Can I bounce your bike?

[Mark_h]

Help!

Just been down the local garage to see how he felt about my can for MOT purposes. Apparently can is fine but my forks may well be bad. He thinks there is no damping and so perhaps low or no oil in them. He doesn't fix bikes so is unable to give an opinion but suggest I get them checked out.

I know the older SVs have cheap forks (mine's a 2001 naked) so it may be that's just how SVs are and he hasn't bounced one for a while. So I was wondering if any of you lot are any where near to Fleet and if I could pop round and compare the damping of the two front ends just by pushing the bike with the front brake on. Not suggesting you trust me to take your bike for a ride, just a quick driveway bounce.

However if you've had massive upgrades to your front end I guess it would not be much use.

Or is anyone with a stock sprung SV going to the Anchor on Thursday?

thanks in advance,
Mark

[rigor]

I think all SV's have relatively cheap forks .... and they do come up on the bouncy side.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I should be down at the Anchor on Thursday with unmodified pointy forks for you to bounce, if that's any help to you.

Don't think there's any real difference between the two models really (although I'm prepared to be proved wrong)

Rigor

[454697819]

Hi,

Without any evidence of fork oil leaking from any where, ie, out the top of the seals or out the bottom of the fork near the wheel spindle, then there is no reason to assume there is any thing like a lack of oil in the forks?

Might well be worth booking it in somewhere else!

Typically they are soft though,

hth
Alex

[Viney]

The oil could need changing. It dos deteriorate(sp?) over time.

[rictus01]

The oil could need changing. It dos deteriorate(sp?) over time.

:winner:

how many mile?

Cheers Mark.

[Mark_h]

It's done 17,500 miles. I've had a couple of shops tell me now that it is offering no damping at all and either the oil is nackered or no longer actually there. It's booked into Infinity next week. they're charging me £90 incl an MOT so guess that's not too bad and hopefully they'll do a decent job.

I just hope it doesn't ride too differently than before as I have my IAM test coming up and last thng I want is a bike that feels completely different although having a front end that inspires a bit more confidence can't be a bad thing.

[rictus01]

17,500 miles I'd be very surprised if it's not a mix of pi** water and sludge in there by now.

A good clean out and replacement oil should take all of 30 minutes and cost you about £10 (if you do it yourself), but I'd look at spending £80 and sorting the springs myself as they are limited as standard ( and I'm being nice about that).

Cheers Mark.

[Mark_h]

Oil changed, MOT passed. Will go and pick it up this evening. Looking forward to a step change improvement in handling.

Thanks to all of you who let me bounce their bikes and offered advice on the matter.

Will report back when I have been out and taken a few bends on it.

[Mark_h]

What a difference. Just bouncing it up and down did not feel much different. However, first time I used the brakes it felt a lot more solid and did not dive as much. Then went on a nice little test ride A30 then up through Mattingly, back down A33, cross to A339 to Alton (cup of tea) back through Odium which for those in the know is a good test route. Feels a lot more planted into bends and generally a lot more secure.

Apparently it still had oil in it but it had degraded. According to the guys at Infinity, all the talk about adding heavier oil just slows the suspension down, does not make it any firmer. You'll need new springs or some spacers to make them firmer, so they recommend sticking to the recommended oil unless you have a specific need for slower suspension.

Hopefully see you all out and about enjoying the weather over the next few weeks.

Cheers,
Mark