im looking at having my forks revalved by Maxton
to cure diving under breaking and patter over rippled roads
has any one had this sort of thing done and does it work
i really like my triumph but the front end drives me mad so is it gonna be worth spending £400 on them
I fitted aftermarket progressive front fork springs to my 94 Triumph Trident 900. I made some 15mm thick spacers to tighten them up a bit as there is no front fork adjustment on my model bike.
They made a massive difference to the handling and brake 'diving' and cost £85 inc p&p. I also put in a thicker oil than was recommended.
I don't think that will probably help you WN as you're talking about revalving that I have no experience with!
For anyone else though who has a front suspension problem on an 'old' bike, this was a relatively cheap fix for me and it looked as though the springs taken out were original so had been in 17 years!
I got great service online from Bits4MotorBikes.co.uk where they ensured I got the correct springs after I made a mistake when ordering and I received them through the post in 2 days!
Weirdoraptor In: Brough, E. Yorks
Posts: 2087
Karma:
If it's an old bike, you could always look on ebay for a set of forks from a similar but better, maybe more up to date type of bike. you could maybe get a complete front end for less than a re-valve job. Aren't there any Triumph forums where members have already dealt with these issues? It may be a simple fix.
I re-worked my forks last summer, with progressive springs (£95), new seals (£15), lighter oil (£15), and hours and hours of messing about. There's no adjusters on my forks so once the job was started it was trial and error with airgaps and stuff. I got there at the third combination of oil viscosity, airgap, preload etc. and it was well worth all the effort, but whilst in the middle of it all i was wishing i had found some sorted adjustable forks to just bolt in.
Maxton are brilliant, but the cost vs. the value of your bike has to be an issue.
rattay weirdo cheers guys i have thought about progresive springs
im told the standard springs are too soft and rebound damping is insuficient allso that bump damping is usless wich is the corse of the patter . now im allso thinking time and effort here too i rebuilt bikes in the past but ive had time to do these things, where as i dont seem to get so much nowdays
so im just wondering if it mite be easyer to let the guys in the know do there thing and i can just enjoy the rewards
spoke to a chap tonight at catfoss who had done this to his old gixer he seamed to think the results changed the bike much for the better although it was expensive as weirdo says .
im in no rush to shift this bike though as it fits me very well , so looks like im gonna be saving up my penny's
Weirdoraptor In: Brough, E. Yorks
Posts: 2087
Karma:
Glad i could help, mate. Just in case you fancy D.I.Y., i got my springs from Norman Hyde (cracking fella), it may be worth talking to him anyway, i believe he has a small amount of experience with Triumphs lol, and for the cost of a phone call he could put you on the right track.
The original springs I took out were a lot shorter than the aftermarket progressive springs for my model and the original spacers removed were approx 80mm long.
As I said I replaced them with 15mm length spacers.
The guy who advised me to put in 15mm spacers and the oil, at first watched me sitting on the bike with the new springs fitted but no spacers, putting weight on the front end, to see the amount of fork travel. He then watched me riding and braking and then advised the new spacer size. Beyond my experience to do that and it would take a lot of fiddling to get it right on your own.
It only took us half a day to sort though, with the experienced suspension bod advising.
Forgot to say I rode for a week or two with just the new fork springs and oil fitted.
It took a while to sort the spacers from an engineering mate.
The bike was fine without the new spacers in and even better once they were fitted (A ten minute job with the help of a friend!)
I've had the forks done on my CB and the difference was startling.
As standard it was very soft when braking and the damping adjusters didn't seem to do anything. Now the forks seem more compliant than before over the bumps, dive far less and in a more controlled fashion and they've installed new damping cartridges so the adjusters actually adjust things!
thanks guys
looks like they defo be an inprovement to be made then !
Rattay as you said you had the expert watching you and assessing it so although you put em in you didnt really set them up wich is why im thinking let the pro's do there thing
they did say the spring would be set up to my weight and riding style (fat n frantic) so itll be interesting to see what a diffrence it all makes
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