Front forks are kaput! Awaiting new springs..but..

[Guest]

My '83 gs650L's forks are pretty worn out.. It's like riding a bucking bronco out there and is frankly, pretty dangerous on these terrible Knoxville roads.

So my question is: Upon checking the air pressure in the forks yesterday, I found it to be zero.. Is it possible (or reasonably safe) to put in more than the recommended 10 psi to stiffen them up until I can do the rebuild?

Also, the seals all seem to be fine (zero signs of oil or leakage but will probably be replaced anyway).. will adding a large amount of air to the forks cause damage to the seals?


Thanks!

German

[Mike Pellet]

Too much air pressure in the forks can cause the seals to blow when the forks are compressed (like when hitting a bump).

After filling with the correct air pressure, check the pressure a couple days later to see if the pressure is holding. If not, you have a leak.

Also try a heavier weight fork oil to improve dampening. Slightly increasing the oil volume may help too.

Best of luck with it.

Mike

[GermanGS]

Thanks Mike. That's what I was worried about. I plan to just upgrade to progressive springs and go with a heavy weight oil. I'm pretty fond of a stiff ride and better handling.

Another quick questions; the rear springs seem to have adjustment notches on them, turning them so that they are on a higher setting should make them more stiff, correct?

Thanks!

German

[tkent02]

No it just raises the ride height. The spring rate stays the same. You can do the same in front with a spacer in each fork, and if you want a firmer ride you can cut off a few of the small coils and add a longer spacer to make up for it.

[Steve]

Also note that a stiffer ride does not always give better handling.

A wheel that is free to follow the contous of the road, maintaining contact with it more of the time. will do much better.

If you have not yet purchased the springs, consider springs from Sonic Suspension, instead of Progressive. They are straight-rate springs that give more-consistent performance. The air that is trapped in the fork tubes (even when none is added) is already a progressive-rate spring. Add a different progression rate of metal fork springs, the results can get ... "Interesting". Use the rate calculator on Sonic's site to determine what will work for you.

As far as the "heavier fork oil", all that does is slow down the response of the forks, it does not really firm anything up. Personally, I use 10w oil, as it is comfortable to ride and provides adequate damping for my needs.

In fact, I think that if you were to try draining your forks, you will probably find nothing in there, which is why they are acting like a "bucking bronco". There is simply no oil to provide any damping. If you were to simply remove the caps and add oil, you might think that you had a different bike under you, but proper fork maintence is a bit more involved than that. Consider why there is no oil. Might be that the seals are bad, and all the oil got pumped out. Since you have to disassemble the forks to change the seals, you may as well change the springs to some proper items and flush out all the old gunk in the process.

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