Arnold from memory, a new spring is 10" long. But will always rest on the headstock until the wheel is on the ground with the weight of the bike. In the meantime, project your paint with a corn flake box. The 1/2" difference in the fork lengths makes no difference to the spring.

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

thank you, i will keep that in mind.
Do you also happen to know if anyone has succefully attempted to produce a spring-compressor for the m20?..so it allows me to tension the spring and by that way shorten it to simplify the montage of this ugly thing....I was thinking about the springcompressors the mechanics use to in garages to safely remove suspensioncoils by cars?

email (option): arnoldovertoom@gmail.com

Personally I've never found the need for a spring compressor for any of the makes and models of girder forks I've rebuilt over the years. I can if requested put some instruction with pictures of my method of assembly. The more difficult forks to assemble are those with side check springs. M20 forks to my mind are a doddle. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Hi Ron
If you can post pictures that would be great
My nos spring was such a pain to fit - older springs seem a lot easier to put in place
I have tried top links in place & bottom links in place - both methods were very difficult
I have a number of boxed nos springs - I am not looking forward to fitting these in the future either
Job

email (option): jonnyob1@googlemail.com

OK at the moment I can't find an intermediate picture that I'm looking for (mainly because I just take a before and after shot). But I'll explain the way I do it.
First I get the steering stem, bearings and top yoke assembled in the headstock( final adjustment of the bearings is performed after full assembly)

In the case of an M20 I put the spring onto the forks, then hang the forks by the lower links. In the case of other makes that use traditional spindles. I put the two lower spindles into one link to form a sort of staple, feed the spindles through their corresponding bushes and attach the opposite link. In either case you now have the forks swinging by their lower links.

In the case of an M20 again, swivel the forks into a position that allows the top spring attachment stud to fit into its socket on the yoke and hold it with its nut.

Now swivel the forks up to narrow the gap enough to insert the top links. The length of the forks will give enough leverage for this even if it means strapping the frame down to avoid lifting the whole bike whilst levering. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com