GT500 Triple Clamp Mod

CJF · Post by **CJF** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:51 pm

There is a horse shoe looking piece of metal on the bottom triple clamp that faces the rear of the bike. I'm considering cutting off the two pieces from the lower clamp to save a little weight on the race bike project. I'm wondering if anyone knows the purpose of those two metal pieces and if there would be any issue cutting them off? It seems they play no role on the GT500 triple clamp that I can tell. I want to be sure before wacking them off...considering we're talking about a critical piece of the bike.

I checked the lower triple clamp on my '75 T500 and it looks like the piece mentioned above works as a stop of some kind with the stock steering damper. The confusing thing for me is that the triple clamp is a different part number between the t500 and GT500 due to the fork tube size, but the horse shoe looking piece is still in place on the GT500....with no stock damper on the GT500.

Buffalo-guy · Post by **Buffalo-guy** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:36 am

You're most likely talking about the steering stops on the lower tree. They're meant to keep your handlebars and headlight ears from contacting your gas tank and making dents. Awfully thoughtful of them, don't you think? Cheers.
Fred

CJF · Post by **CJF** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:45 pm

I'm actually talking about the back side of the bottom triple clamp. The steering stops are on the front of the bottom clamp.[/list]

bikegeezer · Post by **bikegeezer** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:28 am

CJF wrote:I'm actually talking about the back side of the bottom triple clamp. The steering stops are on the front of the bottom clamp.[/list]

No, the steering stops are on the rear. That thing you're seeing on the front is the notch where the steering lock plunger locates on the GT500. The earlier bikes had the steering lock attached to the frame, but the GT had it attached under the bottom fork clamp.

Stu