Fork Spring Compressor Tool...yay or nay?

[MIbrick]

Now that the fuel leak seems to be solved and all those rubber bits are replaced, I'm thinking next up is shock and fork springs. Is a fork spring compressor tool necessary to do the job safely?  Seems like it'd certainly make it easier, but at $150 or so, that's going to increase the project cost by up to 50% just for the tool.  Feedback? Guidance from the Wise Old Brickers?


Unrelated: I grew up with the understanding that cheese curds were known to be fresh if they squeak when you chew them. Is that true, or just an old Minnesotan wives tale?

[Martin]

Compress the springs while they are still mounted in the triple trees. You can do this with a small two legged puller, remove the filler plug first. Then place the legs under the triple trees with the centre over the fork cap, then wind it down until you can pop the circlip out with two small screwdrivers. Assembly is the reverse. You only need a cheap puller mine was $10.00.
Regards Martin.

[Laitch]

I grew up with the understanding that cheese curds were known to be fresh if they squeak when you chew them. Is that true, or just an old Minnesotan wives tale?

I think the OMWs were applying that description to voles, not cheese curds, MIbrick

[John Lang]

Cheese curds only squeak if they are made with unpasteurized milk. Uproar in Quebec when unpasteurized disallowed and the curds in poutine stopped squeaking.


[size=0px]Unrelated: I grew up with the understanding that cheese curds were known to be fresh if they squeak when you chew them. Is that true, or just an old Minnesotan wives tale?[/size]

[rbm]

I think the OMWs were applying that description to voles, not cheese curds, MIbrick

One's mind reels at the thought of what would motivate a OMW to chew a vole in the first place.

[Laitch]

One's mind reels at the thought of what would motivate a OMW to chew a vole in the first place.

They don't go down well without being chewed—they aren't as slick as oysters. That's one motivation anyway.

[MIbrick]

I'm not sure I'd try a vole (burger, steaks, curds or otherwise). I do like cheese curds on occasion, though.  I had no idea about the unpasteurized thing; interesting.  So many things to learn on the ol' Motobrick...


As luck would have it, I just returned from a short rip of about 90 miles. Two things I noticed, one on the ride, the other after.  While coming back home down the highway, as soon as I hit the grooved pavement I swear the ass end of my Brick felt squirrely (not voley) and it got more squirrely feeling as I went faster. Is this a common 'feature' of riding grooved highways at speed? I've ridden this section of slab before, albeit at slower speeds, and don't recall the feeling.  I slowed down until it stopped feeling squirrely, which was around 80 mph, and then got off at the next exit and took the old 2-lane highway the rest of the way (it's more fun for curves, less fun for speed).  Just a weird observance.


Second thing, much more appropriate to this thread, is that the back of the left fork is suddenly well lubricated. I initially thought brake fluid (as I've recently done the brake lines and flushed/filled DOT 4), but no. It's fork oil leaking past the seal and out from under the dust cap. I lifted the right fork seal and wouldn't you know it, there's fork oil starting to seep past that one, too.


It's like the Brick knows I'm contemplating updates/upgrades and it's forcing my hand.  :musicboohoo:

[johnny]

greetings...

squirrely on grooved pavement... its your tiors... and go to lightest possible grip on bars... death grip on bars exacerbates squirrely... and run max cold psi as listed on the sidewall of your tiors...

buy or make a seal mate... wipe down tubes with cheep atf... run the seal mate in there... slide the atf covered tubes up and down so seal is covered in atf... wipe out excess atf under dust cover... button it up and commence motobricking...

i always drain and fill forks after a leaker... cause proficient motobricking requires whacking n chopping n sliding n high siding... if you aints trailbraking to the apex n whacking on exit you aints motobricking proficiently...

j o

[The Mighty Gryphon]

What tires are you running?  My Shinko Tourmasters are nice, but they have a tendency to follow rain grooves.  I would imagine other brands would do it as well.

What pressures are you running at?  I know my bikes wander more when tire pressure is much below 35 front and 37 rear.

You might have some dirt in the seals.  There are fork seal cleaners out there on eBay, and you can make your own from the side of a plastic bottle.

[MIbrick]

Thanks Johnny and Gryph for the Seal Mate (homemade is appealing) suggestion. I'll give that a try for now, but I think I'll end up going RAM shock and springs in the near future anyway. I like a good project. Except when they're forced on me. ;) 


Martin:  thanks for the tip on the cheap puller. I was thinking I would need one of those expensive fork spring compressors that hooks in at the bottom and then around the spring at the top and compresses it so you can get the top nut off (modern Japanese bikes have this style, don't know about others).  After looking through the Clymer and Haynes, though, it looks like the Fichts forks are maybe a different design. 


Gryph:  I'm running Shinko Tour Master 230 front and rear. Both were replaced in May, about 1550 miles ago according to my log. They're exciting on bridge gratings, too. I run the front at 38, rear at 40, both measured cold. When I get out tearing around they heat up and the front generally goes to around 40 or 41 and the rear will end up at 43 or 44.  I know this because I have upper limits set on the Fobo bike app which monitors the TPM on each wheel and it dings in my ear as the PSI fluctuates up and down.