MOTOBRICK.COM

TECHNICAL MOTOBRICK WRENCHING In Remembrance of Inge K. => The Motobrick Workshop => Topic started by: EpsteintheSwami on March 25, 2016, 04:43:49 PM

Title: bent fork(s)?
Post by: EpsteintheSwami on March 25, 2016, 04:43:49 PM

Hi chaps,
Not used my bike in quite a while, started getting out on it again recently and I'd forgotten how terrible the front suspension is!!  Very soggy and also seems to clatter and bang over bumps.  Also noticed that if you take your hands off the bars it always leans to the right, no matter how you're sitting.  So today I replaced the fork oil ,15 instead of the 10 that was in it, which doesn't seem to have made much of a difference but I've yet to road test it as some bastard had parked in front of my gate and was nowhere to be found.  Anyway the front axle seemed very stiff to get in and out and it seemed one fork leg was slightly higher than the other.  Clearly I hadn't aligned properly the last time! So I loosened the pinch bolts on one side and moved the stantion until I had the axle sliding smoothly in and out, tightened the bolts then realised the tube I had moved was now 1 or 2mm higher in the yokes than the other side.  So I'm not sure whats causing this really, could the yokes be twisted slightly causing one fork to be higher or could this be a sign of a bent fork?  The bike has definently been dropped at some point, when I first got it the right fork tube was a full inch higher in the yokes than the other, and theres a big gouge on the right end of the axle and various repairs to the fairing.
Also can someone confirm if this is a correct procedure for aligning front wheel,
Tighten top yoke pinch bolts, loose bottom yoke pinch bolts, axle bolt and pinch bolts loose, caliper bolts loose and pistons retracted, fork brace bolts loose.
Bounce it up and down for a minute, tighten axle bolt, tighten fork pinch bolts left then right, tighten lower yoke pinch bolts, then fork brace, then caliper bolts. 
Ive read a lot of different methods for doing this, this is the way that seemed to make most sense to me but would appreciate hearing everybody else opinions

should also mention that apart from the suspension being back breakingly, brain rattlingly, and ball crushingly awful the bike handles like a dream, so long as you dont hit a bump mid corner that is!

 :useless

Title: Re: bent fork(s)?
Post by: TimTyler on March 25, 2016, 05:22:01 PM

It would help if you specified what year your bike is, which forks you have and include photos of the forks and damage.