Sticky Forks - Stiction

[janksolid]

My forks have become increasingly sticky over the past couple of months. Now it's getting serious as it's affecting the handling and causing some "interesting" cornering and braking situations.
A friend has suggested that the spacers in the front wheel may have been put back incorrectly after the tyre was changed.
Any other ideas anyone?

[1980GS1000E]

To check what your friend says, remove the wheel and reassemble so that there is no squeezing or spreading going on. Also, could be time to change your fork oil.

[Steve]

After you have removed the wheel and reassembled it, try this before tightening the bolts:
Loosen the lower triple clamp bolts, push the bike up against a wall or other solid object. Bounce the front end (compress and release the forks) a few times to get the forks to align to themselves, then carefully put it on the center stand and tighten the triple clamps and the axle bolts. I have seen the triple clamps just a tad away from each other, which puts the forks in a bind.

Oh, and the proper amount of a good fork oil does wonders, too. 8-[


.

[janksolid]

OK thanks.

Unfortunately this bike has no centre stand due to the Marshall 4 in to 1.
I will try to lift it with a trolley jack.

I have read that loosening the triple clamp bolts with the wheel raised and the wheel spindle loosened and then applying the brakes to the spinning wheel can set the forks true. Has anyone tried this method?

Fork oil should be good. Was replaced last year when the seals were done. No leaks.

[Steve]

Fork oil should be good. Was replaced last year when the seals were done. No leaks.

Not a guarantee that it's still good. :shock:

Depending on the condition of the internal parts and how carefully the oil was changed last time, there could be a lot of metallic shavings in there, which will accellerate wear. If you are reasonably confident of the condtion of the internal parts, you can merely drain the fluid and install new fluid. It is better to remove the forks and open them up. You don't necessarily have to take them completely apart, but run some fresh fluid through there, pumping the fork tubes to get it through all the little passages. Drain, repeat until clean fluid comes out. Now you can reassemble the forks, assured that they are internally clean.

Have never heard about the "brake the spinning wheel" trick, but I think I would still loosen the lower triple clamp as mentioned earlier.


.

.

[Mark M]

Unfortunately this bike has no centre stand due to the Marshall 4 in to 1.
I will try to lift it with a trolley jack.

I have hoisted my 1100E front end (and rear, for that matter) into the air many times using 2 jack stands. Lever the bike up onto the side stand and put a stand under the far side frame rail, then lever the bike up onto the 1st jackstand and slip the second stand under the near side frame rail. Hope that made sense... Which end lifts depends on where you place the stands along the bottom frame rails. It is very sturdy and stable with no wobbles at all. I would expect that the trolley jack will not work if you have a 4-1 exhaust on it. I have the 4-1 on my 1100E and that is what prevents me using a bike lift or jack on it.

Mark