1981 GS850G swapped forks for GS850GL - now my front fender won't fit

[thewozza]

The title says it all. The old fender doesn't fit, because the axle rides higher and forward on the GL forks, and so the fender both hits the upper flare on the lower fork tubes and it needs to be set forward because it doesn't clear the tire.

Does anybody have a nice looking front fender? Preferably a perfect color match to what I've got. http://i.imgur.com/M8qieKp.jpg

Swapping the front forks forced a couple other changes:

• brake calipers from a GS850GL
• longer speedo cable from a GS850GL (it loops downward)

But at least I had that stuff so it is drivable. I was able to mount the fender by just not using the rear mount bolts, but I'd love to have this fixed right.

 

[JTGS850GL]

You really need to swap out the triple trees as well because that will screw with your trail.

 

[thewozza]

You really need to swap out the triple trees as well because that will screw with your trail.

I didn't know the triple-trees were different, but screwing with trail was actually part of the idea. This bike has a sidecar and I wanted to reduce trail, but I suppose I should do the math on this.

 

[Steve]

In YOUR case, putting GL forks on a G would not be a bad idea. It also increases your wheelbase by an inch or so, not sure how much it reduces the trail.

On any of the L models, the triple trees are a bit straighter across, when looking at the angle formed by the fork legs and the steering stem. The whole premise was to pull the fork legs back, but with the leading axle, the actual wheel position and other geometry is basically unchanged. The only thing that changed was the looks, to help give it that "chopper" look that was popular at the time.

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