Bajaj Fork Conversion

Installing a modern anti-dive

Bajaj fork into a Vespa Rally
By Mike Zorn

Anyone who’s ridden a pre-P Series Vespa learns a couple of things

pretty quickly. Though the handling and ride on smooth roads is quite
good, it deteriorates greatly on rough surfaces due to poor dampening
and the braking performance flat out sucks with massive dive and
inevitable bottoming.

Most people wind up hardly using the front brake at all. The suspension
can be remedied to some degree by using a stiffer spring and making sure
that your shock is in good shape but this comes at cost of a smooth ride.
Many have tried converting to a P or PK fork which usually takes a fair
amount of grinding and welding and never looks right unless you’re
building a street racing mongrel.

With my daily rider Rally 180, I’d resigned myself to the “coal cart” ride I
was getting from using a super stiff German spring when I saw a modifica-
tion done to a friends bike. He was running a modern Bajaj anti-dive fork
on his Rally and it all fit under the stock fender!
I had to do this myself. I plied the crew down at San Francisco Scooter
Centre (the innovators of this procedure) with questions and left the shop
with a complete Bajaj front fork assembly, a repro rally front fender and
some new cables. I opted to reuse the bearings and races since I’d recently
replaced them.
The pinch bolt notch and fork lock
hole will also need to be relocated.
After this was done I bolted it all together for another test fit. A few more
bendy tweaks were done it get it all looking straight (the repro fenders are
really soft and can be easily bent with your bare hands). I also used this test
fit to mark where the new hole would need to be drilled for the fork lock
and to cut a new notch for the pinch bolt.
I wasn’t happy with the “agricultural” look of the Bajaj trailing arm and
thought the plastic cover used on the stock Bajaj bikes would be out of
place on a classic so I did a bit of cutting, bending and hammering and
made a rally for link cover fit.
Riding impressions
The Bajaj fork is over an inch taller than the stock fork, so with tall tires
my center stand is a bit short. I do like the extra ground clearance, which
might come in handy for those running performance exhausts on older
bikes. The increased height also affects the steering angle slightly, it feels
much more nimble if not a bit twitchy. Though the brake is basically iden-
tical to that of a stock rally the anti-dive linkage allows you to really grab a
handful of brake without the scary slappy dive and wallow typical of a
stock Rally. This has really affected my riding style on a positive way, as I
know I can stop in less distance and stay in control when applying the
brakes. The preload adjustable spring is quite soft but I’ve yet to bottom it
out even on the lowest setting.

All in all the project set me back under $200 and took a day and a half to
complete, including paint. Considering the vast improvement in braking
and handling, I consider this to be the best performance per dollar modifi-
cation I’ve ever done to a scooter.

The fork is wider around the fender mount area, I had to modify the inner
fender brace (above left). In the first of several test fits I placed the fender
on the fork, mounted a wheel and then stuck it all in the bike to check the
fit. The fender required three more modifications.

Once I was happy with the fit I cleaned it all up and primed and painted
the fender to match, old and new are shown above.

For final assembly, I replaced both my brake and speedometer cables. Stock
rally components bolt right up.

First step was to pull the stock front fork out and compare measurements
against the new one . The distance between the lower bearing race and the
threads on top of the fork is the same but there is more material above
these threads on the Bajaj fork. I cut the extra off with a hack saw.
A larger hole for the mount area (above right). One of the fender mount
holes was slotted for fit (above). I tapped a dimple into the fender to clear
the upper shock mount (right).
64 Scoot! Magazine • Fall 2005 Scoot! Magazine • Fall 2005 65