PVC for fork spring pre-load

[Anonymous]

I have an '85 GS 700E and I'm doing the fork seals and bushings this week. I was going to add a pice of PVC tubing to preload the spring a bit. How long of a piece should I use? maybe 2-3 inches?

[focus frenzy]

the length needed depends on what your current sag is.
how much sag to you have now?

[Anonymous]

Well, hard to tell, I think I might have an inch or so....I had a lot of stiction from the old seals so hard to tell. I may need to wait and put it back together to find out for sure. Somebody already put in about half an inch of PVC. I was think about taking that out and adding more, but I may not need to with only an inch of sag.

[luc8421]

2-3 is way too much! Not that you wouldn't have a rock hard front end if you did have that much spacer, but i've got an inch in my 700 forks, and it's hard enough to get the top cap back down. I've heard 3/4 to an inch is all you need.

[Anonymous]

I've got a sneekin' feling I just might want to keep what I got and add the new 15w fork oil I ordered and see how she feels. I had 10w before, and it was a bit soft with no air in the forks. I think with my current spacer, 15w oil, no air, new bushings, and new pro-moly seals I might be in business.

[Jethro]

Why don't you add just a little air? I know air is a sh!tty preload and an even sh!ttier spring, but it sounds as if you don't need much to get you where you need to be. I have progressive springs and 8lbs of air and love it.

[Anonymous]

I just did seals and fluid and springs in my fork this last saturday. I had to make a spacer that was 3 or 4 inches long because the new springs were seriously that much shorter than the original 2 piece springs that were in the forks. They are progressive spring forks and we quadroople checked parts numbers because we thought some one had screwed up and sent me the wrong springs. The spacer should basicly come even with the top of the fork tubes when they are extended to give you the 3/4" to 1" preload you need. Any higher and you'll have a way to stiff front end and shorter will cause your ride height to be a little sagged. I personaly am very happy with the new springs and oil as it seriously needed it. Like riding a new bike now.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Some of the applications do require a 3" spacer the GS1100E being one. With the fork fully extended the top of the spacer should be even with the top of the fork tube as a starting place