Topic: 550 vs 750 fork tubes, Cycle Xchange

[bzr]

I'm in the process of ordering new fork tubes, as my old ones were pitted to hell. I emailed Forking by Frank and they gave me a quote of $248, which means that I will have to skip out on rent/food for the next few weeks...

Then again, I had called Cycle Xchange a few weeks ago about buying a set of 750 replacement fork tubes. I had measured the stock fork tubes and they came out to be 22 and 3/16ths inches. According to this thread, both diameters for 750s and 550s are the same, 35mm.

They have a set that's 21 and 13/16ths inches, and the next set is 21 and 13/16ths inches, all for $149. That's 100 bucks I could use to, say, buy brake lines, or appease my landlord. My question is: would buying 750 fork tubes that are just slightly shorter than stock be worth it for my bike? As opposed to ordering a more expensive stock length set from Frank?

The link to Cycle Xchange

Edit: just to prove that I'm not a clot and that I used the Search function, I found these two threads. Apparently the only difference between 750 and 550 tubes are spring strength and length. I have my stock springs and if I spring for the Cycle Xchange ones the length is only going to change by approx. 3/8ths inch.

Would the dampers and other hardware still check out? Or did I just answer my own question? 

[bzr]

Seriously, nothing? C'mon guys... 

[joecool14u2]

bzr looks like you done the research, you probably know better than us what will work, i don't beleive 3/8's inch is going to affect much there, i added 1/2 spacers in on my cb550 and can't say i can tell a difference

[Brantley]

Why not mail or call CycleX and see if they'll make you a set?

[bradweingartner]

If it's only 3/8th of an inch and they are otherwise identical, why not drop them in the tree 3/8" and go to sleep resting easy with that extra $100 in your pocket. 

[754]

lower yours 3/8 or more, ride it and see if you can tell the difference..

[bzr]

So I figured they're both 35mm in diameter, and they should be fine. I'll give them a call on Monday and see if they could rig me up a set, or just order the 3/8ths shorter set and hope they get here soon enough.

In the meanwhile how about the grooves in the bottom of the forks, should those make a difference? The placement of the grooves was considerably shorter than theirs...





Just erring on the side of caution, here...

[754]

Pic with blue ruler looks like 73 and up.

 the groove is high on the other, better check and make sure 500,s dont use a different damper rod setup..

Just a Thought.. run an ad looking for 750 parts bike or front end, may get a whole bike for the price of the forks..I did..

[bzr]

Just called Cycle X. They wouldn't be able to custom-make a set for my 550...but the guy claimed that a lot of people have done what I've done and put those 750 tubes on a 550, and they haven't mentioned any problems...

I think I'm gonna go for it and order a set already. 

If there's any problems I'll #$%* about it here, sell the tubes and order a proper set from Frank. *shrug*

[mystic_1]

Sounds like a plan bzr, seems hard to go wrong at the price CycleX is asking for those tubes.

mystic_1

[kyre]

I'm resurrecting this thread from the dead as I'm now in the same boat and have looked around whether the cb750 fork tubes by cycle xchange fit on 1974 cb550 fork lowers but no definite answer. I contacted cycle xchange as well and they were very prompt explaining they've been asked a lot, sold a lot to 550 owners and none have been returned but nobody has ever come back and said they do in fact work.

They have a lot of different sizes and I don't mind sliding my forks up the triple tree if they're a bit longer. So has anybody successfully fit cb750 upper tubes into cb550 lowers?