# spacer material used when lowering fork?



## pavement_hurts (May 13, 2006)

i'm about to reduce the travel on a marzocchi fork and i know what to do, but i'm wondering about what material to use to space out the negative travel. almost everyone (in the old posts i've waded through) says to use pvc but that sounds a bit iffy. i found a few random stories that mentioned that the pvc will occasionally shatter inside of the fork. anyone ever use anything other than pvc? can rubber washers simply be stacked? metal pipe?


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## bitterrider (Sep 21, 2006)

I believe nemesis tuned forks use a titanium spacer. I used pvc--1/2 in or something. You could probably use steel or aluminum piping. Go to home depot and see what they got. Pvc is pretty strong, obviously not metal strong. But the spring ought to take out most of the shock when its topping out.


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## pavement_hurts (May 13, 2006)

i'm also thinking about using stacked nylon washers.


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## bitterrider (Sep 21, 2006)

Just remember when the fork compresses the more parts you have down there the more parts will be moving and banging around, one solid piece would probably be best.


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## Sudden_Judgement (Sep 13, 2006)

I would go with the higher grade pvc, usually black in color. Or if you can find the thick walled blue pipe, I doubt it would shatter like the sink grade white stuff, just don't use the off-white, it is absolute crap made for camper sinks. And don't use the grey it's for electrical and very flimsy.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

don't use the PVC, hard bottom outs will crush it. use pieces from an old handlebar...


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## XSL_WiLL (Nov 2, 2004)

As WCH said, BMX BB spacers, pieces of handlebars, etc usually fit perfectly. I like to dip them in the rubber stuff for tool handles.

PVC is bad.


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## TrikeKid (Sep 1, 2006)

Aluminum or steel. We used some aluminum tube (basicly a BB spacer) to shorten the last set of forks me and my dad did (not MTB though, some Showa MX forks, but the idea is the same).


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## BikeMk (Mar 2, 2004)

Marzocchi uses little ABS plastic tubes. You could probably buy some from them, but you might as well cut some yourself. ABS is black and generally more brittle than pvc. PVC will become brittle if you leave it out in the sun for a few years, and possibly on exposure to some chemicals, but it's pretty tough stuff. If you're concerned you could always go with schedule 80.


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## TrikeKid (Sep 1, 2006)

BikeMk said:


> Marzocchi uses little ABS plastic tubes. You could probably buy some from them, but you might as well cut some yourself. ABS is black and generally more brittle than pvc. PVC will become brittle if you leave it out in the sun for a few years, and possibly on exposure to some chemicals, but it's pretty tough stuff. If you're concerned you could always go with schedule 80.


I thought PVC was more brittle, being that ABS is softer?


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## bitterrider (Sep 21, 2006)

Id say the spacers I pulled out from marz was cheaper bullish than the pvc I put in--just a thought.


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## mtbhermit (Mar 8, 2007)

The spacer I took out of my Tora was made of some sort of plastic (black in colour). Consider weather putting metal in there is likely to damage any other components in your fork, the metal being harder. If anything I would have thought it better to damage a spacer than anything else? I know the contact points above & below the spacer would be plastic in my fork anyway.

Obviously if you can find something with a larger surface area (ie smaller hole in the middle) then you'd be all good, compared to tubing such as old handlebars etc in which the wall isn't very thick.

Here is a picture of a spacer that came out of my Tora>









You can see the larger diameter - of course in an ideal world it would be easy to find something similar!


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## Dictatorsaurus (Sep 11, 2009)

Ordering spacers for my Tora 318 is a big pain since I can't find anyone who carries them.

I want to ride my bike this weekend and need a 50mm spacer. What would be a safe hardware store solution to use as a spacer?

Dimensions would be very helpful as well.


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## XSL_WiLL (Nov 2, 2004)

Any bike shop can order those spacers.


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## bloodfart (Apr 30, 2009)

home depot has nylon washers. if i remember correctly i used 10mm* 25mm(?something around an inch OD more like a bushing than a washer) I dont remember what they called it, wasnt with the washers but it was in the same isle and the employees told me they didnt have anything like it but i found it in less than 5 mins. i have 3 of those stacked they have been working fine for months.


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## Dictatorsaurus (Sep 11, 2009)

I got 1/2 inch PVC tubing and cut a 50mm spacer. Working very well so far.

Since force is applied to the PCV vertically, I believe it should hold pretty well. Tubes shaped objects can usually hold a lot of weight.


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## WaveDude (Jan 14, 2004)

What's it worth to you to have some custom made out of 6061 aluminum?


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## Dictatorsaurus (Sep 11, 2009)

I actually made a 50mm spacer using 1/2 PVC from home depot. Looks like it should hold well since the force is applied vertically to the tube.


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