Hi Fellas
Thought I might pass on a few fork tricks here I have learned and have had some success with over the years.
1. We are all of different weights and riding styles, so be careful when someone lays down fork specs that will be "perfect" for you and your bike. Listen and experiment and be patient.
2. To help tune and maintain your forks, drill and tap the top of the fork caps and install air valves on them. Some forks already have them, but they all should, as it makes changing fork oil easy as can be and allows you to change oil weights to suit your weight and use and performance requirements.
3. Some bikes no longer have fork drain screws installed at the factory, as a cost saving, and require you to remove your wheel and axle to drain the oil... a pain in the ass, so I locate the bottom of the slider by measuring the distance from the top, then drill and tap holes to drain the fork oil without all that cumbersome and time consuming ritual. A hole around 3/16" is adequate for draining fork oil, and make sure the hole is exactly at the bottim of the oil chamber on the back of the slider. Use a fine threaded tap, a small neoprene o ring, and a #2 phillips head screw, just like the bikes in the 60s and 70's
had.
4. You can often restore performance or stiffen up fork action for sharper handling by simply lengthening the fork spring spacer on top of the fork spring an inch or two. You can use a thick PCV pipe section, and match the OD (outside diameter) of the section to the ID (inside diameter) of the fork leg. Make it snug, and be sure and file the edges clean so you don't get any PCV shavings in your forks. I have taken "sack" out of new and old forks like this for pennies on the dollar.
5. On some of my old bikes, I have installed 4 ounces of automatic transmission conditioner in each leg and successfully stopped fork seals from leaking. It softens the seals and restores flexibility to them and saved me lots of time and money and is worth a try on old seals with moderate oil seepage.
6. Anything you can do to protect your fork legs from scarring and corrosion is a good idea. Before long rides on bikes without any form of shield I have smeared some grease or heavy gear lube on the fork legs just above the lower legs (sliders) and it keeps exoskeletonal bugs from hitting and drying out on the leg...on a smooth road, then turning onto a bumpy road and then running their very sharp and hard body bits through my fork seals... ripping them up and causing leaks.
Old style fork protectors of the black accordion type are always installed on my SRs and SRXs... modify a modern plastic shield to fit your old bike... do SOMETHING to cover the exposed fork legs, which are much like hydraulic rams and should be kept as clean as possible. They do a lot of sliding past seals, so any garbage they scrape past your seals will hurt you sooner or later, like sandpaper.
7. Use an air syringe with an accurate guage to run your forks with three pounds of air pressure in them and your seals will last longer. The lips of the seals will have a tendency to push the small particles up the leg instead of allowing them to slide past the lip of the seal. Pressure should be read with the legs fully extended by the stand or lift of your choice... also...be careful NEVER to put too much air pressure in your forks. Specs may vary, but read your manual if applicable, and keep in mind that varying air pressure will soften or tighten suspension tuning.... I often add pressure for track days to stiffen and sharpen front end rewsponse...for example.
8. An air crossover tube can be installed with an air valve T on your forks to keep pressure precisely identical in both fork legs.
Those are a few fork tricks I've learned over the years, based upon the fact that I hang around cheapskate innovative hillbilly motorheads and guys who hate to disassemble and repair their bikes instead of riding them and others who like to win races without spending lots of time and money tuning and replacing parts that were damaged because of old age or neglect or just to have fun and innovate with what you have.
I have lived in places where the nearest bike shop is hundreds of miles away and no road to get there.... and I WILL find a way to ride.
So maybe you can use one or two of these tricks as you motor along the road of life.
