SuzukiSavage.com - fork lowering damper rod spacers.

danman1 YaBB Newbies Offline 1995 suzuki sl650 softail bobber Posts: 17 cali Gender:	fork lowering damper rod spacers. 10/05/11 at 16:05:19 can anyone tell me what size of tubing fits around the damper rod so i can make my own damper rod lowering spacers??
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Max_Morley Serious Thumper Offline LT650 Luxury Touring & sidecar rig Posts: 1490 Moses Lake. WA Gender:	Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers. Reply #1 - 10/05/11 at 16:59:35 Spacer goes on top of the spring. Schedule 80 PCV pipe spacers could be cut to drop the preload and height some. Some sidecar drivera do this to shoten the trail for easier steering with the car on, not recommended when car is not on. Max
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danman1

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #2 - 10/05/11 at 17:25:12

Max_Morley wrote on 10/05/11 at 16:59:35:

Spacer goes on top of the spring. Schedule 80 PCV pipe spacers could be cut to drop the preload and height some. Some sidecar drivera do this to shoten the trail for easier steering with the car on, not recommended when car is not on. Max

i was thinking of using metal but i guess i can find the pvc pipe then locate the metal version while at the hardware store. thanks again!

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scubachef Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 140	Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers. Reply #3 - 10/05/11 at 22:26:15 stock handlebars are the correct size tubing for the lowering spacers.
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danman1 YaBB Newbies Offline 1995 suzuki sl650 softail bobber Posts: 17 cali Gender:	Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers. Reply #4 - 11/04/11 at 21:21:43 awesome wil be cuttin my old stock bars!!!
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MotoBuddha

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #5 - 11/05/11 at 05:55:05

Max_Morley wrote on 10/05/11 at 16:59:35:

Spacer goes on top of the spring. Schedule 80 PCV pipe spacers could be cut to drop the preload and height some. Some sidecar drivera do this to shoten the trail for easier steering with the car on, not recommended when car is not on. Max

If danman1 wants to "lower" the forks, then he's talking about spacers that slide onto the damper rods that essentially prevent the forks from extending to their full stock length -- not the ones at the top of the fork tubes. Those are preload spacers.

danman1, use a caliper to measure the diameter of the damper rods to get the inside diameter of the spacers. Add just a bit so the spacers slide on easily. Then measure the diameter of the widest part of the damper rod, or of the small springs that fit on the damper rod. Use that for the outside diameter of the spacers. When you reassemble, the spacers go on the damper rods before the springs.

scubachef, handlebars might have the correct inside diameter to slide onto the damper rods, but I wonder if their wall thickness provides enough load bearing surface with the small springs.

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teabowl13

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #6 - 11/05/11 at 07:05:42

This is a great question. I'll be lowering my forks soon as well. I found this great page with complete instructions, but it did leave me with a few questions: one of which is the OP's question; how big are the spacers (The guys in this post made their own on a lathe; not an option for me) If you haven't seen this, I hope it helps:

http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7129

I have a related question also: and I don't mean to hijack your thread, but how low is TOO low? The guys in the thread above lowered their forks by 3.5" which seems like a WHOLE lot. I know the Ryca guys are doing 2", and it's probably a matter of taste, but is there a "RIGHT" length to lower the forks?
I am building a Cafe/Roadster out of my Savage, so I want the bike to have a much more standard/sporting stance, but I don't want it to bottom out over every bump and pebble in the road, and I don't want to stiffen the forks so much that they don't move at all.
What are your thoughts?
Cheers!

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MotoBuddha Serious Thumper Offline Let's roll! Posts: 1416 Charlotte, NC	Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers. Reply #7 - 11/05/11 at 10:12:25 The "right" amount depends on how bumpy your roads are. The more you lower the forks, the less travel they have, the sooner they bottom out. Personally, I wouldn't lower the forks without also installing stiffer springs. The stock Savage springs are WAY on the soft side, unless you're smaller than average.
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teabowl13

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #8 - 11/05/11 at 12:04:33

I was planning to go with the progressive springs for sure.
One of the drawbacks to my Donor bike for this project is that it wasn't running properly before we started to tear into it, so I wasn't able to take it out for a real ride to see what it was like in stock form; but just standing over it and pushing down on the front end with the brake held in made me pretty nervous...

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MotoBuddha

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #9 - 11/05/11 at 13:18:40

teabowl13 wrote on 11/05/11 at 12:04:33:

I was planning to go with the progressive springs for sure.
One of the drawbacks to my Donor bike for this project is that it wasn't running properly before we started to tear into it, so I wasn't able to take it out for a real ride to see what it was like in stock form; but just standing over it and pushing down on the front end with the brake held in made me pretty nervous...

A stock Savage pulled up next to me at a light. Then he rolled forward about six inches, going no faster than a slow walk, and touched the brake. The front end dove several inches, bounced up and dove slightly less before settling. On a properly damped and sprung bike, under the same circumstances, it would have dipped less than an inch, and only once. I know cruiser riders like a soft ride, but, by my standards, the Savage is too soft. Anything would be an improvement. Thicker oil, stiffer springs, more preload...

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28773 L.A. California Gender:	Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers. Reply #10 - 11/05/11 at 13:34:19 if it dove 6" I'd question whether there was any oil in it.
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teabowl13

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #11 - 11/05/11 at 14:55:56

If it dove 6" I'd wonder whether it had an springs in it at all!

Ok, so the guys from Chop-Cult say:
"We had already decided on 3.5" of drop in the forks. That would leave us with just about 1.5-1.75" of travel."

If all they do with the stock fork tube is to add a 3.5" spacer at the bottom, and then take out 3.5" from the stock spacer at the top, then it stands to reason that the amount of travel wouldn't change, or am I wrong there? Does changing the spacers actually affect the amount of travel? How did they calculate 1.5-1.75"? I know when I pushed down on my forks they seemed to go down a lot more that just pushing on it at a dead stop...

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bill67

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #12 - 11/05/11 at 15:11:35

MotoBuddha wrote on 11/05/11 at 13:18:40:

teabowl13 wrote on 11/05/11 at 12:04:33:

I was planning to go with the progressive springs for sure.
One of the drawbacks to my Donor bike for this project is that it wasn't running properly before we started to tear into it, so I wasn't able to take it out for a real ride to see what it was like in stock form; but just standing over it and pushing down on the front end with the brake held in made me pretty nervous...

A stock Savage pulled up next to me at a light. Then he rolled forward about six inches, going no faster than a slow walk, and touched the brake. The front end dove several inches, bounced up and dove slightly less before settling. On a properly damped and sprung bike, under the same circumstances, it would have dipped less than an inch, and only once. I know cruiser riders like a soft ride, but, by my standards, the Savage is too soft. Anything would be an improvement. Thicker oil, stiffer springs, more preload...

I don't think the forks are any softer than other bikes I've had,The rear is the stiffest I every had,That why I changed the rear shocks to progressives.

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28773 L.A. California Gender:	Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers. Reply #13 - 11/05/11 at 15:14:33 If you want to keep the travel, then you'll need to shorten the forks. That bottom piece dictates the travel.
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MotoBuddha

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Re: fork lowering damper rod spacers.
Reply #14 - 11/05/11 at 15:15:22

I think they cut the preload spacers (the ones at the top) in order to keep the same amount of preload. But that has nothing to do with the amount of fork travel available. Fork travel is limited by how much the fork bottoms can slide up and down on the fork tubes, and that distance is determined by the available working length of the damper tubes. They could have left the preload spacers out and still have had only 1.5-1.75" travel.

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