Forks. Stiffening My Forks.

[bignige]

Have you tried filling them with concrete?

Millemille might disagree but I KNOW this works.

[chrisexup]

What I'd like to know is what weight fork oil to try, what to do with the air gap, and what the effects of doing so are likely to be. Chrisexup, please tell me more - what was the standard air gap in your forks, i.e. by what percentage did you reduce it? Also what was the std weight oil?

Thanks again

not sure about the std oil, in the order of 5w or 10w, the standard air gap is 118mm iirc

...as i said 20w , <100mm air gap was going too far.

while you've got your forks apart it might be an idea to see how many cc of oil raises the oil gap by 10mm

Maybe start off with an air gap of 120mm, test ride, bring it up to 110mm, test ride, then 100mm if you think it needs it. I wouldn't go too low with the air gap as the fork has no 'give' left when hard on the brakes and you hit a bump.... ask me how i know

[BudgetBoy]

Ok the standard oil in Tuono 2003-2009 (inc factory) models have 5w oil as standard & 505cm3 oil per leg.

Edit:- Just realised yours is the Falco lol (was thinking of Jollygiants bike for some reason).. but thats 10w oil (199-2004 models) with 520cm3 per leg.

[daytona63]

I'd get the new springs and oil and try that. For the £100 it would cost, it would be the best value, IMHO.

No better money spent on a bike than having the forks built to your weight.

[ronenige]

10w and 100mm air gap , give that a go

[Mr.Incredible]

Thanks all for the advice and suggestions. Will report back when done.

[Boozybloke]

Now you've had the sensible advice, can I recommend 2 cans of Lyles golden syrup, 1 per fork leg, mixed with a half pint of full cream milk, and the springs from a doorstop, you know the ones that you took great delight as a kid at boinging and watching them vibrate with a long loud "drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" The added benefit is of course that after a long ride you can drain off the contents of the forks as a batch of homemade caramel.

[control_67]

FWIW the early Showas and later Marzocchis are interchangable as far as mudguard/calipers/yokes go, the mudguard and calipers are also a straight swap onto the early RSVR Ohlins, but they would also require yokes and clipons to suit as they have a different diameter.

[Mr.Incredible]

Thanks. Good facts. I've gone down the route of getting the Marzocchis cleaned out and filled with more, thicker oil to start with.

[beedub]

Thanks. Good facts. I've gone down the route of getting the Marzocchis cleaned out and filled with more, thicker oil to start with.

I'll be interested to find out how this goes as it's what MCT suggested was about the only thing they could do to the bog basic forks (basic in that they're fork-shaped and have springs in) on my Street Triple.

[Mr.Incredible]

10w and 100mm air gap , give that a go

Thanks all for the advice and suggestions. Will report back when done.

I'll be interested to find out how this goes as it's what MCT suggested was about the only thing they could do to the bog basic forks (basic in that they're fork-shaped and have springs in) on my Street Triple.

So I took the advice of many, and specifically ronenige, and went for 10wt oil instead of the standard 7.5, and a 100mm air gap instead of the standard 110mm. Also when I re-fitted the forks I left 3 rings showing above the yoke instead of the 5 that had been showing before to reduce weight bias (I'm not a fan of quick steering anyway).

Before, the proload was would up to max, so were compression and rebound. I haven't set them up properly yet, having only wound the preload back a bit and would the damping out a bit. Not enough on the damping though, I think, cos on my last ride the front bounced off a couple of bumps when banked over, suggesting to me that there may still be too much rebound damping. Also the rear now feels firmer than I remember.

So I really need to set front and rear sag properly and then play with the damping too. The guide I have here from an old PB suggests, as a rule of thumb for a sportsbike, that there should be 35-45mm of rider sag at each end. It then says to set compression to minimum and rebound to half way, then ride and fine tune.

Easy enough for the front, but the rear is an Ohlins so will get me a C- spanner and then get cracking.

Any hints/tips/comments on the above? Ta

[BudgetBoy]

Getting there then..

I would set sag levels as no less than 30mm on the front & 30-35mm on the rear.So you could go with 35mm f&r as a ballpark if you wanted.

If midcorner you are losing traction (skipping) then you need to either adjust 1.) rebound damping or 2.) preload

Start with the PB settings and write down each alteration you make before each ride, that way if its wrong you can go back to the orig setting. test the bike on the same bit of road each time as well as you will notice the alterations more.

[hotballs]

hi mate. i have recently been tinkering with a ducati with the same problems so have 'learned' a bit since i started.

there are a few facts that cannot be debated that i have now finally realised and no matter of tweaking will solve them.

There is no work around for springs that are too soft.

Springs wear out. but i am tinkering with a 32 year old bike.

Thicker oil wont compensate for soft springs but will increase the damping.

More oil will reduce the air gap, hence aiding in the spinginess, but at the risk of blowing seals out.

Increasing the preload will make the forks feel stiffer, but wont change the fact they compress all the way in normal riding.

Springs are the cheapest component of your front suspension.

Ideally you want the first part of the spring to be soft to absorb roughness in the road , but you dont want the fork compressing all the way whilst braking or hard cornering. You need a little bit left for if you hit a bump when braking.

I had 2 of the exact same bike, so i started playing with one by changing the springs and setting the preload to get the correct static sag, getting the grade of oil right for the kind of riding i was doing and putting exactly the correct quantity and after riding both bikes with a mate, the bike with the attention paid to it was a whole millenium better. We were both really surprised how much difference it made.

In other words, buy new springs.