A lesson in "Fork Stiction"

D

Deano

Two Stroke
Just learnt a valuable lesson. Thought I would pass it on to anyone interested. I took my front forks out and sent them away to be up-spec'd. New springs and valves etc. After re-installing them the bike tended to shake it's head on certain bumps. Balanced the wheel, checked tire pressures, adjusted the rear suspension, asked around I but couldn't fix it. I was able to live with it as the suspension was better than stock, but still this annoying problem. Turned out to be the following: When putting your forks back in, dont tighten the pinch bolt on the fork leg. Vigorously pump the forks up and down repeatedly (without using the front brake), then tighten the pinch bolt. This centralises the forks and problem solved. The expert told me it was called "fork stiction"??? Anyone else experienced this one?
 
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M

MES

750cc
yes, that is stiction. Your method will work and is better than nothing. ideal would be a real pain in the ass and overkill for these bikes

In addition, one can also use low stiction fork seals which are available here
 
D

Deano

Two Stroke
MES said:
yes, that is stiction. Your method will work and is better than nothing. ideal would be a real pain in the ass and overkill for these bikes

In addition, one can also use low stiction fork seals which are available here
Click to expand...

Please tell what the ideal solution would be, or somewhere to read about it if explanation is lengthy. Thanks by the way.
 
M

MES

750cc
There are ton of pages on suspension out there and the subject can get really involved
Here is a VMax page that will give you the general deal.


There are 3 basic thing you can do to reduce stiction
stiction

the first would be to do what you did. (most common source of stiction)
The second is to use low stiction seals
and the third would be to have the inners treated with a titanium nitride coating or the like.
OR

There are also products like Forslyk orMicrolon which is a one time additive that basically fills in the
spaces in the steel molecules.
(I don't know if it works, never used it)

Some people don't like the nitride coating because they change the diameter of the tube and might cause problems. There are also instances where the coating flakes off the factory chrome.

Personaly,
Low stiction seals and a good quality fork oil that is changed regularly should be enough.
Bounce before you pinch.
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Two Stroke
Great thread, I thought I had a wheel issue for a while and just lived with it. Turned out to be a stiction issue. The bonnie rides great now, thanks!
 
D

Deano

Two Stroke
sanjuro said:
Great thread, I thought I had a wheel issue for a while and just lived with it. Turned out to be a stiction issue. The bonnie rides great now, thanks!
Click to expand...

Cheers Sanjuro, yeah it is a bit hard to believe what a difference it can make. I was like you and was just living with it. One unexpected thing came out of it for me, and that is, just how good these bikes are because on some rough bitumen surfaces and bouncy corners at it's worst it could really shake its head but it always centered itself and tracked true by the time the wheel touched down.
 
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