upgraded shocks and springs

[TheCafeKid]

when measuring the forks to find out what size you have(34, 35 ,37mm etc.) where do u measure? everywhere i've looked say i should have 35 mm. forks. i used a caliper to measure the o.d. of the upper fork tubes ( the part that goes in the triple tree) and it measures 37mm. is that the right measurement?

It's possible someone has switched out your forks and tree with something from a bigger bike (the 850 and up had 37mm forks) can you take a pic of your front end for us? They should be 35mm but if someone switched em out that's an upgrade already they're obviously a bit beefier. You can also call and tell them the ID measurement, plus the OD measurement to assure they send you the right stuff. Alot of them use the same springs from progressive whether they're 35mm or 37mm just the length and spring rates are different

[shinzon1]

well for some reason it won't let me post the pictures.

[shinzon1]

hopefully this will work.

[shinzon1]

heres the other i was able to get.

[mike_of_bbg]

Your best bet is to pull one of the springs out and measure the OD of the spring itself, and measure the length. Progressive has a nice doc here:

http://www.progressivesuspension.com/pdfs/7100-105.pdf

Which charts all the different spring models, including diameters, length, and spring rates. Pick what you think you'll like. Since yours is an L model, it's almost assured you can't find a spring too long: find the longest spring and just use PVC pipe to take up the slack, plus add pre-load.

[shinzon1]

i still need seals and i'd like to get some new dust boots as well. i've looked at a couple of parts breakdowns and they look closer but still not right. most everything i look at that is larger than a 750 shows to have the air valve at the top and a snap ring holding the seal in. i can tell u that mine doesn't have the air valve and uses a wire retainer instead of a snap ring to hold the seal. i'd like to know what these forks came from or atleast to narrow it down to a few years and models. so i can order the correct parts.

[TheCafeKid]

Go to BikeBandit.com or similar site and use their parts fiches for your model and year to see an exploded view of your models forks and see if they look the same. Your 8 valve "L" model was only made in 79 so it's possible they used some different stuff (perhaps off the 79 1000L model?) than other 8v 750s. Suzuki was good, or bad, for that, depending on how you want to look at it. Either way, RustyBronco brings up a good point as far as sorting the correct spring for the job much easier andore direct than my way lol You're so darn smart Dale

[shinzon1]

i use bikebandit all the time. they are great! looking at there partsfiche for the 750L it looks right. but the seal doesn't have any measurements for it.

[shinzon1]

something else i noticed on racetechs website is that all the emulators have the same part number. i'll looked up several bikes. some with 35mm and some with 37mm and all of them use the same part number for their emulators. how can that be? i would think that different size forks would require different size emulators.

[TheCafeKid]

i use bikebandit all the time. they are great! looking at there partsfiche for the 750L it looks right. but the seal doesn't have any measurements for it.

Well you could measure the seal in them now with calipers. If you planned on pulling them out first of course. You want to measure OD, ID and depth (important as they changed them here and there)
Or you might try calling Z1Enterprises and talk to Jeff or Rob or Chris and see if they can help you. Then again they have the seals on their site and they might list measurements for them.

[TheCafeKid]

On the emulators they list one size fits both cause that's how they work. They just sit down inside the fork, not really any place for them to go, so a 35mm emulator isn't going to move inside a 37mm fork. I've never measured either but the 37mm fork ID may be the same as a 35mm and they used thicker walled forks perhaps. I do know that on more modern bikes with larger diameter forks it doesn't necessarily equate to them being all the much more stiff than older smaller diam forks because the tube walls are thinner.

[shinzon1]

ok. i'll look at that. that does make sense. i started to think that might be the case when looked at a breakdown of how the emulators go in there. didn't seem to have a seal. just seemed to sit in there. thanks! i'll give chris a call tomorrow when they open back up. he's been very helpful to me. especially with my chain swap.

[salty_monk]

There is lots of leeway with Emulators, they don't have to be a tight fit but they do have to fully cover the top of the damper rod & provide enough of a platform for the spring.

The 650XS 35mm ones will not fit in a 37mm GS fork without an adapter, they are just a touch too small on both the bottom part that goes into the damper rod cup & the top for the spring.
The ID of the 37mm tube is 28mm.,

Dan

[shinzon1]

i think i'm just gonna save up some more money and get the ones from racetech rather than trying to make an adapter.

[salty_monk]

Yes if yours are 37mm forks then Racetech is really your only option