Fork upgrade

Got a rear shock sorted WP one, going to send it off for servicing , setting up and looking at getting front forks done at the same time. Seen that other 900,s have had 916 internal upgrades, is that right? Any recommendation and advice as always gratefully received. Cheers Tim

 

Looking at sending it all to ftr. Reason being they are a WP main supplier. So the Sbk upgrade is it just the 748/916 internals? And the cartridge kit? Need mine for road use, solo use, reasonable lick of speed

 

Going to the length of 748/916 internals is all good, however my issue is surely you are not going to get the internals new, (prohibitive cost) not seen a set of internals used for sale? So where are people getting them? And therefore can't the ss forks be rebuilt by a specialist to work well enough on the road for the majority of road riders?

 

Even the sh*tty Marzocchis can be re-springed and oil viscosity played with for them to work well on the road.

Although I have swapped mine out for Showas, if they fail for any reason, my Marzocchis will go back on - in fact, despite my Showas having been played with by MCT, frankly there is b*gger all difference between them and the Marzocchis on the road.

AL

 

This is what I am after, am I going to notice vast vast differences without spending oodles of dosh? Will I gain as much for road riding by getting them serviced and set up for me as I would really by buying Sbk internals, cartridge kits then getting it serviced and set up? I am a reasonably confident rider, reasonably make progress without being my 20 yr old self. And I no longer have anything to prove.

 

SAE 10 in the Showas and 7.5 in the Marzocchis

 

If your forks haven't been changed, I would expect you to have fully adjustable Showas - in which case get them serviced......Probably cost about £150 - £200 max.

Or do them yourself -- relatively easy (if you have an easy relative to help).....but you will need a seal driver.

AL

 

Thanks guys, I guess I don't want cheap but equally I am not after spending oodles, I need it to be reasonably compliant, whilst doing the job, it will always be a compromise and I'm not on a panigale. So new oil, seals for good measure, with right weight springs set up for my weight and reduction in sprung mass. Cheers again all

 

If you want to play around with your existing Showas, this might help........I typed it out for someone else who seemed to do the job OK.

AL


1) Before you do anything else, get some thick-ish card and cover up the instruments and the dash panel…..drop a tool on there and it gets expensive.

2) Lift the tank.
3) Remove front mudguard, front wheel and calipers….hang the calipers out of the way.
4) Slacken off the two top yoke pinch bolts.
5) Slacken off the fork top caps (the big hexagon).
6) Back all four adjuster screws right out anti-clockwise (remember the number of click settings, eh?)
7) Unwind the preload (smaller hex) ….(remember the settings).
8) Undo the clip-on bolts so they are free to move…..The clip-on and levers etc are also what could damage the dash.
9) Put a pillow on the floor below the bottom of the fork.
10) Undo the lower yoke bolts….it might slip out, but unlikely……use a couple of wooden wedges to ease the splits in the yoke….don’t use a screwdriver unless you want to damage the yoke.
11) Ease the dust seals down….and if you are going to strip them, flick the fork seal clip out as well.
12) You have to hold the fork leg (gold bit) in your hand tight and get a spanner to fit the large flats on the aluminium fork to and crack it……try to use a spanner that won’t mark the aluminium.
13) Keep turning until the top comes away from the gold bit….if I were you, I would have the bottom of the fork resting on the pillow.
14) Don’t let the gold bit drop down fast…..be warned, as you move it back up, you may get a squirt of oil out of the valve at the bottom of the aluminium top.
15) Note two holes about 10mm diameter in the large steel tube that you have exposed.
16) You need to either get a special tool or your neighbour with two tommy bars to force that tube down against the spring while you hold the aluminium top and rod up and insert a plate or large washer with a 10 – 11mm slot in it, under the lock nut you expose on the rod.
17) Once that plate is in, you can use two spanners to undo the aluminum top from the rod.
18) And now you can pour the oil out of the top of the gold bit….slide the rod several times to help it drain.
19) In fact, leave them upside down to drain overnight?
20) When you tip them up, the steel tube will / should come out, followed by a white nylon / plastic washer thing and then the spring.
21) If you are changing oil, this is about as far as you need to go, but remember they won’t be entirely empty, so getting the amount right could be difficult.
22) So, the next thing is make sure the oil seal clip is off and then like a slide hammer, close the fork up and then holding the bottom and the gold bit slide them apart….probably take two or three tugs…what you are doing is knocking the oil seal out.
23) Be careful….you could drop either bit or bend the rod as you are doing it, when they come apart.
24) If they don’t come apart in three tugs, then you will be in for new guide / slide bushes as they will have probably been worn enough to allow one to drive inside the other….when that happens they are a sod and you have to keep slide hammering away.
25) Now you can drain more out and clean up the gold bits which should be bare of seals etc.
26) Assembly is a reversal of the dis-assembly but you need to be able to get that seal in which is why you need a fork seal drift……you can do it by putting the old oil seal on as well and use that as a drift, but they can bend, so be careful….when the seals are home, cut the old seal off.
27) You also need to check the workshop manual for the oil level measurement…the quantity as far as I am aware is 440cc SAE 10W20…..check this with someone else, as mine are non-standard and have FL10 oil.