Help cracked fork!

[Freakshow]

Sorry Guys I missed TCWNR was really looking forward to it!!!


I did an oil change and noticed a nice crack at the bottom of my front fork (see attached photos)

I am not sure how long it has been there or what to do, Any suggestions?

Also is there anyone else out there with this bike has seen this??

Wellington Motorcycles are checking it out with Suzuki at the moment.

The bike is a 2003 GSX250 still with original front wheel so no one has touched that bolt...

[Crisis management]

Technically speaking it looks buggered.
Without seeing the item in the flesh its impossible to tell whether that is a quality defect, stress crack or impact damage, that's probably imaterial anyway.
Seems you have a number of choices;
Suzuki accept its a quality defect and help out with parts? I assume there is no warranty on a 3 year old bike.
You fix it at your cost; second hand fork leg ex wreckers or new (expensive?)
or try to weld repair the item.
I suspect the most likely is that your paying for it, so I would be looking for a second hand fork leg..... the other options will be expensive.
Good luck!

[R6_kid:Me]

those fork bottoms arent too expensive i dont think, then again i've never needed to buy one...

[aff-man]

Dude the bolt would have been taken out everytime they changes the tyre. You never know whoever did the work may have overtightened.

You could get it welded but then I don't know what the WOF situation would be after that.

[Ixion]

Good weld job and some time with a file afterward, you won't see where it was. Not majorily loadbearing, it's mainly for location. Question is whether you could pick up a second hand fork lower leg for less than the cost of the welding.

Forks usually get busted higher up in an accident so you might get a bent leg at a wreckers cheaply.

[Freakshow]

Dude the bolt would have been taken out everytime they changes the tyre. You never know whoever did the work may have overtightened.

You could get it welded but then I don't know what the WOF situation would be after that.

Thats the funny thing about it, no one has touched it since its still the original front tyre.

[aff-man]

Thats the funny thing about it, no one has touched it since its still the original front tyre.

Possibly the person who assembled the bike then.... Or more likly a factory flaw.....

[imdying]

To do that, you'd have to hit a curb pretty hard. If there's no dents in the rim, and the wheels never been off, it wouldn't be totally unreasonable for Suzuki to cough up for another. (imho)

[Freakshow]

To do that, you'd have to hit a curb pretty hard. If there's no dents in the rim, and the wheels never been off, it wouldn't be totally unreasonable for Suzuki to cough up for another. (imho)

That is what I am thinking cos there are no dents in the rim. To me it all leads to dodgy fork.

[JKWNZ]

Thats really scary... most likely a materials defect if everything else is fine and the bikes been treated nicely.

(You'd expect the other side of the bolt hole to fail under a bearing load with an impact which is nice and noticeable... a crack is something that can fail catastrophically so you normally design against it)

If its a materials problem Suzuki should cover it under the Consumer Guarantees Act. Usually they'll be scared it wont be a one off and may be a batch problem.

Judging by the amount of chipping above and below the crack I reckon you've probably ridden around on it a little bit, who knows for how long... lucky...

[Motu]

A bit of both I reckon - it's possible that there should be a slight gap in the pinch area,but someone may have over tightened to close the gap....then again most forks of this design have a fair amount of give to cope with this abuse,as the joint is supposed to open and close.Bit of a design/casting flaw combined with overzealous ''don't want this falling out'' tightening.

[SLight]

Too many wheelstands aye? Either way the fork is gonna have to come out and pulled down. A good welder will be able to fix that no worries and have it cleaned up so you would'nt notice it. Being under the axle, it is not a highly stressee area and unlikely to repeat the crack if tightened to the correct specs. 2 hours max should have it cleaned up and ready to put back together. $100? give or take. New oil and seals another $40-50. Whats a second hand fork gonna cost you? Check it out the engineers first. Have a good shop round tho. Prices and hourly can differ.

[JKWNZ]

I wouldn't recommend welding the joint... the additional stress concentration from a welded joint means its likely to fatigue/crack again. The lower part of the forks are still under some stress and no weld is going to go through the thickness of a part like that, leaving a void to corrode... stress... blah blah blah

[Freakshow]

I wouldn't recommend welding the joint... the additional stress concentration from a welded joint means its likely to fatigue/crack again. The lower part of the forks are still under some stress and no weld is going to go through the thickness of a part like that, leaving a void to corrode... stress... blah blah blah

Yeah I agree, I dont like the Idea of welding as if it cracked there then it could crack somewhere else in the cast. Plus its to thick for a weld.
Thanks

[Crisis management]

I would avoid welding (IMHO) unless it is the last resort.
The heat of welding will swell & distort the surrounding area requiring a rebore of the axle hole to get it round & true again as well as cosmetic filing & polishing the leg to achieve a good external finish.
It will be far cheaper to buy a second hand leg.