Fork Springs

[steve pegg]

Hello ladies and Gentlemen,

An excellent time to do a little work on my 1978 478 Strada.
However......
I bought from NLM as a job to do in the future a pair of progressive fork springs to smooth out the potholes and suchlike in E.Sussex.
However on disassembly the new springs are 53.5cm long compared to originals of 48cm and are also to wide in diameter to slip inside the seperate shrouds but do slide into fork legs themselves.
Whilst I have had the bike since 1995 I can not vouch for the originality of what has come out. But something seems amiss .
So does anyone know what to do?

Thanks Steve.

[George 350]

Hi Steve,

I am confused, in that you say they slide inside the forks, but not into the shroud? Do you mean the piece of tube that sits on top of the spring and is a preload spacer? If so, they shouldn't fit inside it.
The springs do lose some length with age, but I have no idea how long the originals were to start with. That said, 5cm is a lot to lose. It is possible thst the 'progressive' ones are either designed to preload more or that the spacer tube at the top should be shorter. Others have fitted them, so someone is sure to advise you better.
Regards, George.

[Ming]

Contrariwise, the springs on my Strada do fit inside a tube at the top, which is around 15cm long. Then the preload spacers sit on top of that and are about 2 - 3cm long. I know it was 'sportized' at one stage, having been much modified by the previous owner, whose name escapes me.

[steve pegg]

Thank you ,
To all who read and to those that replied. Comparing total length of "original" assembly and the new spring the lengths are almost identical mere millimeters difference. So emboldened by the similarity I have successfully assembled the forks with the new springs without the shrouds or preload spacer.
A road test to follow in due course.

See you on the road Steve.

[pedro]

Steve,
I would be interested to know what the outcome was?