Another "what the fork?" question - GS550

[macosie]

I just purchased an old 1983 GS550 P (Police) model bike. It's essentially a 1979 frame, spoked wheels, twin disc, rear drum bike.
The forks were mismatched... horribly. Handles like crap, though it was just because of sitting and a leaky fork.
The forks were completely different.
LH was original, screw top. 1 bushing. 35mm inner tube.
RH was replacement, clip top, 2 bushing. 35mm inner.

OK... bought replacements on ebay, not realizing there might be a difference, especially since the new forks were off a single disc type. I can't use the single disc side fork outer tube, and that happens to be the old screw, 1 bushing type.

My question is, the new forks are the same as the RH was, 2 bushing.
Does this mean that the outer fork is different? or is it usable.

Help. A friend of mine thinks they should be a different bore because of the bushing...but I'm not 100% convinced.

Help...

Thanks if anyone has the answers.

[waterman]

First, I want to welcome you to forum.

I am not sure I understand your question. Correct me if I am wrong, you have purchased a 550 which you think is essentially a 79. It has twin front disk brakes and mismatched forks. You have purchased a set of forks from eBay that were to a single disk bike. You want to know whether the "outer" fork of the newly purchased set of forks is different from the original RH one on your bike.

If I am correctly reading your statement, the "outer" fork is the lower fork unit that the brake caliper attaches to. The screwtop LH original has only 1 bushing, while the RH and your newer eBay forks are 2 bushing types.

Okay, from what little I know about forks, it appears that the early 550 forks did only have the one fork sliding bushing and the later versions of most forks had 2 bushings. Likewise, all of the early 550s were single disked models.

So your dilemma is that the new forks will not work, most likely since it was for a single disk and therefore the brake mounting is off (single disks were larger diameter). You want to know if the lower unit from the single bushed fork will work with double bushed lower unit? My guess is they won't. I believe that the old RH double bushed unit may work with newer double bushed forks, but again I am not sure.

Unfortunately, the bore size is most likely the same for 35mm forks. I would hate to see you have an accident due to the 2 bushed fork getting stuck in the single bushed lower unit.

My suggestion is to locate a set of forks from a twin disced model like the gs650G model and replacing the questionable forks. Or replace the dual discs with a single disc and single disc caliper and use your new eBay forks.

These questions are difficult to answer since your bike is not something most of us are familiar with. Likewise, changing forks from model to model isn't something that most of us have had much experience with, especially in the smaller displacement bikes. Even so, hopefully we can get you some answers.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

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Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[macosie]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. You essentially got what I was asking.
Best part was that the local shop that deals with Suzuki bikes, that couldn't help me out a month before I bought the new forks, now, miraculously has a set that have been sitting around for months. lol. After getting new ones shipped from the US, i'm not too happy with that option, unless it's really a good deal.
I'm hoping to find a outer/lower fork to fit soon.
Will post more about the bike when it's on the road.