Strange Fork Caps

[substudio]

Hello,

I came across a set of forks from an 89' GS500e

But the fork caps seemed a little strange.
Does anyone recognize these.

Could they be from another bike?

[ben2go]

Yes those are from another bike with air forks.Those little nipples  are for airing up the forks.Worthless on a GS.They will blow the weak GS seals out and they weren't made to hold air.A friend has a Honda silver wing with caps very close to those.

[substudio]

wow.

thanks.

so how do i go about removing these?

[The Buddha]

Cant ... you can swap whole forks, that's the only way. But you can simply let all the air out and do it constantly.
BTW, Ben its worthless on all bikes, they all blow seals. Which is why japaneese bikes went away from this crap. Sheite breaking and leaking is great for their business, but that happening under warranty is a huge no no.
Cool.
Buddha.

[yamahonkawazuki]

ya, the seals are designed to inflate ( WITH HAND PRESSURE ONLY ), they would work, but far too much of a pain in the ass to deal with

[arbakken]

Cant ... you can swap whole forks, that's the only way. But you can simply let all the air out and do it constantly.

huh? if the forks are indeed off a GS500, then all you need to do is unscrew those caps (look like they take a wrench of vice-grips) and screw on some OEM caps

[ben2go]

Cant ... you can swap whole forks, that's the only way. But you can simply let all the air out and do it constantly.

huh? if the forks are indeed off a GS500, then all you need to do is unscrew those caps (look like they take a wrench of vice-grips) and screw on some OEM caps

Possible but some of those caps are press in.IIRC

[The Buddha]

Yea I am sorry my bad, It can be removed and swapped.
Ben - That cap is screwed on, press in caps sit inside the forks usually.
Cool.
Buddha.

[the mole]

When you assemble a set of standard forks, there's air space above the oil. When the forks are compressed the air is under pressure. I haven't done the math exactly, but at full compression you'd have 20-25psi above atmospheric in there, so the standard seals have to handle at least that much pressure. If I had those caps and standard springs, I'd replace the seals if they need it, and experiment with a little extra pressure to help cure the soft springs. It is a little fiddly to balance the pressure in the legs as there's very little volume of air. you could also join the caps with hose and have one valve.

[ben2go]

Yep but it's that unexpected hard bump that blows shite apart.It's when the forks compress and the pressure rises, that's the problem.Not the pressure sitting still.