What's the limiting factor on fork travel?

[stinkwheel]

On a modern sportsbike fork with a cartridge type damper rod and spring assembly.

When the fork is fully extended with the front wheel in the air. Is it the bushes hitting one another or the damper rod reaching the end of its travel that prevents further movement?

The reason being, I'm contemplating a cartridge transplant between two different models and the one I'm proposing to fit has a shorter travel. It's roughly the same length (or near as damnit) when fully compressed but shorter when fully extended.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[G]

The rod is 'much always the limiting factor.
When doing fork seals there's always a chunk more play before you get to the removing-seal point.

[Pete.]

Yup, the rod hits the stop first usually.

My mate just put cartridge forks internals in his Bros forks - he said the ride was very much improved but of course he's missing the compression damping adjustment. He was going to fiddle with that but then some other forks came along that fit right on and have the damping adjusters so I don't know how far he got.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[stinkwheel]

Cheers guys.

I'm getting a set of six pots for the new VFR but I've got rather used to how the old one handled on the firestorm forks so my intention is to swap over the cartridges.

The firestorm cartridge works out a fair bit shorter fully extended but exactly the same length fully compressed on standard preload setting. The net effect is a fork that is 12mm shorter than standard fully extended but the same as standard fully compressed. I'm essentially losing 12mm of travel off the top end by introducing shorter rods and more rapidly progressing springs.

The firestorm forks I've been using are 10mm shorter than the VFR ones anyway so I'll hopefully have forks that work and handle in the same way. The firestorm cartridges also have a larger preload adjustment range and adjustable damping.

I suppose if they're totally shit, I can just swap them over again, it's not a big job.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.