Fitted some cheap China made adjustable fork caps.
Quality of manufacture looks ok, design a bit weak but able to be simply modified. Probably work ok as they come but the load bearing washer was thin and only supported by the end of the thread which would probably wear in time.
Modified them to work like the Thruxton ones with the disc bearing on the end of the adjuster screw. Used old 37mm valve shims for the replacement disc's, had to grind them down a little as the were a couple of mm too large in diameter.
Nice. They look pretty trick being black and all. Mind if I ask how much the damages were? In the past, I eyed up the Thrux caps for a bit. But it was just to experiment with the suspension, and I couldn't rationalize the expense.
...and they list one for almost every two-wheeled thing in the universe except a Triumph. I know I have Showa forks so there are surely several that will fit my '03 Bonnie T100, but again, just would like to make sure I was getting the proper part THE FIRST TIME.
THANK YOU's to anyone who can lead me down the path of righteousness, and away from the path of wrong-teousness. (hey, it's my post, so I get to make up my own words)
Or, I believe one can fit the adjustable fork caps from a honda F2 (verify before leaping)...there was a thread sometime ago on the forum about alternates to buying thruxton fork caps and I think those and SV650 adjusters both worked.
Thanks to all. I currently have my forks apart for new fork seals and, while apart, I'm going with a new set of springs I picked up for a song (H-D cast-offs). Getting the pre-load right is always a pain the *rse because of having to remove the fork caps each time.
I believe these adjustable caps will pay for themselves within the first 15-minutes after I install them.
sV650 caps from eBay on mine. The rubber gasket they came with was not big enough to make a seal, so I just used the one from the standard pegs and all is well. Had them on for over a year with no problems.
Think they were about $40 for the pair.
Other tip is to get a specific closed socket wrench to fit the adjuster. The aluminum is soft and if you use an ill fitting wrench it will mare them up over time. Add a few $ for the wrench to add to your tool roll.
I've been happy with mine.
You can get hand-operated knobs for those fork adjusters, some are not that expensive, like the ones shown below at £10, but others cost as much as those adjusters:
I did a quick search on Google images for stuff like "fork preload adjusters CNC". There are lots available but usually come in 10, 12, 14, 17mm, etc sizes. There might be some around for that 8mm hexagon though. The closest I've seen are 10mm for the Honda NC700 and these for the Thruxton:
plodalong - when you installed the adjustable fork caps on your Bonneville did you shorten the spacer tubes in the forks? I am just wondering if this is an essential part of the install?
Yes I did shorten the spacers. I am running Progressive springs and Racetech emulators and with that combination only needed 15mm long spacers as the springs are much longer than stock. Progressive springs come with poly tubing stock for making the spacers.
Is 10mm the total adjustment range? Or do they have 15mm available, etc? Did they come with the seals and simply screw right on with no issues/leaks? Is it necessary to put a flat disk on top of the stock washer/spacer so the preload pin from these caps have something to bear down against? Thanks for posting
sconley - I added 10mm over the stock fork caps just because I wanted only a bit of preload. There is more adjustment available. The dia. of the preload washer is enough so that I didn't alter it at all. I used the O ring which came with these caps ,is a direct fit, very easy to install.
They look very similar to the Bonnie caps, but are just a touch too small to thread into the fork's threads. My bike has a lot of mods from the previous owner. The forks seem to be stock, but they apparently had a decent amount of preload as the cap popped off and left about 2 inches of spacer above the top of the fork. Anyone else pick these fork caps up and have this issue?
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