How much travel from "resting" do a pair of road forks have?

[XmisterIS]

What I mean is, if you have the bike just sitting on the front wheel, the front forks will compress. Typically, how much are they compressed by (length in mm, not %) for a pair of road forks?

I need to know so I can work out how much extra to allow for when making up some brake lines (apparently Goodridge and Hel don't do a set for my bike - I know, I've asked both companies, with measurements and banjo bolt thread pitch).

So - how much travel in mm should I allow for in the forks?

[Roadtorque]

I Don't Know,, But,, It's not the compressed state you have to think about,, It's the decompressed state of the forks you need to consider,, ( forks fully open )

So to my way of thinking the length should be, with the bike on the stand and the forks fully extended to give enough play, to allow full left/right movement of the bars,,,,,,,

[eastanglianbiker]

you need long enough lines to cope with full extent upwards of forks.but surely you can measure the original ones and get new one made to that length

[XmisterIS]

That's what I mean, the uncompressed state. I haven't got a centre stand, only a side stand, so I can't measure.

I'm going from a 3-line setup to a 2-line setup, so it's not comparing like with like.

[eastanglianbiker]

meausre them from caliper to spliter on forks then measure top hose add the longest hose from the bottom to the measurement of the top hose and you have the length you need

[XmisterIS]

meausre them from caliper to spliter on forks then measure top hose add the longest hose from the bottom to the measurement of the top hose and you have the length you need

 

Yes, that would work, I can just ziptie the two lines together as far down as possible so they follow the same route as the 3-line set-up as much as possible. Good thinking batman! Sometimes I over-complicate things ...

[Stu]

Won't these fit? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Suzuki-SV650- ... 0758962569

[Stu]

Or these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEL-Brake-Lin ... 0861461305

[Guest philgale]

as stu pointed out Hel and goodridge are not going to miss a trick on making brake lines for what is a very competitive race series (minitwins) be stupid not to make them...

[XmisterIS]

No, unfortunately not.

I ordered a Hel kit, didn't fit, sent it back.

Spoke to another company that supplies Goodridge products, gave them all the measurements, seems their kit would't fit either. It would seem that I have a bizarre setup on my bike, not sure quite how, but I do. E.g. I have 10x1.25mm banjo bolts throughout, whereas a K7 should have 10x1.0 on the front and 10x1.25 on the rear (apparently). And the lengths of the lines on my bike are weird too.

Don't ask me how, I don't know.

Perhaps it's because they only make lines for the S version, whereas mine is the naked version, which it would seem is not that common a bike. Most people have the S version. I've certainly never seen another naked SV on my travels. For example, I've done a quick check on the Autotrader website and there's only one naked square-framed SV in the first four pages. The rest are all S versions.

[Guest philgale]

the S is the same bike with a fairing, unless you got different bars on it?

[XmisterIS]

That's what I though! Yes, the Naked has different bars - the S has clip-ons, the Naked has "normal" bars (not sure what you call the non-clip-ons).

Anyway, it's all very confusing, I've asked three different suppliers and been given three different answers (isn't it great how the professionals often leave you feeling more confused than before you asked, and then you wish you'd never asked?!).

The frustrating thing is that it can't be *that* difficult - it's just three sodding hoses and five sodding banjo bolts! How hard can that be to get the right measurements for and match against a kit on the shelf? My God!

So, I've sent an email to the horse's ear, as it were; I've emailed Goodridge directly; their website shows a kit for my bike, which is different from the kit for the S - i.e. it is a kit specifically for the SV650 K5-K7, which is what I have, and as far as I am aware, my bike is a bog standard SV650, nothing bizarre about it, so the Goodridge kit should fit just fine without any of the nonsense kerfuffle that I've been through so far. Hence why I am now flabbergasted and confused by three different people telling me three different things. On Monday I will phone Suzuki and ask them, definitively, what size banjo bolts and what length of hose are used on a bog standard K7. I bet it's exactly the same as mine.

It's an absolute pig because I've changed the air and oil filters in a jiffy - now the bike is just sat in the garage, brakeless, waiting for new ones. And I know that when I get sent the RIGHT DAMN KIT!!! then it will take me all of about 40 mins to put it on and get it filled and working properly, then the bike's a good'un. I'm just frustrated!!

Now I'm waiting to hear back from the horse's mouth!