Topic: weird chopper kit? or im just crazy

[k.chaloux]

so ever since i bought my bike (78cb750) i thought the front forks looked a little longer than normal. i know that someone had done something to them because there were air assist caps on them, for what reason i dont know. so today i took them apart to do the seals and found a few things that made me laugh. the first of which was that there was 2 seals placed into one of the fork lowers, and only one, as there should be, in the other. The best part was when i took off the fork caps and found a 3.5 inch piece of 1 inch tubing placed between the springs and the caps. to me it looks like it was cut with a hack saw by someone looking to make a "chopper" from original forks. the tubes themselves are 27" long and from what i have found that seems to be the correct size. now my question is: is this some kind of old school trick to make your forks longer? and can I just put them back together without the makeshift spacers to go back to stock height?

[Roach]

take some pictures

for us to better understand

[k.chaloux]

I was going to but i ended up being too dirty and ran out of sunlight 

[bikebitzofvt]

Those spacers were likely to add spring preload.  They might be Progressive or S&W springs, which likely uses a sizeable piece of tubing as a spacer and is supposed to be there.

Errrr...  scratch that - I just checked the Progressive website that says no spacer is required with their springs.  That's not to say older kits didn't need 'em, though.

How was the ride before you took it apart?

[k.chaloux]

it rode fine before that, let me just add that the P.O. had done some pretty ridiculous things to change its appearance.
My only concern is that he may have used shorter springs? the guy was kind of an idiot...

[ColinMc]

The piece of tubing was just for preload as mentioned before...at least that's what i'm guessing without having seen any pics of it. Common thing to do. Most of my bikes that i've put aftermarket straight rate springs into i've had to do a spacer of sorts between the fork cap and spring to get the preload just right.

[splitt]

I've run across a few bikes that people had modified that way to increase the preload. The worst one was a yamaha where they used old cheap (made is taiwan) sockets as spacers. The compression of the spring forced the spring inside of the 12 point socket, causing the socket to split. The socket was jammed inside the fork tube so tight, I had to fill the fork with water first, so as not to affect the temper of the spring, then heat the socket with a torch to break it loose.

[754]

 cmon guys, you never had extended forks?  ?

 sounds like 4inch over forks to me..

[Grnrngr]

One of the first things I did to my 750 was changed the fork seals, it has spacers like that too, 1.5 maybe 2" pieces of 1/2"PVC. The strange thing was the sludge in the bottoms of the legs. I swear it was moly bearing grease, thick, black, slimey, maybe gear oil that got churned into butter? no way that stuff could have squirted thru them ports in the bottoms of the tubes. Felt nice and stiff tho...thought maybe it was a backwoods suspension mod...

[KingCustomCycles.com]

The forks are extended and the original springs were used.  This was a common hillbilly chopper modification back in the day.  The last Harley kit I did for a customers Road King actually had PVC plastic "slugs" or spacers in it supplied in the kit.  Measure the chrome part and I bet it is longer than stock.  The good news is you can reuse the springs.  The bad news is you can't just remove the spacers, you have to purchase shorter forks. 

[bollingball]

K: Do you have the (F or K) model How did you confirm the tubes should be 27" I have a 750K8 and need to get new tubes PO put  4" over tubes on. Also 6" ape hangers I allready changed the bars.
The 4" tubes killed my battery !!! I allways service the battery on the work bench when I first got it I thought I had a over charging issue because I had to keep adding water but ever thing check out OK. What the heck is going on? What I didn't realize is the front end was jacked up enough that the plates were dry in the front and over flowing in the rear. I now have a AGM battery and until I get new tubes I slid the long ones up but I don't like that look.No telling what inside of them. I think I will go -2" with shorter shock so I can be flat footed again

[k.chaloux]

i have ben looking for new tubes and they all seem to be 27 inches long, does anyone know how long the stock springs are supoosd to be?

[KingCustomCycles.com]

My 1969 KO springs just happened to be out on the bench and I measured them.  18 3/4" long.

[jtb]

The Progressive kit I ordered came with a 1" pvc piece to preload for my F2.

[Grnrngr]

My legs are stock...

[k.chaloux]

well, i did a little more research and it turns out that 27" legs are 4" longer than stock. so i went and bought a 78 hondamatic parts bike for $50!