Headstock bearing/fork knock

[swinging_simian]

Hi all

I'm having a little paranoia at the moment, about my headstock bearings. Every now and again I feel a very slight knock when I'm coming to a stop. I noticed this a week or so ago, and can reproduce it if I hold the front brake and push sharply forward to compress the forks. I can't tell whether this is a fork issue or a bearing issue or whether it's actually just normal and I'm just getting the fear.

I've had my sv quite a while now and have ridden it through a few winters, racking up about 25k miles(over 2k of them just recently in Spain). It being my first bike, I've been learning how to take care of it, altho' not being so succesful in some areas, forks are corroded from standing outside, and the seals are also showing a bit of rust coming through the rubber, hence why I thought it might be the forks, rather than the bearings.

Can anyone advise me how I might test the bearings? I remember reading somewhere about lifting the front wheel off the floor and trying to push back and forth, but I can't quite remember the procedure. Any pearls of wisdom regarding rejuvenating/protecting my forks would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Nath

[Viney]

It could possibly be the brake discs moving on thier bobbins.

To check them though, get a mate to hoik the bike up on its side stand and you can the wiggle the forks to check for play.

[swinging_simian]

Thanks for the reply Viney.

Actually, yeah I forgot, this was the other thing I was considering, I noticed that my calipers had some give to them when I was giving it a wash the other day, could this be the cause?

Should they move at all?

[dizzyblonde]

yes they do have a certain amount of give in them.
when was the last time you changed your fork oil, or serviced your brakes. Occasionally there may be a need to tweek the bearings, but, there is a fine line between a small tweek and too much to break them tweek.
I've had the entire front end changed on mine. new forks, new oil, new bearings, calipers swapped and swapped back......and it still knocks

[swinging_simian]

Hi dizzyblonde

I'm afraid I haven't got nearly as handy with the spanners as I'd have liked to, so the last time my brakes were serviced was the last time the pads got replaced(>4k miles), with a bit of brake cleaner sprayed around now and then.

Fork oil has never been touched. Is this something I should be concerned about? I've not noticed the ride quality going off, but I dare say it's hard to tell over a long period of time.

At the back of my mind I've been promising myself the GSXR front end, which has probably put me off tackling this sooner, but am skint so that ain't gonna happen any time soon.

It's going in for a full service this week, so I'll check for wobble myself and then get them to tweak the bearings if need be as I've never done it before and probably prone to buggering it up.

[dizzyblonde]

Sounds to me like your bike is just suffereing from a little TLC servicing. You don't need a gixxer front end to get a good set up on the SV. I think the progressive springs( 60 squids) and some 15w oil that I did is superb. I tryed YCs with the different front end and I think its sh!!te..lol. But thats personal opinion.

If the garage services the brakes, puts new fork oil in you'll probably find it suffices and gives you more confidence with your front end. You should find the knock happens less frequent. Like I said I had new head bearings put in one of my SVs and it still bloody knocks

[swinging_simian]

...and Bully's special prize goes to Viney, yes it was the bobbins, but not too much to worry about just yet apparently.

To validate dizzyblonde's opinion, yes more TLC required. As it's my first bike (and I don't know any other bikers to absorbs widom from) I've not done so well at up keep. One tip I would give to anyone else in the same position...if you're going to store your bike outside, buy a raincover and USE it. I reckon rainwater dripping down the forks legs has contributed quite a lot to the corrosion and maybe been a factor with my disc problem.

Thanks for all the input, these forums are priceless.

Ta

N