same fork uppers. You mentioned that the F800R are either 7mm or 10mm longer, then later you say the front is raised by about 3"?

Have you increased the ride height only, or is there more suspension travel as well?

I'd love to increase ride height and travel. I can do the Andreani fork cartridges for $700 and get 20mm, but if I can get 40-60mm more travel and throw in some Race Tech emulators I'd be happier.

My Pure had the factory lowered kit, so I got 2" from the F800R fork tubes (635mm ve 588mm), and another 1-3/8" from the damper rods (the lowering option has a 1" shorter damper rod). I also got a more travel by adding a spacer below the damper rod. I plan to machine some custom stoppers for the damper rods that will give a little more stoke, perhaps +1".

If you have a Scrambler you will only get 7mm from the F800R fork tubes and perhaps another inch from tweaks to the damper rods, but if you move the fork bushings much closer you will be asking for trouble. Hope that helps.

 

[guysironworks]

Great job. Can you explain better your solution for the fork?

I added a little more detail on the fork work to the response to GapRunr, hope that helps. I have to say the jury is out on the emulators, waiting on the rear shock to arrive this weekend to try it all out. Fingers crossed.

 

[GapRunr]

My Pure had the factory lowered kit, so I got 2" from the F800R fork tubes (635mm ve 588mm), and another 1-3/8" from the damper rods (the lowering option has a 1" shorter damper rod).

Ah.. okay that makes more sense. I've been trying to find longer than OEM fork tubes for my Urban. I'm thinking Andreani could make a set of cartridges for them that have the longer length, and then the top cap to fit whatever fork I find. My KLR250 has 43mm x 727mm fork tubes and they have 9.1 inches of travel. I'm trying to get about 7 inches. The Yamaha XT660 has 43mm x 675mm and they have 8 inches of travel. The issue becomes trying to get the proper inner and outer bushings to mate the BMW lowers to the non-BMW stanchions. Wilbers has their solution but the forks are $1900. I can get Andreani cartridges for about $700 and forks tubes for $300.

 

[guysironworks]

Wow, that's taking things to a whole other level. I think you maybe limited on travel by how close you dare go with the upper and lower bushings, the fork lowers are quite short so that will be a large bending load to accommodate, but I guess it depends how much abuse the forks will see in use. I'm fairly confident from the measurements I took that you could squeeze at least another 1-1/2" stroke by substituting a custom stopper for the bottom of the damper rods, effectively raising the damper rod and still use the same coil springs. I know the F800R tubes match the R9T stopper diameter, and that makes for an easy low cost upgrade. Be interested to see how yours works out.

 

[talox]

Very interesting. Now I have Andreani long cartridge and I would like to have more ground clearance. I didn't understand how you can increase travel suspension because I think it depends on the legs and not on the tubes (but I'm very ignorant about the argument)

 

[guysironworks]

After purchasing a 2017 600mile Pure earlier in the year, I’d decided an Urban/Scrambler on steroids was going to be a better fit, so rather than trading a losing a small fortune, I figured an upgrade was possible for very little cost. Here’s the changes made. Note, the rake on the frames are actually identical between the models, the rake and trail only change because of the longer forks and shock.

Purchased a pair of F800R fork tubes, these are 635mm, 7mm longer than the Scrambler and 10mm longer than Urban. Purchased longer damper rods off ebay (mine were the 1” lower versions). Figured adding 5/8” spacers below the damper rod to get a little extra stroke. Purchased a Pair of RaceTech emulators, drilled out the damper rods and added longer spacers to give 20mm pre-load and assembled with synthetic fork oil. Added a Scrambler fender and fork brace off ebay to complete the front end build.

Before and After Forks below:

View attachment 139286 View attachment 139287 View attachment 139288

Stock Scrambler wheels were also sourced off ebay. The rear rim is a little narrower, and better suited to adventure riding and the front obviously is a 19” compared to the 17” Pure wheel. Brakes, axle etc all interchanged without issue, though I did need to extend the brake hoses.

An adjustable rod end tie bar was fabricated to allow me to figure out the best rear shock to suit the 3+” raised front end lift. Conclusion, was Ohlins BM940 shock normally installed on a R1150GS. This has a length of 383”, which should raise the rear by 3” and keeps the balls of my feet on the ground, whilst maintaining the 61.5 deg rake of a stock Scrambler. Shock is on order as are the high front fender from a KTM and an urban headlight surround. Will add some pics when the parts arrive to finish the work off.
View attachment 139289 View attachment 139290 View attachment 139291


A few other misc changes include a custom aluminum bash plate, a small rev counter, rear seat delete plate, monster long kick stand, and a battery frame to allow for K&N filters, a small tray for mounting a tool box where the old airbox was located. Custom seat mount to allow the aluminum side covers to be eliminated, and finally some aluminum covers for the sides of the seat base, and cover where the intake tube was.

View attachment 139292 View attachment 139293 View attachment 139294

Next project is to build a pannier frame for mounting my Tourtech hard cases, and adventure style tires will complete the build. Once I’ve sold all the parts I’ve changed out, I should be down about $1500 which is a lot less than I would have spent trading for a Scrambler, and I’ve got something a little unique now.

View attachment 139295

Should be able to post completed build pics once the remaining parts arrive. Hope you like this build.

Ohlins shock arrived this week. Pics below. Just need to decide where to mount the remote adjuster.

 

[GapRunr]

that stance is really nice.

Wow, that's taking things to a whole other level. I think you maybe limited on travel by how close you dare go with the upper and lower bushings, the fork lowers are quite short so that will be a large bending load to accommodate, but I guess it depends how much abuse the forks will see in use. I'm fairly confident from the measurements I took that you could squeeze at least another 1-1/2" stroke by substituting a custom stopper for the bottom of the damper rods, effectively raising the damper rod and still use the same coil springs. I know the F800R tubes match the R9T stopper diameter, and that makes for an easy low cost upgrade. Be interested to see how yours works out.

The flex due to the longer top tubes does have me concerned. Based on what you have seen with the internals, and assuming a custom stopper for the bottom and the Andreani high cartridges, how much travel do you think is possible with the F800R tubes?

 

[GapRunr]

I didn't understand how you can increase travel suspension because I think it depends on the legs and not on the tubes (but I'm very ignorant about the argument)

I thought so as well but the Wilbers +70mm kit comes with new tubes and you use your stock legs.

 

[talox]

Exactly, but the Wilbers +70mm kit rises bike by 70 mm, increases ground clearance by 70 mm but has front suspension travel of 140 mm. Only 20 mm more than stock fork.

 

[florent]

Great work, but so the biker is more inclined towards de front than original stance (+5cm ?)?
Isn't it an issue?

 

[guysironworks]

that stance is really nice.


The flex due to the longer top tubes does have me concerned. Based on what you have seen with the internals, and assuming a custom stopper for the bottom and the Andreani high cartridges, how much travel do you think is possible with the F800R tubes?

The tubes are only marginally longer than a stock scrambler, and there are plenty of OEM's and specials out there with much longer fork tubes. I'm not up on the Andreani cartridges, but seems to me you're always going to be limited by the the lowers, and the position of the bushings. Seems 1-1/2" is the maximum extra with the same fork lowers.

 

[guysironworks]

Great work, but so the biker is more inclined towards de front than original stance (+5cm ?)?
Isn't it an issue?

The rake is the same as the stock Scrambler, so the front has actually been raised more than the rear.

 

[florent]

Ok, I misunderstood, I thought you had got +7 in the back & +2 in the front.

 

[GapRunr]

Exactly, but the Wilbers +70mm kit rises bike by 70 mm, increases ground clearance by 70 mm but has front suspension travel of 140 mm. Only 20 mm more than stock fork.

aha! There's a valuable piece of information that is sorely lacking on Wilbers site. Their wording is that it increases the ride height by 70mm and "the travel as well" but doesn't actually specify how much.

Thanks for clarifying this.