SuzukiSavage.com - heads up on front fork lowering spacers?

strang

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heads up on front fork lowering spacers?
01/02/13 at 08:36:27

I am looking at lowering my front forks with some spacers and I want to get them made up locally.

I appreciate what the Ryca guys are doing but I am 5500 miles way - I recently had a small part (for my xs650) shipped from the states over here and with all the postage and packing and import taxes and post office fees (oh yes for some reason they want a considerable processing fee!) it was seriously not worth it. Angry

Could someone give me the heads up on the measurements I need for some spacers? Rather not pull my forks apart to measure Wink

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Gyrobob

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Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers?
Reply #1 - 01/02/13 at 08:55:00

strang wrote on 01/02/13 at 08:36:27:

I am looking at lowering my front forks with some spacers and I want to get them made up locally.

I appreciate what the Ryca guys are doing but I am 5500 miles way - I recently had a small part (for my xs650) shipped from the states over here and with all the postage and packing and import taxes and post office fees (oh yes for some reason they want a considerable processing fee!) it was seriously not worth it. Angry

Could someone give me the heads up on the measurements I need for some spacers? Rather not pull my forks apart to measure Wink

I'll bet if you post this in the "Official RYCA Updates" section, Ryan or Casey will give you the info. They are pretty good about that kind of thing. Another thing to try would be to ask on the RYCAmotors facebook page.

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28886 L.A. California Gender:	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #2 - 01/02/13 at 08:55:22 Besides the RYCA threads, we have 2 HowTo's on fork lowering. I assume you haven't read thru those... http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1289315334 http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1187872966
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ohio thumper Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 154	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #3 - 01/02/13 at 09:10:42 I still have my fork internals. will post pics and dimensions when i get home.
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strang

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Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers?
Reply #4 - 01/02/13 at 09:19:12

thanks for replies
verslagen1 - read the 1st before but missed the second. And my girlfriend thinks I've read everything on "that bloody site" Grin

Still it seems a little vague on what O.D and I.D. to go for?
second thread has people guessing and then last post mentions using 25mm handlebars (3/4 inch I.D.?) for making up spacers?
Sorry to be a pain but if someone could definitely confirm the dimensions that would be great - like to avoid bike in bits/half finished job/waiting on right part syndrome Roll Eyes

thanks thumper - was cleaning up typos on this message when you posted.

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« Last Edit: 01/02/13 at 11:15:05 by strang »

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ohio thumper Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 154	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #5 - 01/02/13 at 13:08:43 hope this is what your talking about. if not give me a diagram part number and i will look it up and measure it. these measurements are in inches. length is 5.315, o.d. is 1.250, i.d. is 1.210, and thickness of tube is .025
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ohio thumper Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 154	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #6 - 01/02/13 at 13:14:36 oh i forgot to say that these are stock length off my bike.
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strang

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Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers?
Reply #7 - 01/02/13 at 13:32:32

thanks so much thumper!
It's actually measurements for an extra spacer that needs to be added to the damper rod as in the picture below.

So the crucial measurements are the diameter of the long thinner section and the diameter for the thicker lip/top section.

Thanks to Hugh for his tutorial and pic. I bought his alternator for my xs650 and it is ace. my attempt as a thankyou plug Cheesy

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damper_rod.jpg

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ohio thumper Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 154	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #8 - 01/02/13 at 15:57:44 just got done measuring that up. the skinny section is .785, the top part is 1.235 and the very top is 1.241. hope that helps you out
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strang Senior Member Offline Posts: 387 london Gender:	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #9 - 01/02/13 at 16:07:21 ohio thumper you are true gent - thankyou
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strang Senior Member Offline Posts: 387 london Gender:	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #10 - 01/02/13 at 16:10:41 on another point - why is it in some threads/tutorials people take off some material from the spacers at the top of the forks (ie. ohio thumpers photo) and some don't?
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Dave

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Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers?
Reply #11 - 01/03/13 at 06:56:44

strang wrote on 01/02/13 at 16:10:41:

on another point - why is it in some threads/tutorials people take off some material from the spacers at the top of the forks (ie. ohio thumpers photo) and some don't?

When you install the spacers - you are preloading the springs and the ride gets rough. If you then trim the top of the spacers at the top of the forks - you can reduce the preload and get the forks to be a little softer and improve the ride.

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braveteacher Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 154	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #12 - 01/03/13 at 07:05:45 http://suzuki-s40-ratbrat.weebly.com/page-3.html Page 3 of my web site shows step by step how I did it...use some schedule 40 PVC pipe...worked fine. (:
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strang Senior Member Offline Posts: 387 london Gender:	Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers? Reply #13 - 01/03/13 at 10:09:09 so it recommended to take the same off the top spacers? ie. 50mm damper rod spacer = 50mm off the top fork spacer? or do people recommend something different? braveteacher - I don't see where you took any off the top spacers? are there pros and cons?
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Re: heads up on front fork lowering spacers?
Reply #14 - 01/03/13 at 13:02:38

strang:

Put it together with the top spacers stock and ride it. If you believe it is too stiff - then take some off and try again until it suits your weight and riding style. If you are changing over to a Cafe style bike you will be shifting some weight forward - so you may not want to cut the full 50mm off as you might need a bit more preload than you had stock.

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