suspension question from a noob

[mamastarfish]

Can anyone tell me what the springs are called that sit over the front forks? almost like a coil over where the gator usually is. I've only seen one bike with them and I loved the look of it and he said that it severely improved his suspension. I cannot for the life of me remember what he said they were

I found a picture of another bike with them on the cb750cafe website

Thanks for the help!!!

 

[rockcitycafe]

they're called springs.
people who claim something significantly improved their "suspension" probably don't have any idea what suspension is supposed to do and how to tell if it's working better or worse. those springs look glommed on there for the look, and as such, are stupid. some bikes had forks with the springs outside of the fork tube, but functionally they're no different than having the spring inside, what improves your suspension is proper spring rate and preload, and proper damping, a pair of cartridge emulators will cost you less and significantly improve your suspension, but you can't see them when installed, so it won't be as cool looking... bummer

 

[trek97]

This is my bike...

I have a 69 CL350 front end installed on my 76 cb360. It has the factory external front fork springs. Factory they are hidden under the gaiters. I just pulled em out. So they are exposed. I dont know that you would want them on forks that are made for internal springs. And especially not to double them up.

In the pic you have posted of the 750. He is missing the fork tube protector sleeves. The black plastic tubes that fit inside the springs. (you can see them on mine) They isolate the springs from chewing up the finish on the fork tubes, He is also missing the caps on top of the springs that keep them centered on the lower triple and adds support for the springs to keep em from wanting to work up over the triple clamps. Thus, I think it would only be safe to assume he is also missing the steel bushings that fit inside the top of the fork lowers. Keeping the springs from contacting the circlip and the rubber fork seals. So, springs are probably destroying clip and chewing up the seal. Could mean catastrophic failure of an oil seal is probably in his future. This could mean bad news at 80 mph.

 

[Rocan]

trek97... thank you, you saved many of us a lot of typing.


mamastarfish... take note. If you really want this "look" then please use forks that had external springs from the factory so that you can do it safely.

How you will find a set that is sprung properly for whatever bike you may have is a totally different story. You could always PROPERLY modify your existing forks to work with custom external fork springs, but that requires math, custom springs, and lots of machining.

 

[mamastarfish]

Wow! Thank you all for the help!
Especially trek97 for the pics and the explanation.

While I do love the look of the external springs I don't want to compromise the forks. The forks on the bike are pretty shot as of right now and need work but the tubes and seals are still in excellent condition.
Do you recommend rebuilding my existing forks or is there a set of forks that you recommend to replace the stock ones and for that matter replacing the entire front end?
Ideally "for looks" I would like smoothed forks with external springs but I want this bike to handle well and I am perfectly willing to use forks with internal springs if it means better suspension.