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.
PVC is cheap. start with the recommended size listed and experiment. Its an easy thing to do.
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?
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.
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.
I made mine 35mm long which is 1 3/8".
I like the mod btw.
Thanks guys. Im going to ride over to Lowes now. woot.
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.
(http://www.nickbargovic.com/a.jpg)
(http://www.nickbargovic.com/c.jpg)