Question about forks

[Robert Taylor]

TDC and Robert Taylor will hopefully chip in on this thread, and will no doubt have some answers for you.....

I worked on quite a number of these gorgeous Italian stallions in the UK 25 years ago but never had any forks apart.

If someone else doesnt come forward with a plausible fix I would be happy to look at the exploded parts diagram.

[TDC]

TDC and Robert Taylor will hopefully chip in on this thread, and will no doubt have some answers for you.....

I too worked on a few of these (at the time objects of desire) bikes a long time ago.

The problem you are describing with the sticking fork leg is one I have seen before, that is if I remembering the right model forks!, but sounds about right.

The biggest problem with these forks as I remember them was the seals (main and dust) were prone to letting water in to the fork. There is a steel bushing with bronze coating at the top of the fork that the water gets in behind and starts to rust. As this progresses over a period of time the it significantly decreases the inside diameter if the top bushing. As a result the forks quickly wear through the chrome plating and start sticking at the top and very bottom of the stroke (where they have not worn off the chrome). I imagine that this bike has the same problems with different symptoms because of the time in storage.

The fix was quite difficult, firstly getting the forks apart with out causing more damage was / is quite challenging (it is VERY easy to break the retaining lip in the fork tube that holds the lower bush (don't ask how I found out!)), worse the aluminum that supports the top bushing had expanded due to the corrosion deforming the top of the slider, this meaning that a new bush was too loose in the fork slider.

Ultimately the forks were re-plated and ground to return the tubes to being parallel and the right diameter, the fork sliders were machined to take another bush from a different machine. The fork seals were replaced with Jap parts that actually work a bit better (read keep the water out) and are actually available for a price less than your first born son.

If doing this work now throwing the OEM progressive springs in the original parts bin and fitting emulators will deliver fork action that will be more in keeping with modern tyres. These bikes do not work well, on modern tyre constructions.

[Spuds1234]

I too worked on a few of these (at the time objects of desire) bikes a long time ago.

The problem you are describing with the sticking fork leg is one I have seen before, that is if I remembering the right model forks!, but sounds about right.

The biggest problem with these forks as I remember them was the seals (main and dust) were prone to letting water in to the fork. There is a steel bushing with bronze coating at the top of the fork that the water gets in behind and starts to rust. As this progresses over a period of time the it significantly decreases the inside diameter if the top bushing. As a result the forks quickly wear through the chrome plating and start sticking at the top and very bottom of the stroke (where they have not worn off the chrome). I imagine that this bike has the same problems with different symptoms because of the time in storage.

The fix was quite difficult, firstly getting the forks apart with out causing more damage was / is quite challenging (it is VERY easy to break the retaining lip in the fork tube that holds the lower bush (don't ask how I found out!)), worse the aluminum that supports the top bushing had expanded due to the corrosion deforming the top of the slider, this meaning that a new bush was too loose in the fork slider.

Ultimately the forks were re-plated and ground to return the tubes to being parallel and the right diameter, the fork sliders were machined to take another bush from a different machine. The fork seals were replaced with Jap parts that actually work a bit better (read keep the water out) and are actually available for a price less than your first born son.

If doing this work now throwing the OEM progressive springs in the original parts bin and fitting emulators will deliver fork action that will be more in keeping with modern tyres. These bikes do not work well, on modern tyre constructions.

Great post.

Fortunatly this isnt the problem.

The damper seems to be freeing up a bit, so Dad is going to bung it all back together and see how it goes.

Should be right he reckons.

Thanks guys for all the help. Its much appreciated.

[T.W.R]

When I had work done on my Mirage, Phil Payne did the the majority of the refurbishment of the forks and other bits
I don't know if Phil is still in ChCh working on bikes or not I seem to remember hearing something about him heading back over to Europe, not sure though, he's a bit of a fickle character but know his stuff
Head into Pitlane (Cycletreads) and have a talk to Don He may know where Phil is. As at the time when my work was done they were sharing a building on St Asaph Street, Don hadn't long started Pitlane & Phil wasn't long back from spanner twirling on the 500GP circuit

Oh something to drool over too

[desmo dave]

When I had work done on my Mirage, Phil Payne did the the majority of the refurbishment of the forks and other bits
I don't know if Phil is still in ChCh working on bikes or not I seem to remember hearing something about him heading back over to Europe, not sure though, he's a bit of a fickle character but know his stuff
Head into Pitlane (Cycletreads) and have a talk to Don He may know where Phil is. As at the time when my work was done they were sharing a building on St Asaph Street, Don hadn't long started Pitlane & Phil wasn't long back from spanner twirling on the 500GP circuit

Oh something to drool over too

last i heard he was over in the uk.He's the only guy ever to work on my darmah.That pic of your old laverda looks abit like darmah if you ignore the motor

[T.W.R]

last i heard he was over in the uk.He's the only guy ever to work on my darmah.That pic of your old laverda looks abit like darmah if you ignore the motor

I haven't seen Phil for ages heard something about him skipping over there but wasn't sure.
He's the only one to tinker on either the Mirage or the MHR he even used to swap parts of his RV1 onto the MHR when we were sorting it out