front fork mods?

[chinard]

the other day i was admiring my bike and i got thinking about the front forks.
The angle on the front headset is already pretty aggressive, so i was wondering if anybody has tried extending the front forks on these bikes yet by 2"-4".
Doing this combined with a lowering kit would really give these bikes alot of rake.

I was looking at the suzuki PDF service manual and it appears that it could be done with a longer inner tube and some kind of extension to the inner damper rod.
The tube is probably the easiest part but the damper rod would probably need more work to extend it, or to fabricate a spacer for the bottom of the forks where it mounts to the inner tube.

Anyways, this is all just speculation from someone who has no real knowledge of how to modify suspension.
Id be interested to see if this could be done or if there are any compatible parts that can be canibalized from other bikes.

[diamond_jim]

Well, there are a number of bikes out there with 41mm forks. Maybe you can find some from another bike that would work great. You'll probably need to go with no front fender or a front fender that fits the new forks.

[DaveAlvarado]

Front fork extensions are generally a bad idea. Lots of old-school choppers had their forks break right at the point where the extension was fitted. Not the most fun thing to happen when you're cruising down the road.

Much better to just get longer forks that were designed and built that way. You could also do what the chopper guys do and cut the frame behind the neck, then re-weld for more rake.

[DrBob]

Longer fork tubes are common, as are fork extensions. Neither require any modifications to the damper.
However, extended forks usually look goofy if you don't change the rake, either with a raked triple tree or by modifying the steering neck. They raise the front of the bike, which spoils the long, low, mean style of a bike like the M50.