Ditching Air assisted front forks

[emlivings]

Hi I was wondering if anyone had any experience trying this conversion.

I am going to take the fork caps from a 1982 gs1100ESD and put them on my stock forks on my 1979 GS850GN

part number 51351-49540

​My only concern is that the thread pitch might be different?

 

[Grimly]

Hi I was wondering if anyone had any experience trying this conversion.

I am going to take the fork caps from a 1982 gs1100ESD and put them on my stock forks on my 1979 GS850GN

part number 51351-49540

​My only concern is that the thread pitch might be different?

Similar, but differently, a few years ago I tried to fit my old GS850 manual-adjust pre-load caps onto a set of GS1000 legs.
They didn't fit, the threads were a different pitch. If it weren't for that, the idea would have worked.
I ended up making a set of diy pre-loaders.

What might work for you, is get a set of adjustable pre-loader caps from a European GS850 - 79 and 80 both had them.
Before that, if you measure your thread pitch I can measure mine.

 

[Steve]

Why do you feel the need to change the caps? It is very possible (actually, highly recommended) to ditch the air, but be aware that you WILL need some additional spring force. Some have gone the route of Progressive Suspension parts. I have had a bike or three with that setup, but do not prefer it. My current bike has Sonic Springs in it. Because of the fairing and touring setup, I chose the heaviest springs available (1.1kg) and use 10w oil. Really do like the setup. Some have noted that customer service at Sonic has degraded considerably since the former owner (also a member here) sold it, so it might be better to spend a few bucks more and go for RaceTech springs. Once you install the new springs, it won't matter what caps you have.

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