I’d been wanting to upgrade the front end on my 2010 Road Glide from the stock 41mm front end (with Ohlins cartridges) to a 49mm for a few years and decided this was the winter to do it.
I gathered up most of the stock parts I needed from a 14 up touring bike, but before I got the last few parts, I came across the Geezer Glide triple tree conversion kit. Figured I’d give it a try since it was a bolt on kit and came with everything needed. The triple trees also looked much better then the stock trees. Also went with their fork slider kit, to get the hidden axle while I was at it.
Of coarse had to go with Ohlins cartridges again and wanted to get rid of the cow bells so went with gold fork tubes (they was a whole other process to find some they were anywhere’s near stock length).
Figured I do a quick review of the install and once the weather warms up (that won’t be for another few months up here) do a review of the difference between the 2 setups.
I know this is far from the first time this has been done, but when I was looking into doing this, I couldn’t find much info on this conversion.
Right from the start the communication with Andreas at Geezer Glide was great. Everything shipped out right away and showed up fairly quickly (normal hiccups with crossing the boarder). All well packed and the quality was top notch.
First step was to tear down the old and get into the install.
The instruction provided with the kit were pretty clear and easy to follow.
Once I got the new steering stop installed
I then test for the top tree and realized there was an issue and the top tree wasn’t hitting the stop. Turns out the steering stop supplied with the kit, will only work with stock handle bar bushing (which isn’t what I’m using. I’m using the Alloy Art gooden tight bushings).
Simple solution was to take off the supplied steering stop plate, fab up a new steering stop and weld it on
Put the top tree on again and the new steering stop worked as it should.
Next was to mount the brake line. The kit comes with a nice set of brake line for the front and a nice mounting block that bolts to the lower triple tree.
I opted to use the brake lines I already had, only because I just updated them last year to a complete set of brake lines and clutch cable from Magnum Shield (black pearl).
I had to get a little creative to mount stock style lines to the new lower tree, since they are designed to work with the 14 up style lines.
I modified the mounting block that came with the kit and it works great.
The Geezer Glide sliders went together the same as the stock. Since I’m not using stock length fork tubes, I had to play around with the spacers for the ohlins cartridges a little. I may still have to play around with the spacers more, once I get everything back on the bike and get it on the ground, so I can set the sag.
I went with fork tubes from Custom Cycle Engineering. Closest to stock I could fine are about 5/8” longer then stock.
Mock up went well, so mounted the forks as per the instructions and set the preload on the neck bearings.
The caliper needed a little material removed to work with the Geezer Glide sliders, which I knew when I got them and was fine with.
Drilled a hole with a hole saw in the plastic covers that mount to the triple trees, so I can adjust the cartridges without removing them (might still have to remove my bars with the style I have, but we’ll see).
Got the front wheel back on, calipers mounted and front fender mounted too.
Right side is nice and clean with the hidden axle
Left side looks good too. There’s a little more of a gap between the slider and the lower piece then I expected, but still looks good (I’m can be too picky sometimes). I don’t have the cover installed for the axle yet in this pic.
more to come as I finish things up, but waiting on a few more parts...
01-28-2021, 11:43 AM
41mm to 49mm Touring Front End Upgrade
