Honda CX 500 Forum banner

Would this work? GL500 forks

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  dirtnap 
#1 ·
I know that swapping GL500 forks into a CX500 for the purpose of gaining dual brakes can be a problem. Research that I've done shows that the GL forks are longer and running the stanchions up into the top clamp to alleviate that may pose some problems with gauge clearance and possibly steering. What I have not seen is pulling the stanchions out of a CX fork and installing them into GL sliders to maintain the original ride height.
I have a donor GL that I picked up for some parts for my future GL650 build and thought about swapping the front end onto my CX500C ('81 with 35mm forks).

There must be something that I'm missing since I have not seen this swap before. Can anyone shed some light on this? Can it be done safely?
 
#4 ·
Check a parts fiche to see if the internals are the same.


R
 
#5 ·
For what it's worth, I recently swapped a 81 GL500 front end onto a 80 CX500D. The bushings and the lower end of the tube where different, can't comment on the 81 CX500.
 
#6 ·
Yes, I'm in the middle of a similar project, trying to use longer 35mm cb650 forks on a 1981 cx500 custom (leading axle design on both). On my super-lazy first attempt I am trying to leave the left fork all cx500 and only swap the right fork lower from the cb650 (since all you really need are the mounting holes for the caliper bracket). Well one issue I have is I had to drill new holes for the fender since the cb650 fender mount holes are higher up and do not line up to the cx500 fender holes. Yes, I'd rather drill two holes versus take apart the left fork and swap the lower section.

And it turns out that the cb650 wheel I bought is wider than my cx500 wheel, and since I don't have the cb650 triple-tree, that dual disc wheel would not work... however it was super easy for me to swap out the right (second) disc from the cb650 wheel and add it to my existing cx500 wheel. But not sure if the horizontal spacing of the discs and calipers is going to work out when I put everything together... so to answer your question: not sure yet!:(
 
#7 ·
I picked up this GL500 parts bike mainly for the tank (which is better by far than the one on my 650) and the fairing which is near perfect. For what I paid for the parts bike I figure I'm way ahead of the game already. I figure if the forks would work on my CX that would be even better. More brakes are always better right? :cool: So that's where I'm at, just researching. I certainly don't need any more projects this year!
I compared the parts fiches for both forks and while I didn't go part for part, they certainly appear very similar. The springs are the same part number, I know that.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top