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First things first, I loosened
the 17mm hex fork caps to make them
easier to undo when the front is in the air. Next I raised the front of
the bike so that no weight was on the forks at all, finished removing the fork
caps and then placed them aside to be cleaned. I then drained the the old oil out of forks by undoing the
small 10mm bolt at the bottom of the fork legs. It appeared to have
never been changed since the bike rolled off the factory line. It was
filthy and stank and took a while. I removed the large hollow spacer
from inside the fork tubes and placed them next to the fork caps. Now i
grabbed my trusty spring remover tool [read: coathanger] and fished the
springs and washers out. There is no need to replace the spacers or the
washers but you need to measure the springs relaxed length to make sure
they aren't less than 247mm long. If they are, they need replacing,
mine however were still in very good condition. One thing to remember is that
the fork spring is a variable rate spring so when you remove the spring
make sure you remember to replace it with the tapered side down.
Another tip is to lay out the springs, washers, spacers and caps in the
order they came out so as to ensure it all goes together right.
The first thing to
do on
assembly is to now lower the front wheel to
full travel. Next you fill the fork tubes up to 80mm from the top. I
was going to replace the 10W oil with 15W, because it would harden my
suspension but i decided not to, instead i used the 10W as specified.
However i did add some preload to the spring by using the age-old coin
trick. All you do is lift the front of the bike so there is no weight
applied to the forks, i used my winch and a open the top fork caps and
add 20c pieces [one per side] till you get the desired preload effect.
For a fairly light person like myself [65kg], 3 coins makes the rebound
noticeably quicker. For a heavier person you might want to try more. I
also raised the forks in the triple clamps slightly to drop the front
end.
Have now taken her to the track and the work has been well worth it.
The front end feels fantastic, the rebound is set perfectly for me and
the new oil makes the travel feel a lot smoother. I will be trying 15W
next time I go to the track to see what difference it will make.
UPDATE: Blew a fork seal so after I replaced them I used 15W oil, 80c
per side and dropped the triple clamp further. Now the front is almost
perfect.
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