added spacers to my fork 'lil differently

[bargovic]

So i think ive searched too much, lol.
I was going to get progressives, but now I'm thinking of doing the cheap and quick thing of adding spacers to my stock springs.

I need schedule 40 or 80 PVC, 31mm diameter, but what length for each side?

This is for a 2005 GS500F, is the Making Fork Spacers page - http://www.gstwin.com/making_fork_spacers.htm the same for '05? no change in fork size im assuming.

[pantablo]

PVC is cheap. start with the recommended size listed and experiment. Its an easy thing to do.

[bargovic]

Thats the problem, there is no size(length) listed. It just says 200mm? that was what he cut it from, whats a good length for each side to start with?

[che mike]

i would guess he made them 35 mm long ... on the 5th picture down you can see that he wrote '35 mm' in blue on his new spacers.

[Cal Amari]

Been incredibly busy recently, but thought I should try to help out here...

- That spacer is marked 31mm diameter, which is ~1.25 inches

- It is shown as 35mm long, which is actually ~1.4 inches, though it is marked as 1.5 inches, which is close enough

Therefore, each spacer is ~1.25 inches in diameter, and ~1.5 inches in length... hope this clarifies those markings.

[speedyts49]

I made mine 35mm long which is 1 3/8". 
I like the mod btw.

[bargovic]

Thanks guys. Im going to ride over to Lowes now. woot.

[bargovic]

I put the spacers in today.

What i did was, went to Lowes, and bought schedule 40 - 3/4" PVC connectors, and some flat washers that were 1.25" in diameter.  The PVC connector is for a 3/4" pipe so its outter diameter is 1"( ~24.4mm ) this is too small for the fork, and all the other sizes were too big ( next size was 1.25 inches ~31.75mm) so they would have to be shaved down, and then the wall of the piping would be real thin.  So i cut the connectors to 1.25 inches in length, and grinded the washers to be exactly 31mm in diameter.  Then placed the washers at each end, creating a spacer of 1 3/8".  And since it was so hard to compress the springs with that spacer, i placed the washers and pvc between the stock spacer and the spring.  That way if my wrench sliped the washers and spacers didnt go flying.

There is a noticable difference in the suspension stiffness and i like it.  But I still think progressives are more of what im wanting.  But I'm very happy with my $1.24 mod for the time being.  Total time was about 1hr ( not counting the first attempt to find out the pvc was too thick).

I have one question about air in the fork.  The washers i used have only a small hole, do I need to worry about how air is compressed in my fork? I didnt think it matters, since i thought i read that you can use solid spacers.  I am stil wondering since my spacers are not at the top, they are between the spring and stock spacer.