| Quoted from last months posts:
"On cartridge forks, it is really important that you disassemble the forks and get everything perfectly clean. When the slider bushings wear, the debris from them becomes suspended in the oil. The debris then gets caught in between the valving shims, and this causes the damping to be erratic. That is the main reason a newly serviced front end feels so good."
AND, from another poster:
"We do about 20 sets of forks per year and concur, the forks need to be
cleaned properly, if there are a lot of miles on the forks and the
oil/ fluid has not been changed I would replace the Teflon coated
bushings too, the suspended particulates become embedded into the soft
Teflon and cause excessive wear to the fork components. Personally, I
would change it first time at about 5K miles and then do it at the
recommended 12K interval. If the oil has not been maintained, the
valve stacks really need to be removed and cleaned. This would be a
good time for the Penske upgrade we do! In the Sowa forks 15W is far
to high a viscosity and will make the forks harsher than ever. ATF is
not that bad a thing in forks; it is around 10W, in dextron anyhow. I
use 5W either Ohlins or Motorex brand.
On a fork service, we immerse the components in a parts washer after a
total disassembly and use special brushes to clean out all the
internal tubes thoroughly. We have an arrangement with a good hard
coat anodizing shop to coat the outer tubes to keep down the
particulates and keep the oil cleaner."  |