Springer Fork adjustment - options

[Rusty_S85]

Well I installed my Sunlite Deluxe Springer fork yesterday on the bike.

Problem is I saw someone mention that the link bars are to be level. Well I didn't know that before I made the cut and painted my forks and after installing I installed the dust washer, the rubber sealing cone then installed my upper spring perch then my VO tall threadless stem which has a 75mm stem height. Once I got it all put together I found my suspension in the front is pretty much at the full down extent of travel. Cant go down much more without the link bar hitting the round tube above.

So my question is what can I do to correct this issue? I thought about dropping the 75mm tall VO stem then get a spacer in the difference and install it under the spring perch. Problem is VO doesn't sell a stem that is black other than in the tall version that I have already.

I could wait till my rear tire is in to see how level the bike sits I might be able to tighten the springs up some more but they are already pretty close to bottoming out as it is.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Just did some math just now.

If I go with the following which is silver which right now I am contemplating if I should just go with a chrome stem and black spacers and keep my black handle bars.

https://store.velo-orange.com/index...ss-stems/vo-threadless-stem-25-4-17-rise.html

But with that stem it has a 17* rise which if I install it upside down it will give me the level stem look I want. This stem is 40mm tall vs the 75mm tall one I have now. This means I will have 35mm worth of spacers to make up the difference. If I put 35mm spacers under the spring perch it would raise the center of my forward link bar bolt up by roughly 1.34" which should put the link level with the road roughly. I could always fine tune the level with adjusting tension on the spring as well.

Down side is I really like the black look over the chrome look especially considering I have a black handle bar and most of my headset is black. I really hate the thought of painting a polished piece black since the color probably wont match.

 

[Rusty_S85]

A new update, need to find where to buy but I found that Dimension makes a plain looking threadless stem and they come in black. Looks to be a gloss black as well which will match my handle bars.

Down side is I'm looking at part # SM2941 which it said by locally but no one locally has it, it is unknown on my local bike shop if they have it or not or if they can get it. Guess I will check with them but its a 28.6mm stem clamp diameter, 140g weight (which I'm not too concerned with weight on a powered bike), 31.8mm handle bar clamp size (same as I have so I can reuse my adapter from 31.8mm to 7/8") and it has a 41mm stack height vs the 40mm the VO one has (still think I can get away with 35mm worth of spacers). Last its a 80mm length with a +17 degree rise which if placed upside down will give me a level stem which is what I want.

Some told me to wait till I get the engine installed as that extra weight will push the springs down. Thing is the springs are compressed quite far already. If I move the perch up I could in theory loosen the springs up which would give a softer ride.