fork spacers

[natedawg120]

I am making new fork spacers for my forks.  I just want to confirm before I do it that fork oil will not destroy pvc pipe in time.  Instead of cutting a little peice to put above the stock spacer I am going to replace the entire stock spacer with a little longer bit of pipe to compress the spring preloading it a bit, lessening travel a little and hardening the suspention. 

[qjt18]

it shouldn't my sonic springs came with Grey pvc pipe to use for spacers.

[groff22]

Good question. I'll be putting new sonic springs in sometime this week, whenever they get delivered.

Nate, are you doing this the "lazy way"?

Cheers,
J

[Turd Ferguson]

PVC will be fine in oil, I promise.

Nate, I'm sure you have enough money for new springs.  Just do it!  You'll thank yourself.

-Turd.

[coll0412]

Buy new springs, and just to let you know indysuperbikes.com has racetechs for $79.99

[debtman7]

My progressive springs came with pvc spacers too, so I'd assume it's ok

[natedawg120]

yeah I am going to get new springs.  I just want to see what the spacers do first.  Then i will go with racetechs or progressives.  I can't make my mind up on which one to go with so i am going with a 3 dollar peice of pvc to clean up my newly found clearance issues with my clipons 

[natedawg120]

ps, yeah I am going to be doing this the lazy way, and even though the stock springs are "soft" getting the cap back on can be a pain in the .... well ... fingers

[Turd Ferguson]

ps, yeah I am going to be doing this the lazy way, and even though the stock springs are "soft" getting the cap back on can be a pain in the .... well ... fingers

Those threads are very fine.  Its easy to cross thread them while pushing down against the spring.  Be careful!

-Turd.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Sonic springs, all the way.

[Flywheel]

Do it!

EDIT: There.

[average]

A breaker bar works great for this. What I did was immobilize the joint from moving by taping 2 wrenches to the side. All you have to do is press down and twist. Takes about 15 minutes each side including oil/spring swap. Hope this helps 

[jeff721]

Yes, pvc will hold up in oil, make sure to get all of the plastic bits from cutting it off the edges  (don't want that stuff in your fork oil) and be very sure to make them the same size.

I will say though that after installing my racetech springs, I will never go back to stock, not even stock with spacers. Also be sure to go with a "weight appropriate" fork oil, I used 7 wieght.

Jeff

[natedawg120]

all done.  After searching for the right material i couldn't find anything that would fit suitably into the fork tube, the pvc was either a little fat or way to narrow.  So i measured up a couple 7/8 inch sockets that were in an old tool set and they were perfect fit for the tube.  The right fork hated me, alot.  It shot off one filleting my knuckle, little pain never killed anyone right.  Then it went on but didn't feel right so I backed off and out they came again.  I was right is started to cross thread a little.  I took the spacer out, cleand threads with file and threaded it in.  It threaded alright.  So a little more careful this time got it in threaded it down yay snug.  other side.  easier, to blood or eye loss. 

Next thing I am going to do is upgrade my forks though.  I want something that is a little more adjustable without having to take the caps off.  It not hard to do but the force of the spring shoots the cap off like a champ with the preload in there, esp if you aren't ready for it.

[groff22]

Cool. I'll be doing my springs this w/e.  Hmm... Is it neccessary to change the fork seals when doing this type of upgrade? My bike only has about 7000M on it and they don't leak...

JG

[natedawg120]

just being curious, the caps are aluminum and the fork tubes are steal?  So if one cross threads it, it should only mess up the threads on the cap, or am I mistaken.  I am procrastinating doing actual work here at work and I want to upgrade the forks but the springs will do the trick to.  Hell if I could find caps with preload adjustment that would thread in that would rock too, cause thats all I really want.  anyone seen anything like that around

[natedawg120]

^  sameless bump for question I hope I know the anser too.

[dgyver]

Cool. I'll be doing my springs this w/e.  Hmm... Is it neccessary to change the fork seals when doing this type of upgrade? My bike only has about 7000M on it and they don't leak...

JG

No need to fix what ain't broke.

[dgyver]

just being curious, the caps are aluminum and the fork tubes are steal?  So if one cross threads it, it should only mess up the threads on the cap, or am I mistaken.  I am procrastinating doing actual work here at work and I want to upgrade the forks but the springs will do the trick to.

Makes sense. I have not cross threaded any yet so I cannot confirm.

  Hell if I could find caps with preload adjustment that would thread in that would rock too, cause thats all I really want.  anyone seen anything like that around

Most (if not all) non-US bikes have external preload caps....but they use clip-on type bars for the clearance required for the extra height.

[groff22]

WooHOO! Just got my SonicSprings from the post office! Expect a few questions this weekend