Pitted forks. Help!

[n0regret5]

right for those who don't know, i got a GN250 which i'm cafe'ing, but before i can do that i have to put the bike back to stock and get it revinned. biggest problem i've come across so far is the pitted forks. i'm trying to spend as little as i possibly can on this old girl so new forks are (kinda) out of the question.

i did a bit of google searching on home repairing on pitted forks, these include stripping down the forks and removing the pits with progressively finer sandpaper, then using epoxy or JB weld to fill the teeny holes. those who know me on here know i'm fucking lazy when it comes to this kinda stuff, and i have no knowledge and probably not the right tools in order to dissassemble forks.

the worst pitting is at the top of the forks, which i do plan to just strip back and repaint gloss black later (or get shorter forks as having 4" of staunchion sticking out the top of the triple tree looks ridiculous) and i will be fitting gaiters to the bottoms. the forks are only lightly pitted at the bottom of the staunchions and the pits don't pass through the seals except under extreme pressure.

any kind of advice would be great!

[miloking]

right for those who don't know, i got a GN250 which i'm cafe'ing, but before i can do that i have to put the bike back to stock and get it revinned. biggest problem i've come across so far is the pitted forks. i'm trying to spend as little as i possibly can on this old girl so new forks are (kinda) out of the question.

i did a bit of google searching on home repairing on pitted forks, these include stripping down the forks and removing the pits with progressively finer sandpaper, then using epoxy or JB weld to fill the teeny holes. those who know me on here know i'm fucking lazy when it comes to this kinda stuff, and i have no knowledge and probably not the right tools in order to dissassemble forks.

the worst pitting is at the top of the forks, which i do plan to just strip back and repaint gloss black later (or get shorter forks as having 4" of staunchion sticking out the top of the triple tree looks ridiculous) and i will be fitting gaiters to the bottoms. the forks are only lightly pitted at the bottom of the staunchions and the pits don't pass through the seals except under extreme pressure.

any kind of advice would be great!


If its the painted part just sand/paint as normal if its the "shiney" bit it needs to be polished down with special stone and seals replaced (only if its leaking otherwise fuck it)...you might be looking at something like $250 per fork if shop does it all.... so yeah DIY all the way! You got nothing too loose...i would suggest to find laid down GN and buy forks from that, there should be heaps of spares on TM etc...but hard to say without seeing your forks, they are probably not as bad as you make it sound....

[n0regret5]

nah the sliding parts are fine, just don't want the guys doing the re-vin to fail me on it. don't have alot of money to invest into it haha

[imdying]

Don't bother. If you're too lazy to do that, you'll only do a shitty job of making a faux cafe racer out of the GN anyway.

[Laava]

If the pitted part of your sliders is going thru the seals then, yes, they will not last long but seals are cheap, as is oil so if you are after re-vinning to start with, don't waste too much energy on it! You could get them rechromed later or find some good used. Mate this will be one of the easy obstacles you will face if you are doing a complete cafe style!

[Drew]

2000 grit wet and dry sand paper, enjoy.

[The Pastor]

if its out of fork travel area, as far as i know (which isnt far) there is no reason it'd fail a vin / wof. Infact pitting itself can not fail an inspection, only a leaky fork seal.

also not sure on vin but in wof they never remove fork gators to check seals.............

[Bad Gixxer]

You'd actually be surprised how good (less visible) the pitting will be if you just use some very fine sand paper (2000) and then use some 000 (really fine) steel wool. About 10 minutes work can make them virtually disappear - done it on mt RD400 and my CB550F cafe Racer. And then finish off with buffing using a polishing wheel and paste on a drill (available Mitre 10 or similar for about $20). If the pitting is above the portion of the pipe that goes through the seals, then leaks aren't really a worry. I'd suggest you give it a go and see how it looks after 10 minutes of effortless work before you lash out for new forks or rechroming.

[NOID]

or you could go here - ( http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=1090.0 ) and look at all the bikes with the same fork tube size. start trademeing to find them . if your building a cafe bike that is the site to look at !!! my 2c

[n0regret5]

cheers guys! (apart from imdying hahahaa)

i'll give it a blast with the super fine sandpaper when i can afford it, but i was intending to put fork boots on anyway, hoping they won't look under them X-) haha

i've been looking on tardme for forks and found some for a 2004 GN but they're asking $200, figured bugger that for a joke. i'll give it a real good tidy up, then. already did the frame and swingarm, man 21 years of farm crap mixed with road crap mixed with grease and oil is a bastard to get off...the front sprocket was CAKED with crud. but frame has been undercoated and painted, looks bloody good. heres a link to the rebuild/customising for anyone who wants to see how its going; http://www.customfighters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32319

[n0regret5]

btw thats a NSFW thread haha i end most of my posts with boobs X-) don't say i didn't warn you!