Fork Buffer Position

[Lamaddict]

According to Sticky's book it's the thinner type buffers at the top of the forks, but according to SSSTV Li fork rebuild they say fatter buffers to the top. I think Sticky's book is the original way but is their an advantage for the fatter ones to the top?

[Knowledge]

No, but there are some advantages in having the thin ones at the bottom. It gives slightly more ground clearance.

In fact, the racers remove the bottom rubber all together. Some have a large nut and bolt welded-in in place. This allows for some pre-load on the springs, and they can be adjusted so that the wheel is upright.

I don't know if this is common, but one racer I saw had pretty soft front suspension, but relied on his antidive to stiffen it up when the brakes were applied.

Anti-dive might be the future. I'm building one!

[bristolmod]

whenever I've rebuilt front ends, I've always fitted thick ones to the top AND the bottom (although this can be a struggle at times). This does appear to give a firmer set up IMO

Chris

[mark]

i do the same as i said on the lcgb

[sean brady scooters]

if more ground clearance is beneficial.......then try TWO spacers above spring..........then thick buffer above link .........and thinner below........

[scootRS.com]

We just came out with nice new fork buffers top and bottom and had to go over all that again. On the product page onsite we have included an old forum quote from Sticky:

I had a big discussion about this one with Hippy Jerry previously of Scooter Surgery and a well known top Lammy builder. He had always built them BIG at the TOP and thin below and swore that was how they came out of the factory. The only way we managed to prove otherwise was to strip a set of untouched original forks at Surgery, and also to look carefully at the diagrams in the parts book (you can just about see the difference in the drawings.)

However, I think Jerry's method came from the racing scene where using the thin buffer at the bottom allows the link to sit a little lower - which increases the ride height and ground clearance if you use hard springs or double stops.

In practice I don't think it matters too much as long as there are buffers fitted in matched pairs top and bottom.

[immylam]

Doing this job over the weekend....and this advice has left me none the wiser

[HxPaul]

whenever I've rebuilt front ends, I've always fitted thick ones to the top AND the bottom (although this can be a struggle at times). This does appear to give a firmer set up IMO

Chris

+1

[gaz_powell]

From what I've read depending on your model , some models had all four buffers the small size, others had large at the bottom and small at the top, some had small at the bottom and large at the bottom, this relates to bolt in type

I've always (and will continue to so) used small to top and large to bottom.

GP exploded parts book shows small at top and large at bottom