Repairs, service and observance

[Mikkel]

When I bought my bike back 5 months ago I had to get the righthand fork seal sorted before being able to get a new WOF for it.

The bike shop sorted the fork seal and did the WOF.

Lately I've noted that the suspension seems to be behaving a bit oddly and was wondering if it was just me getting back into it after a 6 week break, new tyre, etc.

Anyway, tonight we established that my lefthand forkseal is shot and while looking at it we noted that there's a bit of texture on the forkarms which is the likely cause of the seal failing.

With this in mind I've been wondering about a few things:

1. Would you expect a bike shop replacing a shot seal to check the forkarms and notify the customer of their state if this was likely to cause a new failure?
2. Would you expect your mechanic to see it and notify you while doing regular service on your bike (not fork specific)?
3. How badly would you think a shot forkseal could affect the handling of a bike? (usually it's awesome - they are USD forks after all )
4. Any excellent ideas to solving the problem without having to buy new forkarms?

Questions 1 and 2 should be considered general questions that could apply to any number of different defects in a bike - not just fork seals.

Cheers
Mikkel

[onearmedbandit]

1/ Yes.
2/ Maybe. But really you would hope so.
3/ Well it won't do anything great for the handling, that's for sure. Depends how bad it is leaking.
4/ You may be able to get them re-coated.

[Paulus]

In answer to question 4, Pole Electroplaters in Waltham will redo the chroming on fork legs (or at least they used to). Much cheaper than new legs.

[BiK3RChiK]

Re: 1. Yes, I would!
2. Absolutely! They aren't doing their job properly otherwise! Lazy buggers!!
3. Don't know this one... Newbie..
4. Anyone??

Maybe I just have an excellent garage guy, but he picks up stuff in advance and warns me about them and what other damage I might do if I don't sort it..

Did you know that 9 out of 10 professionals (across the board) are incompetent? Just a statistic I heard somewhere.... I believe it.

JMHO,
M

[DingoZ]

1. Would you expect a bike shop replacing a shot seal to check the forkarms and notify the customer of their state if this was likely to cause a new failure?
2. Would you expect your mechanic to see it and notify you while doing regular service on your bike (not fork specific)?


1. Yes absolutely. Part of the work being done "if you gunna do something do it right or don't do it"


2. If they are any good at their jobs, a mechanic, whether it be for car or bike, should be looking for anything that is wrong, not just what you have asked them look for. Or not just what is on a service list.

[Katman]

I would seriously be questioning any bike shop that only did one fork seal. How would they know what weight of oil and amount was in the other fork? One of the basics of front end suspension is having two forks that work in, as near as possible, an identical manner as each other.

[Mikkel]

Thanks for the replies guys.

My opinion on 1 is that I'd expect so and therefore may have a small chat to the shop that did it (not that I expect anything to come out of it - but they might appreciate constructive feedback).

On 2 I'm a bit more ambivalent - on one hand you'd like your mechanic to pick up every little thing before it becomes an issue - on the other I couldn't expect to get a service done at a reasonable price if he was to completely take the bike apart everytime...

It's worth noticing that mechanics might not bother checking the forkseals on regular service seeing as it's something the bike will fail a WOF on. As such the forkseals will be checked every 6 months (or so you'd hope eh ).

Anyway, I certainly am annoyed that 1. didn't pick it up 5 months ago so I could have had the forkarms sorted. I'm surprised that none of the 2.'s haven't picked it up - I'm kinda sure they are all rather competent.

[steveb64]

I would seriously be questioning any bike shop that only did one fork seal. How would they know what weight of oil and amount was in the other fork? One of the basics of front end suspension is having two forks that work in, as near as possible, an identical manner as each other.

Dead right Katman! Of particular importance is the oil levels in the forks, as different levels in each leg will alter the spring rate under compression (more air space = less spring - less air = more spring), as the smaller air volume will reach a higher pressure under compression. Kind of like having the spring preload set differently on each leg.

Having different weight (or even clean and dirty) oil in each leg will also upset things, by altering the damping (rebound and compression) between legs - which will also upset things.
Had a good example of that a couple of years back on the Duc - some prick had stuffed with the rebound damping adjuster on one fork leg (by 180 degrees) - I couldn't work out why it had suddenly developed a really nasty headshake when the front unloaded over sharp rises in the road - till one day I thought to double check the rebound settings. Put them back to both the same - and no more problems!

[GSVR]

Replacing one fork seal is ok. I assume you looked at the cost of getting them both done and told the bike shop only to do the one.

Did you ask them to do the bear minimum to get the bike warrantable or did you say put my front end into A1 condition and replace all worn parts.

Customers have different expectations but the mechanic can only do what he's told to. If he had replaced everything and you got a bill for 2 grand would you have been happy?

My personal view is for anyone taking a bike to a bike shop to be fixed is to make it very clear what you want done and what you expect to be charged. If theres going to be any deviation they should contact you first.

[Mikkel]

Being absolutely new to motorcycles I took the bike in for them to assess and warrant.

I was told the fork seal had to be replaced before it could pass the WOF. They knew my situation and didn't expand on the fact that the seal was shot. I gave the go ahead and they did the seal and warrant...
Never thought about it until yesterday.

[dipshit]

Anyway, tonight we established that my lefthand forkseal is shot and while looking at it we noted that there's a bit of texture on the forkarms which is the likely cause of the seal failing.

That was probably done by the dick who was pretending to be a motorcycle mechanic when he wound your forks up in a vice without adequate protection.

Does the damage look like the marks from a vice?

[cruza]

Geez , if one was leaking ,do both forks at the same time , saves time in the long run and fresh oil in forks as well. In the past I've used light emery paper on stone chips in the chrome (just gently!) and that stopped them nicking the seals in the trouble area. who ever does the seals should check/repair anyway to prevent early seal failure again.