Cheap fork upgrade, gain over 20% travel for under $100

[TxTaoRider]

I'm sure someone has already posted this but...

For less than a 100bux I increased the front travel on my tbr7.

I bought a complete set of forks from a 1980 honda xr200 (not "R") for 60bux off ebay. I pulled the damper tubes which are 1.5" longer than the tao's. I swapped my plastic sliders from my tbr7 to the honda dampers as they are a little larger in diameter. Then install them in the tbr7 tubes and like magic I picked up 1.5" of travel.

It's possible that your stock springs will bind before complete compression because they are made out of thick diameter with allot of coils. You will also have to make your spacers a longer, but you may not need as much preload, due to the longer travel so your overall ride should be smoother.

Now what I did. The 80-82 honda uses 2 springs, a long bottom one and short one on top separated by a washer. I measured the long bottom spring and it has plenty of coil spacing for over 9.5" travel. So I only used the long spring, and made a longer spacer. I ended up about 8mm of preload.

I filled it up with 10wt fork oil 120mm from top (no springs, fully compressed).

Pros: it rides so much smoother.

Cons: Bike is 1.5" taller in front (.75" at your feet)
Brake lines may be a little short if using bar risers or tall bars.
Fork boots set a little lower.


I havent added a brace yet, but I will soon.

Overall, it's a great cheap improvement.

[Skyd]

wow - very cool. I have an XR200R in the basement actually a bit newer than the XR200 forks you got, but that's interesting none the less.

[TxTaoRider]

Originally Posted by Skyd

wow - very cool. I have an XR200R in the basement actually a bit newer than the XR200 forks you got, but that's interesting none the less.

Probably wont work. The non "R" use a 31mm fork, the "R" uses a 35mm I think.

[Megadan]

That would put the front end travel at 8 to 8.5 inches.

[TxTaoRider]

Originally Posted by Megadan

That would put the front end travel at 8 to 8.5 inches.

Yes. It measures 8.0" not including compressing the top out spring, so the 8.5"-8.6" that honda specs (depending on source material) is about right including their travel added. The new damper tubes measured about 1.5" (actually 1.45") longer than the factory dampers.

In theory, since it's over 20% in additional travel, you can go 20% less in spring pressure with the same bottoming resistance.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by TxTaoRider

Yes. It measures 8.0" not including compressing the top out spring, so the 8.5"-8.6" that honda specs (depending on source material) is about right including their travel added. The new damper tubes measured about 1.5" (actually 1.45") longer than the factory dampers.

In theory, since it's over 20% in additional travel, you can go 20% less in spring pressure with the same bottoming resistance.

That would definitely make it a better off.road bike. Not sure if I will be doing this particular upgrade, but it is pretty sweet. I like seeing other people do mad scientist experiments