tmikeyb
XS650 Member
So, I bought a 1972 XS2 that looked somewhat unmolested, except that it had extended fork tubes, which turned out to be extended by 5 inches. I bought a very rough 72 parts bike that had good looking fork tubes, that I thought I'd use. When I disassembled the forks on the parts bike, I was surprised to find 2 different diameter sized damper assemblies. I assumed that one leg was 34mm and the other 35mm. But both measure 33.9 O.D., so I assume that means 34mm. The top cap bolt fits both legs, and the length, & ODs are the same, so I couldn't figure out the different hydraulics. When I look in the bottom of the 2 legs, it looks pretty obvious that someone bored one of the legs to accept the larger diameter damper piston. The one with the larger I.D. at the bottom shows pretty obvious tool marks. So, I disassembled the extended tubes and found that they also had the larger diameter hydraulics in both of them, but the O.D. of the legs is the same as the others, 34mm. Both of them also appear to have been bored from the bottom up to the lower bushing. So, I have 2 sets of the larger dampner assemblies, and one of the smaller. Was this a common thing to do back in the day? i.e. bore the smaller tubes to accept the larger piston & associated parts? I can look at the ends of the tubes side by side and clearly see that the metal is thinner on 3 of the tubes. It seems like my simplest way out is to take my 1 fork tube that still has the smaller bottom hole and have it bored to match the other one. That's simple enough, but my question is: how do I know that the metal at the bottom of the tube is strong enough? I guess it was apparently strong enough on the extended tubes, and one of the stock tubes that were bored. What would my other options be?
