Front Forks Maintenance

[Tony Smith]

..the thick plotens..

The pesky  circlip was there, however, languishing in a pile of rust stained gloop.


And it is of the "Seeger" type I mentioned as being a barsteward to fit, and that difficulty is the probable cause of your current "difficulties".

If it is undamaged I'd have a lash at fitting it properly.

[Tony Smith]

to get at the sidestand Allen machine screw head to rebush same.... I feel a new topic coming on.

Having done one recently - good luck.

Do clean out the grease passage and fit a new grease nipple.

At least the post 81 bikes have a readily obtainable bush, the 79/80 owners are on their own as it is NLA and is different to the bush used in /7 machines. Those you get to make yourself. And, if you have a set of bastardised R65 exhaust pipes mated to an R80 engine, you have to cut the bolt and use a half height nut.

[andrewwoodhall]

Thanks, Tony.
Back to the forks ----all reassembled, and back on the bike, with front wheel now rotating in the correct direction. lSlight niggle: the initial damping characteristics were not the same in both legs after rebuild, off the bike. I put this down to oil settling into the correct spaces?
Test ride tomorrow, and carb balancing Friday ( the side stand will have to wait).

[Tony Smith]

Slight niggle: the initial damping characteristics were not the same in both legs after rebuild, off the bike. I put this down to oil settling into the correct spaces?

They are very simple dampers, the oil should be more or less fully 'distributed' at first stroke. A difference in damping so large as for you to notice it by hand suggests that you have other gremlins in the system.

Still, if it rides OK, I would not worry too much - if I were to place a bet I'd say that a piece of disintegrated red damper is currently lodged in one of the bleed ports in the damper rod.  If so it will likely deliquesce further over time and the damping rates will equalise.

[Barry]

If by any chance you are feeling substantial compression damping on one leg then there is something wrong. The only damping you can easily feel by hand is rebound damping. Compression damping is so weak that it's hard to move the forks fast enough to feel much especially with the springs in.

I test damping by stroking the legs individually without the springs. You should feel rebound damping to be at least 3 times stronger than compression and you should feel rebound damping increase further over the last 1" of stroke at full extension. 

[andrewwoodhall]

Thanks. Yes, rebound damping is more on one than the other. Compression damping not evident. Hoping for a dry day tomorrow...

[marcmax]

If so it will likely deliquesce further over time

Darn it Tony. You made me pull out my dictionary. I understand from the sentence what you mean but I have never seen that word and I can't just let that lie.

[Tony Smith]

Darn it Tony. You made me pull out my dictionary. I understand from the sentence what you mean but I have never seen that word and I can't just let that lie.

Sorry, but it describes so well what the red rubber bump stop does. The term is usually used by coroners to describe what (for example)  a body sealed in a plastic bag with a few litres of Hydroflouric acid does.

[wilcom]

Sorry, but it describes so well what the red rubber bump stop does.

 Tony , it was the perfect word. The fact that you could reach out and use it keeps us in awe. You guys and the Brits really have a command of the language. We in the West just fumble along in 3rf-4th place

[andrewwoodhall]

Successful first forks renovation  ride this morning; no squeaks or rattles on a sinuous,  rural route. Stopped outside Sharpness docks to do an initial pilot adjustment, followed by further balancing back home. Raining now.
As a bonus, I found both exhaust spider nuts easily removed, so side stand rebushing next job.
Many thanks to all who helped me understand and fix my forks.