79 CBX with Air Assisted Forks

[haden2342]

Hello everyone,

I've got a 78/79 CBX that is in need of a front fork rebuild, but I'm a little confused about the forks that are on it. It has air assisted front forks which I've been led to believe didn't come on 79's. Could 79 forks be converted to air assistance or do these forks have to be off of an 80? The fork legs don't have the reflector mounts so they aren't 81 or 82. The fork caps and air setup look different from any 80 bike I can find pictures of. Aftermarket maybe? Are there any other external differences between the 79 and 80 forks or am I going to have to tear them apart to find out?

PXL_20220804_003327807_2.jpg

[NobleHops]

If it's a stock 35mm fork then it's just the (aftermarket) caps that have been added. Honda played around with this during the 80s, and eventually gave up on the concept. IIRC it didn't do that much and was thought to have shortened the life of the fork seals.

You have a couple of options if you want to remove them: The stock fork caps aren't hard to find, but there are two additional parts that attach to the stock fork caps that ARE a little hard to find, and so they are getting expensive. There's a cap that threads into the fork cap, with a hex recess for installation, and then a smaller plug that presses into the hex recess to make it look tidy and not catch the rain. THOSE two items will cost you real money (X2).

As an alternative, we found preload adjustable fork caps to fit these forks, which allows for up to 3/4" of adjustment on the fork springs; plus they look kinda cool.

IMG_9052.jpeg

In advance of your question, I do NOT have a link for you - I found them on eBay but beware, you need to know the thread pitch of your fork tubes.

[NobleHops]

P.S. Look at the fiche and this will make more sense.

[haden2342]

Those are really neat and something I'll have to keep in mind. I think I'll stick with the setup that's on them for now since they seem to be holding air. Thanks for the information, it's very likely these are 79 forks then.

[NobleHops]

To be clear about something: the stock ‘80 bike DID have an air assist fork, but without the equalization parts seen on yours. Your setup is similar to what the Prolink CBX uses, plus that gauge. Here’s a photo of my ‘80, before I adulterated it .

3AF35346-92B6-4EF1-8934-8F86EAEBF966.jpeg