Well, I finally took the plunge and tackled the oil leak on my left fork. I’ve never done any suspension work before, but after some research, it seemed manageable. However, you know how these things go—plus, I had no idea when the bike’s last fork service was, so I was expecting some unexpected challenges.



After two and a half hours of hard work, both forks were fully rebuilt with new bushings, O-rings, clips, some fresh oil, and a thorough cleaning. I must say, I’m thrilled with the outcome, and I’ve gained a new skill along the way.


FYI this thread: https://cbrforum.com/forum/f4i-main-forum-11/fork-seal-leak-rebuild-completed-149264/#&gid=1&pid=4

was an absolute goldmine of information, so thank you to IDoDirt

here’s a photo of the completed articles

 

Great work - now to get them refitted and set up to your weight and riding style :-)

Must admit I chickened out and had the bike shop refurb my forks (30 year old gloop where there should have been oil and what there was of that was leaking through the seals) and a professional set-up. The difference was amazing.

 

Cheers fella,

Yeah, I don’t blame you, it’s a messy and awkward job without the right gear! Went through a whole tin of brake clean and half a roll of blue paper.

Just waiting on new snap rings to arrive for the top stanchions so I can get the correct depth.

To be quite honest, the bike’s been in bits more than it’s been whole since I’ve owned it. The last owner didn’t really seem to care about it at all. The forks were in a really poor state, the oil was burnt looking and smelling horrible. Spacers rusty and the right leg had a blown bushing. So I suppose it’s good to have some peace of mind now.

See for the adjustments, I’m not all that clued up on it, how’d you get on with setting your forks up for decent riding?

 

It took the guy about 40 minutes to set it up, then I took it on a test ride with strict instructions as to the tests I needed to do, followed by a q&a session and a couple of tweaks.

The set-up was setting the ride hight front and back then setting the rebound and damping, firstly to the standard number of clicks then by feel. The tweaks were to adjust the dive under heavy braking (checked with a tie round the fork stanchion).

 

Ah okay!

I’ve had a look at the adjusters on the top and bottom, from what I can find online the bottom ones are rebound speed the the top are for tension (pre-load) and can be used to set the sag?

I may ask around to see if anyone in my area can do / or walk me through the setup. The most crucial aspect I want to get dialled in is how much dive there is under heavy braking, I’m not the lightest guy by any stretch so I may be asking too much of the stock forks.

 

Yes, on mine the ride height was set by adjusting the forks in the yoke and the dive was set using the clickers on the top of the forks with the rebound set at the base of the forks.

The dive was checked by wrapping a cable tie round one of the stanchions then doing an emergency stop on a quiet road. Mine went about 2/3 of the way to the top and he seemed quite happy with that.