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Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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Old 10 Sep 2003
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Anyone got showa forks

Does anyone have showa forks on their GS, how good are they and how easy to find and what is the expense of them.
Ive been looking at a PD which has em on but I'm unsure as to stick to origional parts as much as possible to easy fixing them.

Are they a BMW part? or can you fit other bikes forks onto the GS for better looks/suspention?
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Old 11 Sep 2003
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As a brand, Showa are quite good. They are stock on many Japanese bikes, both off road and on.

As to whether they are right for the GS, that depends on the fork - The travel and ride hight being the main factor. We need more info to be able to comment on this modification.

Lots of GS's have had different forks put on to improve their clearence and handling. There are three main factors with forks:
1)suspension travel (also affects the hight of the front of the bike, which has an effect on steering geometry and handling)
2)thickness and torsional rigidity
3)asjustability and valving

Just swapping forks will not necessarily improve the bike and could seriously mess up the handling of the bike. For instance, if someone has grafted a 12 inch travel fork from some 100 kilo dirt bike onto a 200 kilo GS, which typically has around 8 inches of travel, this will cause all kinds of handling changes, likely negative, unless the proper adjustments are made. Raising the suspension significantly in the front generally necessitates raising the rear suspension travel an equal amount - difficult on the GS as you have to extend the shaft.

If the fork is set up right for the bike, it could be a positive change. Yes, parts will likely have to be sources from a different supplier, so that complicates things as well.

Have a look at HPN's site - they do lots of suspension modifications.

http://www.hpn.de/
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