Hey Guys,

I was wondering if I needed to do some sort of service on my front forks or not. My 1kF seems to be really cushy and soft when it comes to the forks. Is this common on the F's? Or would I need to start thinking about doing some sort of service on them?
Thanx


1000FFreakyFast

 

When mine were feeling a little bouncy in the corners I opened the fork drain plugs and bounced the front end until they were empty. Then I lifted the front end with an engine hoist and removed the caps and refilled them with new fluid. It helped quite a bit.

 

What year is yours? I had the same problem on my 93. Felt like mush. I tried new oil, the Progressive spring route and 2 inch spacers, and it worked somewhat. I finally broke down and got the Racetech Kit on Ebay, and had my local speedshop install them. What a difference. I think the earlier bikes had air and oil dampners, and the 93 and up had non adjustable cartridge forks. Thats what I replaced. Definitely helped.


Art

 

I put 2.50 inch spacers in my 88 with 15 weight oil it made it stiff,but better to ride in the turns. I was told by a bike shop bloke to set the front end up ,so the front forks are at full out withno one on the bike. It makes mine more forgiving to ride hard and less feedback to my hands.

 

You'll want 1.25- 1.5 inches of sag with the rider aboard.
Adding spacers to the (soft) stock springscan achieve that, though the actual spring rate will still be too soft. Lots of front end dive, etc.
'Works Performance', here in the States recommended a 48/ 80 lb. spring kit and 10wt oil. that gets the sag recommended as well as creating a wonderfully compliant and controlled fork.

 

Do you have a front end shake when you let go of the bars at slow speed....john

 

nope,tracks straight and true, no matter what i do.

 

My 87 Cane had front vibration before I chagned the tires. When you ride with low pressure long time, tire wears and makes a wave on the tread. That wave makes vibration on the certain speed. Mine was about 45 - 50 mph. It was OK on higher speed. First, check your tire pressure. If there is no wave appears on the tread yet, you may be OK. Good luck!

Yas

 

Based on 1990 and up models with fixed cartridge front ends. The static sag (rider aboard) is often too great. Measure that number and if it's not in the 1 1/4" to 1 3/8" range, figure the change required, remove the cap and spring according to the service manual, and make new spacers that are longer directly by whatever the measurements dictate. Drain the oil and re-fill with 10 weight, measuring the oil level with the spring out, from the top of the tube to the level of the oil, fork tube in the fully compressed position. The stock setting is 6 7/8" down from the top. Raise that level to 4 3/4" down from the top and it will tremendously aid in preventing bottoming out on hard braking. It makes the air spring much more progressive while leaving the normal travel range fairly compliant. Anything more than that will require at least new springs. Just follow all normal procedures as outlined in the service manual for this work except using the new fork oil level and new spacer lengths.

This is what I did on mine at about 27,000 miles on the clock. I now have 122,000 miles on it but have never altered those settings during routine maintenance. That includes VERY aggressive riding, especially on the track. It would be better with the proper springs but is decent as described. BTW, I'm 200 lbs and my memory says I needed spacers that were 5/8" longer than stock to achieve a 1 3/8" static sag.

 

Would it make the bike better to change the head set bearings from ball to taped