Best way to get a tad bit of length out of forks

I'm swapping shorter 77 kz650 forks onto my CSR, but it look like I may want to get an extra inch of length out of them. Is there an easy way to do this?

The easiest way is to install a set of 78-79 KZ750 twin fork tubes, they are 1" longer.

IS there any way to go with longer springs or a spacer inside the fork?

Sure, you could put spacers made out of PVC pipe on top of the fork springs. Progressive Suspensions has a piece of PVC pipe inside their fork spring kits for that purpose.

Cost you $1.00 or less for enough PVC pipe to do both sides from any hardware store

Try to not go under 1" sag unloaded, that means that means the forks compress 1" from the point that the forks are fully extended (like bike on centerstand, front wheel in the air), to the point that the bike is standing normally without anyone on it.

Otherwise you will have to deal with some unpleasant bangs and thunks as the forks top out when you hit a bump or hole

Post edited by: steell, at: 2007/04/22 21:16

What length PVC is the best bet? And then do you just open the fork up and drop it in? With the switch from leading axle to normal it brought the wheel back toward the pipes a little, just looking to get a bit more clearance. I don't need a ton.

Post edited by: Muddy, at: 2007/04/22 22:24

im guessing your csr has leading axle forks while the 650 does not which could cause some handling issues due to loss of trail in front end

The wheel is moved back about an inch, I can't see that making a huge difference. It should make it steer quicker and maybe a tad bit nervous. Do you think it would make that much difference?

im not sure if it will quicken the steering up any,the rake which affects the steering most wont be changed.its the trail that gives you high speed stability that im wondering about;) probably wont be a problem,just want to make sure youre aware ofit is all;)

What do you think about adding a steering damper into the equation?

that probably wouldnt hurt,whats wrong with your stock forks?

Hi Muddy,

Actually, if you changed from a leading axle fork to a fork with the axle on the ends of the fork sliders you will increase your trail, cause an increase in steering effort and slow the steering down. That's assuming that you did not bring the triple trees along from the CSR as well.

Why do you think that you will need another inch of fork length? Even if the fork tubes are shorter, locating the axle on the end of the fork slider will be the same as adding an inch, or more, to the fork tubes. That's given that the fork sliders are the same length.

If you want to play with fork geometry check out the geometry calculator I uploaded to the file base. It's titled "MotoGeo".

KZCSI

Post edited by: KZCSI, at: 2007/04/23 01:08

The forks that came on the bike were not originals, they were off maybe a kz750 twin. They were sticking up through the trees almost two inches and they were still a bit too long as the bike sat really high in the front end. I'm trying to convert the csr into a cafe racer, and couldn't run the forks that came on it with clubmans. late 70's KZ650 forks seem to be plentiful in my area so I went with those. The biggest reason that I need a tad bit of lenth is it looks like I may run into clearance issues between the tire and the pipes.

I'm not 100% on this yet because the wheel on the bike has a different sized axle than the spoke rim I'm putting on so the bike is still hanging from the trees in my garage.